Shooting from the hip

[Dutch Limbach]

Amen, Pancho!

[Montana Slim]

The  Hooten Old Town Range is one of the few that I have shot at, that it was safe to shoot from the hip.
Each stage was bermed on the sides and the back stop was a small mountain.

It definately will not be allowed at the Westside Sportmans Club.

Books

Agree with that.
Whether or not it is safe depends heavily on the range facility including berms, also size, placement & distance to the target.
My local SASS clubs occasionally have a stage with (usually) option of shooting from the hip and offering a small bonus.
The targets for these stages are low, and large and I've seen no safety issues. One of the two clubs have full side berms for each stage similar to Hooten.

Slim

[Will Ketchum]

I don't have a problem with hip shooting if the berm is high enough.  The shotgun is usually the better choice for it. 

Will Ketchum

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[River City John]

The  Hooten Old Town Range is one of the few that I have shot at, that it was safe to shoot from the hip.
Each stage was bermed on the sides and the back stop was a small mountain.

It definately will not be allowed at the Westside Sportmans Club.

Books

As the author of the stage in question I will say that it was written expressly for the Hooten range situation.


 "Battle Amongst the Boulders on the Leadville Line"


In the late 1870’s open warfare erupted between the Atcheson, Topeka & Santa Fe R.R. and the Denver & Rio Grande R.R. as each pushed their way towards Leadville, Colo.  Both railroads hired gunmen to harass each other’s surveying parties and work gangs. The D&RG drew from the ranks of the local populace and the State Militia while the AT&SF brought in outsiders, including many recruited and lead by Bat Masterson (although technically serving as Sheriff of Ford County, Ariz. at the time).

The militia has been assigned to help guard a D & RG R.R. work party when it comes under attack by Masterson’s hirelings hidden amongst the rocks on either side of your right-of-way. Your only hope is to quickly return fire to make them keep their heads down and move for cover in the rocks to carry on the fight.
Ammo needed:
Rifle, loaded with 6 rounds, action closed with empty chamber, 5 rounds on your person, 11 rounds total.
Pistol, loaded with 5 rounds in holster, hammer down on empty chamber.

Begin standing at the firing line at Cowboy port arms. Your line to signal the Timer you’re ready is: “Grab yer shootin’ irons and head for the rocks!”
At the buzzer sweep the three rifle targets on the left starting from the outside from the hip, then sweep the three rifle targets on the right starting from the outside also from the hip. (Note to Counters: All hits from the hip will count as 5 second bonus, no misses will be scored.) With action open and muzzle not breaking the 170* rule, advance to shelter behind the large boulder and, holding your rifle upright in your weak hand, draw your pistol and engage the same three targets on your strong side in a Nevada Sweep starting from the outside. Reholster pistol and move to the opposite side of the boulder and reload 5 rounds in the rifle to engage those three targets in a Nevada Sweep starting from the outside. With action open and muzzle upright, proceed to unloading table.
10 seconds per miss.  10 seconds for procedural. 5 seconds bonus for each hipshot that scores.

RCJ

[Tjackstephens]

WHAT!! NO YODELING?  Tj 

[Texas Lawdog]

And No Skirt!

[Montana Slim]

...and I gotta lotta bonus time on that stage, Thanks RCJ 

Slim

[bear tooth billy]

A few years ago when I was new to the sport I was at a shoot where we shot one pistol
with your right hand and the other pistol with your left hand. I had NEVER fired a pistol
left handed before, and this made me very uncomfortable. I did alright but I strongly
agree that putting people in unfamiliar shooting positions is a bad idea.
       BTB

[Colt Fanning]

The Lone Star Frontier club occasionally has hip shooting pistol stages, however they have a backstop that is about 125 ft high.
Regards
Colt

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Howdy!

Kevin, I've shot a few matches at GLFMC where we did a "hip shoot" 5 round exercise.  I did what I thought was hip shooting, where I simply put the pistol out front without using the sights and got 4 of 5.  I heard some grumbling behind me from Peevine, Fall Creek Sam and a few others and was told that I DIDN'T hip shoot right.  Well, I wasn't trying to cheat, I just went with what I knew.  Pee then showed me the RIGHT way.  We did NOT draw - the weapon was in hand, as I recall.  Anyway, I got lucky and got all 5!  (You can imagine the good-natured grumbling THEN!    )

I really enjoyed the experience and we've done it a time or 2 since then.  HOWEVER, and let me make this clear, the range we use for GLFMC is safe to shoot this way; there are hills and/or dense woods surrounding the shooting alleys and a large hill as a backstop.  It was done with the highest standards of safety.  In the 8 or 9 yrs. I've been a member there, we've only done this 3, MAYBE 4 times.  No sense taking chances.

