Crisco

A Winchester 1892 .44WCF and an 1897 solid frame, both made in1898. Now and then, not every match.

To support a few of the comments above, I think it was Guns & Ammo that ran an article quite a few years ago (1979 maybe?) testing yellow and nickel .38’s till they split. I may be a little off on the numbers, but they got ~145 reloads from the yellow case before splitting, but only 56 from the nickel case. My experience Is consistent with that, so I avoid nickel cases for anything that will go in a rifle unless stuffed full of black powder.

I have shot a lot of the 250 PRS big lube Bullets over the last few years in .45 Colt and Schofield; plenty of lube, never a problem. Never had any success running a RNFP in the .45 ACP (in 4 different guns), but I see people using the 200gr RNFP in Wild Bunch shoots all the time, so you might be able to do it, but it depends on the gun.

You started out with almost the same combination I did, and I never mixed anything up at the loading table but sometimes had the wrong gun in hand when I needed to reload from my belt during a stage. I typically shoot .44 Special in everything and my wife shoots .38 pistols with a .44-40 rifle. A mistake in either direction between the .44's puts a rifle out of commission when you try to chamber the first round. We have only had it happen once in 2 or 3 years, and that was actually a case of going to the loading table with the right ammo but the wrong rifle. Luckily it was the first gun to be used... I sometimes shoot .44 Special or .45 pistols with a .44-40 rifle, and have gotten away with it, but have to be a lot more cautious than I would prefer. Since I don't have .44-40 pistols, I tend to go to .38 pistols if I want to shoot a .44-40 rifle in a big match, specifically to avoid the possibility of a mix-up. If I remember correctly, I have read of a Texas Ranger back in the day that loaded at least one .45 into his Winchester in the middle of a firefight and had to disassemble his rifle under fire to clear it (successfully, since he lived to tell the story), so I always have that in mind when mixing calibers in a match.

I am one of those that didn’t pay attention to the original question... I have used some Winchester and a lot of Black Hills factory .44-40 over the years when we used to hold classes, and never noticed any difference in function or accuracy between the two. I have heard good things about Cowboy Choice ammunition but have not tried any personally. It looks like you would need to call the manufacturers to determine bullet diameter as I don’t see it mentioned on web sites, but I would expect .426/.428 to be the standard for this.

The .429/.430 bullets shoot great in the modern replica barrels, and that's all I use since I also load .44 Special, but I have to be careful what brass I put them in. Starline and WInchester will chamber fine in our rifles, 3-D, R-P, and BHA, not so much.

I believe the centerfire 1866’s were late production, chambered for the .44 Henry Centerfire (same dimensions as the Henry but centerfire), and most, if not all, were shipped to somewhere in South America that escapes my memory at the moment. Seems like very few show up in the states.

You can find data for it under the N32C designation on the Vihtavuori web site. I have used several pounds in .45 Colt and it shoots great, but I doubt you will find any light load data for it. I have not tried downloading below published data, so have no idea what to expect if you do. Not all of their “cowboy” load data is SASS legal, so watch your velocity...

This was a great match, wish we could make it every year. We thought it provided lots of variety, and enough options to allow everyone to shoot it their own way. I have to say I am surprised to hear it portrayed as “difficult”.

The 2 loads we use: 1-1/8 oz shot WAA12R wad STS case W209 primer 4.3 cc 2f (3f if you plan to shoot pigeons) my wife’s load 1-1/8 oz Peters blue case 1/8” card + 5/8” cushion 2.8cc 2f W209 primer shoots like her featherlights

Nothing unreliable about a Rossi as long as ammo is not too long or too short. They are generally rough/stiff out of the box, but it is pretty cheap and easy to smooth them out and make them pleasant to shoot. They are not as competitive as a 66/73 or Marlin due to limitations on how much the action can be modified.

Yes, the author says the shooter earned the P when he reengaged a missed target in mid-string. The stage instructions do not specify an order of engagement, therefore you cannot say what target was being aimed at, only whether a target was hit or missed. Intent cannot be assessed nor scored. Had the instructions specified a sweep, I would agree with the author, but I believe he is stuck with what he wrote, not what he meant. And to answer your specific question, if 6 plates are down with 6 shots, shooter wins.

As stated much earlier in this thread, the 7th shot earned the P per the written stage instructions when it HIT a plate on the rack. The 7th round was to be shot on/at the buffaloes, therefore it was a hit on an incorrect target. Up to that point, the missed plate was just a miss. Regardless of what target the shooter was aiming at, you cannot assign intent to the shot that missed or the one following it, as there was no order specified on the plate rack. There was a miss in 6 shots fired at the plate rack, so the make-up shot was confusing, but technically not any different than "shooting where it was" had the errant 7th shot hit a shotgun knockdown. The shooter was making up a target that was hit and knocked down by a shot that should have been fired at a different target. You can also avoid a lot of this by having make-ups be fired at the target that was missed, as that's pretty tough to misunderstand. Every time I've shot a stage where make-ups are fired on anything other than the target that was missed it results in lots of confusion.

You can make sure by taking a look at which side each trigger is located on.

I save the single stage for rifle cartridges and use a 550 for everything else. Cartridge change overs are easy and quick. For black powder I do not run it through the measure, but instead pull the case out after belling and hand dip the powder, then re-insert it and advance. Some run BP through the measure, I don’t.