A STAGE COACH CHURNS DUST as it rumbles past the false-front buildings and sutler’s tents of a newly constructed western boomtown. Frock-coated gunslingers and ladies in long, colorful Victorian dresses turn to watch as the passengers wave. In the distance gunshots can be heard.

Were it not for the thin white jet stream streaking across the California sky, you might think this was 1873 instead of 2003. But this is End of Trail, the once-a-year Olympics of Cowboy Action Shooting, a popular new shooting sport that brings the Old West back to life.

For anyone who has ever dreamed of being a cowboy, or wished they could have lived during the romantic years of our country’s Western frontier, Cowboy Action Shooting is the next best thing to time travel. But even if you’ve never seen a Western or read a Louis L’Amour novel, Cowboy Action Shooting is a great way to learn new shooting skills and meet new friends.

Cowboy Action Shooting is a fun-filled, historically oriented sport that utilizes pistols and rifles styled like those from the last half of the 19th century. Only single-action revolvers, lever-action rifles and appropriate shotguns can be used. In addition, there are special events for Civil War blackpowder cap-and-ball revolvers, and contests for shooters with 19th century single-shot rifles like the 1874 Sharps buffalo gun and the 1885 Winchester High Wall.

What makes these shooting matches even more fun—for participants and spectators alike—is that everyone must be dressed in proper western attire. This can be historically correct high-topped boots, calico shirts, and Slim Jim (thin profile) holsters, or fancy western boots, colorful shirts with fringe, and hand-tooled buscadero belts and holsters like those worn by cowboy movie stars of the 1940s, 50s and 60s.

Each participant can choose the type of cowboy he or she wants to be. The only rule is you can’t be a half-baked cowboy. That means no tennis shoes, short sleeve shirts, or baseball caps. You’ve got to look like you’re from the Old West, whether it is the historical west or the glorified Hollywood Western.

You’ve also got to choose an "alias," something that reflects a favorite western hero, a character in a Western book or movie, or just something you made up. For example, Easy Rider, Outlaw Annie and Cole Younger are aliases used by three shooters; sometimes their fellow shooters don’t even know their real names. Today, with more than 45,000 CAS shooters, it’s a challenge in selecting an alias that isn’t already taken.

There are numerous CAS clubs that hold local and regional shooting matches across the country as well as overseas. These matches are fun to shoot—the targets are often steel cutouts of bank robbers, buffalo and other Western-themed subjects. They are usually large, and sometimes as close to the firing line as 30 feet, making hitting them and hearing that reassuring "gong" quite easy. Other targets are more challenging and are placed further out, especially for rifle events.

But what really sets the Cowboy Action Shooting matches apart is that the participants fire at these targets while straddling a saddled wooden horse, or sitting on the seat of a buckboard, or shooting out the window of a simulated 1870s railroad coach. In other words, you are re-enacting a scene from a Western historical event or a Western movie.

To participate in a CAS match, you need two single-action revolvers, a 19th century-style lever-action rifle and a 19th century-style shotgun. But being able to safely and accurately shoot these original or replica firearms is not enough—each stage of a match calls for a certain number of shots to be fired with one or more of your guns at specified targets. Adding to the competitive spirit is the fact that all of these events are timed, so the person hitting the most targets in the least amount of time is the winner.

You lose points for each missed target, and you can be disqualified for a safety violation, such as having the muzzle of your gun pointing anywhere other than downrange. In addition, you have to shoot each target in a certain order. A range officer times all of this, while another range officer watches to determine the number of targets you hit and to ensure you comply with all safety requirements.

For example, let’s say one stage of a CAS match is a recreation of a sheriff stopping a bank holdup. You are the sheriff. The match starts with your two guns holstered and your rifle and shotgun lying on a table in front of you. When you are ready, you shout a predetermined phrase—for example, "All right, Ringo, come on out with your hands up!" That starts the timer. Then, you must draw one gun, shoot five steel "outlaws" in the street, holster that gun, draw your second gun and with either hand, shoot another five targets that are holding the getaway horses. You then holster that empty gun, pick up your rifle, lever a round into the chamber and shoot 10 times at an "outlaw" steel plate peering through the bank window. Each hit is a point.

Leaving the action of your now-empty rifle open, you lay your lever-action on the table, pick up your shotgun, load it with two shells from your cartridge belt, and blast a pair of steel plates that represent two more members of the gang coming through the bank door. When you place your empty, action-open shotgun down on the table, the timer stops. The number of penalties and misses is deducted from your number of hits and that is factored in with your time. The most accurate shooter with the least penalties and the fastest time wins. Of course, this is just one example. There are many more imaginative stages that require the utmost in shooter concentration, not only in aiming, but in remembering the order of the targets and which guns must be used for each.

Many of the clubs staging these events have elaborate setups, like "The Hole-In-The-Wall-Gang," a Los Angeles-area group that leases an outdoor shooting range in Piru, CA, with a false-front Western town. Their monthly matches attract as many as 90 shooters.

But the biggest, grandest CAS match of them all is End of Trail, held every April at Norco, in Southern California, on a 10-acre site at Raahauge’s Shooting Sports Club. Last year marked the 21st anniversary of this event, which attracted 1,500 shooters and 20,000 spectators who enjoy this colorful, family-oriented sport. While all contestants are required to wear Western clothes, the people who pay the $10 admission fee (children are admitted free) to watch the events are also encouraged to dress the part (although firearms cannot be carried by anyone other than registered shooters, and in the interest of safety their guns must be empty unless they are on the firing line). Many non-shooters come as cowboys, and famous heroes of the frontier, such as Buffalo Bill Cody and President Theodore Roosevelt.

