The Shootist
. . . is the official bi-monthly publication of The National Congress of Old West Shootists, Inc.. It is published in January, March, May, July, September and November. It is included free with NCOWS membership, although we accept straight subscriptions. Contact us at P. O. Box 831, Beatrice, NE 68310-0831 ; phone us at (319) 553-1177, Fax is (319) 277-6840, and E-Mail is TheShootist@ncows.org
Subscriptions / Links to Our Advertisers
About The Shootist
The Shootist was the first magazine devoted exclusively to Western
Action Shooting. Now in its tenth year of publication, The Shootist is
where members of The National Congress of Old West Shootists get up-to-date news
and information about NCOWS' shoots and activities in its "Congressional Report"
feature. But more than that, The Shootist prints Old West fiction by such
writers as Johnny D. Boggs (member of the Western Writers of America and author
of the Hannah and the Horseman series), Vince "Harley Davis" Bergdale,
Jack Swanson and Duane Hartwig; "From the Chuckwagon" by Glen Carmen,
"Authenticity Corner" by Marlan Ingram & articles on Old West guns and gunsmithing by
Bill Curran, Jim Janecek, George Glenn, and others; features on reloading; Will
Ghormley's articles on Old West gunleather and how to make your own holster;
reviews on new guns and new products for the Western Action shooter; book
reviews, and more. Virtually all of our authors are members of NCOWS, and write
from their love of our brand of Western Action Shooting. (Return
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Contributions Wanted
We are always interested in receiving original contributions of all types for future issues of The Shootist from NCOWS members or non-members. Remember, it is your contributions that determine whether The Shootist is the kind of magazine you want it to be. We'll welcome any original contributions but are especially interested in articles or continuing columns on such areas as: History of the Old West, Product Reviews, Gun Tests and Evaluations, Reloading for Western Action Shootist, Original Art, Photographs, both Old-Time and Modern, Guides to Authenticity of Clothing, Guns and Gear, Original Fiction and Poetry, Book Reviews, Gunsmithing Tips, NCOWS Posse Shoots and Activities, Correspondence on Other Western Action Shooting Events, and so on. Send us the kind of stuff you'd like to read. Let us know if you have an idea for a continuing column of your own.
The deadline for all submissions is currently the first of the month
preceding the month of publication; for example, 1 June for the July/August
issue. Submissions must be typewritten or computer generated, using a standard
type-face. Submissions on computer disk (IBM) or
emailed are especially gratifying. We can
use just about any IBM word processing system, but to be on the safe side,
include an ASCII (*.txt) version as well along with hard copy. Photographs
should be good-quality glossy color or black-and-white with full
identification on the back of each photo. Frankly, the better the camera and
lens, the better the final result. If you're planning to shoot pictures for use
in The Shootist, go with a fine-grained b&w film like Tri-X to start
with. The problem is that it's cheaper and quicker to get color processed these
days, so if you're shooting in color go with a slow, fine-grained color film
like Kodak 100 or 200. Of course, we can work with any original photograph. We
now have the capability to print color photos, but not every article will be
accompanied by color. (Don't write in ink on the back of a photo -- it will
transfer to the photo next to it. Use a self-adhesive label or note.) Scanned
photos and digital images should be in separate IBM TIFF (*.tif) files or .jpg on disk -- do not imbed them
in the document. However, as with documents, it's not a bad idea to accompany
such disks with the original photos. All submissions become the property of
The Shootist. Regrettably, at the present we can only pay in glory, not
cash. (Return to Top of Page)
Editorial Guidelines
Further guidelines for authors (sorry if some of this is elemental): Copy
should be thoroughly proofread for errors in grammar and spelling as well as
typographical errors. This may sound elementary, but watch out for such common
errors as incomplete sentences, run-on sentences, inconsistent tenses, the
substitution of "it's" (the contraction for "it is") for "its" (the possessive),
and "to" for "too," etc., even if you're writing informally and/or assuming a
dialect style. ("That's to say, pard, that even iffen it's a
western dialect yer assumin', ya still cain't be too keerful 'bout how
it's all gittin' down on the page.")
Citation of Sources: For articles that have any kind of a historical basis, or
rely on sources other than your own knowledge, it is very important to list
those sources. Obviously direct quotations need to be cited, but so does any
information taken from an outside source if its information is not generally
known. That is, you don't need to cite a reference for the statement: "The
Winchester Model 1873 was first issued in .44-40 caliber." The idea behind
citations is not to impress readers with your erudition and extensive research,
but to enable the reader to follow your argument and the evidence you've
assembled.
