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Cowboy Action
Cowboy actions shooters compete in the 2012 Gunfight at Givhans Ferry.
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Cowboy Action
The Geechee Gunfighters show off their shooting skills.
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Isom Dart
Charleston-born William Metz, who shoots as Isom Dart, took his handle from the infamous outlaw-turned-rancher who began life as a slave in 1849. Metz won the first Cowboy Spirit Award in 2010 for personifying the helpful, generous, hardworking attitude to which SASS members aspire. The award now bears his cowboy name.
Photo by Mic Smith
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Shooting Scenario
Each competitor in the Gunfight at Givhans Ferry is given a handbook that outlines the individual shooting stages. Shooters are scored on speed, accuracy—and above all—safety.
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Sue Render
Rhonda Metz, who shoots as Sue Render, displays her cowgirl finery. She and husband Joe Metz (aka Kid Ray), are members of the Savannah River Rangers SASS club in Columbia.
Photo by Mic Smith
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Replica Weapons
Cowboy action shooting, also called single-action shooting, is a competitive sport in which contestants use firearms similar to those used in the taming of the Old West: single-action revolvers, lever-action rifles, and side-by-side, double-barreled, pre-1899 pump or lever-action shotguns.
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Single-action
Revolvers used in cowboy action shooting must be single action, meaning that the shooter must cock the hammer before every shot.
Photo by Mic Smith
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Kid Ray
Joe Metz, aka Kid Ray of Columbia, lays down the law between matches at the 2012 Gunfight at Givhans Ferry. An avid cowboy action shooter, he serves as the assistant match director for the Savannah River Rangers shooting club.
Photo by Mic Smith
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Elaborate Set
During the Gunfight at Givhans Ferry, shooters engage steel targets set up behind Western stage sets. Shooting scenarios are often based on movie scenes as well as real-life events that occurred during the taming of the Wild West.
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Safety Check
Range officer Tyler Taylor (Shamrock Sadie) verifies that Eric Kemmerer (Doc Kemm) unloads and makes all weapons safe following a shooting stage. Both are members of the SASS-affiliated Geechee Gunfighters shooting club.
Can you name a family sport that demands steady aim and intense concentration amid thunderous noise? (Hint: It’s not bowling. Think leather chaps, a passion for American heritage, God and country, and lots of live ammo.) We’re talking cowboy action shooting—one of the fastest-growing shooting sports around—and y’all are invited to join the fun.
During the Gunfight at Givhans Ferry, aka the Single Action Shooting Society’s Southeast Regional Championships, more than 200 pistol-packin’ mamas, papas and a few young ’uns will enjoy four days of shooting matches and social events built around Wild West themes. This year’s competition takes place Nov. 7–10 at the Palmetto Gun Club near Summerville, and spectators who want to see what all the commotion is about are welcome to saddle up and mosey on over, just as writer Jan Igoe did during the 2012 shoot-out.
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JUST UP THE ROAD A PIECE from 21st-century Charleston, the Palmetto Gun Club in Summerville wasn’t far by car—assuming you left your horse back at the ranch—but arriving was like stepping into a bygone century where cowboy action shooters had taken over the territory. Politely, of course.
There were six-gun holsters, suspenders and Stetsons as far as the eye could see. Some of the weekend cowboys sported authentic Old West attire, others colorful B-Western duds with shiny boots and belt buckles to match. Some of the cowgirls wore walking skirts and lace-up vests, looking just as feminine as those fancy saloon gals. But don’t be fooled, these folks weren’t here just to play dress-up. Waiting their turn to compete were some of the region’s fastest shots with pistols, rifles and shotguns.
A sport with SASS
For all you greenhorns, cowboy action shooting is a competitive sport in which contestants use replica firearms similar to those used in the taming of the Old West: single-action revolvers, lever-action rifles, and side-by-side, double-barreled, pre-1899 pump or lever-action shotguns.
To enhance the cowboy theme, shooters dress in Western attire and adopt Wild West aliases that match their duds and shooting personas. Every shooter has a unique, registered handle inspired by a 19th-century character or vocation, a Hollywood western, or pure fiction. They’re important, because no one seems to know anybody else’s given name. Just because Hondo Jackson and Kid Nama might be best buds, it doesn’t mean they could pick each other’s real names off a wanted poster.
