Cowboy Action

Howdy Cowboys and Cowgirls,

Smoke on the Mattaponi 2025 is in the books. I’ll write a few words tomorrow after my brain cools down to room temperature; for now, special thanks to all who dismantled the props and targets and put everything away.

For those who like same-day scores (like I do), there are 3 attachments. Congrats to Dakota Rambler (Top Cowboy) and Quilla Star (Top Cowgirl) and all of the other award winners.

Smoke On The Mattaponi (6_28_25)_ Clean shooters

Smoke On The Mattaponi (6_28_25)_ Category Winners by Time

Smoke On The Mattaponi (6_28_25)_ Overall Winners List by Time

Smoke On The Mattaponi (6_28_25)_ Overall Winners Details by Time

Plainsman (6_28_25)_ Category Winners Details by Time

Sunday March 30, 2025

We had great weather for our first-ever 6-stage Wild Bunch match and a great crowd of 11 shooters came out to enjoy it. It took a little longer than a Cowboy match because there were an extra 140 rounds of 45acp brass per shooter to pick up, but eager volunteers did the job efficiently. Thanks to all posse workers and to all who quickly broke things down after the match and put it away.

There were no clean shooters, but the attached “Dagnabbit” report recognizes the two shooters, 1st place overall Cody Maverick and 2nd place overall Major B.S. Walker, who managed to complete the match with only 1 miss. Quite impressive for a match with a round count of 236.

Honorable mention goes to Red Cavanaugh, who only missed 3 and who tied* Dood for the most bonus hits. (* 2 were sure hits and a third was so close that the bullet’s pressure wave made the golf ball move). Yes, the bonus targets were actually golf balls. On one stage, Red hit 3 golf balls with 4 rifle shots (only one counted as a bonus).

All but 3 shooters competed in the ‘Modern’ category. Of the 3 in the ‘Traditional’ category, shooting with 1 hand unsupported, Major Gunz came out on top. Congratulations.

Don’t know when, but we hope to do this again sometime. The turnout was better than some expected, everyone had proper equipment and seemed to be familiar with the rules, and we had a safe match with no abnormal incidents. Thanks to all who participated and for coming well prepared.

Scores:

Mataponi Sundowners Wild Bunch (3_30_25)_ Dagnabbit award by Time

Mataponi Sundowners Wild Bunch (3_30_25)_ Overall Winners List by Time

Mataponi Sundowners Wild Bunch (3_30_25)_ Overall Winners Details by Time

-Swifty McDraw

Howdy Y’all,

Due to stormy weather forecast for tomorrow, we shot 9 stages on Saturday – 6 before lunch and 3 after lunch (which superseded the Wild Bunch match). Then we had the award ceremony and restored the range for normal daily use. All Gathering activities for Sunday are cancelled. As much as we hated to do that, it was the safe thing to do. We have tents for rain, but they blow over on windy days (forecast ~30 kts) and they don’t do anything to alleviate lightning that comes with thunderstorms.

Anyway, we made the best of it and had a successful match that everyone seemed to enjoy. We hope so, and hope to see you all again next year for the 19th annual Gathering on the Mattaponi.

Congratulations to our Top Overall Cowboy – Gun-em-Down, our Top Overall Cowgirl – J.C. Phoenix, and our 4 clean shooters – Ripsaw, Bucksaw Bob, Bingo Montana, and Quilla Star.

There are 4 attachments with Clean Shooters, Scores by Category, Overall Scores, and Detailed Scores.

Gathering on the Mattaponi – XVIII (3_15_25 – 3_16_25)_ Clean shooters

Gathering on the Mattaponi – XVIII (3_15_25 – 3_16_25)_ Overall Winners List by Time

Gathering on the Mattaponi – XVIII (3_15_25 – 3_16_25)_ Category Winners by Time

Gathering on the Mattaponi – XVIII (3_15_25 – 3_16_25)_ Overall Winners Details by Time

-Swifty McDraw

Leo has provided the results of the Long Range Rifle sidematch, which I have attached along with his pre-match description of the guidelines: 

              SIDEMATCH March 14                          Long Range Rifle Results

Buzzard Bayne takes hundreds of pictures during “big” matches and (I don’t know how soon) he posts them on facebook. I don’t use facebook, so that’s all I know.

Thanks for coming, thanks for shooting safely, thanks to posse workers, thanks to T/O’s and scorekeepers, and thanks for the help tearing down afterward.

Hope everyone had a safe trip home.

Howdy Cowboys and Cowgirls,

Registration is now open for the 2025 Gathering on the Mattaponi, our annual 2-day match in March, falling this year on March 15-16. We still offer 12 stages and we plan to have a Wild Bunch side match on the 15th.

A registration form is attached and may also be found here on our website. This version can be filled out electronically and may be sent by e-mail to me or to Potter County Kid at 97graves@gmail.com. Don’t forget to mail your check or give it to Gary in person. If you were one of the lucky winners of a free entry, you may return your coupon or use the form attached.

In support of our friends in the western part of the state, I’ve also attached the registration form for the Blueridge Roundup in PDF format.

-Swifty McDraw

Sunday 12/15/24

Happy Holidays,

We had a ‘baker’s dozen’ shoot our annual Christmas match today. The targets were decorated in seasonal colors and many of the shooters were adorned with furry hats. The air was filled with Christmas spirit instead of rain.

Congratulations to Cody Maverick for the win and to the 8 clean shooters: Cody, Ripsaw, Bingo, B.S., Ledford, Flatboat, Connie, and Butch.

After the match, 21 shooters and family members gathered to enjoy dinner and the gift exchange at Nick’s.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Scores:
1) yesterday – NAVY whipped ARMY 31-13 in their 125th meeting on the gridiron;
2) today – match scores attached.

