Winter Range Cowboy Action Event in Phoenix This Week

Earlier this month the Ben Avery Range in Phoenix hosted America’s top long-range shooters at the Berger SW Nationals. This week, Feb. 24 – March 1, 2020, over 1000 cowboys and cowgirls take over Ben Avery during Winter Range, the SASS National Championship for Cowboy Action Shooting. Winter Range is the second largest Cowboy Action event of the year, after End of Trail, the Single Action Shooting Society World Championship held each year in Edgewood, New Mexico.

If you want to check out the action at Winter Range, admission is free. The Ben Avery Shooting Facility is located on Carefree Highway, west of Interstate 17. For more information, visit WinterRange.com.

This video, produced by the Arizona Fish and Game Commission, covers the full Winter Range experience, including the main shooting competitions, the side matches, the Western costumes, the socializing, and more. Worth watching if you like action shooting or are a fan of the Wild West.

Hundreds of cowboy action shooters, ages 12-80, will compete in multiple classifications based on age, and type/caliber of firearms. In addition, this year the Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association and the SASS Mounted Shooters will hold a two-day mounted shooting event February 29 through March 1, in nearby Queen Creek, Arizona.

Cowboy Action Shooting requires that contestants compete with firearms typical of those used in the taming of the Old West: single-action revolvers, lever-action rifles, and period shotguns. Participants each have a registered cowboy shooting alias (such as “Deadeye Dave”), used in SASS events. Competitors, organized in “Posses”, shoot a series of multi-gun stages. In addition to the primary competitions, Winter Range 2020 will feature displays of period militaria, exhibitions of western skills and crafts, a fast-draw contest, and nearly 100 vendors selling vintage-style clothing and “sundries”.