Well, it wasn't quite like that. First shoot of the year, one of my primary revolvers broken so I had to use a backup (Thank you, Eiseley, for not taking it when I offered it to you!), first shooting at the new Cowboy Action Shooting Range, a Memorial Shoot honoring some who are no longer corporeally with us.

See, ALL weapons are certified "clear" and the long guns (rifle and shotgun) are put in a rack with the actions open. Revolvers (and in one case a pistol) are carried (certified "clear) in holsters. When it's two people before your turn to shoot you take the long guns to the loading table, place your revolvers on the table, and THEN bring your ammunition to the table. You load there, and ONLY there, and with your weapons loaded and pointed either down at the ground in your holsters or downrange, await your turn.

When your turn to shoot comes, you move your long arms to the appropriate racks and you move to the initial firing position. When you are ready to shoot the targets in a particular order, using the weapons in a previously specified order (e.g., rifle targets left to right, handgun targets right to left and left to right, four shotgun targets in the order 1,3,2,4). After firing all of the ammunition in each weapon you re-holster it or put it, action open, back in a rack.

When you have finished your "run" you take ALL of your weapons, muzzle in a safe direction, to the "unloading table" where they are again checked and cleared. If you had a malfunction during your run and could not fix it, you had stated that and handed the weapon to the scorekeeper who took it to the unloading table.

This is all done against a timer and scored for time AND accuracy. You can lose time by shooting targets out of sequence (for example) and a safety violation can cost you the entire match. For example, when carrying loaded weapons you can point them to the front (downrange) but if you turn with them so that the muzzle is pointed more that 170 degrees away from your front, even if holstered, you commit a safety violation.

So far I've been first in my category every time I've shot...and I've never had a miss with rifle or shotgun ("Shotgun? Well, duh!" I hear gnu saying).

I'm sorry, but nothing blew up or burned and nobody was knifed or shot or hanged or anything. Just a bunch of people who had a good time outside, engaging in a hobby safer than kayaking.