Cowboys in Jersey (Or How the West Went East) The Central Jersey Rifle and Pistol Club is a big club that just keeps getting bigger, a phenomenon Club President Donald Toenshoff attributes to "good management and an ever-growing membership." The club now reports 2,116 members, 180 acres of land, a 200 meter and 300 meter rifle range, and a 25 and 50 yard pistol range, as well as trap, skeet and archery ranges. And they have cowboys. Well, not real cowboys, but 75 to 150 club members who dress up like cowboys every fourth Sunday of the month for Cowboy Action Shooting competitions. Toenshoff describes these Old West enthusiasts as "grown up kids who remember their Wyatt Earp days from the 1950s." As outlined in the handbook of the Single Action Shooting Society (SASS), in Cowboy Action Shooting, contestants compete with firearms typical of the Old West--single action revolvers, lever action rifles, and side-by-side double barreled, pre-1899 pump or lever action shotguns. Participants are also required wear western attire and "adopt a shooting alias appropriate to a character or profession of the late 19th century, or a Hollywood western star..." Attire, by the way, often includes chaps and spurs (and hoop skirts and bloomers for the women) to be worn throughout the competition. It started simply enough--five years ago, several members approached the club board of directors. As Toenshoff admits, however, these guys are "constantly thinking up new things." As shown in one of the pictures from the Central Jersey web site, the "Jackson Hole Gang" has even constructed its own saloon, complete with swinging doors. According to Toenshoff, they even have members "building a sawhorse with a saddle so people could shoot from a riding posture." The competitions are timed events running through a directed course of fire--both swinging and fixed metal targets of critters and bad guys. The group starts at 6:00 am setting up the course, with shooting starting at 9:00 often extending into the late afternoon. Cowboy Action Shooting is the fastest growing shooting sport in the United States. The Single Action Shooting Society boasts a membership of over 350 affiliated clubs, while their website received over ten million hits last year and their publication, The Cowboy Chronicle, is distributed to over 25,000 subscribers each month, with over 150 advertisers. For more information about Cowboy Action Shooting, go to the Single Action Shooting Society website at www.sassnet.com. Complete membership information as well as information about local clubs can be viewed there.