Black Gold Shootout

Papa Dave and I headed out Thursday morning, July 14th for the Black Gold Shootout in Manchester Kentucky. We went in Papa's SUV so I told him I'd pack light and he asked if I knew what light meant. I think he was surprised when we were able to get everything loaded and leave his rear rack carrier in my garage. We lost an hour due to Eastern time zone but still made it there shortly after noon with plenty of time to shoot the side-matches.

I headed to the Long Range Pistol while Papa met up with Dodge City Dixie, Dirty Nerdy, Reno Mustang and Brada Tat Tat to shoot the warm-up stage. The Long Range only had one person running rifle and pistol so he was really busy. My time rolled around and I went 5 for 5 so I made it into the 4 pm Shoot-off. I went down and joined the gang at the warm up stage to get a little match style practice in before the shoot-off.  We then decided to walk the stages we'd be shooting Friday morning and got through a couple  before I had to go to the shoot-off.

They did the shoot-off a little differently than I had seen before and I liked it. There were 5 or 6 folks that made the shoot-off and we all lined up side by side and shot one shot at a time at a 50 yard (more or less) target, if you missed and anyone else hit in that round you were out. After one or two rounds only Mongo and I were left. We went 10 rounds and they decided it could take all day so we moved to a target 10 yards farther back. At the new distance Mongo missed his first shot and I hit so I won the Long Range Pistol Match. Then I had to rush trying to beat the ran to pack my gear (the rain won).

Friday morning we started with Copperhead Joe welcoming everyone, then the Safety Meeting, Prayer, Pledge and we headed to our first stage. We started on 10 as far from the parking as you can get and when I got there I realized I'd left my shotgun belt in Papa's car. I started back to the car and fortunately Canoe Creek Kid was coming up on his 4-wheeler and he gave me a ride to get my gear, Thanks again Canoe Creek.

We started on Stage 10 looking down into the Outhouse, pistols holstered, rifle staged on the center table and shotgun stage on left table. You started with pistol or shotgun then shot rifle and ended with the other. Your line was There's a geriller in there, at the beep moved to preferred table, if starting on left engage the 4 shotgun knock downs, move to the rifle and shoot a progressive sweep on 2 targets, 1 on 1, 2 on 2, 3 on 1 and 4 on 2, moved to the pistols and shoot same sequence as rifle. I had a shotgun make-up on this and ended up with  25.46 seconds.

We were on posse 10 which consisted of Ara Tiest, Ben T. Iron, Black Jack Lee, Brada Tat Tat, C. W. Knight, Canoe Creek Kid, Cleve, Dead Lee Shooter, Dirty Nerdy, Dodge City Dixie, Fire N Fallback, Graywolf Tate, Hikes Point Hank, Let's Go, Mad Dog McCoy, Papa Dave, Randy Saint Eagle (me), Reno Mustang, Rio Drifter, Sidekick, Tennessee Tall and The Arizona Ranger. With 22 shooters we had a large posse but everyone worked and it went well.

Stage 9 was our last stage of the day With 10 rifle staged anywhere, 10 pistol holstered or staged and 4+ shotgun staged anywhere. The targets were on  vertical racks with 2 on the bottom, one in the center and 2 on top. Start at any of the 5 openings with a mug in both hands, your line was "Hold my beer and watch this".  At the beep you had to engage each pistol and rifle target 2 times each and engage the 4 shotgun KD's. You  had to shoot at least 1 round through 4 of the 5 openings. This was my best stage of the day with a 20.42 seconds.

We had lunch afterwards and watched  the team matches before deciding it would be a good idea to hit the Dairy Queen and have some desert before supper so Dodge City Dixie, Reno Mustang, Papa Dave and I found the DQ and chilled out for a while. Back at the range after a good pork dinner we had the side match awards and a Bluegrass Band.

