Cowboy Fast Draw World Championships

Cowboy Dast Draw competition isn't just for the guys

More of the ladies division competition

DAMIPHINO probably getting his butt kicked!
(I'll be next time he won't let Mr. Completely caption the pictures, ya think?)

At least the smoke isn't coming out the bottom of his holster!

Damiphino and Prickley Pear Blossom (wife's SASS alias) attended and competed in the Cowboy Fast Draw World Championship recently held in Deadwood South Dakota. He sent in this range report and pictures:

"Saw Og's post about his new Uberti Cattleman and decided I would placate Mr. Completely and send some info. on the Cowboy Shoots. Been doing both Cowboy Action and Cowboy Fast Draw. You get to make all those delightful loud noises with pistols, lever actions and shotguns just as long as they were designed before 1898.

The latest shoot was a Cowboy Fast Draw contest. Prickley Pear Blossom (wife's SASS alias) uses a Uberti Cattleman in 45 Colt. Looks like Og's. Mine is an EMF Great Western II.

Cowboy Fast Draw is a bit different from the "World Fast Draw" World has been around longer but they use highly modified guns and holsters. The guns usually have aluminum barrels and hammers with high tabs, most of them couldn't shoot live ammo just blanks.

Cowboy Fast Draw is more traditional the guns have to be Colt Single Action Army or clones and can't have any modifications. You can tune the actions but they must be fully functional and able to shoot live ammo. In the contests you use wax bullets over a shotgun primer and in some cases a few grains of black powder over a pistol primer. That gives a little smoke so people can see what is going on.

Targets are 21 feet away and you draw against one other person although there usually 4 or 6 on the line. You have to draw and hit the target in order to get a time. 3 out of 5 is the winner. The loser gets an X and 3 X's you are out. Who you shoot against is a matter of luck of the draw. It gets kind of intense on the line and there is a lot of psyching going on. If one person shoots fast and misses the other one can stand there and make a few comments carefully aim and fire even if the hit takes a while it is still a win and often reffered to as a gut shot.

How fast are these guys? Well, a World Record time of .351 seconds was set, and when someone does that, they have to prove it wasn't a fluke or that the had jumped the light, by backing it up with another time that's within 3/100 of a second of the first. Greg Danielson backed it up with a .362 on the next draw. WHEW! That's FAST!!

Oh, one thing DON"T TRY FAST DRAW WITH LIVE AMMO!! At every contest there is at least one or two people who get too fast and the gun goes off in the holster. With wax and primers it is embarassing and can hurt like hell but with live stuff, not a good idea. "

Sure does look like a lot of fun.........