Cowboy mounted shooting

Jahred.F

Jahred.F

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I was asked this question by a guy I know. Pertaining to cowboy mounted shooting, where there is only blackpowder being shot for the purpose of popping balloons in horseback competition, where is it legal to discharge said ammunition.

At first this seemed like a pretty straight-forward answer, as per our firearms act, but as I thought about it more, it became more confusing.

I know of a place where they hold mounted shooting matches, and it is not an approved range, so far as I know. Do they have to be sanctioned and approved matches, then all transport and discharge regulations apply?
 
Is it possible the guns they use are special guns which may not meet the legal definition of firearms? If it only shot wax bullets, under 500fps, or whatever the amount of joules is. This is just a guess, of course. My friends only called me Cowboy Curtis, because I drove a truck and listened to country music, I couldn't do any real cowboy stuff if my life depended on it.
 
the guns are usually modified guns, like a fast draw gun. can you de-register the gun with the cfc when you change it to a aluminium barrel, ect?
 
It could be, I really don't know much about this sort of event. They are only shooting black powder, no projectile. It's the flakes of black powder that are popping balloons.

It just got me wondering, and I figured someone here would have the answer.
 
There are people in Alberta and Saskatchewan who have had certain rodeo arenas officially designated as firearms ranges based on the standard that there are no projectiles in use. The revolvers used are not modified and thus are restricted requiring ATT's.

They do not use wax bullets. Part of the safety standards require that the shooting be a certain distance from any bystanders. I believe that in competitions there is a strict protocol where only one person handles the ammuntion, loading the revolvers as the competitor enters the arena and unloading the empties before they leave.
 
This sport continues to grow here in Western Canada with competitions atracting upwards of sixty shooters now and growing. In Alberta there are three active associations that generally follow the rules and regulations of a similar minded association south of the border. Most shooters in Alberta belong to at least two of the associations if not all three as it provides more opportunities for competitiions. As Icebox has noted the revolvers are real and must be .45LC of single action design that remains true to those of the late 1800's. A special ATT is issued for mounted shooting with lots of restrictions such as not being permited to have live ammumition with you during events, practice or transport. You must belong to a recognised club/association in order to get the ATT. As far as approved ranges go, generally a certified mounted shooting range master will have inspected the venue to determine that it meets safety requirements then the clubs insurance company is notified of the legal land info and approval by a range master. After that it's just a matter of advising the RCMP with event or practice details and you are good to go. As with cowboy action shooting we are now seeing a shotgun class and a rifle class begin to become more popular (especially the shot gun it seems). The black powder blanks do not have an effective range of more than 20 feet with about 14 feet being optimal distance from the target. A stage consists of 10 targets therefore two single action revolvers with 5 blanks in each are worn. This is not like barrel racing where the pattern is the same all of the time as there are upwards of 60 different patterns. The riders normally engage what is called the radom course first after which they holster the first revolver and draw the second while engaging the rundown portion of the course. It's a timed event with an age and gender split as well as mutiple levels within the splits. The sport has really grown in recent history in Alberta and Saskatchewan however it's really big in the sates. Many of the Canadain riders have ventured down to the states to compete and done very well. The mounted shooters are a very diverse group of people and there's certainly people who have a firearms "back ground" who just happen to own horses but more and more it's people who own horses that have no firearms experience whatsoever that are getting into the sport. Of these new comers at least 50% are women as well. (It appears to me that the ladies are actually the best competitors too most of the time.) The sport combines shooting and horsemanship very nicely and even tho' at the basic level it sounds silly that a bunch of adults are "just popping balloons" with blanks it is actually really exciting and very addictive. It has certainly attracted people to shooting sports who would not have normally been anywhere near one.

Check out the Alberta web sites for more info and maybe try and catch a practice or competition.

Canadain Cowboy Mounted Shooters Assocoation www.canadainmountedshooters.ca
Wildrose Mounted Shooting Society www.wildrosemountedshooters.com
Alberta Mounted Shooters Association www.albertashooters.ca

Down in the states: CMSA www.cowboymountedshooting.com
 
It may well be that some of them are using guns which use special barrels that have resulted in the actions being de-registered. But the two I saw doing a demo and talked with about the event said that all the folks they new were using regular restricteds for the event.
 
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