[ARCHIVED THREAD] - s/o Why has Cowboy Action Shooting lost so much popularity in the U.S. ? (Poll added) (Page 1 of 10)
Posted: 12/3/2018 1:29:42 PM EDT
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Maybe some localities have seen growth, but nationally, the sport of speed-shooting Steel targets with old-west style "cowboy" guns seems on the decline.
I've never tried a match, but I am curious to hear from the insiders as to why the sport seems to be dying out? Is it growing in places like California, where the single-action six-shooters and lever guns have not been as heavily targeted by gun-grabbers? |
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When they moved their headquarters to New Mexico, I lost most interest in it. I really liked that annual world championship match and get together at Rahauges in CA. I have to drive too far for my local matches. |
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I'm going to guess an aging population?
The same thing that is killing a lot of things, especially firearm oriented. The lion's share of of young people have little interest in historical or antiquated objects, hence the decline in value of a lot of antiques and vintage collectibles. I suspect the decline in Harley sales is for somewhat of the same reasons....... |
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I have zero of the guns or gear required to shoot CASS, how much will it reasonably cost for me to get started? How useful are those firearms otherwise? How well do the skills and techniques learned translate to the “real world”? These are the primary obstacles it faces. People would rather shoot with guns and gear they already own, like an AR-15 or a semi-automatic handgun. And they feel like the skills they learn shooting those arms are more practical. Also, shooting 9mm and 5.56 for matches is cheap. Pretty much all the CASS shooters at my club reload to make their match ammo cheap, but that’s a whole other massive upfront cost. |
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My totally wild ass guess is that as more and more boomers who were weaned on Roy Rodgers, The Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke, John Wayne etc either are growing too old and or passing away.
As someone who grew up at the tail end of the tv western era it's something I've always wanted to get into, but much like my love for hunting I don't have the time to indulge like I would like to. (The downside of working for yourself is that when you're not working you're not getting paid and I have kids I'm putting through college and child support on one that's graduating this year.) |
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I have zero of the guns or gear required to shoot CASS, how much will it reasonably cost for me to get started? How useful are those firearms otherwise? How well do the skills and techniques learned translate to the “real world”? These are the primary obstacles it faces. People would rather shoot with guns and gear they already own, like an AR-15 or a semi-automatic handgun. And they feel like the skills they learn shooting those arms are more practical. Also, shooting 9mm and 5.56 for matches is cheap. Pretty much all the CASS shooters at my club reload to make their match ammo cheap, but that’s a whole other massive upfront cost. 
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Guessing from an outsider perspective. Western movies haven’t been a popular genre in movies (as in common releases) for around 40 years. So the majority of the people that would be interested would probably be 50 and up. If the core group is aging and they aren’t getting replacements it’s going to die off. Everything in life is one generation from extinction. No replacements stuff ends. Besides that the leverguns are expensive the pistols aren’t badly priced though. it’s cheaper to get an AR a pistol that can be used for multiple things (who’s gonna cc a 1873?) and go shoot 2 or 3 gun which makes it easier for younger people to go that route plus since younger people grew up on call of duty et all they will have more interest in that sort of shooting anyways to begin with. |
| Myself, my better half, eight year old boy and 5 year old daughter are working on getting into it. From going to some matches and watching we observed that they are real nice people. Everyone wants to see our kids shooting even though the girl will have to wait a couple of years and it is something we can do together. Our normal clothes work for this but I can see my family wanting to dress up at some point. |
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As mentioned above, cost is one thing.
I'd say media as well. Once in a while we get really good Westerns that get people into the idea, or video games like RDR. Consider how many Westerns you see today vs 50 or 60 years ago though, back when you had great actors pumping out Western after Western. TV also had Westerns. Today? Nada |
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The old people died. Cost was a big factor, too. To be one of the cool kids, needed two SA revolvers, expensive belt with holsters, lever-action, pistol-caliber rifle and a shotgun, double-barrel or Model 1897 Winchester. Unless you reloaded, cost of ammo, particularly .44 or .45, was an issue. Younger guys, not raised watching Gunsmoke or Have Gun, Will Travel, didn't have the connection to westerns and cowboys. |
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Ran out of cool nicknames? Honestly, it seemed corny as fuck. There can only be so many Katie-Bar-The-Doors. I could take a look at your life and probably pick out at least 5 things you do, enjoy, and how you do it and call you corny, or a fool, or a LARPer for it. It's all subjective. I've never done it myself, but I'd probably have a lot of fun with it. Not everything in life has to be "training" while LARPing a SEAL like some corny fool. 
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Previous posters have it.
1.) The demographic raised on TV and Movie westerns is aging out. The folks most interested are dying off. Not enough new blood coming in because...…... 2.) It's damned expensive to get into. And damned expensive to participate in. 3.) Stupid Fudd rules. |
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I have no interest in it because I don’t want to dress up like a cowboy. I’m Asian. I have my dignity. There were no Asian cowboys in the old West and I’m not going to pretend there ever was.
But if they change it up to be revolver shooting and lever-action rifle shooting in a furry costume, then hellz yeah, I’m in! |
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Previous posters have it. 1.) The demographic raised on TV and Movie westerns is aging out. The folks most interested are dying off. Not enough new blood coming in because...…... 2.) It's damned expensive to get into. And damned expensive to participate in. 3.) Stupid Fudd rules. Do I think it might be fun to shoot a SASS stage once in a while? Absolutely. Does it seem fun enough to justify the cost of gear and needing to dress up in a costume and use silly names? Not a bit. |
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I have no interest in it because I don’t want to dress up like a cowboy. I’m Asian. I have my dignity. There were no Asian cowboys in the old West and I’m not going to pretend there ever was. But if they change it up to be revolver shooting and lever-action rifle shooting in a furry costume, then hellz yeah, I’m in! |
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I have no interest in it because I don't want to dress up like a cowboy. I'm Asian. I have my dignity. There were no Asian cowboys in the old West and I'm not going to pretend there ever was. But if they change it up to be revolver shooting and lever-action rifle shooting in a furry costume, then hellz yeah, I'm in! 
