Xavier Rules

Or should I say Jeff Cooper Rules, Xavier Interprets. Anyway you gotta love this;

"The problem with guns that "just go off" is that a person put their God damned booger hook on the bang switch."

Outlaw!

One of the things that is pretty popular in our local area right now is the unofficial sub classes that some shooters are taking advantage of and local clubs are starting to recognize them as if they are classes.  One such class that's impressed me since I first saw it two years ago at the Kentucky State shoot is the Outlaw class.

Outlaw is where the shooter fires his pistols and shotgun from the hip.  This not only looks cool, but is pretty darned hard to do well, so when you see someone who's good at it, be impressed.  Tennessee Tomstone is a shooter from Tennessee (I want to say Pigeon Forge) and I saw him shoot it at that KY State shoot and he had a few misses, but he shot it well and looked like he was having fun.

Lately, the best duelist shooter that I regularly compete against, M'bogo, has started shooting Outlaw.  Last week, he put on a show only missing four targets and shooting very soundly all day long, Randy Atcher beat him, but not by much.  He was very impressive.  Maybe if I keep shooting 20 more years, I'll be that good.

I think Thunder Valley is going to start scoring this suedo category, I just don't know who's got the stones to shoot it with M'bogo.  I would, but I don't want to tax our poor spotters that badly.

Beat the Heat

So Saturday was hot. "How hot was it?" It was so hot I didn't mind Indy Kid's witless banter :)

Just in case you didn't know, 91 degree days in Indiana suck and standing in full cowboy gear and being even remotely active can be dangerous. Everyone got through it fine, but to make it you need to have a plan to beat the heat. Here's mine.

• Water: the more the better, start hydrating the night before
  
• Umbrella: have one, the bigger the better; Don't count on natural shade
  
• Gatorade or some other sports drink to replenish salt
• Light colored and loose fitting clothes, leave the leather vest home
• Straw hat: My sombrero is keen for this weather because it lends a lot of shade and doesn't hold heat like felt
• Sun screen: don't want to be mistaken for an injun do you?
  
• Don't do too much: its OK to hand off a job to a posse-member and remember to relieve your fellow members
• Water: drink some more
• Cooling bandanas are helpful, especially when stored in a cooler; These look promising
  

No matter how much I try to watch after people, it seems that someone always does too much working or doesn't drink enough water. One of the guys Saturday was plumb punchy by the end of it, good thing is it was caught before it went too far and we cooled him off with a cooling bandana and a bunch of water. The beer afterwards tasted WAY too good, man I love beer after a long hot day.

BADGE UPDATE: We've pretty well settled on a badge from Starpacker, Redneck has a design picked out and is taking names for an order. He needs 25 and has 20+ names from the shoot on Saturday. Looks like that will happen pretty easily. They'll run $52 each and we'll be able to get our club number and some sort of indication for the charter members of the club, which is cool.

Bangkok Rules

I get these things in my head and after jabbering at Jose for awhile I usually manage to get him onboard (except for Harleys). I have been checking out Cowboy Fast-draw and I’ve been intrigued as hell by it. The neatest thing about the sport is the head-to-head competition and I know that’s what’s got me interested.

The short of it is that you shoot wax bullets at a steel target. You compete against a person standing next to you shooting at his own steel target. The targets are attached to a timer and they have a light at the center. When the light turns on you draw and fire. The person who does it first wins…period. I’ve thought it would be cool if Thunder Valley had one for fun days where guys could just shoot it out, however there is one catch.

The shit is expensive!

I guess in the grand scheme of things it’s not bad, but for a complete target kit you’re dropping about 1500 dollars. That does not include the weapons, equipment, and ammo you might need. I can’t see the club being able to drop that kinda money for a fun-day event, although maybe something like that could be a great draw for a State level match. Pay a dollar a shot and take on all comers…might be able to afford something like that in the future.

Anyway if you dig fast-draw then check out the Cowboy Fast-draw Association webpage and see for yourself, but I think this one will go in the same category as Harleys with Jose.