Headed home from the Days Of Truth, the 2023 SASS European Championships. And, the largest Wild Bunch Match outside the US...

[Frederick Jackson Turner]

Hey, folks;

I'm headed home, after about the best week of Cowboy Action Shooting anyone could ever hope for, the Days Of Truth European Cowboy Championships.

I'll be writing an upcoming article for the SASS Chronicle, where you can get more details, but for now, here are the highlights.

The event was limited to 360 shooters, and it still sold out in under 24 hours.

Shooters from ELEVEN nations were present.  Sadly, there was only one American on hand.  Still, they went out of their way to make me feel welcome.

Their Wild Bunch match featured 130 shooters, making it the LARGEST Wild Bunch Match, outside the US.  And, incidentally, that is nearly 40% of the shooters at the main match, who wished to participate in the Wild Bunch match.

It is far harder for them to acquire Wild bunch gear there, than here.  And yet, they outnumbered us in attendance and participation.  WHY???

Way back in 2010 and 20011, I went over there to help give European shooting a kick in the tail, and offered a Cowboy Action Shooting Class, to show how we do things in the US.   (You can find the results of that event in the September and October 2010 issues of the Chronicle, here:) https://www.sassnet.com/resources/cowboy-chronicle

A dozen years later...this.  They have a load of shooters who can compete with anyone in the US.  Every kid under about 30 is shooting 2-second rifle strings.

This was the best SASS event I have ever attended.  It was GREAT!

 

Cheers,

FJT

 

 

Edited November 22, 2023 by Frederick Jackson Turner

[Flying W Ramrod]

Well, the 2023 EOT Wild Bunch had 140 shooters complete the course of fire so, I guess Days of Truth would be second largest.

 

[Frederick Jackson Turner]

1 hour ago, Flying W Ramrod said:

Well, the 2023 EOT Wild Bunch had 140 shooters complete the course of fire so, I guess Days of Truth would be second largest.

 

Duly noted; should have read "Outside the US..." 😉

I was more than a bit impressed by the % of Cowboy shooters who chose to participate in WB.  Especially given how much more difficult to access any firearms, let alone those specific to our game, in Europe.  If WB at Eot had that kind of turnout, the match would have about 275 entrants...

Cheers,

FJT

 

[Back 40]

Awesome!!!  Great to hear the interest in Wild Bunch!

[Artemus]

This is just awesome

[Frederick Jackson Turner]

Brushed off the last of the jet lag, shaken off the remnants of the 10 day hangover, rinsed out my clothes, and ready to get back at it. 

Question: given the difficulties of obtaining firearms and associated kit which far exceed ours, why is European Wild Bunch doing so well, especially compared to the US?  While I have my thoughts, I am open to suggestions.

Cheers,

FJT

[Garrison Joe]

How legal and popular are modern pistol action shooting games in Europe? If some of those are not allowed or have poor participation, that could be one factor favoring Wild Bunch.

Glad you went, FJT!

good luck, GJ

[Boggus Deal]

There are many reasons. One of the main reasons is major matches here keep limited the number of Wild Bunch shooters. 

[Boggus Deal]

On 8/17/2023 at 5:49 PM, Frederick Jackson Turner said:

 If WB at Eot had that kind of turnout, the match would have about 275 entrants...

Cheers,

FJT

 

If Wild Bunch had not been capped and treated as a side match, maybe it would have had that kind of turn out.

[J. Frank Norfleet]

On 8/17/2023 at 5:49 PM, Frederick Jackson Turner said:

Duly noted; should have read "Outside the US..." 😉

I was more than a bit impressed by the % of Cowboy shooters who chose to participate in WB.  Especially given how much more difficult to access any firearms, let alone those specific to our game, in Europe.  If WB at Eot had that kind of turnout, the match would have about 275 entrants...

Cheers,

FJT

 

FJT,

Been thinking about your email to the ambassadors and this thread here. Since you said much more in the email than in your posts here I'm going to quote some of it.

"I hope that I made it clear; the significant number of shooters at Days of Truth who were participating  in the WB match  weren’t WB shooters grudgingly engaging in a Cowboy match; these are cowboy shooters who wanted to play a bit more, with different guns.  That is an audience to consider, if we truly want to help Wild Bunch to survive, thrive and grow.

As we struggle to find the heart and soul of what the heck IS Wild Bunch, the Europeans seem to have come down firmly on one side.  As FB said, if they don't end the day with a smile, they won't come back.

The European match directors seemingly want Cowboy shooters to join.  Judging from the enthusiastic number of new and returning participants, they are.  So, that’s how they pitch their matches.  They are not just catering to, as Frenchie Boy says, the top 10% of WB shooters.  Those shooters are going to win, no matter what match you put in front of them."