Besides the four-day shooting match, there are Wild West shows, chuck wagon cooking demonstrations, reenactments of famous scenes like the gunfight at the O.K. Corral and seminars on everything from CAS range safety to holster making. A charity auction also raises money for the Happy Trail Children’s Foundation—an organization that aides abused children founded by Western movie legends Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. To date, End of Trail has raised more than $200,000 for this charity. In addition, an entire End of Trail Western town offers everything from bandannas and cowboy hats to shirts, spurs and memorabilia.

The guiding light behind End of Trail and most of Cowboy Action Shooting is an organization known as the Single Action Shooting Society (SASS). It makes the rules and governs this fast-growing sport. Everyone who joins SASS gets a Marshall’s badge stamped with his or her individual membership number, a membership card printed with your alias, and a subscription to The Cowboy Chronicle, a monthly newspaper filled with information about clubs, matches, members, Western history and more.

While CAS matches appeal to shooters of all ages, End of Trail also has special "Junior" awards, so you are competing with other shooters your own age. Your scores are also eligible for overall national awards against adults. That means if your score places you among the top ten shooters in the girls or boys Junior division, you could also be eligible for a similar award in the overall category if your score is better than a grownup’s. And that is exactly what happened at the 2002 End of Trail shootout. After years of having the End of Trail top gun awards dominated by adults, last year marked the first time the top two national champions were teenagers!

Overall 2002 Male Top Gun winner of End of Trail was Joseph "Shalako Joe" Hampton, a 19-year-old Central Texas College freshman from Lampasas, TX. And winner of the Female Top Gun title was a 16-year-old Durango, CO, high school sophomore named Randi Rogers, who goes by the alias of "Holy Terror." In addition, the top Junior World Champion was Adam Piper, a fast-shooting teenager who goes by the alias of "Little Bud The Kid," and who ended up placing fourth in the overall competition.

Of course, just like in the real Wild West, being top gun doesn’t come easy. It takes lots of practice and dedication. "Shalako Joe" was raised on a ranch, and learned basic firearms safety and marksmanship from his dad. He began shooting a .22 at a local 4H club shooting program. But five years ago he, his brother Benjamin (who goes by the alias "Badlands Ben" and ended up winning second place in the 2002 End of Trail Junior Boys category) and his dad discovered a group of Cowboy Action shooters near their home.

"They were some of the friendliest people I’ve ever met," says Joe, "and really helped us get started." Joe’s dad bought him a pair of used Ruger Vaqueros in .357 Magnum, and he used their family’s Model ’94 Winchester for his lever action. For a shotgun, he borrowed his granddad’s old Stevens side-by-side smoothbore. "I practiced a lot, and did a lot of dry firing with my Ruger Vaqueros," recalls Joe. "I watched other shooters for technique, but I’m pretty much self-taught."

Eventually, he developed enough skill and speed to win the 2002 national championship. But brother Ben isn’t far behind, and the two often compete against each other. Their skill may be inherited, because their CAS-shooting mother, Penne (who uses the alias of "More Ammo") was Ladies’ Regional Winner—Modern Class (using adjustable sighted single actions) in the Fredericksburg, TX, Range War match.

Although granddad’s old shotgun now rests proudly over the family fireplace mantle, it may not be there for long, for he, too, is getting involved in Cowboy Action Shooting. "We really enjoy participating in a sport that the whole family can take part in," says Ronnie Hampton, Joe’s dad.

Helpful members and family involvement are recurring themes in Cowboy Action Shooting. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the success story behind Randi Rogers’ rise to national champion in just four years. She has had one of the best CAS instructors in the world, her grandfather, Gene Piercey, who goes by the alias of "Evil Roy" and who was 2001 Overall World Champion in both modern and traditional categories.

Gene has never finished less than ninth place in any match and he now operates a CAS school for shooters. Randi and her grandfather hold seminars on Cowboy Action Shooting and have made numerous public appearances on behalf of the sport and firearms safety.

For Randi—an honor roll student at Durango High School who plays the piano, is active in her church and helps babysit her two younger sisters—Cowboy Action Shooting takes up what little free time she has left. She practices with her granddad two days a week, but with a national title to defend at the quickly approaching 2003 End of Trail, Randi has stepped up her schedule. "We now practice twice every day," says Gene. " We have a 30-minute session before school, then dry-firing and live-ammo practice after school. We’ll go through 20,000 rounds of ammunition in a month."

Her dedication has paid off. In addition to being the national Female Top Gun for 2002, Randi was Top Junior Female Champion four times in a row and has never finished in less than 10th place in any match she has entered. But her granddad has some words of advise.

"If it quits being fun, quit doing it," Gene says. "But as long as you want to participate in Cowboy Action Shooting, do it as well as you can. Don’t quit. If a young shooter can be successful in Cowboy Action Shooting, he or she will be successful in anything else they may want to do. The principles are the same: fair play, concentration and perseverance."

It is not surprising that all of the top national champions and their families are NRA members. It is also refreshing that a sport that promotes skill with 19th-century firearms can play such an enjoyable part in 21st century life.