Crisco

Whyte's Leather; www.whyteleatherworks.com. Big Lube bullets, but 250grain. Haven't seen 230's.

There used to be a Spangenberg’s in Tombstone, not sure about how recent.

I used to run Schofields with 250 rnfp bullets in a Marlin Cowboy and they worked great.

We’ve stayed there in the past, and more recently used it to empty tanks and refill fresh water. It’s a pretty standard RV park with close rows of campers, and last time I was there it didn’t seem to be maintained as well as in the past, but it is also a fraction of the commute from Albuquerque. If recent reviews are OK as far as services and such, it would save you a lot of highway time.

The only one I’ve seen in cowboy action was last year. Smokeless .38, primer popped, then as the shooter started to pull back thinking squib (~1/2 second later), it fired. Think he may have even hit the target. Turned out to be a primer seated sideways that actually ignited, and some flame found its way to the flash hole. Guess it’s never too late to see something new...

I had a Colt SAA .44 special and one in .357, a Blackhawk .45 Colt, a Browning 92 .44 Mag, and an LC Smith double that needed the ejectors disabled. Pretty much whatever I did required at least 3 different cartridges aside from the shotgun. Took a while to start getting things that could share ammo. Almost forgot, had a flatttop 357 Ruger too.

We pretty much shoot regardless of the weather as long as the roads are safe, although we’ve called a match or two due to high winds. We also go to “winter rules” around here to keep it safe and fun. Essentially that means wear whatever keeps you warm, everything can be staged if you desire and places will be provided to do so (hate seeing guns dropped, or worse, due to fumbling with heavy clothing), and we allow .22’s so there’s less brass to chase in the snow.

We go black for rifle and pistol and don't bother to paint shotgun as it all gets shot off anyway. Some times have to go white for our long range targets if we've had a fire recently. Worst I've ever seen was red and green targets against a green background. Even shooters without any red/green color issues couldn't distinguish most of the targets.

Off the top of my head, mostly while running the clock over 25+ years: 2 Colts, blown cylinder, top strap gone into orbit, 3 clones, same as the Colts, one was at a Halloween shoot and the shrapnel gutted my 3’ spider that was right above the gun, 1 Marlin cowboy .45, blew out the side of the barrel just forward of the forearm when a round was fired following a squib, 1 old double shotgun shooting smokeless that blew out the side of the left chamber, 1 1911 during a wild bunch shoot, most likely a deep seated bullet, just blew the mag out, split the grips and burned the strong hand, Countless out of battery events, mostly with toggle link guns but also a couple of ‘97’s, no injuries other than the blown double which resulted in several stitches (much worse had the shooter not been wearing very heavy cuffs) and some sore fingers and minor shrapnel wounds from rifles firing out of battery, and I didn’t see it happen, but I have a friend’s frame and cylinder from a .45 Virginian Dragoon over my bench that resulted from the shooter loading with a balance beam scale and not noticing the large weight/poise was at 5 or 10 grains instead of zero, Probably a few more that I don’t recall. After seeing some of the earlier posts I wonder if I might be attracting them...

Interesting, my Lyman cast bullet handbook doesn’t list any loads with 2400, but in a later Lyman manual (50th) it lists 13.2 to 16.5 grains 2400 with a 200 lead bullet. It also specifies a WLP primer. In my experience, cold weather will amplify any difference between loads to a huge degree, so the primer might be the culprit. I also have to agree with the need for a really aggressive crimp when using that light a charge of 2400. I have never managed to get 2400 to burn clean no matter how hot I load it.

Our knockdowns (mostly US poppers) are 3/8" AR500 with 1/2" pipe stick welded to the bottom to mount in our bases. For static targets we've been using 3/8" and 1/2" mild steel for years, and they age pretty well with lead bullets and cowboy loads, but are getting too heavy for most of the folks willing to come out and help these days (not to mention being easily and heavily damaged by boneheads with rifles). We are gradually changing over to 1/4" AR500 targets with a small rectangular slot centered near the top so they can hang from a hook made of 3/8" AR500. Very much like what MGM sells for Steel Challenge if you want to see examples. We initially went with 3/8" AR500, but I saw another club using 1/4" 18"x24" targets that are aging very well in speed steel matches, in which they are getting worked over heavily with jacketed 9mm, .40S&W, & .45ACP, from both pistols and carbines. Since then everything I buy is 1/4" and they are much nicer to haul around. I just go to Pacific Steel with a cardboard template or drawing and they use a plasma cutter; I've not seen any issues with wear or such in the heat affected areas. For long range targets (and even Plainsman rifle targets) the 3/8" AR won't crater, but starts to bow pretty quick when it gets whacked with a few 405 or 500 grain bullets.

Can't answer definitively about the "antique" classification but will tackle the concern noted above about getting them back into the US. SImply fill out a customs form 4457 and have the guns verified by a customs officer BEFORE leaving the states. This form provides the proof that you took them with you so you will not be accused of importing them on your return.

I'm sure it's been longer than I think, but Numrich Arms (now Gunparts Corp) used to sell conversion kits to change your model 94 over to .44 Magnum. I think the "kit" may have consisted of nothing more than a barrel and carrier/lifter. If so, that will answer your initial question, at least for the larger cartridge.