Well the Modification committee has released the SASS Firearms Covenant document and after reading over it, I think the committee did a good job. It's a bit long in the tooth and I don't think the majority of shooters give a rat's ass about this, but those that do, really, really care. I suppose I care simply because it affects the sport as a whole and I'd like to see some good come out of this to make the sport better. Time will tell.
A couple of things that make me happy in the covenant (in that oh so petty way).
"The visible contour of firing pins or firing pin extensions may not be altered."
There goes the lightning rod. I've only seen one of these and at the time I didn't think it was a huge advantage. After handling Judge's '66, I have concluded this is a major advantage because of the drag that the bolt has on the hammer.
"The only slide action shotgun allowed is the Model 1897 Winchester shotgun"
Looks like there's no love for Cap's 93/97 shotgun. At one time I said that I thought they should allow this gun because an original '93 was legal so his should be even though the internals are different from a '93. Now that all '93's are illegal, I'm less inclined to side with the 93/97, I still think it should be allowed, but not as strongly and you could easily convince me otherwise. This'll probably kill the 93/97 because the only good argument for allowing it is gone. The argument being that other guns are redisigned internally but nearly identical externally and are legal (Beretta Stampede, Taurus Thunderbolt...).
"Slide action shotguns must be centerfire of at least 16 gauge and no larger than 12
gauge."
No love for the 20 gauge '97 Cap had planned too. Darn! Guess fellas will have to find a way to toss a 12 gauge round into that '97 opening.
Other items that garner a lot of attention are the lever throw length on the rifles (4 1/8" max thank you) and the leather lever wrap. Some on the wire suggest that SASS is discriminating against women, children and slim-fingered men with the 1/4" max lever wrap. I think these folks are full of shit, you can wear a glove or hell, even deal with the fact that you have to go a half inch further, sheesh!
The one item that befuddles me a might is the legality of the XS sights. I can't figure that one out, those things look as cowboy as a Ferrari.
All in All, the committee did a good job and I hope that the amendments to the document don't get out of hand.
A couple of things that make me happy in the covenant (in that oh so petty way).
"The visible contour of firing pins or firing pin extensions may not be altered."
There goes the lightning rod. I've only seen one of these and at the time I didn't think it was a huge advantage. After handling Judge's '66, I have concluded this is a major advantage because of the drag that the bolt has on the hammer.
"The only slide action shotgun allowed is the Model 1897 Winchester shotgun"
Looks like there's no love for Cap's 93/97 shotgun. At one time I said that I thought they should allow this gun because an original '93 was legal so his should be even though the internals are different from a '93. Now that all '93's are illegal, I'm less inclined to side with the 93/97, I still think it should be allowed, but not as strongly and you could easily convince me otherwise. This'll probably kill the 93/97 because the only good argument for allowing it is gone. The argument being that other guns are redisigned internally but nearly identical externally and are legal (Beretta Stampede, Taurus Thunderbolt...).
"Slide action shotguns must be centerfire of at least 16 gauge and no larger than 12
gauge."
No love for the 20 gauge '97 Cap had planned too. Darn! Guess fellas will have to find a way to toss a 12 gauge round into that '97 opening.
Other items that garner a lot of attention are the lever throw length on the rifles (4 1/8" max thank you) and the leather lever wrap. Some on the wire suggest that SASS is discriminating against women, children and slim-fingered men with the 1/4" max lever wrap. I think these folks are full of shit, you can wear a glove or hell, even deal with the fact that you have to go a half inch further, sheesh!
The one item that befuddles me a might is the legality of the XS sights. I can't figure that one out, those things look as cowboy as a Ferrari.
All in All, the committee did a good job and I hope that the amendments to the document don't get out of hand.
UPDATE: After reading the SASS wire the past two days and all the bitching, pissing and moaning going on, I have to agree with this quote from Blazing Saddles
"You've got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know... morons. "
-The Waco Kid
1 comment:
Jose is going to think somebody is actually reading this blog!
Anyway, I think most of this is unenforcable. If a guy wants to cheat he is going to cheat and nobody is going to catch him using these rules. That being said I do think this draws a "line in the sand" for the average cowboy.
As for the XS sight the only excuse for that one is bucks, big bucks. To mount a tactical sight on a cowboy gun is just plain wrong, so XS must have sent a little love to the right person.
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