…by
“Slim Fast” Matthias Recktenwald, Editor “VISIER”,
Germany.
The „ Days of Truth 2007“ are now over: Here
are some impressions from the first CAS European
Championship to be held in Italy – some of them from a
personal point of view.
Impressions
from DOT in Mazzano:
- upper left: Shooting an 1873 Lever Action
- upper right: In the middle of it all —
SASS-Boss "General U.S. Grant".
- Center: Steel targets at the DoT.
- Lower left: Mud in the camping area.
- Lower right: Rino Chiappa and Alessandro Pietta.
(Fotos + Collage: MSR)
Four
introductory quotations:
1) "Everybody talks about the weather, but
nobody does anything about it." (Mark Twain)
2) "In this book, weather will not be
mentioned. This is an experimental effort to write a
book without reference to weather." (more Mark
Twain)
3) "Always remember to include descriptions
of the weather conditions in your goddamn book –
weather is extremely important." (Ernest Hemingway)
4) "The best way to distinguish between TV
stations is by comparing their weather reports." (Woody
Allen)
Water, water, water...
That
was the one thing nobody had reckoned with: For seven
weeks Italy had suffered from dry weather and under a
heat wave of almost biblical proportions, and Lake Garda
lost so much water that many feared it would completely
dry up.
But no sooner hat the trek of „Westerners“
gotten underway towards the south that it did happen:
The rains came pouring down. The tribesmen of the Zuni
Indians call the mighty messengers from heaven that
bring the rain "Shalako" – and come he
did!
And
Lombardia got really wet: In Verona
the downpour disrupted, an open air opera performance of
Verdi’s "Aida"- as I was told by a visitor,
in Brescia
the author of these pages was drenched to the skin
despite appropriate clothing within the few steps it
took to get himself from the shelter of the train
station inside a taxi. And, in Mazzano,
at the site of the "Days
of Truth 2007" (DOT) the camping ground,
a freshly mowed corn field, turned into ankle deep and
slippery mud. The Klondike fields cannot have been worse
in any given summer, and the deluge rapidly transformed
the site with its many tents and caravans into something
reminding strongly of a refugee camp.
However, after a few days, the gods relented and
the sun went back to work. This resulted in the areas
drying up rather quickly but at the same time raised the
humidity to a level you might expect in a rain
forest or a jungle camp….
The inhabitants of the camp site took this all in
their stride as true cowboys do - cum grano salis – as
it were, there while resorting to all sorts of salty
humor and involving a lot of poking fun at folks wading
to or from their caravan etc.. And ,so you could see
cowboys and cowgirls standing in muddy puddles up to
their shins and sloshing away to get the sticky residue
loose and washed away from their footwear. They also
stood undaunted in inch deep water to shoot from the
prescribed positions on the 16
Stages of this year’s "Days
of Truth".
Who
is who:
More
than 200 competitors
from 17 Nations
had gathered in the small town of Mazzano
near Brescia, Italy, for
this event. The largest group came from Germany,
followed by cowboys from Austria
and the Czech
Republic. Shooters from Finland,
the United Kingdom
and Serbia
made their debut at this great match that lasted from
August 21st until August 25th 2007.
The
match was organized by the Italian club OWSS
(Old West Shooting Society) under its President
and Range Master
for the DOT Marte
Zanette aka “Mar
Tex”, SASS L # 33 700, and competently
assisted by the Master
Sponsors Rino
Chiappa ( Armi Sport Chiappa) and Allesandro
Piettà (F.ILLI Piettà). All under the
surveillance and the watchful eye of Match-Director Thomas
L. "Arizona Tom" Dobert. The event
itself took place in an arena that left everybody
satisfied: A low laying, grassy shooting range,
encompassed by thick and high berms that surrounded the
central area where the dealers, vendors and sutlers
awaited their many customers.
And
right there – at the horses mouth so to speak – they
all were: Every significant manufacturer of guns and
equipment was there to see, to visit with and to speak
to: Pedersoli,
Chaparral Arms,
Chiappa (Armi Sport),
Piettà
and Uberti
all were represented with stands of their own, where the
shooter could speak to the man or woman that made the
guns that he or she shoots. Uberti
even was present with a completely equipped maintenance
and repair vehicle, complete with two master gunsmiths
that did any and all repair work on the spot if possible
– and for free!! There was nothing missing in the way
of outfit or other paraphernalia for the avid western
shooter either – garments galore at the stands of Alexander
Fidelak (“Don’t Go Naked”) and Ralf
Hartmann (“Western
Store”) and Erik
Schoeneberger (“Der
Kleine Westernladen”),(all from Germany) as
well as J.C. Martin
from France.
