Three Gun alternative in Greenville

Crunchy Frog · Dec 17, 2012

I understand that the only Three Gun match in South Carolina (at the Belton Gun Club) has been discontinued.

The "Greenville Gunfighters" of the Greenville Gun Club offer Wild Bunch Action Shooting which is a three gun competition. Pistol is a .45 caliber 1911 (five inch).

Rifle is a pistol caliber lever or pump action rifle with exposed hammer. SASS Wild Bunch rules mandate .40 caliber or greater. Our local club will continue to allow shooters to use the .38 caliber rifles for the time being.

Power factor of 150 for pistol and rifle ammo. Lead bullets only (we shoot steel).

Shotgun choices are Winchester 1897 (original or reproduction), Winchester 93/97 reproduction (these are not legal for SASS cowboy matches so they go cheap sometimes) or the Winchester Model 12 (the latter will be officially legal for all SASS Wild Bunch matches effective January 1, 2013 but local clubs have the option to allow them now, and we do).

As far as I know the Greenville Gunfighters is the only SC club offering regular Wild Bunch Action Shooting matches. We will host the SC Wild Bunch state match in late September of 2013. We shoot Wild Bunch on the 5th Sunday of the month; next match is December 30.

Looking for some Forum members to come check out the match. If you'd like more information send me a PM or check out the website: https://sites.google.com/site/greenvill ... hters/home

Midnight Raver · Dec 17, 2012

Question: why would they use a 1911? Nice pistols, but wouldn't Colt single action army types be more fitting?

Either way, sounds like fun!

Crunchy Frog · Dec 18, 2012

Midnight Raver said:
Question: why would they use a 1911? Nice pistols, but wouldn't Colt single action army types be more fitting?

Good question! "Let me preach on it."

We offer two different matches. Every month we have cowboy action shooting on the 4th Sunday. We use two single action revolvers, a pistol caliber rifle (mostly lever actions but there are a couple of period-correct pump rifles out there) and a shotgun (side-by-side, Winchester 1897 pump or Winchester 1887 lever). Guns are pre-1900 designs although, of course, most are modern-made guns such as the Ruger New Vaquero revolver. We've been holding cowboy matches for almost four years in Greenville. Our monthly cowboy matches draw 30 to 60 shooters on average.

About a year and a half ago we started Wild Bunch Action Shooting (WBAS) on 5th Sundays (about four times per year). This game is loosely based on the movie "The Wild Bunch" which was set in 1913. "Loosely" because there are guns in the movie that are not used in the sport (like bolt action rifles. Oh, and crew served machine guns). Our Wild Bunch matches draw a smaller crowd, usually between 12 and 15 shooters. We are trying to build it up.

The sanctioning body for both games is the Single Action Shooting Society (SASS) but there are two different sets of rules. Some people think that Wild Bunch is a "category" in cowboy action matches. It is not, it is a separate discipline although it would be accurate (in my opinion) to think of WBAS as a "spinoff" of cowboy action shooting.

There are some similarities between the two sports. Both are "three gun" competitions with steel targets (unless you consider cowboy "four gun"). In each sport the competitor chooses an alias (think of it as a "nom de guerre") and there are (easily met) clothing requirements. In cowboy action, 19th Century attire (primarily Western) is required. In WBAS you can either wear cowboy clothes, period military or period Mexican garb. We have one shooter who wears a campaign hat and khaki uniform with sergeant's stripes; he calls himself "Sgt Dork" (we have a sense of humor in this game). The cowboy rules mandate that revolvers be loaded with five rounds and that was carried over into WBAS where the 1911 magazines are loaded with five rounds.

As to differences: there is a saying in WBAS that "Wild Bunch is not cowboy shooting with a 1911". By the time WBAS rules were promulgated, cowboy matches were largely characterized by large targets at relatively short range, and lots of shooters were using light loaded smaller calibers (.38 Special is the most popular chambering). Wild Bunch has a higher power factor (150) and large calibers (.45 ACP in the pistols, and rifles are limited to .40 caliber and larger, although our local club allows shooters to use any cowboy-legal rifle, for now, so those of us who have .38 caliber rifles can play). Target size and distances are designed to be more challenging while still maintaining the dynamics of an "action shooting" game. Our WBAS targets include MGM poppers, falling plates and clay pigeons (the latter for shotgun) in addition to the static targets used in cowboy matches. We have a Texas Star that we use in both games that I think is a fun challenge (those who dread the sight of the contraption call it "the Death Star".

And you are right that both matches are a lot of fun.