Mounted Cowboy Shooting
Cowboy Mounted Shooting is the fastest shooting sport on four hooves and one of the most exciting of the competitive shooting events. Cowboy Mounted Shooting is like many action shooting sports in the scoring. The competitor’s score is the time through the stage of fire with penalty seconds added for missing a target. The big difference in this event… the competitors are shooting from a speeding horse. More
If you think of a barrel race with balloons set along the way as targets, then you’ve got the idea of what Cowboy Mounted Shooting is all about. It’s a test of skill, speed, reflexes and determination for both the horse and the rider. Cowboy Mounted Shooting is much like Cowboy Action Shooting, but with the addition of the horse.
Competitors in Cowboy Mounted Shooting fire single-action revolvers, usually stainless steel replicas of the Colt Peacemaker. Ammunition is .45 caliber long Colt blanks, loaded with coarse black powder. When a competitor shoots the revolver at a target balloon, the burning black powder breaks the target, if the shot is on target. A match is made up of six different stages with ten balloons on each stage. Each run requires five shots from each of two pistols. So, after a competitor empties his first six-gun, he holsters it and draws his second, all while riding the horse at something like 30 miles per hour.
A relatively new development in Cowboy Mounted Shooting challenges shooters’ skill with both a six-gun and a rifle. Shooters start with their six-guns, but halfway through the course of fire, they draw their rifles to complete the run. The rules allow two types of rifles. One is the familiar lever action carbine. The other is the Cattleman’s Carbine, which is basically a single-action six-gun with a stock and a longer barrel. Once again, the ammunition is .45 Long Colt blanks.
Mounted Shooters wear ten-gallon hats, chaps, boots, spurs and beautifully tooled gun belts to complete the picture of an Old West cowboy, or at least the Hollywood version of one. Riders of all ages, male and female compete in a variety of classes based on their age and ability. It’s all an effort to keep the competition fair and fun for everyone.