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This rare historical colorized photo proves you wrong! http://trackingboard1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Shanghai-Noon.jpg Quoted:
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I have no interest in it because I don't want to dress up like a cowboy. I'm Asian. I have my dignity. There were no Asian cowboys in the old West and I'm not going to pretend there ever was. But if they change it up to be revolver shooting and lever-action rifle shooting in a furry costume, then hellz yeah, I'm in! http://trackingboard1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Shanghai-Noon.jpg 
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I used to shoot CAS.
One of the things that torqued me off was the retarded B.S. regarding the actual firearms allowed. Supposedly the rule was the gun had to exist during the "Frontier Period". 1890 or prior. OK. What about all the 1897 Winchester pumps? Those damn sure were NOT on the Frontier. STFU I was told. One fellow turned up with a no shit 1886 Spencer pump shotgun that was most certainly a frontier period gun. He was DQ'ed. 
Another guy tried to use an 1880's British Webley. NOPE! Not allowed. 
I always thought there should be a .22LR classification allowed. This would allow for low cost, entry level folks as well as another class for experienced shooters to play in. But NOOOOOOOOOOO. The gamers could shoot mouse fart centerfire loads all day long but .22lr "wasn't in the spirit of the game". 
Had my fill and walked away. |
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Previous posters have it. 1.) The demographic raised on TV and Movie westerns is aging out. The folks most interested are dying off. Not enough new blood coming in because...…... 2.) It's damned expensive to get into. And damned expensive to participate in. 3.) Stupid Fudd rules. If it weren't for the costume rules, I'd probably shoot it. |
| Probably a combination of everything the OP listed. I would love to try it, but I have other guns I want to buy before I get a single action revolver and a lever gun. I the idea of having to dress in period clothes seems a bit silly to me at this stage of my life, maybe when I was younger I would be more open to it. |
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This https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRHW1NeVq71OP5c4gmuhXtxGj5ZWXAvxi-kllm3y_52M4wlyULjmQ https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTU7TkK41WRyQhj39ref7bR5TJp6cMv0MXHHouvd3wcBP_0c15t https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRNRNm9UCLVVU8JpGOEUgfmBmXFRq2vPYDpLOu8ovQCGFt80jW9fg reminds me too much of this https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSH44mEyFwDcDZ7-xXUZsfmX1fSQRwd82NCrqSrDKwJQMBDPd-T2g Imagine updating it to the 21st century. You sit in the passenger seat of a moving golf cart while doing a drive by at some stationary targets. Costume to wear would be baggy jeans, Nike Air basketball shoes, gold jewelry, LA Dodgers baseball cap, and wife beater shirt... or something similar. Of course, just like in Western shooting, the people with more expensive costumes look down on the people with cheaper costumes. |
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Why is it corny? If someone finds it enjoyable who are you to call them corny? I could take a look at your life and probably pick out at least 5 things you do, enjoy, and how you do it and call you corny, or a fool, or a LARPer for it. It's all subjective. I've never done it myself, but I'd probably have a lot of fun with it. Not everything in life has to be "training" while LARPing a SEAL like some corny fool. Quoted:
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Ran out of cool nicknames? Honestly, it seemed corny as fuck. There can only be so many Katie-Bar-The-Doors. I could take a look at your life and probably pick out at least 5 things you do, enjoy, and how you do it and call you corny, or a fool, or a LARPer for it. It's all subjective. I've never done it myself, but I'd probably have a lot of fun with it. Not everything in life has to be "training" while LARPing a SEAL like some corny fool. I don't look down on anyone doing it, but that wasn't the question pertaining to this thread. Dropping a bunch of coin to play dress up for no other reason than just to "look the part" is a legitimate claim as to why the popularity is decreasing in my opinion. |
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I haven't shot SASS/CAS for about 2 years. I've been thinking of getting back into it.
The main reasons I think people don't shoot it already have been stated: 1. Dressing up - I don't mind it and have put together several outfits 2. expense of arms - The days of cheap uberti revolvers are long gone. 3. Gamerisms - This is kinda why I quit. Having grown men shooting gamer 38's with barely enough powder to register as a mouse fart is lame. To be more gamer they've even came up with a special 45 load that uses brass shorter than schoefield or 45ACP. 4. Not popular - Westerns aren't popular anymore Shooting CAS I like how the matches are run. It doesn't take long to reset ranges for the next shooter. Most shoots were 4-7 stages and the match doesn't drag since stages can be reset from shooter to shooter so fast. Usually shoot starts at 10am, over by 2pm. Yes some of the stages can be hokey, and having alias is cheesy, but most shooting sports are. I've seen an IDPA/IPSC (don't remember) match where you start the stage lying down in bed. Its a game, nothing more. I wish they would open up the rulebook for period correct arms. The rules are written in such a manner to drive everyone to the same guns. Can't use a 45-70 in main matches, rifles and shotguns have to have exposed hammers, etc. There's plenty of period correct arms that would be fun to use; Krags, 95 Winchesters, 86 Winchesters, Martini Henrys, double action pistols like Webley, etc....all forbidden. |