Anyone else like single actions?

[armoredman]

I very recently discovered a new fun hobby that I have jumped into with both feet - cowboy action shooting with the Single Action Shooting Society. Getting into it was not cheap, but I did find some "entry level" guns to help out.

Taylor and Company/Uberti Ranch Hand, 357 Magnum revolvers, pretty much doomed to shoot 38 Specials forever.



Stoeger 12-gauge Coach Gun - this one is a bit of an anomaly, as the regular Coach Gun is about $500 and has wood furniture. This is part of an odd run with polymer furniture, and I got it for just a hair over $300 from Palmetto State Armory. Stoeger never even listed it on their website. SASS rules state it's legal as long as the stock set is the same contour as the originals. This one took some work to get it slicked up enough to use, more than a few hours sitting with sandpaper, polishing compound, etc. Mothers Mag polish on a mop chucked into a drill on low speed does wonders for sticky chambers!



Have to have a rifle, too. This is a Heritage 92 in .357 Mag, basically a rebadged Rossi 92. It wasn't expensive, per se, but it certainly shoots very nicely. Only thing I did was change the rear sight, as I HATE buckhorn sights.



Da Boy likes it very much - I told him he can have it when I take the dirt nap.



And the new CZ - there has to be a CZ tie in, right? Yes, there does, the new CZ Sharptail Coach Gun.



The background is actually my coffee table - nice, eh?. The Sharptail is REALLY stiff and nowhere near competition ready, so I will have to squeeze a few drachmas out to send it to a SASS gunsmith for a true slicking. If I was just using it for hunting, it would be ok after some work in, but running a shotgun in SASS is a wee bit different.

So, anyone else play this game? Like I said to my wife, it's a lot cheaper than a new Corvette, as midlife crisis go...

[Wobbly]

Like I said to my wife, it's a lot cheaper than a new Corvette, as midlife crisis go...

Ain't that the truth !!

[mrcabinet]

Wow Mr. A, you went all in on the new hobby!
Have you had any issues with chamber support on the Heritage? I picked up a used 92, and any loads above mid-power leave a pretty significant bulge at the bottom of the case. I do giggle like a little girl when running .38 specials through it.

[armoredman]

I have heard a lot of people having issues with Rossi rifles bulging 357 mag cases like crazy, but no, this one has a perfectly round chamber and fired brass is completely reloadable...which is a good thing, considering I don't have a lot of 38 Special brass!
Yeah, I kinda over did it right off, but we HAD the greatest Wild West clothing/accouterment store right here in Mesa, Wild West Mercantile, where you could try on a lot of Western duds that are period correct. However, they closed the brick-and-mortar store and went online only.  :'( But it was open long enough for me to figure out sizes, and well, I actually have more than one outfit, as the ladies call it.

First match.


Second match


Third match,



And for the last one, the HOT one, we relaxed some of the requirements due to the heat. Sorry, only a selfie.


The guns are the real expensive [art and I went as cheap as I could get away with, but that's still just under $2500 on boom booms. Most [people really can't afford that, (and up until about 4 years ago I wouldn't have been able to afford to LOOK at guns like that), so the Club has plenty of loaners, plus long time members always have extras they love to loan out, to try to get more people in the sport. Too many graybeards, not enough young bucks.
Our last match had about 3 younger people. Do note the "hot weather" rule duds...




That's the club president on the right, Colt Larado, (great guy), and our Territorial Governor in the shorts on the left, Superstition Slim.





I forget the name of the gent on the left, but on the right is Kid Rich, the guy who sold me the gun cart, (not pictured), and Mernickle holsters for cheap and recently sold me a MEC 600jr shotgun reloading press for pennies. The fine gent photobombing in the back is Hoopsnake Lavache, another club figure who does the starting bugle calls and the pledge. You might notice he has some American flag theme thing going, you might not, it's easy to overlook...

We want new shooters. If you are even remotely interested, check out a match near you someday, and if you DO get the bug, DON'T BUY ANYTHING until you've shot a match or two. It would be a shame to buy a bunch of stuff and decide, nah, this ain't for me. And, of course, the CZ tie in - the Sharptail Coach Gun is well thought of after getting slicked up. Mine goes out to Ken Griner tomorrow for a Cowboy Action job.

[Joe L]

Ruidoso, NM has an active SASS club and used the range where I shot all the "mountains of New Mexico" 100-200 yard videos.  I watched some of the monthly matches when we first started going there regularly, as they shut down the rifle range while hosting the matches in a section of the range set up permanently for maybe 5 cowboy action stages.  Those people had more (safe!) fun at the shooting range than any other shooting discipline I've ever watched.   What a hoot.  I even shot better after they left for the day and the rifle range opened up again.  By comparison, bullseye and IDPA matches are dreary, slow, and way too serious.  An SASS match appears to be a social event with shooting as the main attraction.

But I can only handle one barrel and one chamber at a time, and I struggle with that! 

Don't get me started on the cost of Corvettes.  Or camera gear. 

Enjoy your new challenge!

Joe L

[armoredman]

We have a blast, literally, and nobody cares if you are the next Bat Masterson or Fumble Fingered McGee...which now that I think of it, would have been a better alias...
You're right, Joe, everyone else is so serious and grim, and this is fun, and harks back to a simpler time.









Some of these guys are FAST on those lever guns - how many empties do you see?

[Gunnerdad80]

At 45 years old I’ll take any action I can get. So…yes.

[armoredman]

45? Youngster... 

[Gunnerdad80]

45? Youngster... 

Well thank you kind sir. I definitely feel it.