The South Carolina Old West Shootists (SCOWS) held its last match of 2023 on December 30, in the Cooper Pistol Bays at the Mid-Carolina Rifle Club. The match, one of the posse’s occasional “5th Saturday” shoots, was the annual OK Corral Match, which had been rescheduled from the 5th Saturday in October.
There were 11 participants, including 1 junior, who braved a cold (but not too cold) December morning to shoot 4 main stages and a short bonus. We were also honored to have some special guests come out to shoot with us, including Tascosa Joe, one of the founding members of the Saluda Saddle Tramps, the NCOWS club that is now known as SCOWS, and a couple of skilled SASS shooters who have been very supportive of our NCOWS posse, Stone Ground and Palmetto Traveller, who came out to have some fun and experience a different kind of cowboy action shooting.
The 10 shooters represented a multitude of different shooting categories and subcategories, and from all appearances, all the shooters had a good time, and everybody shot pretty well, especially given that the targets were especially small and especially far away. There was one clean shooter: congrats to Sgt. Rick Henry, who once again showed that deliberate and steady wins the race.
Here are the match scores, by category (note that I had to change some categories when I noticed that some folks [myself included] had applied incorrect categories to the number/configuration of guns they were shooting):
Category Total Score (incl. penalties & bonuses)
Sod Buster (1 Pistol, 1 Shotgun)
SGT Rick Henry (clean match) 138.48
Lawman (1 Pistol, 1 Rifle, 1 Shotgun)
Moonshine (Shootist) 251.33
Youghiogheny Kid (Duelist) 267.27
3 Gun Black Powder Shootist (2 Pistol, 1 Rifle)
Cheyenne Jim 261.20
Sr. 4 Gun Smokeless Double Duelist (Outlaw)
Doc WHO 649.95
4 Gun Smokeless Shootist
Stone Ground 210.33
Palmetto Traveller 306.08
Working Cowboy (1 Rifle, 1 Pistol)
Tascosa Joe 258.74
J.P. Hara (Spencer Rifle) 424.53
4 Gun Black Powder Duelist
Manassas 638.00
Congratulations to all, and thanks to everyone for a great match.
REMINDERS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS:
The next SCOWS match will be our regularly scheduled January “2nd Sunday” match on Sunday, January 14, 2024. Hope to see you there!
Upcoming Events
Posse members and friends of SCOWS are reminded to “save the date” for the annual reenactment of the Battle of Aiken (run by the same folks who put on the Aiken Wild West Festival), which will be held the weekend of Feb. 23, 24 & 25, 2024. The location will be the Battle of Aiken site at 1210 Powell Pond Rd., Aiken, SC 29801. This is a large, well-publicized event which usually draws hundreds of Civil War reenactors (including cavalry & artillery) and thousands of spectators, at which SCOWS usually has a prominent presence. All members and friends are encouraged to attend. Once again, SCOWS has been asked to serve as Provost Marshals for the event. Our posse also typically sets up a display table (and gun rack) to explain to the public what it is we do and to recruit new members. We also perform other duties as requested by the event coordinators. Anyone coming in from out of town and seeking overnight accommodations can either contact SGT Henry or check the December posse match announcement e-mail for further information.