Shooter Spotlight : Fireball

Look down range, is it a gopher is it a bear? Nope it's Fireball. Fast shooter with a fun sense of humor. Let see what Fireball has to say.

Where do you live? (what state or country)

Florida

When did you start shooting CAS and how did you or who got you into the sport?

1995.  The magazines were starting to do write ups on it and there was one monthly shoot in Michigan at the time.  3 hours to get there, but it was worth it!  I was hooked and started a monthly shoot on my side of the state!

Who was your mentor, either known to them or not?.

How much do you practice, how many rounds a month do you send down
range?  Currently, my practice is relegated to dry fire, until I can find a place near me to do live fire.  When I had a range it was a couple hundred a week for fun and I would amp that up the month prior to going to a bigger shoot.

Have you won any state, regional, national or world championships?

Nope.  Often the bridesmaid, never the bride. 

Tell us about your most memorable match:

Not necessarily a match, but several.  Smokeless two handed shooting can get boring if you do it enough and in the early 2000's I was traveling and shooting A LOT.  To reenergize me about the game I started shooting a lot of Pale Rider gunfighter.  The rules vary a little by region, but it's basically full cases of black powder, 200 grain bullet minimum and 40 cal and up.  There used to be a fair amount of trash talking, traveling trophies (gourds painted by Cherokee Big dawg, Steel trophies like "Ole Smokie") and the like.  It was memorable!
 

What is your favorite aspect of CAS?

That it is a well rounded activity.  A lot of hobbies have parts that are fun or interesting but fall short of being "complete".  CAS has an overwhelmingly great bunch of people, it provides a venue to be as competitive as you'd like and is challenging as a sport.  Few shooting sports require you master all 3 styles of guns to be competitive. 

Is there a story behind your alias, and what is that story?

I used to hand out what I called "manly candy" to the people that worked for me, Atomic Fireballs.  It stuck.

Do you have a travel/shootin buddy? (you know that friend that makes this game what it is)

There have been a few over the years, people move and change.  Texas john Critter, Seven and Wildcat Elly, Deuce and KJ Stevens, Waimea, Desperado Dale.  None of them are local now though, so who knows who'll be next?!

Where is your favorite place to shoot? (range or match past or present)

I just love being on a an outdoor range!!  THAT is my favorite place to shoot.

What category do you shoot?

49er

Have you tried other categories? What categories have you shot and how did that go?

Modern and Traditional, back when that was how the categories were split up. Wrangler and 49er, I think I was too old for Cowboy when they came out with the current aged based stuff.  I always just shoot my actual age category if I'm shooting two handed smokeless.  Frontier cartridge, Pale Rider gunfighter, even Duelist a couple times.

What is you posse job of choice?

Spotting, setting targets probably.  I'm "brass blind", you won't get much back if I'm hunting it, so I dodge that.LOL  I'll TO if need be, but I'm terrible with keeping up with the rules and get WTC stuff wrong often enough you probably don't want me on it if you're in the habit of getting called for stuff.
 

What is the time of your fastest clean stage? 10.41

What was the best advice you got from a fellow shooter, and who was it?

Probably "stop freestyling"....by everybody.

What advice can you give to some of the shooters reading this?

Maintain your sense of humor, if you don't have one, look on Ebay or come see me.

What keeps you playing this game?

The same things that make up the favorite aspect, it's a well rounded activity.

What is your favorite thing to do when you are not on the range or
shooting?

I'm a gearhead, motorcycles, fast cars, anything with big, loud engines gets my attention.  I'm currently doing a "restomod" on the 1971 Honda CT70 minibike that my Dad gave me when I was 8.  I'm putting a 190 in it, its titled, so you may see me on the road with it....