Chapter 6 – Centaures the Glorious Shooting Irons and then Some
6.6 Spin-Offs of FROCS Annual Meetings
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6.6.1
6.6.1.1 6.6.1.2 6.6.1.3 6.6.1.4 6.6.1.5 66.2 6.6.2.1 6.6.2.2 6.6.2.3 |
The Beginning of the Magnificent Three
Klein-Umstadt – Februars 10, 2017 Bad Soden – September 5, 2018 Jügesheim – August 29, 2019 Hofheim – June 12, 2024 Back to Offenbach County District in 2025 again… Stolberg – Exhibitions at the Copper City Pioneers’ Ranch Stolberg – September 28/29, 2019 Stolberg – September 26/27, 2020 Stolberg – The Last Picture Show of September 23/24, 2023 |
| 6.6.1 | The Beginning of the Magnificent Three |
In his 2016 (!) welcome address in Klein-Umstadt then patron Klaus Peter “Smokin’ Gun Pit” Schellhaas of the 7th Annual Meeting of the FROCS bounced off a challenging thought which triggered a couple of important developments. Schellhaas suggested the FROCS may want to organize a Cowboy shoot for all their previous patrons. To have it shot it out among the patrons determining their best shot. This should include proper press coverage and all. He would love to participate. And his staff were available to help with the administrative chores. This sounded like an interesting idea when you consider the public’s perception of shooting in Germany, and many other countries, is still ranging from kind of generally unapt to totally politically incorrect. Looking at it from that angle and having politicians shooting cowboy style actively in bright view of their citizens makes a lot of sense to further promote our sport and legal gun ownership as well.
Please, take Notice:
In 2016 five names were listed as previous patrons:
- Michael Cyriax, Head, School Dept., Main-Taunus-District (meeting 2010)
- Michael Cyriax, Chief Executive, Main Taunus-District* (meeting 2011)
- Hans Drexler, Mayor of Hirschau (meeting 2012),
- Oliver Quilling aka Tall Rider, Chief Executive, Offenbach County District (meeting 2013),
- Michael Cyriax aka Chief Rub, Chief Executive, Main-Taunus-District (meeting 2014)
- Axel Wintermeyer, Minister of State and Head, Hessian State Chancellery (meeting 2015),
- Klaus Peter Schellhaas aka Smokin‘ Gun Pit, Chief Executive, Darmstadt-Dieburg District (meeting 2016)
*Michael Cyriax got elected to be Chief Executive, Main Taunus District as of March 2011.
As it turned out Hans Drexler had retired and was not to be interested. Axel Wintermeyer, too, regretted not participating, due to a conflicting meeting out of town. The three patrons Michael Cyriax, Oliver Quilling and Klaus P. Schellhaas decided after their first match on February 10, 2017, to call this a traditional shoot and have it repeated on an annual basis.
That is what they did ‘til 2019. But it only in 2024 only the fourth competition of our three patrons could take place. Because the pandemic changed everything.
One big stumbling block almost killed the start of this project, though: Getting these busy political leaders together at the same time for a match of ca. two hours at the same location is next to impossible. But thanks to the unwavering help of the staff of these patrons and the gentlemen they are the first such match dubbed Die Glorreichen Drei which translates into The Magnificent Three could take place in early February of 2017 at the Klein-Umstadt range (https://sc-klein-umstadt.de/) at last.
| 6.6.1.1 | Klein-Umstadt – February 10, 2017 |
To provide the contestants with some basic hands-on introduction on safe handling and shooting of cowboy guns according the BDS Western regulation we arranged some tutoring and training for them at shooting clubs close to their homes. Cowboy friends in their neighborhood took care of this a few days before the match.
Please take Notice:
In their matches The Magnificent Three would not draw the pistols from holsters. Instead, guns were placed on tables at the starting positions of the stages.
The day of truth or the first match of The Magnificent Three was off on February 10, 2017, in the heart of Smokin’ Gun Pit’s home district Darmstadt-Dieburg. As its initiator and driver, Pit was also the host of this shoot.
