I shot my first CAS match tonight. I had been corresponding via email with the president of the Virginia City Marshals, and I decided Saturday I was just going to shoot the match as I hate being a bystander
When I got there about 20 minutes before the start of the match, I spoke with the match director about shooting the match. After talking about it some and my mentioning that I had spoken with the president of the group, he gave me the go ahead. I showed him my gear and my ammo, so we were good to go. The match director announced that I was a new shooter, so everyone had their eyes on me. This was more about safety than anything else, which was fine with me. Also, since I wasn't officially an SASS member, I didn't have an alias, so I made up one on the spot, which is probably already taken in the official roster but it worked for this match.
Now this is an indoor shoot, so no big complicated stages like I'm used to with 3-Gun. I used my two EMF Hartfords, my IAS 87 shotgun, and my Win 94 AE in .45 Colt. Now this wasn't my first rodeo, so the basic range commands were already ingrained in me, but the dialogue prior to shooting the stage was different. Also, loading the rifle and pistols at the loading table was not something I was used to, but I adapted well enough. On the first stage, I used rifle, shotgun, then pistol. Unlike everyone else's rifles, mine has the crossbolt safety, and when I laid the rifle down on the table, the saddle ring kept engaging the safety, so when the buzzer went off, I had to pick up the gun, rack a round in, find the safety and push it, then start shooting. 10 rounds down range, no misses, on to the shotgun. Loaded two up like I practiced, but I hadn't practiced reloading, so that slowed me down some. Four shots, on to the pistol section. I had set my revolvers up one on the strong side, one cross draw. I pulled the strong side, hit five, reholstered, did the dance and pulled the cross draw, five more, and the stage is done. I had shot the stage clean, so I was happy with that. I picked up my two long guns and went to the unloading table. This is also where things are slightly different versus 3-gun. In 3-gun, you drop the mags and pull the action open prior to finally holstering your empty pistol and putting your long gun away. With CAS, the guns go to the unloading table and you show clear on the two long guns, then empty your handguns and show clear. Once the firearms are clear, the long guns go back to the rack and the revolvers are in their respective holsters. After getting the SOPs down for CAS, I waited on the next stage.
We had a total of four stages, I used up 80 rounds of centerfire and 8 shotgun shells. I shot the match clean, and I didn't need any extra shots to do it, so I'm pretty happy. The brass is going into the tumbler tonight, and the guns are going back into the safes. I should be back next month, barring problems at work. I'm going to pick up a different rifle, since the crossbolt safety on the 94 is annoying and it's an excuse to pick up another gun