More Rock Creek Station Pictures (Horses and riders)

[Delmonico]

Some folks from the local CMSA Club came out and demoed the Cowboy Mounted Shooting. This sport involves riding a course around the cones and shooting balloons with a very high powered black round. (The is a much more powerful round than the stage blanks we use for gunfight ren-actments.)

In competition they are scored for time with penalties for balloons left unbroken.









A lot of the competitors in this sport are women and a lot of them have been barrel racers.

I never got over to watch them this year, I was too busy, a friend took these pictures.

[Rushpuppy]

Cool!

[labby]

very cool

[amazongold]

That looks like a blast!

[gundog]

they don't have projectiles correct? or do they load it with rock salt or something?

[Delmonico]

they don't have projectiles correct? or do they load it with rock salt or something?

The round is 45 Colt or as some incorrectly call it, 45 Long Colt. They load a mixture of black powder, most often FFg and ground corn cob as used in tumbling media or as lizard litter. This allows it to break a balloon out to about 10 feet if the shooter is lined up close at least, they do use the sights, it ain't point and pray. However this load is safe enough to shoot in an indoor arena with out endangering by standers. This load because of the media and the heavier charge is a bit much for close in work for ren-actment. For that the group I work with most often use cap and ball revolvers, we load 15 gr FFFg for the faster burn and the rest of the cylinder is loaded with vermiculite rammed in tight. This is for both 36 and 44 caliber. The ones with cartridge guns use factory loaded stage blanks of what they call 1/2 power, although one round costs as much as a cylinder of 5 in the C&B's. All guns are loaded by one of our two safety officers. Of course all shots are taken low and to the left and everyone knows where everyone is at one time.

The shotgun in the one pictures in the ren-actment part is loaded with 60 grs and is done with out any type of wad, it's done with a dowel and a dead blow hammer and of course is also a muzzle loader. This requires a lot more distance to be safe, even with the low and left there is a bit of a shock wave, I've done thae run and get shotgunned a time or two, interesting to say the least even at 75 feet.

[myfavoritedog]

That's awesome! And those horses are magnificent!

[Garth]

That's some pretty skillful riding. I would have fallen off long ago.

[Delmonico]

One of our guys was doing the rifle version of that a couple years ago, you have to use two hands for that, he broke 8 ribs and gave up the mounted shooting, but not the riding, he's in his 70's though.