It was frigging cold on the Klein-Umstadt indoor range. But our three shooters fought hard, and the match was big fun for all attending, contestants, their local supporters, visitors of the three districts and the press.
Our three patrons after the match on Feb. 10, 2017 (from left): Tall Rider, Smokin‘ Gun Pit, Chief Rub
Smoking Gun Pit won on his home turf, Chief Rub reached 2nd and Tall Rider 3rd place. <however, the patrons begged to arrange future shoots during summer, however. It turned out the weatherman was on our side at these forthcoming matches. As we had hoped for after this first shoot in Klein-Umstadt, the annual shoot of our The Magnificent Three as they are called by now, developed its own dynamics. It evolved into one of the spin-offs of the Annual Meetings of the FROCS.
| 6.6.1.2 | Bad Soden – September 5, 2018 |
For the second match in early September of 2018, it was to be Chief Rub’s turn. Hence, he invited his two colleagues into his Main-Taunus-District. The shoot took place at the modern multi-distance indoor shooting range in Bad Soden (https:/www.sv-neuenhain.de/). On top of this, he sponsored a full-size engraved replication of a non-shooting Colt 1861 Navy as a challenge trophy. Like in 2017 cowboy action shooting training was made available to the contestants prior to the match.
Our patrons, a handful of FROCS in cowboy outfit and folks of the Bad Soden shooting club after the 2018 match: Note the challenge trophy between Smokin’ Gun Pit and Chief Rub while Tall Rider holds the invitation poster
The Chief’s staff took care of the organization whereas the FROCS handled the match incl. providing guns and ammo and the arrangement of the stages. And the results? Host Chief Rub won, Smoking Gun Pit made 2nd and the Tall Rider 3rd place.
| 6.6.1.3 | Jügesheim – August 29, 2019 |
In 2019 it was the turn of the Tall Rider and his staff to get this 3rd match going in his Offenbach County District. Hence, it was to be held at the open range of the club in Jügesheim (https://www.sv-diana.de/). Why Jügesheim? The club is also home of a group of active western shooters. But since they did not possess proper steel targets for cowboying back then these were provided by the club in Hofheim. Like during 2017 and 2018, cowboy action shooting training was offered locally to the three patrons.
On this warm and sunny match day the big question was this: Will Smokin’ Gun Pit or Chief Rub win again? Or could the Tall Rider possibly surprise everybody, his colleagues, visitors and the press, and make it to the top this year in his home district? As far as we learnt he had trained hard for this match.
The Magnificent Three after the Jügesheim shoot (from left): Smokin’ Gun Pit, Chief Rub, Tall Rider
At the end of the day, however, Chief Rub did it again coming in first, the Tall Rider second and Smokin’ Gun Pit third. At the after-match party the decision was taken that this year’s winner had to arrange the next year’s or fourth shoot. In other words, this was to happen in the Main-Taunus-District again.
| 6.6.1.4 | Hofheim – June 12, 2024 |
That this fourth match of The Magnificent Three would be possible in 2024 only, however nobody could have foreseen in Jügesheim back in 2019! The good news was that the Hofheim shooting club (https://svhofheim.de), in the heart of Chief Rub’s District, had been able to upgrade their open pistol range a few years ago into a modern indoor range approved for multi-distance shooting with black and nitro powder.