The idea presented earlier about using wax bullets has a LOT of merit, IMHO.  Hip shooting IS fun and a nice challenge not often encountered.  I won't even go into "real life" shooting:  that's a horse of a different colour, but safety while practicing MUST be observed.  I will say this:  You should practice at least enough to be familiar with the technique as well as with your off hand.


Have fun!

[Dutch Limbach]

...the range we use for GLFMC is safe to shoot this way; there are hills and/or dense woods surrounding the shooting alleys and a large hill as a backstop...

Jeff,

I was at a Muzzleloading shoot one time at a range that was densely wooded with a much larger hill than at GLFMC. We were in the middle of a relay when a group of mushroom hunters walked out of the woods and right onto the range right behind the 50 yard target stands! These people had not only not taken notice of 30 muzzleloading rifles being fired, they hadn't noticed the orange signs that were placed around the property boundary warning they were entering a firing range. Fortunately, for all involved, one of our shooters saw them and immediately called "Ceasefire" loudly and clearly.
 

[Tjackstephens]

I like to have fun shooting as much as anyone. Do not think that anything should be done that could in any way cause a safety problem. That includes complete handgun reloads and shooting from the hip. I do understand that SASS has a class called Outlaw that shoot handguns and shotgun from the hip. I should think  that class could and probably is refused at some ranges. But there again over the years SASS has done many things that I did not agree with. In all that we do in our sport we need to keep SAFETY at the top of our list. Remember that old law, if something can go wrong it will. One shooting accident could cause a lot of problems. Just my views and I am just an old fat cowboy. Tj

[Texas Lawdog]

Bro. Texas Jack, You ain't old and you durn sure ain't fat.

[Cherokee Reb]

The SASS Outlaw shooting is not a class and the pistol is not shot from the hip. It's more of an arm extended , but bent at the elbow one handed stance.  At SASS pistol range, you'd be hard pressed to miss even with this stance. The little NCOWS shooting I have done is at ranges that this would not be practical. Just my .02......

[Tjackstephens]

Cherokee Reb, thanks for clearing that up. So many different classes, should have checked the SASS web page. Just have seen it shot at so many SASS matches. Tj

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I love this clip from Rustlers Rhapsody;

[Irish Dave]

I have to agree with TJ and others on this one.
As I said earlier, I oppose any scenario that requires shooters to fire their arms in any manner that they are not accustomed to doing.

* One-handed shooters shooting with their weak hand.
* Two handed shooters shooting one-handed.
* Hip shooting or other methods that prohibit the use of sights.
* Etc.

True, some folks are sufficiently well versed with all the shooting styles to be able to do these things safely. But how do we know which ones? Who's to make that determination beforehand? We cannot afford to wait until something tragic happens and then say "Gee, I guess we shouldn't have made that guy/gal shoot that way." Requiring these things at matches is not a safe practice, IMHO.

And it's not always about the back berm. I've seen hip shots (tried by folks not accustomed to it) that didn't get enough elevation and came awfully close to hitting the stage props directly in front of them. It's just not a good idea as I see it.

A life-or-death situation for LEOs and others is one thing, but this is a sport and we should not tempt the fates for the sake of fun or novelty.

JMHO.

[Montana Slim]

I'm reminded of Val Kilmer's line in Tombstone:

"This just ain't your game, Ike......I know.....lets have a spelling contest"

Hopefully, we won't have to be that extreme in our measures to maintain safety.

Slim

[Dutch Limbach]

I'm reminded of Val Kilmer's line in Tombstone:

"This just ain't your game, Ike......I know.....lets have a spelling contest"

Hopefully, we won't have to be that extreme in our measures to maintain safety.

Slim

Do you think we are being too safety conscious Slim?

[Tjackstephens]

The best way to handle shooting from the hip, reloading, shooting one handed or weak hand. State at the start of the stage, if anyone has a problem with this type of shooting(problem with health, never done it, a very weak hand,ect.) they may shoot their normal way. Would think that the range that could do these things would let this be known to all shooters for safety. Tj