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August, 2017 ©Thunder River Renegades, Inc Vol. V, No 8 The Premiere Cowboy Action Shooting Club in Grimes County, Texas

9/10 of a mile north of the Texas Renaissance Festival Main Entrance—look for the Red, White and Blue sign

Click here for printable Monthly Match Calendars

June 24 Match: A bit of weather and EOT

kept our numbers down but 16 cowgirls and –boys showed up to have fun. A special treat

was the attendance of Red River Mac, who

drove to the match with his lovely wife Sunny.

Mac regaled us with tales of our present health

care system making everyone hope they stay

healthy. Great to see him up and about.

A short pause at the beginning to allow

the rain to settle the dust and we were shooting

with only a 10 minute delay. Let me tell you:

THE NEW SHELTERS PAID FOR

THEMSELVES THAT DAY. We could put our

gun carts under them as well as keeping our

guns and selves dry. Weather was cooler than

normal so life was good in the Old West. This

was really what Cowboy Action Shooting is all

about—it’s a simple as that. July 1 Match: boy, what a difference a week

makes! Provide free food and everyone shows

up. Our Fourth of July Match was well

attended with 41 shooters plus various and

sundry family members. We ate 78 hot dogs

(two ended up on the ground somehow) and

put a dent in the 108 soft drinks bought.

The stages were interesting, the

friendship warm and the temperature was hot.

While no one died, several members stopped

early to save themselves for the lunch. Can’t wait for the July 22 match.

Left over drinks will be at the July 22

match plus bottled water.

Click here for Suzie Q’s pictures of July Match

Clean Matches for June 24 and July 1, 2017

BPB (2), Cherokee Jones, Ellie Mae (take that Rawhide), Good Troy, GW

Ketchum, Hopalong Ace, KC Sneed, Little Britches, Marcus Hooker,

Adventurer, Oklahoma Dee, Osage Mike(2), Ranger Bill, Shadow Doc, Wezee

Anna, Red River Raider, cheyenne

32% clean matches

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Saloon Cattle Company Hotel Leather Shop

Date: Saturday, July 22, 2017 9

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Freight & Powder

SASS matches now scored by Total Time: Unless you have been living

under a rock you already know that our matches are now total time: take the time,

misses and any penalties for each stage and add them up—lowest score wins.

Doesn’t matter why this happened (check the SASS Wire if you want to get embroiled in that), it’s now the ‘law of the land’ and TRR will be abiding with that

new rule/law/edict.

Good news is nothing changes are far as the stages are run. You still shoot at targets as fast

(or slow) as you want to, try not to miss and when the dust clears and the wheelguns are holstered

the RO reads off the time and any misses to the score keeper—life goes on without any changes on

the firing line.

Another fact is ACES now only give you the option of results by time or alias (alphabetical) so

Rank and Points scoring has gone the way of the Dodo

bird.

As Senior Deacon has said on many

occasions, “I’m not here to win or lose, I’m here so I can have the biggest smile on my face possible.” Rio Brazos Kid: “Time waits for no man.” Preacherman Robert said, “We keep score?”

(p.s. The time shown on the timer above was my best stage of the July 1 match—cheyenne)

Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink: it has come to our

attention that most folks aren’t drinking out of our coolers, preferring their own bottled water.

Suzie Q has conducted a exhaustive 9 month study and determined that cooler-

water can harbor such wonderful diseases as diarrhea, dysentery, salmonella,

typhoid fever and cholera not to mention tasting funny and probably doesn’t contain fluoride (which could open up an entire new can of worms so we’ll let that one slide.)

Another fact is the mess the Styrofoam cups make as they blow all around and

don’t get Suzie started on what those cups are made of. It would keep the chickens from laying

for a good fortnight.

If you would like to be part of the transition from Ricky’s well-water to

bottled all you need to do is buy a case or two of water when you do your

shopping. Then just drop it off at the beginning of the

match—the club will provide the coolers and ice and

everyone can benefit. This will help off-set the cost factor

and would be an easy way to Cowboy Up for your club.