 

You also stated, "The WB match that I shot, (and, believe me I asked!) and indeed, most European WB matches, are pitched at cowboys.  So, they are cowboy matches, but with a greater degree of difficulty.  But they are not precision pistol matches.  The result is not what I would call “dumbing down” the nature of WB, because the match I shot was still a great match, and the best shooters out there won.  But it allowed a wide variety of shooters to participate, and have fun."

In your email you point out that the WB and Cowboy match use the basically the same steel with different scenarios. That is really what the Arizona Rough Riders do. Cowboy stages are written and the WB stages are written on top of them with some steel added and some moved. The WB match at EoT and formerly Winter Range has always been well attended. I signed up for my first WB match there in 2013, I didn't get to go because the WB match had sold out. I have never known them to not limit the number of WB shooters. I do agree the closer steel attracts more WB shooters; i.e. Winter Range would sell out and EoT in NM didn't.

I think that there is a bigger reason that DoT had 40% of its cowboy shooters shoot WB. Look no farther than demographics. United States SASS members and WB shooters are aging. So here's how the demographics break down for most recent matches for Days of Truth, End of Trail & Land Run. (I included Land Run but I don't think that 2022 ia a good sample because it was the first year and the problems just prior to the match. In three weeks we will have a much better idea of how the age categories break out.) So look carefully at the flipflop in numbers in the 4 main age categories for DoT and EoT.

                 DoT      EoT      LR 

Modern     47        28        27

Sr. Mod.    16        46        25

Trad.         39        18        15

Sr. Trad.    10        18        12

I don't know how much age differential there is to have that much of a swing between those below 65 and those 65+ at DoT and EoT. I'm guessing that at least 10 years and more like 15 to 20 years. European SASS must have a much younger shooter base. We have all noted that the average age of SASS members has gone up. And I have dealt with my share of shooters that have simply gotten too old to safely run a 1911. Maybe Misty could run the numbers on shooter ages; today vs 10, 15 & 20 years ago.

I think the answer to your question is simply, in the US, SASS shooters are much older.

JFN

[Artemus]

J Frank Norfleet, it looks like those numbers exclude the ladies categories, any particular reason why? WOW look at the Traditional category count for DoT! That's crazy. 

I think your approach is down the right road, but I would argue your outlook. Considering the pressure about growing the sport and overall membership, I would look at this as Wild Bunch is the only division of the two that brings in people under 65, and not just aging everyone out. WB has about 42% of its shooters under 65 at EoT while you are looking at under 20% on the Cowboy side. WB is the best chance SASS has for membership. 

I will also say, EoT's WB is probably my favorite match. I like that they push the targets out some from the cowboy side, but I always explain to people as the targets are just big enough to miss. People always get cocky about the targets there, and push too hard. To build on that, there is variety in the stages, a couple of harder, couple easier and most in the middle. I like that EoT makes you have to adjust the throttle, as opposed to a match that just keeps it at one level.

I don't think anyone here will argue with the fact that WB's treatment and labeling as a sidematch has been a hinderance to it's growth. I have always teased the idea of having a 3 stage CAS match at my Wild Bunch matches, just as a turn the tables maneuver. 

I like the lower cost of entry to get into WB, and it's easier to bring in new members. Especially with Doughboy and Teddy Roosevelt removing the $1800 rifle requirement.  

 

[J. Frank Norfleet]

I didn't include Lady or Youth categories because they weren't a large enough sample to illustrate the age differences between Europe and the US shooters.

But I did dig out some other interesting information. The Arizona Rough Riders match is the only one that is still in the same venue after all these years, first as Winter Range and now as EoT. I don't think going from a National Championship to a World Championship harmed them. It is still the same match just a different name. So here is how their numbers break out before 2020/2021 and after. I got the WR numbers from the Cowboy Chronicle and the recent EoT numbers from their scores.

                   Cowboy shooters    WB shooters

WR 2018              756                        125

WR 2019              756                        125

WR 2020              661                        125      Covid bomb hit

EoT 2021               Shot in Indiana

EoT 2022             681                        142

EoT 2023             657                       142 

From the addition of the first WB match to WR until 2020, the number of WB shooters was limited to 125 shooters. Larson Pettifogger states this in his July, 2018, article in the Cowboy Chronicle. Beginning in 2022, more WB shooters were allowed to enter. I don't know where the upper limit is set.

But what I can see by comparing 2018/19 to 2022/23, is that the Ben Avery venue lost roughly 10% of their cowboy shooters while the number of WB shooters went up roughly 10%.

Why is SASS focused on increasing the number of WB shooters? Are they loosing cowboy shooters? 

JFN