Ladies
attire, including extraordinary fashion for daywear and
for the ballroom, was presented by Jolene’s
Collection from Berlin,
Germany. Present as well – as always – leatherworker
and -designer Uli
"El Gaucho" Garbe with his mobile
saddlery, who traveled from Poland to be with us in
Italy.
From the New
World:
Besides visitors from Europe,
some prominent faces from the US
were also present at this largest European CAS Event
this year: SASS-Boss
Boyd Davis alias "General
U.S. Grant", Jim
Finch alias "Long
Hunter" with his Shooting School and Eldon
Penner alias "El
Rod", one of the best US-Addresses for
the Colt-Lightning-Rifle. The "General"
aka Boyd Davis
was excited
and impressed by the match and the shooting range – he
was so enchanted by the parade of the flags of the 17
nations during the opening ceremony that tears ran down
his face as he rose to speak to the enraptured
audience…
Cowboy
Action Shooting (CAS)
in Europe was commented on by the „General“ with
these words: "It’s
like SASS in the US ten years ago – and I am sure
there is a lot of potential here“. While he
was at it, he also presented a number of CAS shooters
who have been giving this Cowboy Action Shooting thing
in Europe their all out efforts with their badges as SASS
“Regulators” and commended them on their
outstanding work.
The
Shooting Range:
In
semicircular circumference of the c-shaped shooting
range there are a number of paths, brooklets crossed by
wooden bridges, and the entire area is partitioned off
by the berms that separated the 16 stages. All shooters
hat easy access to their designated shooting bays for
each day of the match (four per day). Expert stage
design was done by “Mar Tex” aka Marte Zanette, who
also doubled as Range Master for the event, all stages
were revised by “Tex, SASS #4 and co-founder of SASS
USA, who gave valuable advice to his Italian counterpart.
One
of the many highlights was the food – the cowboys and
cowgirls were absolutely flabbergasted by what those
people managed to serve up in the huge tent time after
time – and at all hours!! Italian food in large
portions, cool beer and local wine (after the days
shooting was over!!) as well as coffee and soft drinks
– and watching “Mama” behind the counters keeping
her troop of workers and cooks on their toes at all
times...
Match
Director Thomas L. Dobert
was really impressed with the all out work force he
witnessed on all of those days of the match, quote: “I
have never had the pleasure of working with such an
outstanding team before!” That team, headed
by Rino Chiappa and Alessandro Pietta was present on the
ranges every morning from 6 o’clock am until late in
the night, which was regularly 10 or 11 pm every night.
Straight
Shooting:
The match was presented on 16 fabulously prepared
and eventful stages that presented much more in the way
of decorations - and downright good ideas - than we have
seen anywhere in Europe up to date. One of the favorites
was a reactive steel target that – when hit by a
shotgun blast – threw a clay pigeon high into the air
to be subsequently shot at by the competitor.
All
in all, the match went flawlessly, excepting a few minor
mix-ups when shooters had not been initially registered
correctly in their chosen categories. Four stages were
designated to be shot each day, so that all posse’s
were done with their sporting part of the day by about
noontime, giving them ample time for other activities
during the afternoon. Tom
Dobert: "This was planned that way on
purpose to let people who traveled here from the US or
other distant parts of Europe have an opportunity to see
the surrounding area and visit Italy – not only see
and visit a shooting range! And, as far as gun
manufacturers in Europe go, this is a definite “must
see”!”
Pierangelo
Pedersoli, President of the company Davide
Pedersoli & Cie
added: "We live in an area here, that has one of
the oldest traditions in gun making in all of Europe –
all centered here in the Gardone Valley. And the Alps
are not far away either, vying for the tourists
attention with the ancient cities of Verona, Brescia,
Bergamo and Venice, not to mention Lake Garda and Lake
Iseo.”
And the
winners are...
"Ray
Heartless" aka Sander
Koetsier from Sweden, followed closely by
Germany’s top shooter
"Westphalian Phil" aka Philipp
Seibel — an exact turn-around from last
years result in Philippsburg,
Germany at the DOT
2006 held there.
Problems,
problems...
So
everything went well? No – not everything...:
Some
shooters hat problems crossing the borders between
Switzerland and Italy – despite having completed all
paperwork well in advance. A number of competitors were
compelled to make a “security deposit” to the amount
of an estimated (!) ten percent of their guns value for
the duration of their transit through Switzerland. The
money was collected when entering the country, and was
refunded when the cowboys exited the country at Chiasso,
Italy, just an hour and a half later…
After
surpassing this obstacle – some of the travelers were
confronted with another set of bureaucratnics who
decided that they (the shooters) were entering the EU (Italy)
from a non-EU country (Switzerland), and therefore could
be permitted to pass the checkpoint only with a maximum
amount of three weapons per person – not the minimum
of four guns habitually carried by CAS competitors!
(…and already cleared for travel with the authorities!)