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NOTES FROM OLE SMOKEY

This and That

We had a great turnout for our 4th of July shoot, given all the folks traveling for the long holiday weekend. We burned a lot of “dogs” and had lots of ice cold watermelon while the jawed with our friends under the shade of the pavilion. Suzie Q made sure the range was decorated and the usual crew manicured the grounds to perfection. It turned out to be a really nice mini-event.

I can’t heap enough praises on the folks operating Buzzard’s Roost Construction and their minions. I’ve received many comments from our members about how much difference the shade and fans make over the shooting areas. It’s so much more comfortable than previous years, you just have to come try it out yourself. Heck, it’s so nice now, that maybe we need to shoot 6 or 8 stages for the summer!

I had the occasion to visit the Tejas Caballeros in Blanco this weekend while on vacation. If you haven’t had the opportunity to visit them the past few months, you should make an effort to go. They’ve recently moved to a new location (the Texas Republic Ranch) and have a really nice facility run by friendly folks. The ranch owner is a club member and is plowing all of their rent back into range facilities. They also now have a 99 year lease, so they should be stable for the rest of our shooting careers! You can contact them through www.tejascaballeros.net

Last Stand at Thunder River 2017

I just wanted to pass along a few more details on LSTR 2017. As mentioned previously, it will be a one-day event held on December 2nd, and will have a Christmas theme. We’ll have:

1. 6-stage match 2. Catered lunch 3. Desert contest 4. A raffle (much shorter than last year!) 5. The auction of another beautiful quilt from Trixie Ledeaux. 6. Some type of quick long range match afterward for those interested.

The cost will be $45 per shooter, with additional family members $40. It should be a good time, so ya’ll plan to come out and join us. We’ll have an entry form posted on the website soon, and I’m sure Cheyenne will also email them to everyone.

Latest Arguments on whether to drink hot or cold liquids when you’re hot: A. does a warm or room temperature drink make your body sweat more thereby causing you to cool off from evaporation… or… B. are cool liquids the way to go as it will absorb the heat already in your body??? Cont.

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In a recent study the answer is A and/or B depending…(gotta love scientists and their findings) So here is a more detailed look: IF you are in an environment where your sweat will easily evaporate, i.e., low humidity, then a room temperature drink works the best as your sweat will easily evaporate and this evaporation will cause your body temperature to lower

BUT if you’re in a damp climate, like where we live her in Texas, then your sweat will just drip off you and not have a chance to evaporate meaning there will be no cooling from evaporation so now the cool drink is much better.

In either event cool, light colored clothing, shade and hydration is the way to go.

Cleaning your guns, Part 27-j: for those that use APP instead of real black powder don’t be fooled that you can skip firearm cleaning after a match. Turns out that APP is actually more corrosive than the real stuff. Let it sit for a day or two and you see the damages in your barrels and well as the receivers and actions of your Old West hardware; remember, “Rust never sleeps.” While APP can be cleaned with the same products you use for smokeless powder you have to get on it right away—like the day of the shoot. Put it off and your work load will get bigger and you may have rust problems that will damage your guns’ finishes. So what happens if you can’t get the aforementioned ‘junk’ out of your barrel using your normal methods? Well, I have seen Kroil oil used with great success following this plan: clean the barrel as best you can then run a wet patch through the barrel and let it sit overnight. Store the gun horizontally so the Kroil doesn’t run out and about half way through rotate it so what the upper half gets to be the bottom. Easiest way for me is flip the gun so the other side of the receiver is now on top or roll the revolver so the other grip panel it now on top. Kroil is a penetrating oil and you need to allow it time to get under the crud.

After the time is up run a tight fitting brush through the bore—I found some of the original brass Chore-Boy and wrap a piece of it around the brush (you want the copper ones and not the steel ones.) I scrub it quite briskly and that usually takes care of it. If you still have some left repeat the process.

Club Repairs of a lesser god: sometimes a few minutes and a bit of

Handyman Skill are all that is needed to address a minor problem at the range.

1. Up this month are the swinging hinges on the saloon.

They have been repaired on several occasions but it’s time to replace them with ones that aren’t bent to kingdom come.

