Features

Breaking Out The Long Guns

The CMSA Rifle Division takes Mounted Shooting A Little Closer to the Edge.

 

It was October 1903 when Texas gun-throwers Bill Standifer and PinkHiggins decided to settle their differences—once and for all.

 

It’s not clear what caused the bad blood, or why it reached a fatal boiling point. But the two— both in their 50s and with several notches on their guns—met near Higgins’ home in the Panhandle. Each was on horseback; each carried a rifle. Standifer reportedly fired first, killing his opponent’s horse. Higgins got off a shot that tore through Standifer’s chest, dropping him dead on the spot.

 

Fact: this was much more common than the gunfights of the Western movies, where the two guys face each other down in the middle of a street—and use pistols.

 

So in a roundabout way, the CMSA Rifle Class is not only a natural, but it also has a strong historical basis. Yet it’s certainly not as popular as the handgun competition, at least in terms of the number of shooters.

 

We’ll get into that later. First, let’s take aim at the history and nature of the Rifle Class.

 

History
CMSA records aren’t clear on just when rifle competition started. Jim Hanson, the 2001 and 2003 World Rifle Champion, thinks the first shoot was in Deadwood, SD, back in 2000. “Nobody really had any idea of how to go about it. So it was actually kind of comical. With almost every shot on the rundown, people were holding up to make that shot. People were leery about it, and it was kinda new for the horses, too. We had horses running off and running back and forth on the rundown and through the balloons. But it didn’t take too long to catch on to what we should be doing.”

 

But by the end of 2001, things were stabilized and standardized. The rider shot the first five balloons with a handgun, then switched to a rifle for the rundown.

 

Why Do They Do It?
John Clark, the 2005 National Rifle Champ, speaks for many when he says, “I tried it because it was a new and interesting challenge—just another excuse to get me in the saddle for another couple of runs.”

 

Theresa Cox agrees. “It’s a different kind of adrenaline rush because you don’t have near the control of that horse that you do when you’ve got your pistol,” says the 2006 World Lady’s Rifle Champion. “It’s totally different.”

 

Matt Sronce, the three time defending World Champ, actually prefers Rifle: “If you told me you could shoot pistol or you could shoot rifle but you couldn’t shoot both, I’d throw the pistols on the ground and shoot the rifle all day.” Men’s Level 5 Chris Guido seconds that, saying, “If I had to pick, I’d take rifle every day of the week and twice on Sunday. It’s a feeling you get when you pull that rifle out and come around that barrel and it’s just flat wide open. It’s just a whole new world.”

 

For the competitors, it comes down to a couple of things—it looks good and feels good.

 

Challenges
But just because it looks cool doesn’t make it any easier. You’ve got to have a well-trained horse that you really trust. Curt Moore, the 2004World Champion in Rifle, says, “You’ve got little room for error on a horse that’s always thinking run. You’ve got to have a horse that rates and allows you to make adjustments. As your partnership with the horse grows, it becomes almost like an orchestrated dance.”

 

Another challenge is preparing for the rundown. Theresa Cox says, “You’ve got to set up precisely on the rundown barrel because if you don’t, you’ll leave five balloons out there.” And frequently, that means going wider on the barrel than you would with a pistol.

 

And then there’s the action of the rifle—usually working the lever, which is an added element. A common problem: shooters failing to fully work the lever, causing a misfire or jam. Jim Hanson suggests that competitors practice by dry firing the rifle on and off the horse to get the proper action feel.

 

To Rein, or Not to Rein?
Ask that question to five different shooters and you’re liable to get five different answers. So here’s what some of the top folks say about it.

 

Jim Hanson: –“We never drop our reins. And in any clinics or teachings that we do, that’s one thing we do not suggest, that somebody drops their reins. It’s dangerous. A person loses a certain amount of balance when they drop their reins. But the biggest thing is that you’ve lost control of your horse. It’s kinda like driving down the road in your pickup. You wouldn’t jerk the steering wheel off and pitch it out the window.” So he lays the reins across the palm of his left hand and places the rifle forestock on top of them.

 

Matt Sronce, on the other hand, drops the reins on the neck of his horse just after he rounds the barrel: “I wouldn’t recommend it for everybody. But then I wouldn’t recommend Rifle for everybody. It allows you to focus on your shooting. And if you’re late, you can just turn around if you’re agile enough and still hit the target.” John Clark, Curt Moore and Chad Little also drop the reins.

 

Others improvise. Theresa Cox uses one-piece roping reins along with a special safety strap: “It’s attached to the reins, and it’s got a slit in it to fit through my hand. So when I come up at the end, I’ve still got a little bit of leverage there to keep my horse’s head up and I don’t have to worry about the reins slipping forward.”

 

The experts recommend that you find your own comfort level to determine just what kind of reins you use and what you do with them.

 

Revolving vs. Lever
A fair number of women use revolving rifles instead of the typical lever action models because they’re lighter and easier to handle. The rules allow it; but most of the men are, well, a bit skeptical. “I don’t believe [a revolving rifle] is a real rifle,” says Matt Sronce. “It’s just a glorified pistol.” He and others wish that CMSA would split them into two different classes—although Sronce adds that he’d probably enter both if that ever came about.

 

Few Shooters
And now we’re back to that early question—why aren’t more people trying Rifle? Most shooters never try it. Only a handful of folks register to compete at any given match. Matt Sronce theorizes, “A lot of it is that they’re scared to [try Rifle]. There’s also the additional expense of the entry fee as well as buying a thousand dollar rifle.” For the most experienced, John Clark says the extra work can hurt the performance of horse and rider, in both Rifle and pistol: “It’s just a long, long day on these horses, especially in hot weather.”

 

The Future
There may be a way to deal with that, according to Matt Sronce. “I’d like to see some stand-alone Rifle matches. We’ve had a few in Texas that had a lot of shooters. I think someday that may catch on more.” Which might well encourage more riders to try Rifle.

 

And maybe—not likely, but maybe—future Westerns would then better portray Old West gunfights, in which men like Pink Higgins and Bill Standifer used rifles on horseback.

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