Present from a local beekeeper for the three patrons: One pot of honey for each of them
The Chief’s organizers’ team of the shoot had also checked back with other previous patrons of FROCS meetings to have them participate in the 2024 shoot as well. Unfortunately, neither Minister of State Axel Wintermeyer (patron 2015) nor Lord Mayor Bert Wendsche of Radebeul (patron 2018) were interested. On the other hand, Nataly Kemmelmeier aka Natty Gazetti (Patron 2022) was ready to compete. However, she had a conflicting date elsewhere in Germany that she had to attend. So, no Magnificent Four in 2024. It was back to the original group of three of 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Trainers, supporters and contestants in 2024 (from left): Sigi Bechert (CAS trainer, Klein-Umstadt), Jörg Ullrich (CAS trainer, Hofheim), Wolf Niederastroth (yours truly, Hofheim), Oliver “Tall Rider” Quilling (patron Offenbach County District), Michael “Chief Rub” Cyriax (patron Main-Taunus-District), Kerstin Fink-Mayer (Hofheim), Klaus “Smokin’ Gun Pit” Schellhaas (patron Darmstadt-Dieburg District), Dieter Hummel (Hofheim), Michael Mayer (CAS trainer & match director, Hofheim)
It was pleasantly warm on match day at the shooting club. Spirits of contestants, their supporters from the three Districts, visitors and the press were high. Allegedly, even some bets were in the air like “Will the Chief deliver his third victory and bring home the challenge trophy finally for good?” or “Don’t underrate the Tall Rider, he got private shooting lessons by a CAS champion”. However, things first turn out differently and secondly, never as you think.
The challenge trophy with mounted non shooting Colt 1861 Navy: Note name plates of the first placed patrons
When the last shot of this fourth match was fired this were the unexpected results: Tall Rider first, Smokin’ Gun Pit second and Chief Rub third. The challenge trophy is now proudly displayed in Tall Rider’s office in the District seat in Dietzenbach. Great after-shoot party in the clubhouse. Now we are looking forward to the fifth Shoot to be held in the Offenbach County District.
| 6.6.1.4 | Back to Offenbach County District in 2025 again … |
As this is written, the staff in Dietzenbach is in the middle of organizing this year’s shoot to take place during fall. We will keep you abreast of the outcome.
| 6.6.2 | Stolberg – Exhibitions at the Copper City Pioneers’ Ranch |
Stolberg – what and where the heck is it? It is a middle-size town. You will find it in the boondocks to the west of Cologne in the vicinity of the city of Aachen. The area is cornering with Belgium and the Netherlands. Sometime during the year 2019 two of our FROCS, cowboy action shooters and Neo-Classikers collectors, aliases of Alaska Wolf and Cheyenne Wolf, put their heads together in the clubhouse of the Copper City Pioneers (CCPs check https:/www.copper-city-pioneers.com), situated in a wooden area in the outskirts of Stolberg.
Club house complex of the CCPs near Stolberg during the morning of September 28, 2019
The CCPs are a country and western line dance group. They erected this comfortable wooden complex in the middle of nowhere almost on the banks of one of the tributaries of river Erft by the name of Vichtbach. To reach the club compound you have to cross a wooden bridge over the Vichtbach. To the clubhouse there belongs a cozy pub with kitchen attached, a few bedrooms but more importantly to us, a huge squarish multi-purpose hall with lots of windows for the dance training activities. Alaska Wolf happens to be on the board of the CCPs.
These two FROCS aka the Two Wolfs developed the plan for exhibiting Neo-Classikers of western revolvers and rifles in this location. This comprised also subject lectures. The first and the next two events took place during the last weekends of September each. A two–day affair, to be organized in this dance hall during the club’s off-season. The Two Wolfs’ idea was that this type of exhibition would most certainly attract many gun collectors, shooters of cowboy guns and FROCS from the surrounding areas in Germany plus from Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. Because no such event has ever been organized there or in the vicinity in the past.
| 6.6.2.1 | Stolberg – September 28/29, 2019 |
Our two Wolfs correctly speculated citizens from the Stolberg area would be interested in addition to gun enthusiasts. These locals would likely be coming by later on Sunday during a stroll through the woods to enjoy a refreshment or some food served in the clubhouse by the members of the CCPs. Even the administration got interested and one Dr. Tim Grüttemeier from the regional council accepted its patronage.
