{"id":1518,"date":"2010-01-29T01:16:43","date_gmt":"2010-01-29T07:16:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/?p=1518"},"modified":"2010-01-29T01:19:03","modified_gmt":"2010-01-29T07:19:03","slug":"a-cowboy-action-shooting-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/a-cowboy-action-shooting-class\/1518\/","title":{"rendered":"A Cowboy Action Shooting class…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Busman\u2019s Holiday
\nShe got a .38 Special, but I believe
\nit\u2019s most too light
\nShe got a .38 Special, but I believe
\nit\u2019s most too light
\nI got a .32-20, got to make
\nthe camps alright
\n\u2014 Robert Johnson<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe .32-20 Blues\u201d Since mostly what I do is travel, shoot, and film shooting, it only makes sense when I have a couple of days off, I \u2026 go shooting. Specifically, with a tiny break between THE BEST DEFENSE and SHOOTING GALLERY schedules, I snuck in a two-day Cowboy Action Shooting\u2122 class with Evil Roy and Wicked Felina.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve known Evil and Wicked roughly forever \u2026 they and granddaughter, Holy Terror, were instructors in the National Shooting Sports Foundation media education project, which I headed up, and you\u2019ve seen them on numerous episodes of COWBOYS. In fact, next season Evil Roy will be a regular, handling our instructional segment. But, as many times as I\u2019ve worked with them, I\u2019d never actually taken a class.<\/p>\n

So why do I need a class in something I do every available weekend (and most of the week days)? Same reason you should consider a class. A good instructor \u2014 and Evil Roy is far more than a good instructor \u2014 can see small details about your shooting that can make a huge difference in your results. The problem is our shooting \u201cstyle,\u201d for lack of a better word, is always evolving, and not always in a good way. As I\u2019ve said repeatedly on my shows, shooting is a perishable skill, one that requires repeated practice. And, regardless of what the old saw says, only perfect practice makes perfect!<\/p>\n

So how easy is it to pick up bad habits? Pretty much on par with picking up cat hair on a black sweater when you go visit the nice neighbor lady with 42 housecats and a broken vacuum cleaner! Back in the old days of IPSC, we used to say the sport was a way to learn how sloppy we could be and still hit the target \u2026 judging by some of the Cowboy Action Shooting\u2122 shooters I\u2019ve seen \u2014 including myself on occasions \u2014 there\u2019s still a lot of that thinking around.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve been shooting for awhile, the function of an instructor is to \u201crecalibrate\u201d you to the straight and narrow. Here\u2019s an example \u2026 one of the goals I wanted out of the Evil Roy class was speeding up my draw. I can reliably deliver an aimed shot in less than two seconds, which is nowhere near as fast as when I shot practical pistol. And drawing the gun means more in Cowboy Action Shooting\u2122 than in some of the other sports \u2014 in USPSA or IDPA, I would normally have just one draw for a stage that might take as many as 20 or more rounds (hence the emphasis on speedy reloading in those sports).<\/p>\n

In a 10 stage practical pistol match, there\u2019d be 10 draws or less if the gun was staged on a table. On a high round-count stage, a quarter or even a half second off on a draw isn\u2019t going to make that much difference. In a 10 stage Cowboy Action Shooting\u2122 match with rank point scoring, there will likely be 20 draws, and shaving half-a-second off a draw yields a whopping 10 seconds off in that 10 stage match!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Evil Roy instructing a new cowboy action shooter at Tin Star Ranch in Frederickburg, Texas.<\/p><\/div>\n

Evil Roy spent a disproportionate amount of time staring at my draw, then came up with not one, but two \u201ca-ha!\u201d moments. You\u2019re gripping the gun like a 1911!\u201d he said, which when translated into Normal English means I was establishing a dead-perfect grip on the gun before moving into the draw, a perfectly logical response if I were getting ready to shoot 20 rounds of IPSC Major .45 ACP loads from four different positions at small paper targets where a bad grip would have huge consequences in controlling the gun. Not so logical if I were shooting five shots of Cowboy Action Shooting\u2122 .38s at large steel targets, where a less-than-perfect grip would have far fewer consequences.<\/p>\n

The second a-ha was for the amount of rearward pressure my weak hand was exerting on the revolver, the correct amount being “none.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s the half-second \u2026 all I need to do is repeat the draw four or five thousand times, and it\u2019s my half-second. Ah, Little Grasshopper \u2026 I know what you\u2019re thinking \u2026 does it really make that much difference? At least twice a week on the Wire there\u2019s a thread about \u201chaving fun\u201d versus \u201cbeing competitive.\u201d I never have much understood the controversy. I don\u2019t know about you, but I believe in being better \u2026 not just in SASS but in all the important things I do in my life. I want next year\u2019s episodes of COWBOYS to be better than this year\u2019s episodes. I want my relationship to get better and better as each year passes. Heck, there\u2019s even improvement possible in my chili recipe, although it\u2019s darn near perfect.<\/p>\n

The great thing about Cowboy Action Shooting\u2122 is it is a tool to train us how to get better in many things. We learned in the Evil Roy class to move forward in quarter- or half-second intervals, to eliminate the unnecessary motions as we transition from gun to gun, to set small, achievable goals, and work relentlessly toward them. In short, while Gene Pearcey, Evil Roy, is providing the tips and techniques we think we need to succeed as a shooter, he\u2019s also giving us a way to think, a methodology that will lead us to change. That is maybe the most important part of the class, because unfortunately Evil Roy and Wicked Felina can\u2019t camp out in my living room to remind me of what I need to do on a daily basis. It\u2019s up to me. I submit the same methodology will work for repairing your porch, starting a new business, building a relationship or anything else in your life where change seems impossible\u2014small steps, achievable goals, elimination of time wasters, and commitment.<\/p>\n

Think about it! And visit EvilRoyShootingSchool.com<\/a> \u2026 tell him Wolf Bane sent you!<\/p>\n

(Wolf Bane, SASS #13557, is the alias for Michael Bane, veteran shooter, gunwriter, and producer of the OUTDOOR CHANNEL series, COWBOYS, SHOOTING GALLERY, and THE BEST DEFENSE. You can find an excerpt of his most recent book, TRAIL SAFE, at: http:\/\/www.flyingdragonltd.us\/trail-safe.htm<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article is also published in Cowboy Chronicle, February 2010 Edition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Busman\u2019s Holiday She got a .38 Special, but I believe it\u2019s most too light She got a .38 Special, but I believe it\u2019s most too light I got a .32-20, got to make the camps alright \u2014 Robert Johnson \u201cThe .32-20 Blues\u201d Since mostly what I do is travel, shoot, and film shooting, it only […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[167],"tags":[89,242,67],"class_list":["post-1518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dropped-shot","tag-cowboy-action-shooting","tag-evil-roy-shooting-school","tag-sass"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}