- Tejas Caballeros 2003 officers - Big Hext Finnigan, Three Legged Dog, Long Drink, Abilene, Halfhitch, and Kettleman in front.

- The Hamptons: Badlands Ben, More Ammo, Tally Book, and Shalako Joe, the 2002 EOT Champion. Click HERE for a profile I wrote of these fine folks, as published in the September '02 Cowboy Chronicle. Or see the same file in Adobe Acrobat format by clicking here: Hamptons.pdf

...Posses at Tejas Caballeros, Butterfield Trail Regulators, and Travis County Regulators

... ç Here Tin Star Texans Prez. Cactus Buck presents me with the first annual belt buckle for Black Powder. The fact that I was the only BP cartridge shooter who attended enough matches to be eligible does not dampen my delight to receive it!

. ç In Texas it gets really hot in the summer and it can be tough wearing long-sleeved cowboy duds. The Tin Star Texans invited everyone to wear Hawaiian shirts and shorts (boots and cowboy hat still required) in August just for fun. Yours truly won the 1^st place in the costume contest, and the prize was a wiggly hula doll.

.. At Tin Star Ranch, the Alamo before and after completion, and a recreation of Dodge City's Front Street.

Cannon at Range War. Hard to read the sign in this pic. Says "Complaint Dept. - Speak into the tube"

 Tombstone Mary & A D Texaz Jesse Chisolm, gunfighter style

 Ricky Shay Scout Capt. Justin Case .Muttley

. Stretch Hester, with his rare Uberti 1866 musket in 44-40, complete with bayonet

 Half Hitch, Will Henry, Sam McDermott

 Gunzilla talking to Deaf Laws. See that red high-heeled shoe hanging on a chain around his neck? You will have to ask him about it J

.. Some shooters at Commanche Valley Vigilantes, a fine large club near Glen Rose, TX

. I said this was a family sport. The little girl on the left doesn't shoot but definitely has the spirit! And Jessie Chisum's wife doesn't shoot but shows up in a different outfit to each big match.

. Stretch Hester got a good pic of a smokin' empty brass ejecting from my yellowboy (shooting CleaNshot in .44 Special). Scooter holds the timer while A.D. Texaz watches.

 . . Did you know that if you lay something down on the glass (carefully!) of your flatbed scanner, you can get a decent picture of it? Works pretty good if you don't have a digital camera! On the left is an 8" nickled Python. On the right is a Colt .45 made in 1901. I've put a couple thousand rounds through it at Cowboy matches and it is a fine shooter!

Saw this graffiti on a railroad overpass in Goldthwaite, TX

.View of Enchanted Rock as seen while driving north from Tin Star Ranch.

Panlubing some 250-grainers for black powder cartridges in the .45 rifle. I use 50/50 mix of beeswax/crisco

..These are Bronco Birnbaum's fancy '72 Open Top .44's, engraved by Terry Theis in Harper, TX. The knife handle was made from a deer's leg bone. Holsters by Lone Star Leather of Austin, TX. Bronco has ivory grips on them now; he has compiled a picture story of the transformation of these guns from stock to works of art. See: Bronco's Opentops

As I mentioned, I picked "Abilene" for my alias because I was born and raised there (Texas, not Kansas). Sometimes folks start singing the song "Abilene" when it's my turn to shoot. But they only know the first few lines, heheh. Here's the song: "Abilene"

...

Click Page 3 for photos of the 2002 Tin Star CAS Open

Click Page 5 for photos of the 1st Cavalry Division Horse Cavalry Detachment performing at Range War 2002

Click Page 6 for photos of the Cimarron booth at Winter Range and Shot Show '03