What they walked into, however, is the fastest growing modern shooting sport, Cowboy Action Shooting, and it integrates sportsman skills, like coordination and concentration, with a culture of camaraderie and kinsmanship.

It's a combination that during the past few decades has drawn more than 70,000 members worldwide to the Single Action Shooting Society, the body that regulates Cowboy Action Shooting matches like those at the Shady Creek Shootists club near Monmouth and River City Regulators in Chillicothe.

The basic requirements are fairly straightforward. Pick a western-related alias and dress in period garb. Shoot only pre-1900 era original or replica firearms.

Shoot fast.

Partners

Monthly matches at the Shady Creek Shootists' club in rural Warren County and for the River City Regulators at the Chillicothe Sportsmen's Club begin with a shooters meeting that stresses safety and outlines the stages to be shot. Members are rounded up with resounding calls of "Posse up!"

Each stage - a typical match consists of six - has between eight and 26 steel targets that have to be shot in a prescribed order, by specified guns. The main objective: shoot every target as fast as possible.

The process begins with a narrative, as varied as any shoot-out scene in a spaghetti western, from Indian attacks to outlaw raiders. Shooters are instructed what posture to have at the beginning of the stage (hands in the air or on pistol grips) and usually declare something to the imaginary enemies before firing begins.

It's a routine that initially has some shooters uneasy.

"I was embarrassed at first, to be quite honest," said Philip "Partner" Newman, who shoots at both the Chillicothe and Monmouth clubs. "I didn't call it Cowboy Action Shooting at first, I told my wife it was single action shooting."

That was four years ago - "I got over it," the Caterpillar Inc. machine designer said - and so, too, did his wife Janessa, who a month later holstered up and adopted the name "Partner's Partner."

"I watched him do it a couple times and thought, 'I could do that,' " she said.

At the beginning of each stage, pistols and rifles are loaded at a supervised loading table behind the firing point. Shotguns are loaded as they are shot.

A timer records how long each shooter takes to fire while spotters count how many rounds miss intended targets. An unloading table ensures the weapons are empty before being returned to their holster or holder.

A typical stage dictates 10 shots from two pistols, 10 rifle rounds and between four and six shotgun shells.

Proficient shooters take about 30 seconds to complete the stage. Quick draws hit every target in less than 20.

"Dapper Dan"

The name is a bit of a misnomer for Shady Creek co-founder Dan Porter, like nicknaming a skinny guy "heavy."

He prefers worn, working cowboy clothes to garish old-west outfits and isn't far removed from his character in everyday dress.

Clad in cowboy boots, jeans and a denim shirt on a typical day at his Monmouth auto body shop, only the ball cap over a gray ponytail hanging half-way down his back betrays the rough-rider image. His wide-brimmed, brown suede hat rests on the dashboard of his high-seated black pick-up truck, a tattered plastic sheet covering the passenger seat where his dog, Bones, perches.

His obsession with the sport overwhelms his shop: photos of gun-toting friends plaster the office walls, one of a woman triumphantly hoisting shotguns in both hands, another capturing a pistol-brandishing man mid-shot with the smoke of rapidly fired rounds obscuring the rest of the scene.

Lining work benches behind the shop garage are multitudes of ammunition reloaders, the largest for various gauge shotgun shells and easily a dozen others for every caliber bullet imaginable. A cabinet in the garage holds thousands of reloaded rounds, each shelf jammed full of carefully labeled blue plastic boxes.

Yet those neatly arranged amenities pale in comparison to the contents of the closet-sized safe hulking in the back room. Swing the double doors open and the left is lined with original and replica pre-1900 era revolvers, the grips of several embossed with stars orbited by his alias, "Dapper Dan," like a livestock brand.

Double action revolvers and semi-automatic handguns reflect more modern times on the right-hand side. Clustered in the middle, shotguns and rifles of all types and decades mingle, enough firepower to arm an angry mob.

In this context, Porter's impression of his first cowboy action shooting event in 1999 is a massive understatement: "I went once, and afterward, I was hooked."

Lend me your gun

Part of the sport's appeal for its mostly middle-aged rangers is the practicality and friendly competition.

Perhaps one of the youngest shooters at a recent match, however, best embodied that attitude. At 12, Jake "Bo Jake" Yoke of Davenport, Iowa, still has trouble quickly loading and shouldering a shotgun, but gracefully fields encouragement and tips from his older counterparts.

"They make me feel really welcome," he said. "It's just a lot of fun, but everybody comes out and is safe and that's the No. 1 thing."

That type of perspective is what at first was so refreshing about the sport to Porter, who before had been competing in skeet shoots that ended up costing too much in registration fees to only intermittently walk away with the first prize pot.

Cowboy action shooting, on the other hand, has yet to turn commercial in the 25 years since it ignited at a shooting range in Coto de Caza, Calif., when a few gun enthusiasts and shooting buddies decided to mimic old TV westerns for their next match. More than 500 clubs have since sprouted in all 50 states and 18 foreign countries.

Unlike the skeet tournaments Porter recalls, no cowboy action shooters boast corporate sponsors and the events aren't competition driven. Shady Creek Shootists offers only a belt buckle as the top prize for their largest annual match; the monthly meets feature no trophies.

"It's one of the few sports where if your gun breaks, the guy you're shooting against will actually lend you his gun," said Jerry "Chillicothe Outlaw" Oglesby.

And aside from the start-up costs of purchasing requisite SASS-approved firearms and costumes, the sport takes a light toll on the pocketbook. Porter estimates the initial investment at about $3,000 and regular monthly matches at the Shady Creek club have a $10 entry fee.

The annual St. Jude Children's Hospital charity shoot, which Shady Creek and the Illowa Irregulars in Milan co-sponsor, draws competitors from across the country and costs $40 to enter.

Growing in popularity

But there's more to it than simply being a cheaper avenue to shoot, and Porter isn't the only one who's latched onto the feelings and values these events reflect.

When he registered his required unique alias with the national SASS database - the governing organization doesn't allow repeat names - Porter was assigned member number 27,235. That was in 1999. Seven years later, new member numbers have broken into the 70,000 realm.

Area clubs, too, reflect the growth. When the charity shoot started seven years ago at the Milan club, 47 shooters raised $900. Over Memorial Day weekend this year, the now two-day, two-club event hosted 163 shooters and brought in more than $24,000 in donations.

And for the second time, the Illinois state Cowboy Action Shooting championship will be held in Sparta from July 26 to 30. The first state tournament last year drew 311 shooters, the largest ever SASS state match. Already this year, 303 competitors in 26 categories have registered.

The cowboys and gals who populate these events largely spent their youth watching the likes of Roy Rodgers and Gene Autry, and the morals presented therein live on in the camaraderie created when these gun lovers congregate.

"We grew up watching them on Saturday mornings and we thought we were just watching them, but we were being brainwashed, learning right from wrong, good and evil," Porter said.

Those were the days when a man's word and his handshake were enough. And these guys, yearning for those simpler times, for "the good old days," dress up like boyhood heroes and shake hands with the firmest of grips.

Matt Buedel can be reached at 686-3154 or mbuedel@pjstar.com.