I've been inactive in CAS for a number of years, but I am a Life member of SASS. I sort of moved back over to muzzleloaders as my main shooting interest. However, this thread caught my eye. Our local SASS-affiliated club, the Fort White Cowboy Cavalry, started a .22 cowboy action styled program in about 2000. I don't know if it is still going on, but it was very popular for a a number of years. I was the Match Director for several of those years. We called it the Rimfire Ruckus.
Our rules called for one single-action .22 caliber revolver, any manually operated (e.g. slide, lever, bolt-action) .22 caliber rifle with iron sights, and a single shot, break open shotgun in any gauge. SASS rules applied for shotgun ammo. The rifle and revolver could use any .22 short, long, or long-rifle cartridges. .22 Magnum was not allowed. High-velocity .22 longrifle ammo was allowed and created no problems. Even the copper-washed .22 bullets are soft lead.
We were fortunate in that we had a dedicated cowboy action range, and could just leave the targets up all the time, and just move them as needed. The week after the regular centerfire cowboy match, we would hold the Rimfire Ruckus, using the same targets in the same places as the previous week. Scenarios would be modified or rewritten to accommodate the single handgun and the single-shot scattergun. Timing, scoring, and safety rules and procedures were the same as for CAS. We strongly encouraged people to "dress cowboy," and most were happy to comply, but costuming was not a priority and a few people didn't get into that aspect at all.
The idea behind our Rimfire Ruckus was to provide a lower-cost alternative to Cowboy Action Shooting, both for the enjoyment of the participants and to introduce new shooters, families, and younger folks to the game. It was just as much fun as the centerfire matches, really.
As noted, we used the same steel targets as were used for the centerfire matches. The .22's would not take down the knockdown targets reliably, so we would just count hits. A few things we learned were that spotters really needed to be on their toes to count hits and misses accurately. Every scenario had to end with at least one shotgun blast, because the .22's were not loud enough to "stop" the timers. Duds with the .22 rounds were not uncommon, and if a shooter had a failure to fire, he would be allowed one re-shoot per match. Ejectors were allowed in the single shot shotguns, but hulls would stick in the chambers now and then. We learned to carry a few dead AA batteries... Hold the shotgunwith the muzzle up and drop a battery down the muzzle to knock out the stuck shell. I salvaged some lead from the range, melted it down, and filled a bunch of .30-30 shells with lead, and carried these in a cartridge belt instead of using batteries. They worked great.
We did not have any reloads on the clock, except for the shotguns. We only allowed the one re-shoot per shooter per match for a dud round or failure to fire, even though some of the folks shooting El Cheapo brand Bucket o' Bullets ammo might have several duds. If you start having too many re-shoots, things really begin to drag, and you want to keep things moving. People learned to not skimp, and buy good ammunition.
Bear in mind that .22 revolvers have recessed cylinders... You can't see the cartridge rims in looking through from the side, as with centerfire revolvers. So, the empty chamber on the six-shooters would be designated with a stripe of White-Out on either side of the top strap. The White-Out wiped off with bore cleaner and did not hurt the finish.
That's all I can think of right now. I just remember that the Rimfire Ruckus was a helluva lot of fun, required less gear, and was way cheaper than the cowboy centerfire matches.
Best regards,
Crooked River Bob