Mattaponi Sundowners 3rd Sun. (12_15_24)_ Clean shooters

Mattaponi Sundowners 3rd Sun. (12_15_24)_ Overall Winners List by Time

Mattaponi Sundowners 3rd Sun. (12_15_24)_ Overall Winners Details by Time

-Swifty McDraw

If there were any complaints today, they weren’t about the weather. It warmed up fast and cooled down fast (below 60 is cool on my scale), but it was a great day.
The flying feathered fowl may have been the only ones complaining. More than half of the flock that took flight flew their final few flaps. The others evaded the pellets but had a crash landing.

Congratulations to our winner Cody Maverick and to our only clean shooter Frontier Mick (clean with a bonus).

Our next match (tentatively) will be a Wild Bunch match on Saturday December 7th. It’s on the agenda for our forthcoming club meeting and won’t be official until we vote to put that date on our schedule. Our last match of the year will be on Sunday December 15th, which will be followed by a Christmas gift exchange at Nick’s.

Scores attached.

-Swifty McDraw

Mattaponi Sundowners 3rd Sun. (11_17_24)_ Overall Winners Details by Time

Mattaponi Sundowners 3rd Sun. (11_17_24)_ Overall Winners List by Time

Howdy,

Howdy,

This is Part 1 of the match results. Part 2 will follow in a day or two with a fundraising report. We were into $ five figures from ticket sales at the Green Top Expo plus pre-match donations at the range. Add the after-match donations and Auction receipts and I think we did pretty good.

Congratulations to our match winner and Top Cowboy Tye Riverman and to J. C. Phoenix, the top Cowgirl. Congrats also to our 16 Clean Shooters; our apologies for running out of ‘Clean Shoot Awards’. In case you’re curious, 17 shooters got the bonus on Stage 2.

Two attachments: 1) Clean Shooters and 2) Score Summary
I’ll send a detailed version of the scores with Part 2.

-Swifty McDraw

Howdy Again Cowboys and Cowgirls,

Part 1 (continued): Detailed Scores and Scores by Category are attached. Thanks for coming, especially to the six Cowboys who shot with us for the first time and to many others who traveled a considerable distance. Thanks to all for a safe match. We hope you enjoyed it.

Part 2: So far, we have over $15,500.00 in hand. We expect at least 3 checks which will add to that, so it will be a few days before we have a final total. Not bad for a relatively small crowd of mostly old people who dress funny and yell “Yee-Haw” while shooting old-fashioned guns at pink targets for a couple of hours. Seriously, to those who were present and to those who weren’t, we thank each and every one of you for your support and your generosity.

Our www.WestPointGunClub.com web site has a drop-down menu called “Funds Raised” which will have the final total when we know what it is. Look under Shooting Programs => Cowboy Action => Annual Matches => Shoot for a Cure

Footnote: If you like photos, Marshal P. C. Wabash and Buzzard Bayne have some on Facebook. For video, look for Bingo Montana on YouTube, but give him a few days to edit his raw files.

-Swifty McDraw

Pat Graves Memorial Shoot For A Cure 24 (10_20_24)_ Clean shooters

Pat Graves Memorial Shoot For A Cure 24 (10_20_24)_ Category Winners by Time

Pat Graves Memorial Shoot For A Cure 24 (10_20_24)_ Overall Winners List by Time

Pat Graves Memorial Shoot For A Cure 24 (10_20_24)_ Overall Winners Details by Time

Funds Raised

Howdy Again,

The final results are in. The Pat Graves Memorial Shoot for a Cure raised $17,395.48 for the American Cancer Society this year, bringing the total raised since 2012 to a whopping $110,393.48! Amounts for each year are tabulated in the attachment.

Funds Raised

Howdy Folks,

The Pat Graves Memorial Shoot for a Cure is October 20 – this coming Sunday.

The gates will open earlier than normal, probably by 9 a.m. Posse up at noon for welcoming remarks. We start shooting at 12:30. The round count is 60-60-26. Stages by Potter County Kid are attached.

Thanks to the 48 shooters (attached) who signed up early. You can add your name to the list with a reply to this e-mail. All match fees go to the American Cancer Society. The WPGC contributes another $5 for each pre-registered shooter.

On arrival, please come to our ‘storage building’ to check in, confirm your category, and receive your posse assignment. Allow time to socialize, buy raffle tickets and to see all of the merchandise that will be up for auction, for the raffles, and for sale ‘flea-market’ style. Charitable contributions are tax deductible; receipts will be available on request.

-Swifty McDraw

Attachments:  Stages   Who’s Coming

Howdy,

Thanks to those who arrived early and helped put the finishing touches on the set up, and to all who pitched in to tear it down when the match was over.

Congratulations to Major B.S. Walker. He was today’s winner and was the only shooter who managed to earn every available bonus (7 of them worth 29 points). He also had the lowest raw time (by 0.57 sec) and (dagnabbit) only 1 miss.

Congratulations also to Potter County Kid and Mac Moshannon for the clean shoot. Each of them hit 5 out of 7 bonus targets.  If we had a ‘mulligan” award, it would go to that guy who shot clean until the last gun on the last stage.

It was an interesting match. There were many comments about the ample opportunity to exhibit marksmanship with a shotgun. Those served to detract from complaints (very few) about the smaller-than-average size of the rifle targets. Not many complaints about the “Bonus Day” theme; maybe because 8 out of 12 shooters scored 5 or more bonus targets.

Our next match is the Pat Graves Memorial Shoot for a Cure on October 20th. The WPGC website has all the details. And don’t forget the Green Top Expo next weekend. Let Potter know if you can spare an hour or two to man our booth.

Today’s scores attached.

• Overall
• Details

-Swifty McDraw