Category: Cowboy Action Shooting

August Match Update – A Personal Message from the Match Director

By now, most of you have probably opened the August stages and wondered just what I’ve been cookin’ up.

This Sunday’s match is a little trip back to the Fall Roundups of years gone by — and to an earlier era of Cowboy Action Shooting, before “HOW FAST CAN YOU RUN YOUR GUNS?” became quite as important as “What creative thing are they going to make us do on this stage?”

Those certified Old Timers carrying SASS numbers somewhere south of 25,000 and lower will probably recognize the idea right away: fun props, unusual targets, a little movement, and stages designed as much to make you smile as to shave another half-second off your time.

For the rest of us, consider it a hands-on history lesson — with gunpowder.

So after you get over the initial shock of reading the stages, dust off your sense of adventure and come see what Cowboy Action Shooting looked like when a stage could occasionally make you scratch your head before you reached for the timer.

Will it be your typical modern speed match? Nope.

That’s kinda the point.

I reached back into the old Fall Roundup playbook, and hope you’ll come along for the ride.

To download the stages simply click on the following link: Aug Stage and Signup page, where you’ll see the download link.

Advanced sign-up is appreciated but optional (see the form on the stage download page).

See you Sunday, cowboys and cowgirls! Come Rain or Shine – anything short of the creek flooding.

Rootin Tootin, SASS # 21707 (certified old-timer)

Aug Stages Available for Download

The August stages are now available for review and download. The match includes a nice variety of sweeps, movement, and a few novelty targets. Rootin Tootin does what he does best – put together an interesting match with a few interesting targets. It will be a nice follow-up to last month’s state championship!

We’re also testing out a new advance sign-up option. Think you’ll come to the match? While you’re on the download page take a moment to SIGN-UP and let us know. It’s not a registration and we’re not taking any payments – it just helps us to know how many to expect. If you’re bringing others with you feel free to enter them separately or, if it’s easier, just enter their Alias(s) in the comment section.

To download the stages and complete the Sign-up Form simply click on the following link: Aug Stage and Signup page where you’ll see the download link.

Take a few minutes to look them over before match day so you’ll be familiar with the target sequences, starting positions, gun staging, and shooting order.

Ammo reminder: Plan on the usual 60 pistol and 60 rifle rounds, but bring a little extra shotgun ammunition this time. The six stages call for a minimum of 28 shotgun rounds, and because several targets are “until down” or otherwise may require additional shots, 28+ is the better number to keep in mind.

2026 Illinois State Side Match Results

Speed Pistol Black Powder                    

Men 1st                The Revenuer  

Men 2nd              Dangerous Dan McGrew              

Speed Pistol Smokleless            

Men 1st                Buffalo Chip Jed

Men 2nd              JB Kidd 

Women 1st         Whiskey Belle   

Women 2nd       Brazos Belle       

Pocket Pistol                      

Men 1st                Average Joe      

Men 2nd              Crooked Bullet 

Women 1st         Brazos Belle       

Women 2nd       Headshot Hanna              

Derringer Black Powder             

Men 1st                Dangerous Dan McGrew              

Women 1st         Lady Lou             

Derringer Smokeless                  

Men 1st                Billy The Avenger            

Men 2nd              San Antonio Seymour   

Women 1st         Hootin Annie    

Women 2nd       Brazos Belle       

Annie Oakley’s Revenge            

Men 1st                Hootn Dannie   

Women 1st         Hootn Annie     

Men 2nd              Buffalo Chip       

Women 2nd       Lefty Lindy         

Augie’s Revenge               

Men 1st                Buffalo Chip       

                              Slowpoke           

Men 2nd              Average Joe      

                               Big Casino          

Shotgun Star 87                

Men 1st                Slowpoke           

Women’s 1st      Lady Laura          

Shotgun Star Double                   

Men 1st                Captain Jim Midnight     

Women 1st         Whiskey Belle   

Shotgun Star 97                

Men 1st                Mountain Man Champ  

Tie          Grey Eyed Rider

Women 1st         Hootn Annie     

Speed Shotgun 87/97                 

Men 1st                Slowpoke           

Men 2nd              M T Pockets      

Women 1st         Jackie Diamond

Women 2nd       Lady Laura          

Shotgun SxS Black Powder                    

Men 1st                High Lonesome Drifter 

Women 1st         Gunslinger Gal  

Shotgun SxS Smokeless             

Men 1st                Buffalo Chip       

Women 1st         Renegade Roper             

Running Buffalo Black Powder            

Men 1st                Dangerous Dan McGrew              

Men 2nd              The Revenuer  

Women 1st         Gunslinger Gal  

Running Buffalo Smokeless                  

Men 1st                Cowboy Carty   

Men 2nd              Billy The Avenger            

Women 1st         Whiskey Belle   

Women 2nd       Jackie Diamond

Buffalo Rifle Black Powder                    

Men 1st                Appleknocker   

Men 2nd              Dangerous Dan McGrew              

Buffalo Rifle Smokeless             

Men 1st                Leadmine Sam  

Men 2nd              Comstock Charlie            

Main Match Rifle Black Powder 100yd                     

Men 1st                Dangerous Dan McGrew              

Main Match Rifle Smokeless 100yd               

Men 1st                Apple Knocker  

Men 2nd              Lightning McQueen       

Women 1st         Lady Lou             

State Championship Photos Posted – Add’l Images

This is a revised post announcing 270 additional photos have been added to our original post announcing the state championship photos. The additional photos are courtesy of Turquoise Tony and feature images from the Wild Bunch Awards luncheon as well as about 250 miscellaneous photos taken across the weekend, many of individual cowboys and cowgirls. It’s a lot of pictures. Just keep scrolling down.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Original Post – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

For those of you wishing to see reminders of what you experienced during the 2026 Illinois State Championship, or live vicariously through others if you missed it, we posted several photos of the match for viewing and download.

Click here to see the photos. If you’re using a computer, you can download them by right-clicking on the photo and saving it to your computer. If you’re using a cell phone, I’m sure you can do the same thing, but you’ll need to figure out how your phone handles that.

In any event, thanks to everyone who attended. It was, to say the least, an interesting experience!

Illowa Irregulars