The wood on the door frame as well as the corresponding wood on the

doors themselves may need evaluation before the replacement happens. GW

assures me a competent worker can do the job in 30 minutes…let’s see if someone wants to test his time estimate. The club will pick up the cost of new

hinges if someone will pick up their tools and step forward

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2. is a bit more involved and probably for those stout of heart: way back in the Dark Ages the

plan was to run the boardwalk from the Saloon to the north end of the Tombstone Terr. Jail. This

would start at ground level at the Saloon and rise to the top of the jail flooring. As we all know that

was never completed (or even started, should the Truth be known.)

Much, if not all of the wood is still under the jail just wanting for its place in the Sun. We

probably have everything that is needed either there on in the wood

piles at the north end of the range.

Best I can remember we would need the three long boards’ ends to be cut at an angle that matches the rise of elevation. Some

4x4” sections would need to be sunk in the ground along the way to support the section and the long boards screwed to them. Finally

the treads of the boardwalk would be added, a handrail built for

safety and easy-peasy, the job is done.

The Thunder River Mercantile

Osage Mike’s: I'm a one man shop building custom leather goods for

cowboy action shooters. I build holsters, cartridge belts, shotgun belts

and cowboy shooter accessories one at a time. TRR member Osage

Mike, jayemgee@msn.com Phone: 281.785.2397

J M Leather: is a small leather shop where leather items are crafted one

at a time to provide long service to the cowboy shooter. Johnny and his

wife Montana Hannah are cowboy shooters as well and understand getting

what you paid for and being treated fair. The promise is a simple one, if you

are not happy with your gear, let us make it right. We want you to be proud

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of the gear you wear, and proud that you got it from us. We are not a big name maker, but we will put

our reputation and gear up against anyone. TRR member Johnny Morris, jmorris69007@msn.com

website: http://www.jm-leather.com

John Powers of Powers Metal Works LLC. He is off FM 1488 near FM 2978 about 8 miles east of the old range entrance. Phone: 281.513.3438 His website is www.powersmetalworks.com

Down South Leather, Custom Leather Goods for the

Cowboy Life Style by Rusty Reb is proud to announce the

opening of its Houston branch. Contact Rusty and discuss

your needs and wants; he’s only an email or phone call away: RustyReb49@Yahoo.com or 281-435-9984

Oklahoma Dee Vendor/Services/Products Company is now on line and open

for business. Dee has been working on this for some time and is proud to announce

the start of this business as well as his operational website.

Take a few moments to check out this new and exciting venture.

http://oklahomadee.com/ or RangeMaster@thunderriverrenegades.com

From our own Doc O’bay,

his his wife Cat Caerula and

brother-in-law J.T.

Click on the picture to go

directly to the site:

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TRR Officers 2015

El Jefe: Blackpowder Burn (BPB) president@thunderriverrenegades.com

Vice-Pres: GW Ketchum vicepresident@thunderriverrenegades.com

Secretary: cheyenne secretary@thunderriverrenegades.com

Treasurer: Osage Mike (Osage) treasurer@thunderriverrenegades.com

Range Master: Oklahoma Dee (OkD) RangeMaster@thunderriverrenegades.com

TG: Texas Jack Daniels (TJD) TXTJD@sbcglobal.net

Shootin’ once a month not enough? Our Practice Day Match, a full 6-stage affair with awards and all. 4th Saturday of each month at our range

Oakwood Outlaws 2nd Sat. & Sun. every month and the Monday following the 2nd weekend.www.oakwoodoutlaws.org/

Willow Hole Cowboys 3rd Weekend of the month http://www.willowholecowboys.com/

♠ ♣

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Suzie’s pictures of July Match

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SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

TRR Calendar -- July 2017

TRR

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TRR

Maintance

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TRR

Maintance

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Willow Hole

Match

Practice &

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TRR

Match

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

TRR Calendar -- August 2017

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SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

TRR Calendar -- September 2017

Practice &

Work Day

TRR

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TRR

Match

Willow Hole

Match

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