Official Poster of the first exhibition in Stolberg in 2019, motto: “When The West Was Still Wild …” (artwork by Ingo Standke)
This exhibition was organized as a joint project of the international special interest group of the FROCS – FRiends Of the Centaure Society, Hofheim/Lubbock together with the VDW – Verband für Waffentechnik und -geschichte e.V., Düsseldorf. The total number of visitors, gun collectors, shooters from Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, even from Switzerland and Stolbergers exceeded a whopping 300!
Visitors studying the displays at this 2019 Neo-Classikers exhibition at the CCPs Ranch, Stolberg
Many more visitors than were expected. Many of these folks appreciated the opportunity to study and discuss with their fellows of the shooting and/or collecting fraternity for the first time these various revolvers and pistols displayed under protective glass. Rifles were securely fixed and hanging from walls.
The two lectures covered the history of the Colt 1847 Walker and American conversion revolvers.
| 6.6.2.2 | Stolberg – September 26/27, 2020 |
After this successful start with the exhibition at the CCPs ranch in 2019 our Two Wolfs organized their second such event at the same location. Again, this was to be a joint of the FROCS and the VDW. Although the 2020 event attracted marginally less visitors from the Stolberg area, the numbers of visitors from the surrounding countries turned out to be stable. Professional sellers of subject books and accessories joined the exhibition, too. Not surprisingly, this year’s total exceeded 270 visitors!
Miniature guns featured in 2020 – see center Single Action Armys – compared to their full-sized Neo-Classikers
Our Two Wolfs also offered another unexpected surprise: Because they had arranged for a shooting range on the CCPs compound. Here the visitors could test their marksmanship with CO2 Single Action Armys and lever guns. Which they just loved.
Official Poster of the second exhibition in Stolberg of 2020, motto: “How The West Was Won …” (artwork by Ingo Standke)
That year in the 2020 lecture department the talk was on Karl May’s “Henrystutzen”. This actually was a Winchester 1866 from the Swiss evaluation program of introducing a new rifle for their army.
Professional book sellers added to the 2020 exhibition
| 6.6.2.3 | Stolberg – The Last Picture Show – September 26/27, 2023 |
As we all know, nothing should and could have been arranged during the next years due to the pandemic. In addition, in 2021 another disaster struck the Stolberg area. Because heavy rainfalls turned the tiny Vichtbach creek into a torrential river, flooding most of the area. The good news is that it did not reach the higher CCPs compound. But it destroyed the wooden bridge essential for an easy access to the ranch.
The 2023 Stolberg exhibition at the CCPs ranch
Not before some time in 2023 (!), the local administration got their plans straightened out and were able to provide an alternative solution for an access road to reach the compound by car. This turned out to be a detour via some village quite a distance away from the ranch because this village’s bridge over the Vichtbach was still intact after all. Once you had reached the village and crossed that bridge you had to follow a complicated dirt road to the ranch through the woods. Old Shatterhand and Winnetou would have loved that track.
Official Poster of the third exhibition in 2023, motto: “The Split Nation…” (artwork by Ingo Standke)
Be that as it may the Two Wolfs got going strong again. They started making plans for their next exhibition at the end of September in 2023. This time without the cooperation of the VDW. Because the latter really had not contributed any benefit to the two previous events. However, our Two Wolfs were able to get our good friend Matthias Recktenwald, head of the editorial supervisory board of VS Medien, as the patron of the event on board. Then invitations and posters were issued in due time to interested parties.
In 2023 a few visitors came in their historical outfit
But after Corona and the flooding worse came to worst. During this last weekend in September of 2023 the visitors very much appreciated the Two Wolfs’ probably most exciting exhibition in Stolberg. That is the good news. But these visitors were a few disappointing handfuls only. No regional collectors or shooters, nobody from Belgium or the Netherlands. Most visitors were members of the FROCS. They came to the ranch even from faraway locations in Germany. Hence, no lectures were offered. The final count and interviews with visitors present indicated this kind of exhibition is without a future at the CCPs ranch. Therefore, the decision was taken that this third event at the ranch was to be the last one.
October 03, 2025
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