The Shootist uses parenthetical citation as the easiest way to reference
sources. That is, sources are listed at the end of the article, and are referred
to parenthetically in the body of the text. For example, if I referred in an
article to The Real American Cowboy, and Firearms of the American West,
the complete references at the end of the article would be:
Works Cited
Garavaglia, Louis A. and Charles G. Worman. Firearms of the American West:
1866-1894. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1985.
Weston, Jack. The Real American Cowboy. New York: New Amsterdam Books,
1988.
Notice that each reference has at a minimum of following information: author(s),
title, place of publication, publisher, and date of publication. The list is
alphabetical by author. Now, how do you use this? Let's assume I want to quote
Weston. The line might be:
"Farm boys, mainly from Texas but many from other Confederate states, became
cowboys not only in pursuit of the colorful, macho life-style but in flight from
the poverty and degradation of their landless farm families in perpetual thrall
to furnishing merchants under the crop lien system" (Weston 72).
The quotation marks indicate a direct quotation, and the information in the
parentheses tells us that the quotation is from page 72 of Weston's book. Notice
how the punctuation works in this example.
I can use this information indirectly in two other ways. I could say:
Many cowboys were originally farm boys from the south who were fleeing poverty
(Weston 72).
or,
Weston claims that many cowboys were farm boys fleeing poverty (72), but I don't
believe it.
In either case, the information is identified as originally being Weston's, and
is found on page 72 of his book, listed at the end of the article.
Sometimes, particularly if you have a one-source article (not always a good
idea), you can get by with an initial blanket reference, as I did in my article
"The Transparent Cowboys" in The Shootist, II, 1 (Jan/Feb 1995), 7, where
I informed the reader that: "Much of the information presented here is taken
from Philip Durham and Everett L. Jones, The Negro Cowboys (New York:
Dodd, Mead & Co., 1965)."
Note that the titles of complete works are always given in italics or are
underlined, while articles or sections of complete works are enclosed in
inverted commas.
Finally, if you're not sure about anything, drop us a line (P. O. Box 831,
Beatrice, NE 68310-0831), call (319-553-1177) or E-mail
TheShootist@ncows.org.
The important thing is to share your information and your thoughts with the
other members of The National Congress of Old West Shootists and the readers of
The Shootist. So get it down on paper and send it in. (Return
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ADVERTISING
RATES (as of 2003)
Display Advertising, per insertion for 6 insertions (call or e-mail for other
rates):
$50.00 b&w, $194 color per eighth page
$56.00 b&w, $202.00 color per quarter page.
$80.00 b&w, $218.00 color per third page
$103.00 b&w, $235.00 color per half page.
$190.00 b&w, $350.00 color per page
$2928.00/6 issues (1 year) for inside front or inside back cover. (When
available)
$3186.00/6 issues (1 year) for outside back cover. (When available)
Agency Discount: 15% to recognized agencies.
One-eighth page is 3.75" x 2.37"
One-quarter page is 3.75" x 4.75"
One-third page is 7.5" x 3.25"
One-half page is 3.75" x 9.5"
Page is two columns wide, 7.5" x 10".
Trim size is 8.5" x 11"; bleed pre-trim is 8.75" x 11.25"
Ads must be camera ready. Laser-printed b&w copy is minimum for being camera-ready.Ads
submitted on disk or CD in TIFF format (IBM) desirable. Half-tones and color at
150 line screen; negatives should be right reading emulsion down (RRED).
Negatives should be accompanied by reproduction proofs. Digital photos on disk
or via e-mail should be scanned at 300 dpi.
Classified Advertising:
NCOWS members may insert three FREE individual, non-commercial non-business
25-word ads per year. Additional insertions of the same ad are at an individual
NCOWS-member rate of $5.00 minimum, $0.20 a word.
Commercial/Business ads are $10.00 minimum; $0.40 a word. Name and address count
as words (except ZIP code). Abbreviations such as "S.A.S.E." or "NCOWS" count as
one word. Hyphenated words count as two words. Please print or type all copy.
Payment must accompany all classified ads. Ads must be submitted by the 1st of
the month preceding publication. We reserve the right to refuse ads which in our
opinion are contrary to the intent and purposes of The National Congress of Old
West Shootists. (Return to Top of Page)
Subscription Information and Form
The Shootist is available through a straight non-member subscription at the rate of $30.00 a year ($43.00 outside the USA). If you're not interested in joining NCOWS at this time, but think you might like The Shootist, just fill out the following subscription form and we'll be happy to bill you for your year's subscription.