The Rangers staged our first match of the season on Saturday, April 28th and the weather was awesome: sunshine and mid 70s! We are all hoping that this is a good omen for the rest of our shooting season. We shot a total of four stages. Two of them will be repeated in May as part of our annual “Where the Old West Stayed Young” and we needed to be sure some ideas we want to incorporate worked. Re-sets are a bit slow with the Texas star, but with normal (read larger) posses there should be enough folks to make it happen. We'll have some gloves there to prevent nicking of hands (thanks for the idea Jon). The other two stages were written up by Cusz 'M Dutch and provided an excellent mix and a change of pace from the usual 10-10-4 stand and deliver stages. Set-up was on Friday afternoon: Outta Place, The Some Dense Kid, I.B. Oneeye, Desperado James, Colorado Hank, Black Mountain Cat and Sagebrush Burns got everything put together. Everyone helped with break-down when the match was over. Thanks to all who helped (especially James and Henry who got there early and moved the heavy stuff).
I.B. Oneeye built a set of three “baby buffalo” racks which are re-settable using ropes. He brought them with him from Ft. Collins and set them up for us to try out. VERY NICE! He'll be leaving them with Soda Creek Jack and we will be using them for the rimfire side match in May. Thanks John.
With all the stir lately about load levels in SASS, we set up a chronograph after the match and gave all who wanted an opportunity to find out what their loads really do. Loads tested included: 357 Mag w/125 grain bullets; 45 Colt/250, 240, 180, 230 & 200; 40 S&W/172; 38 Sp/105 & 125; 32-20/115; 32 Mag/95 and 45 Schofield/260. Velocities ranged from 535 fps (38/125) to 1058 fps (32 mag/95), averaging 728 fps. Power factors ranged from 67 to 216, averaging 134.
Preparations are continuing for our annual Where the Old West Stayed Young match over Memorial Day week-end. Stages and side matches are written; props and targets tested and allocated; the match book is being assembled; door prizes and trophies are nearly completed; and other arrangements are progressing. Hope you'll be able to join us.
Regular monthly matches will continue on the fourth Saturday of the month, June through September. We plan on trying out some fun variations this season: in July one stage will be a two person scenario; in August one stage will be entirely knock-down targets. We look forward to the fun and the challenges.
As always, we'd like to hear from you if you have thoughts or ideas to help us do a better job. The Rangers no longer have our own separate web site, but everything you may need (including a downloadable entry form for the annual) can be found in the Bears Ears Sportsman Club (BESC) web site at: www.bearsears.org.
