The Cowboy Phase.....

Garth Reckner

Garth Reckner

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Anybody else go through phases of gun collecting. I have apparently entered my Cowboy Phase. Everything that I find myself interested in right now has a western theme. Here are the latest toys.

Cowboyphase.jpg


Can't wait for the weather to get better so I can saddle up and really play cowboy.

Garth
 
Yeah been going through that for about 48 years or so. Last 10 I've shot cowboy action competitions, both ground and mounted. Here are a few of my toys.
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Here are a couple of pics from working on the Uberti comercial set a few years ago.
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A action shot at a competition
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and a fairly grainy fast film of me shooting a stage


take it easy and get a set of holsters you know you need them
cricket
 
Cricket,

I tried mounted shooting a few years back. It was a good time but apparently it is not something that you can do off just any horse. I have been riding since I could walk and that knowledge kept me from getting hurt too bad. Learned my lesson. First round we ended up through a wooden fence. He was doing great at home but I guess the idea of everybody watching turned him into an idiot. Second round we stayed in the confines of the arena so I guess that was a plus. Third round placed second out of 18 riders, but that was more luck than anything else.

I did just buy 2 new horses last fall and have plans on turning one of them into a shooting horse. Gonna do it right this time and put the time into actually training a shooting horse instead of just grabbing a horse and a gun and seeing what happens next.

Awesome collection by the way,

Garth
 
Hmm, maybe it is about time I learn how to mozey :) still shooting IDPA and other like matches.

Hmm.
 
Used to do some of that - it was a stone blast.
marlin cowboy model is a pretty good lever gun, but I prefer the 73 & 92 reproductions for looks.
 
I just saw the 2010 True Grit remake. That and Buffalo Rider make me want to be a cowboy (or buffalo rider, I guess).
 
Yeah training a shooting horse takes some extra work. They need to be a very well broke first, then start with just a primer in a 45case on the ground with the horse on a lead, keep doing that around it for a couple of days. Until the horse is not jerking and being spooked. Then pop the primer over his back from right to left and get him used to that. After that work up to it still just the primer in the saddle. Slowly work up to running patterns and popping the primers. Some horses are more spooked by the balloons that the gunfire so just keep working with the horse and have him good and calm before using full blanks.

If your loading your own, drill a larger touch hole in the primer pocket and make damn sure you mark the case to not load anything other than blanks. You can put 20 grains of BP or substitute and cap it with that green foam stuff from walmart that they use for bases for artificial plants. Just mash it down pretty tight with a dowel rod. If you already knew all that, sorry to go on about it, or if not and you have any questions ask away. I've turned a lot of horses into mounted shooting mounts. Good luck and have fun.

cricket
 
Cricket,
Thanks for the advice. I am a firm believer in never having too much knowledge. I think you are right about the balloons being scarier than the shooting. Weird thing was I had hunted off that horse lots of times and shots never bothered him before. I know he really didn't like the air compressor that they were filling balloons with.

Garth
 
Yep they can spook at things you would never expect. That red horse I'm on in the pic had been a good competition horse, couldn't care less about balloons or being shot off of. We came around a corner on the commercial shoot at a dead run with me standing up and leaning forward to shoot a balloon for the camera. When whamo dumped my butt and left hoof prints all over me. That 40ft camera tower was gonna eat him. We had to have a talk about it and then he was fine on every single run through after that.
 
Garth Reckner said:
Anybody else go through phases of gun collecting. I have apparently entered my Cowboy Phase. Everything that I find myself interested in right now has a western theme. Here are the latest toys.

Cowboyphase.jpg


Can't wait for the weather to get better so I can saddle up and really play cowboy.

Garth
Click to expand...

Sweet guns. What is the lever gun exactly? Looks like a golden boy of some kind.
 
Pokey1 said:
I went through a cowboy phase, but I didn't have real gun :D
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I'll be your Hucklebee ;)

Just picked up a Winchester 1892 Takedown High Grade in .45 LC for Christmas
I have a GREAT Kenny Rowe Rig for my six shooters
 
After fifty years as a gun nut, I finally acquired my first single action revolver awhile back, a Ruger Bisley Vaquero in .44 Special. Have since acquired a BFR .44 Magnum Shorty, which is the most accurate handgun I have ever owned. Also have had a Marlin .44 Magnum Model 1894 for a couple of years. These are my favorite range guns when I am just playing.
There is something addictive about flinging those big 'ol chunks of lead downrange. The Marlin has also become my favorite truck gun.
 
Well, Yee---Haw!

Awesome thread and pics :cool: I grew up on a farm with a quarter horse named Robin. SHe threw me a few times.... everytime I came back from summer vacation she was hard to ride for a while;):D

I have always wanted to hunt from horse back. THe four legged sound, the scent cover etc. Suppose to work well. I been wanting to do a pack hunt for years....one day:)
 
You and Beef can play Cowboys and Indians. That I would come to see!
 
knife hunter said:
Well, Yee---Haw!

Awesome thread and pics :cool: I grew up on a farm with a quarter horse named Robin. SHe threw me a few times.... everytime I came back from summer vacation she was hard to ride for a while;):D

I have always wanted to hunt from horse back. THe four legged sound, the scent cover etc. Suppose to work well. I been wanting to do a pack hunt for years....one day:)
Click to expand...

T,

There is nothing better than hunting off horse back. Really gives you a pioneer feeling. I had a great quarter horse named Dandy for years. We grew up together and there wasn't anything he couldn't do. Wish he was still around. I would load him up and be in the mountains elk hunting right now, alas he passed away this fall after 28 years. I have been buying horses to try to replace him but have yet to find anything that is half the companion that he was.

Garth
 
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