Between shooting matches, and at monthly club gatherings across South Carolina, these buckaroos and buckarettes bond over their shared love of Western nostalgia and respect for the cowboy way.
“No matter how bad you shoot, it’s the most fun you can have,” said Slippery Stew, otherwise known as Jeff Lee from Greenville, who got hooked on cowboy action through a friend, which is usually how it spreads.
The sport originated in California in the 1970s, inspired by The Wild Bunch, an epic Western about aging outlaws trying to survive as the Old West evaporated around them. The California gang quickly attracted other shooters across the country and grew into the Single Action Shooting Society (SASS), the first and largest group dedicated to cowboy action shooting and good-guy ethics.
“It’s worldwide now,” Slippery Stew said. “In Japan, they don’t allow private ownership of guns, but they shoot cowboy action with BB guns.”
For Hoss Blocker, a dead ringer for the original Bonanza character, it was also love at first sight. “I watched a match one weekend and was out buying a gun on Monday,” said the North Carolina computer engineer, aka Walter Smith.
But it’s not just the shooting that keeps the sport growing. Most competitors are quick to agree that the people are the biggest draw.
“Groups have personality, just like people,” said Ridgeville Rhett, who is sometimes known as Christopher Dammer. “Cowboy action shooting attracts extroverts who love to clown around and have a good time. If you’re going to wear an outfit and have an alias, you can’t be wrapped real tight.”
Meanwhile, back at the ranch...
When the matches start, shooters line up to engage steel targets from Wild West sets in 10 outdoor shooting bays. Following the intricate details of the competition can be tricky. There are more than 30 different categories of shooters based on combinations of age, gender, style of weapon, shooting technique and even styles of Western clothing. My advice for first-time spectators: Don’t even try to follow who’s winning what. Just enjoy the show.
The 2012 regional competition, for example, featured shooting scenarios based on Audie Murphy movies. After he became the most decorated American soldier in World War II and a Medal of Honor recipient, Murphy became an action hero in Hollywood westerns.
On one warm-up stage, shooters waited inside a mock outhouse with their rifle and shotgun nearby. Their hands had to be flat on the prop table with their pistols holstered as they recited their cue to start the action: “Man, it’s kind of rank in here.”
The next thing you heard—the instant after the official timer beeped—was the rapid ping-ping-ping-ping of bullets striking steel as shooters knocked down four targets with a shotgun and four more with a rifle, successively sweeping each target from one side to the other, back down and up again, like playing scales on a piano. Moving to the pistol position, they swept the next series of targets twice, but this time moving in the same direction. The best shooters in the 2012 competition often cleared stages like this by “shooting clean”—hitting every target—in just 15 to 20 seconds.
While shooters are scored on speed and accuracy, safety is paramount in cowboy action shooting. If you want to be disqualified faster than a speeding bullet, just do something careless with your gun. Range officers shadowed the competitors, timing them and monitoring every shot. “Make rifle safe … Make shotgun safe” was the constant refrain whenever the shooting stopped.
Love on the range
Tyler Taylor fired her first shot from an M-16 during Army basic training. Almost 30 years later, she found herself checking out cowboy action shooting at the regional championships. A couple of years after that, she was winning titles. In 2012, she was the Ladies B-Western overall champion.
Like most members of SASS, Taylor leads a double life. Neighbors know her as the mild-mannered mother of 22-year-old identical triplets. On weekdays, she’s just another senior systems analyst trudging off to work in the city like Clark Kent. But on weekends, Tyler sheds her go-to-meeting garb for frontier finery, donning a walking skirt, high-buttoned gambler’s blouse and cowboy boots. Add a holster and a feathered hat and you’ve got Shamrock Sadie.
When Taylor first got curious about the sport, she called Dun Gamblin’, a match director with the Lexington-area Palmetto Posse shooting club, to ask who could teach her to shoot.
