Lasso rules
Hello to all. I am new to this forum and hate to see such a new growing sport torn apart.
Erick has put the Lasso shoot on for 5 years as I understand.
Erick had no rules posted at the shooting event or handed any rules out at the match.
As new air gun shooters we did not know what was going on.
Erick had a shooters meeting before the match and ask the shooters if they would allow the 25 cal to be shot in this event. All voted democratically and agreed to allow this 25 cal in. Now this was not your standard 25 cal air rifle shooting a standard pellet this was one of Jacks Haley Hunting guns. I watched this gun on the firing line all day Friday. I was shooting a stock Quackenbush .308 with a .309 154-gr bullet at 703 fps, which equals 193 flbs of energy at the muzzle. The 25 cal was shooting a .257 73.5 gr bullet at 1190 fps, which equals 275 FLBS of energy at the muzzle. What is the problem?

Now back to the rules there was nothing said about the weight of the guns, there was nothing said about the shooting position at the meeting!
The scoring was stated at the shooters meeting was as follows 1 point for a hit. You will
shoot at the target 2 shots in 30 seconds. We shot at 9 targets with a possible perfect score being 18. Well this is where it all changed Erick called the shooters to gather and said we have a three way tie for second place instead of having a shoot off. This is the way I am going to count points.
The first 3 targets are worth 1 point for each hit.
Second 3 targets are worth 2 points for each hit.
Third 3 targets are worth 3 points for each hit.

Now here is the rest of the story. MY WIFE, HER BROTHER AND I all entered the match and all shooting the same gun. John (MY BROTHERENLAW HAD NEVER SHOT A BIG BORE AIR GUN EVER, HE WAS A NEW AIR GUN SHOOTER) and he was the second place winner not bad for never touching a big bore air rifle. My wife was the only shooter to hit one of the 300 yds target. By the first set of scoring she was in 5th place, under the new scoring put her in 3rd place. She had only shot this gun 30 times on Friday. Now I was one of the 3 tied for second place with the new scoring system I was moved to 4th, no big deal but it was a very big deal for JOEY the youth who was the other 3rd shooter tied for second place. Now my wife and I are old folks and we were not there to win trophies, just have a good time. So my wife and I told Erick we were pulling out of the competition and that would move Joey in to the 3rd place trophy with the new scoring. We believe it is more important to support the youth shooters in any event.
This is what happened and some of the people there will confirm all of this.

It is plain that the rules should have been handed out to every shooter, so we are all on the same page and enjoy this great sport without all the controversy.

Sorry for being so long but the truth needs to be told.

David Williams
Hunters Supply

I know that Eric has already taken steps to correct any problems related to scoring and to the other rules. I will be creating a web site for LASSO that will be updated regularly. It will have a copy of the rules and regulations for all to see. This is not the first time that someone has graciously given up their position so that a younger competitor could be moved up. It has always been done as an encouragement for them to continue in our sport. It is my understanding that someone has already volunteered to be the judge for any rules questions.

As with any new thing like LASSO there will be growing pains. Eric's reasons for starting LASSO are to promote our sport and give everyone the opportunity to compete or to watch big bores in action. He doesn't make any money, and actually has had to subsidize the costs. Others have made major contributions as well so that LASSO could take place. As big an undertaking as it has been, LASSO has become an event that is not to be missed by any airgunner who might be interested in the big bore airgun phenomenon.I would encourage everyone to thank Eric for his hard work and his brilliant idea for this activity.

Congratulations again to John Bowman. I will never forget the amazement of seeing him blasting that 300 yard target with the Jack Haley .257. Although I didn't compete I enjoyed every minute of LASSO 2012 and the great friends who were there.



Bill Dempsey
Texarkana, AR

Bill Dempsey
[email protected]

18 and younger.
Joey would have placed 1st in Jr.division had that been in place.
That way the youth of our sport will always be supported.
This also might encourage more youth shooter's at LASSO.
There haven't been very many youth shooter's in the past.
Could be why it hasn't been addressed before now.

Joey has been the only youngster that has participated in the past two competitions with only one other youngster the year before that and he took third place also.
Without more shooters participating he would be in a class all by himself. Not much competition there.

I would love to see more younger shooters entering the competition as I enjoy watching them shoot more so than the older experienced shooters.
I believe it would take special promotion of LASSO to draw the younger shooters in. The other alternative is to hunt them down and drag them in on our own.
These youngsters are out there but we the older crowd will have to do our part in locating and introducing them to the sport.