EOT, shoot off and awards

 Sunday at EOT starts with a Top Gun Shootoff, which is a one-on-one competition amount the top 16 shooters based on early scores.  It has no relation to the actual awards, it’s just a big entertainment feature. I mostly took video today, we’ll see if I have nay luck loading that.

After that was the awards presentation.  I was absolutely delighted to place 10th in my category!  And Gun E also placed 10th in his category.  Several others from New England also placed.  I’ll put that in when I see the list that Dead Head will write.  He took detailed notes.

Then we had the group of NE Cowboys & Cowgirls over to the camper for a winding down party.  Basically we always gather at someone camper to talk and relax over some snacks and a couple drinks.  Most of them are leaving tomorrow for either home or other places on their travel list.

We also had a camper repair.  On this rig there is an awning over the slide-outs.  The big one on the left side had pulled out the screws on one of the brackets that hold it on the coach.  Grazer and ET went back to the range to borrow a ladder so we could reach it.  Grazer had tried to reach it from on top of the coach but it was not going to work well to drill out the bracket for bigger screws from up there, hanging over the edge.  A big ‘ol Thanky to those guys.

After that Gun E and I cleaned our guns.  A few days worth of cleaning, some from Wed.  The sun set while we were doing that and we finished by the light of the driving lights on the coach.  

My buckle!

Some balloons landing this morning

The Shootoff, start in the middle

Go to the far end to being 26 shots

Those two plates in the center are the winner plates, first one down after completing the rifle, pistol & shotgun sequence is the winner, minus any misses.

Two very young competitors.  Cimarron Sonia (left) and Little Red Sure Shot (right). 

Their video is below

Little Red Sure Shot is also using black powder!

A couple videos

Camper repair

EOT last day of competition

 The last four stages.  Now I can’t believe it’s over.  After eight continuous days of playing cowboy it’s all over but the shoot off and awards tomorrow.  It sure has been FUN!

We brought our raincoats today, the clouds were out there, and it did rain.  Technically it rained.  We could see some raindrops hit the ground around us but couldn’t feel it on us.  Then it was over.  

In the big free raffle I won a gun cart!  Donated by Bullets by Scarlet.  They sell for $715, which is one reason I don’t have one.  I really liked my own cart but this packs up much smaller.  So I’m not sure what I’ll do with it.

This is Fiddler Fred, his black powder rounds really lit up under the overcast sky.

This evening was a banquet with a band and a comedian for entertainment.

Our table, from the left: Dead Head, Hawley McCoy, Grazer, Nantucket Dawn, Eastern Tenderfoot, 

Beck E Bear is just visible and Gun E Bear with his back to the camera.

Dead Head did a great job picking this table, we were first in line to get food!

EOT Main Match day 2

 Second day of 4 more stages.  Today went quite well for me.  Gun E’s new shotgun ran fine, my repaired rifle ran fine too.  We had the third wave today so didn’t have to be on the range until 2 PM.  So the camper got drained this morning after a nice sleep in.

It did rain today.  There were big dark clouds and warning of possible thunder storms.  I only heard one boom.  Andy others were covered by the gunfire!  In these big open spaces we could see the rain coming down from miles away.  Turned out to be a big threat but most of it went past us.  We had 10-15 minutes of big raindrops but not very heavy rain.  There was enough wind that the covered areas didn’t offer anything, the rain just blew through.  Yet we really didn’t get wet and even that dried off quickly.  It has rained a few more times for a few minutes each time.  

This evening was the side event awards presentation.  I didn’t get any trophy but have not seen the results so I don’t know where i placed.  In Wild Bunch Gun e and I each placed 19th in our respective categories.

I keep forgetting to mention that I’ve heard coyotes at least a couple times in the night this week.  Always nice to hear them.  Proves that we are out on the edge of the city.  It’s around 3 miles south to the edge of the urban area, only 1 mile east.  And Dead Head talks about shooting here in the early 1980s with the US Army  Marksmanship Unit when the city was more like 15+ miles away.

Side Event Awards spread out for presentation

EOT Main Match

 We started the main match this morning.  We have a great posse with several friends from New England and a good bunch from many other places.  We shoot 4 stages each day for 3 days.  That’s how they fit in 756 shooters.

While I managed to hit all my targets today I didn’t quite do it in the right order.  so much for a clean match.  It was almost a lot worse.  I had an out-of-battery discharge.  That means I didn’t have the lever on my rifle fully closed when I fired it.  It was the first stage of the day but at least the last shot out of the rifle, so I didn’t miss anything.  That not only jammed the gun but hurt the finger tips too.  No big deal, fingers heal.  My favorite rifle didn’t work anymore!  I knew where to find a couple gunsmiths so off I went.  I found Jim Bowie in his work trailer and he took maybe 10 minutes to fix it.  For a whopping $25.  Back to the posse and it runs fine!

Gun E has had shotgun problems from the start.  He has tried out maybe 3 different shotguns.  We went to the practice range to test fire two this afternoon, after he tested another one yesterday.  He has finally found and bought what he wants.  As it appears so far anyway!  We’ll find out for sure in the match tomorrow.  

This evening was a Territorial Governors meeting.  The TGs are part of the rule making structure for SASS.  We represent our clubs to SASS and also represent SASS to our club.  Then a swap meet.  I didn’t find anything to buy.

I didn’t take many pictures today.  Probably because of all my running around.

This is Hawley McCoy from MA

This was the swap meet in the main tent tonight.

EOT side event day

 What a busy day.  It’s 10 pm and we just finished cleaning guns.  

Going to make this short and go to bed. Well, after a night cap!

Warm up 4 stages this morning. That was pretty nice and we finished just after 10.  Of course it started at 7:30.  Ran a couple errands and had lunch at the Mexican place on site.  Don Jose puts out good food!

Then on to the Plainsman event that Gun E and I were running.  That started at 1:00 and finished just before the War Birds flyover at 5.  Some years we have still been shooting that at 5.  Followed by there opening ceremony and the complimentary dinner of pulled pork. That was better than I’d expected.  

So when we got back to camp we still had to clean some guns to use tomorrow.  Which begins once again at 7:30!  At least Friday and Saturday will be later.

Warm Up stages

These two young ladies in red are really something.  13.5 and 15 y.o. sisters shooting with their father.  The older one is really fast and accurate, the younger will be there soon herself.

This was also an impressive shooter.  There are very few of the ladies who shoot full-power black powder!

These are from the Plainsman event

And the War Birds flyover, a tradition here.

Ben Avery 6, EOT Wild Bunch

 Last day of Wild Bunch.   Second set of 5 stages.  Felt pretty good, a bit better than yesterday.  The award ceremony was tonight and I didn’t make the top ten in my category, don’t know what place I did get because the results have not been posted online yet.

Spent most of the afternoon putting away the WB gear and getting out the Cowboy gear again.

The wind has been howling each night for 2 nights, shaking the coach most of the night.  That also made it chilly in the morning.  Even though it was 62 the wind made it cool.  So I’ve had my wool jacket each day.  Then by noon the wind is gone and we’re hot!  That’s the desert.

Side events all day tomorrow.  

Some scenes from today’s events

 

One member of our posse takes photos for the Cowboy Chronicle (SASS quarterly publication) and took this yesterday.  So today he gave me this print.  No idea if it’ll be published.