# Rootin, tootin' + shootin' **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 17, 2000, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rootin-tootin-shootin/37190 "2000-10-17T00:00:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2000, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rootin-tootin-shootin/37190/1 "2000-10-17T00:00:14Z")
As if the dopers need further proof I’ve gone over the deep end I’ve finally become active in my new hobby, cowboy action shooting. No, it isn’t shooing **at** cowboys, but rather dressing up as them and using pre-1900 style firearms in competition. It’s not fast draw. Those guys use black powder blanks to shoot at balloons and do things that would be severe safety violations in our sport. All our shooting is with live ammo. We don’t shoot at paper bull’s eyes but several types of steel targets. Scores are based on fastest time with penalties for each miss. Each stage uses multiple weapons, usually two revolvers, a lever action rifle, and a shotgun. There were 128 competitors (at least 29 women) at the match and that’s only one of the clubs in the Phoenix area. It’s so popular because it’s so much damn fun and folks aren’t worked up over cutthroat competition. The best way I can describe it is all the fun of a renaissance festival… with guns 😃 Any other [SASS](http://www.sassnet.com/) shooters among the teeming millions? If so I compete as Morgan “Scabby Bear” Randall, badge number 32875. ---
**Author:** ![Demo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demo/32/8472_2.png) [@Demo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demo)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2000, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rootin-tootin-shootin/37190/2 "2000-10-18T02:52:19Z")
Steel targets? I don’t get it. Couldn’t a bullet ricochet off and hit someone? Why do you have to dress up like a comboy? Is it a fetish shooting club? Couldn’t you just go to the firing range like the rest of us? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![dpr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8797f3/32.png) [@dpr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dpr)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2000, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rootin-tootin-shootin/37190/3 "2000-10-18T02:56:21Z")
You guys obviously have no idea what “rootin’” means down here…