When
one of these “commandante’s” was called at his
station to question this practice, he replied verbatim:
“We will proceed to do this for the rest of my
shift – if you want to speak to my superiors about
this: Good luck – today is Sunday!!”
These border patrols remained adamant in their
demands – leaving the hapless shooters with only one (legal)
way out: A 500 mile detour through Austria to cross the
Alps via the Brenner Pass….
=>
:“EU” stands for “Unified Europe“ => Yeah -
you bet!!
The legal side of the matter was absolutely clear
all the time, as attorney-at-law Ms. Susanne Putsche
emphasizes: EU citizens may travel freely from one
country to the next without hindrance as long as they
are in possession of their local national permits for
the weapons they carry, and can show a “European
Firearms Pass”. Even when traveling from one country
in the EU to another EU country while passing through a
country (such as Switzerland or Norway) that is not
a member of the EU. Such travel is considered as
“being in transit”, and is possible without any
hindrances whatsoever - as long as the aforesaid legal
documents are carried by the owner of the guns he/she is
transporting at all times. But, try arguing with a
border guard while standing in a long line of motor
vehicles on a hot sunny day.... As one senior police
officer in Rom put it when confronted with the
complaints against some of his men: “There is an idiot
borne every minute of the day”!
All of the Italian manufacturers and organizers of
this great match pleaded with the angry shooters finally
arriving after their long and strenuous drive to please
not to be discouraged by this behavior, and to persist
in advancing CAS throughout Europe and elsewhere. I
myself would like to add that CAS is a sport that joins
people together across borders and over (language)
barriers. This is something much to valuable to
sacrifice to a few bureaucratic idiots or other such
nonsense. Let’s stick with Richard
Boone’s silver screen figure Paladin: "Have gun,
will travel".
Cowboys in
all countries – unite!:
All of these circumstances bring me to
the conclusion that it is absolutely necessary for all Euro-CAS
Shooters to unite in one powerful federation
in order to be able to “pack enough punch” to be
heard and thus step on the toes of some political
representatives in Brussels. After all, those people
there are at this time working on some pretty drastic
resolutions pertaining to European gun laws – with the
idea of further restrictions for all of us in the backs
of their heads! In addition, such a federation would be
just the thing to forward the discussions on leveling or
lowering the restrictions on transit travel while
attending matches and other shooting events with guns
throughout Europe.
A
good start in doing this has already been made with the
registration of CASe (Cowboy Action Shooting Europe) in
Vienna, Austria. Even though the projected unification
and consolidation of the countries in Europe was stymied
by certain proceedings in Mazzano for the time being,
after some very heated debate on that issue, which
forestalled a resolution. This can surely put off
a lot of people – most of all those of them that have
put so much hard work into all of this – but it can
also be seen from another standpoint altogether: Tom
Dobert put it this way: "Democracy
at its best. There is no better way to reach
a good and just decision.”
My opinion:
No question about it, Tom
Dobert is right. He certainly could and did
not like the result he was presented with, after all the
effort to reach the status quo. Even as it did not
satisfy me, as an outside observer, in the least. (I am
active “Western-Shooter” with the BDS in Germany and
also a SASS member). For me the necessary path is
clearly discernable:
European CAS Shooters need a strong and representative
body to protect their needs, voice their wishes, and
promote their sport in Europe. The US based
organization known as SASS (Single Action Shooting
Society) cannot accomplish this in Europe in any way –
no matter how hard they are willing to try. This
is something the Euro-Buckaroos will have to do each for
themselves. The necessary European
Organization may not at any time try to get involved in,
or influence local national legal bodies or existing
shooters organizations. It must however be strong and
unified enough to be a powerful speaker for the rights
and interests of shooters all over the continent - and
to be heard as such by the EU politicians in Brussels.
So,
what are we waiting for??
Matthias
S. Recktenwald
(aka
"Slim Fast", SASS L # 33804, +
BDS-Western-Stern No. 21)
Matthias S. Recktenwald
Redaktion VISIER
Chef vom Dienst
Tel. (02603) 5060-210
Fax (02603) 5060-202
matthias.recktenwald@vsmedien.de
Address:
Vogt-Schild Deutschland GmbH
Red. VISIER
z.H. Herrn M. S. Recktenwald
Wipsch 1
D-56130 Bad Ems
Und
weil das Gesetz es befiehlt, auch dies:
Amtsgericht Koblenz HRB 7007
VAT REG NO DE 813 147 361
Steuer-Nr. 30/670/0566/2
Geschäftsführer: Dr. Christian Müller, Dirk Schönfeld
(Translation
by Thomas L. Dobert
aka
“Arizona Tom”, SASS L # 30 872, TG, + BDS –
Western-Stern No.4
More
impressions from DOT at Mazzano.