Saturday morning brought on the final 5 stages and I got to the stage with all my gear this time. Our second stage of the day, stage 1 was my best stage of the day. You started with a gun or guns pointed downrange, with 10 rifle staged in any window, 10 pistol holstered, 6 shotgun staged in any window. Your line was "She's prettier than a mess of catfish", at the beep using all 4 openings for at least 1 round put at least 2 rounds on each of the 3 rifle and 3 pistol targets and engage the 6 shotgun KD's till down. I shot this in 22.05 seconds. Brada Tat Tat  was blazing through the third stage of the day when he laid down a sweet rifle run, made a quick move to the left and his right pistol didn't move with him, it hung in the air like slow motion when he ran out from under it. That ended his match but not his Spirit as he stayed with us and worked the rest of the day.

After the last stage we headed back for lunch, did I mention this match included lunch and dinner on Friday and Saturday. After lunch they had the Man on Man Shoot-off and more Hillbilly games but Papa Dave and I decided to pack up our guns and chill out in Cumberland Drifter and Georgia Dew's camper with them, Cimarron Lil and Big 6 Henderson. It was nice just to relax and visit with friends on a hot afternoon.

After a really good fish dinner we had the Main Match Awards and they were very unique with a gun locally made out of coal dust and resin mounted to a plaque.

The Wartrace Regulators faired pretty well and Brad had a ton of fun, when he ran up to get the Spirit of the Game Award for our posse he dropped a plastic gun out of his pocket half way there.

Ara Tiest,  7th Lady Wrangler
Dirty Nerdy, 2nd Cowgirl
Perfecto Vaquera, 3rd Ladies B-Western
C W Knight, 4th Silver Senior
Ben T Iron, 3rd Classic Cowboy
Reno Mustang, 3rd Senior Gunfighter
Papa Dave, 1st Grand Patron
Dodge City Dixie, 1st Ladies Senior
Shaddai Vaquero, 1st Classic Cowboy
Randy Saint Eagle, 1st Senior Duelist
Cumberland Drifter, 3rd 49r and 6th Overall
Vaquero Jake 1st Gunfighter and 3rd Overall

Sidekick was the Top Gun of the Match, (he was on Posse 10 and showed us how to shoot amazingly fast and clean) followed by Missouri Lefty, Vaquero Jake, Missouri Traveler, Blackhawk Henry, Cumberland Drifter, Cowboy Junkie, Three Cut, Billy The Avenger and Double Nickle rounded out the Top 10.

Sue Render was the Ladies Top Gun, followed by Shamrock Sadie, Turkey Legs, Dodge City Dixie, Renegade Roper, Miss Pistol Whipper, Dixie Pistols, Honey B Graceful, Lefty's Lucky Lady and Anita Margarita rounded out the Ladies Top 10.

Complete Scores

Here's a video of Billy The Avenger

Here's a video by Billy of Missouri Lefty shooting Widder's Soft Stroke modification he's been doing on Henry .22 rifles

It was really good to see Ringo ( by gawd) Fire, Korupt Karl, MoBetta, Digger, Rowdy Bates and others I hadn't seen in a while.

After the awards Blackwater and Milkbone provided the entertainment for the night along with a dance contest.  There are somethings that you really don't want ingrained in your brain like this picture. by Krazy Kajun. So Cimarron Lil, Big 6 Henderson, Georgia Dew, Cumberland Drifter, Dodge City Dixie, Reno Mustang, Papa Dave and I decided to make another run to the DQ for desert. We asked Dirty and Brad if they wanted to go but Brad said he'd already had his DQ for the day.

This match had some of the stiffest competition you'll find anywhere short of EOT, with lots of current and former National and World Champions in attendance. Copperhead Joe, Miss Bo, Iron Maiden, Whiskey Creek Johnson and the many others put on a Great Match. If you're looking for a First Class Match with lots of competition and a weekend long party you need to put this one on your list. I suggest you send your 2017 application in early next year because I predict this will fill up early.

Black Gold Slideshow by Dirty Nerdy

Slideshow by Dodge City Dixie

Thanks again to Joe and the gang for a great match.

There's plenty of good matches still this year so check out a few of them.

Gunfight in Dixie

Hellfire

Lead Mine Valley Shootout

Tennessee State Championship

Gunfight at Givhans Ferry

This is just a few of them, find  one close to you here

The next match in Wartrace will be the August 6th Cowboy Match for more info always check out our Website

Hope to see you down the trail.