Gamblin’ contacted Knot Hardly Dunn, with whom Taylor had spoken only once, and “asked him if he wouldn’t mind driving 60 miles to teach me how to shoot,” Taylor said.
He wasn’t a bad choice. Knot Hardly Dunn, aka Paul Taylor, worked for a police department for 30 years, spending 18 of them as the director of firearms training. Gamblin’ and Dunn met her at a range for a quick lesson on shooting cowboy action guns.
“They sent me home with a holster rig, pistols, a rifle and a ’97 shotgun, so I could dry-fire practice. My first match was just two weeks later,” Taylor said. Well, one match led to another, and Knot Hardly and Shamrock got hitched within a year.
Lots of couples shoot together. No spouse can resist watching the other have so much fun. Former flight attendant Sixgun Sallie, aka Sallie Nelson, met her husband, Dingo Dave (retired pilot Dave Nelson) on a 707 in 1980.
“I watched him shoot for six months. That was it,” Sallie said. “We learned together. Now we travel all over the country in a camper. These are good people. Everyone pulls for everyone else.”
Preparing for a big match, Sallie practices four times a week, both dry and live fire. That must work, because the North Carolina resident became the 2012 Overall Southeastern Regional Lady Champion, earning the right to compete in the world championships in Albuquerque.
The cowboy way
To encourage other shooters of the female persuasion, Shamrock Sadie helped form the Doily Gang. Becoming a member is easy. You just have to help out at matches and share cowboy action shooting knowledge and tips with other lady shooters. Being competitive in matches is fine, but never at the cost of friendliness.
“Other shooting sports are not like this,” said Abe E.S. Corpus, aka Weyman Carter from Greenville. “There’s an attitude of camaraderie. In this sport, the top shooter is the first to help somebody new. People you hardly know will lend you stuff to get started. It’s the cowboy way.”
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GET THERE
The Gunfight at Givhans Ferry is sponsored by the Geechee Gunfighters and will be held at the Palmetto Gun Club, 951 Summers Drive in Ridgeville, Nov. 7–10.
Spectators are welcome. Match director Doc Kemm, aka Eric Kemmerer, recommends coming for the regular competition matches starting at 9 a.m.on Friday and Saturday and the shoot-offs between the top male and female competitors on Sunday.
Admission is free, but all spectators must wear appropriate hearing and eye protection.
“While we will have disposable ear protection and a limited number of safety glasses, spectators are encouraged to bring their own if they have them,” Kemmerer said. “Most eye- or sunglasses are sufficient eye protection for spectators, as they will not be that close to the firing line.”
In addition to shooting matches, the weekend event also includes shooting clinics, an awards dinner, a costume contest for registered competitors, a salute to veterans and even cowboy church on Sunday. For more information and the full schedule of events, visit givhansferry.homestead.com.
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JOIN THE CLUB
Interested in learning more about cowboy action shooting? South Carolina’s SASS-affiliated shooting clubs often host open matches where newcomers can give the sport a try. For more information, contact the club nearest you, or visit sassnet.com.
Belton Bushwhackers. Contact: Pants A’Fire Meyer, (864) 760-9366; Email: aawmeyer@gmail.com. Online: beltonbushwhackers.com
Geechee Gunfighters (Ridgeville). Contact: Doc Kemm, (843) 737-3501; Email: dockemm10@gmail.com. Online: givhansferry.homestead.com
Greenville Gunfighters. Contact: Cowboy Junky, (864) 414-5578; Email: cowboy_junky@msn.com or Hondo Jackson, (864) 414-1968; Email: dlh45@bellsouth.net. Online: greenvillegunfighters.com
Hurricane Riders (Aynor). Contact: Saloon Keeper, (843) 361-2277. Online: hurricane-riders.com
Palmetto Posse (Lexington). Contact: Dun Gamblin’, (803) 422-5587; Email: gdunn013@gmail.com. Online: palmettoposse.org
Savannah River Rangers (Columbia). Contact: Surly Dave, (803) 892-2812; Email: surlydave@yahoo.com or Kid Ray, (803) 960-3907; Email: jmrm3@sc.rr.com. Online: savannahriverrangers.com