Garrison Joe, SASS #60708

Don't know for sure what you need, so I'll recommend some that deal with period target rifles: Have you tried Buffalo Arms? http://www.buffaloarms.com/ Or Lee Shaver Gunsmithing http://stores.leeshavergunsmithing.com/ good luck, GJ

A whisper spring from The Smith Shop. Smith Shop retired several years ago, Online Outpost took their remaining stock. No more of these remain on Online Outpost website listings. I've got at least 2 in my 73s right now - been running them for 10 years. GJ

Mainsprings, especially lightened ones, will get tired and fail after lots of use. Only getting a year of service out of a new spring is pretty bad. Did the mainspring have a maker's name associated with it? Cold weather is known to slow down gun actions especially if lubed with an oil or grease that greatly slows down the hammer strike. Cold weather more commonly affects how powder burns more than how reliably a primer fires when struck. With only a month to go, look for every opportunity to fire that rifle with the same kind of ammo you intend to run the match on. About all you can do at this point. Besides also shooting the backup some too. good luck, GJ

This game is labeled the Single Action Shooters Society because semi-auto handguns are not used in Cowboy matches. We do have a second competition that uses 1911 design pistols chambered for .45 auto, though. good luck, GJ

Any load that is not considered a magnum or high velocity shell by the manufacturer, and uses lead bird shot of pellet size 4 or smaller . It's a rather loose definition. Winchester used to market a 12 gauge shotshell load that went by the name of Featherlite, and now may still be around as Low Noise Low Recoil. That was the poster child for cowboy matches. But loads typically used for any of the major shotgun clays games would be legal. Cartridges for rifle and revolvers are almost all rimmed cartridges, mostly developed before 1900, firing lead or polymer coated bullets. With velocities for revolvers between 400 and 1000 FPS, and rifles less than 1400 FPS. The Cowboy Action Shooting rule book covers this pretty definitively. Get your own copy from this page: Handbooks in SASS The game is largely played best by reloading. If you don't reload, Cowboy shooting can be done, but it's sometimes difficult to find ammunition that is available and competitive. Buying competitive ammo for the revolvers is often especially difficult. So, most of us reload. But you can get started by buying lead bullet "target" ammo, but avoiding wadcutter bullet designs. And in lever action rifles, also avoiding semi-wadcutter (Keith style) bullets since they may not feed well. COME OUT to a local match BEFORE you start buying guns and ammo and leather, etc. You will be surprised how many friends you will make, and how you will make much better choices! good luck, GJ

Ok, then your seater die probably picked up enough dirt and lube to make the seating "half a turn" too deep. Clean the stem of the seater die (and body if dirty in the bore), then adjust to seat to MIDDLE of the crimp groove, not touching the band at top. Happens to all of us cast boolit loaders, eventually even to the folks loading poly coated slugs. GJ

A combination die seats and crimps in one die. You are using two dies, at two stations. So, seat less deep, put mouth at the middle of the crimp groove. Then crimp less - just enough that you can see a turn in, you are smashing a heavy crimp in from the pictures. good luck, GJ

Yes, that is due to pressure applied to the bullet that then transfers to the case, crumpling it Usually a seat and crimp in one die causes this. Although if you are not careful, even a two die set seating with one and crimping with the other can still be adjusted to crush a long case. Along with cases of varying lengths. The longest cases have the mouth tight up against the crimp groove's top. Crimping then means that there is no place for the mouth of the case to turn into the groove. So the case gives way. You also have more crimp than is needed. Back off the seater stem to let the mouth come to the middle of the bullet's crimp groove, and back off the die itself to lessen the AMOUNT of crimp being formed. You may need to do this in two steps. Back off both the die body and the seater stem by a turn or two. Lower the seater stem of the die to put the edge of the mouth in the middle of the crimp groove. Then lower the die body (and slightly raise the seater stem before) until you form enough crimp turn in to hold the bullet. Now the die body is set. Try the next bullet by adding back the same amount of rotation that you took off the stem, back onto the stem. Check that you still have a good crimp and it's located a business card thickness below contacting the bullet band right above the crimp groove. You have to have that "free space" between the mouth and the band of lead to prevent contact and the crushing. good luck, GJ

I use the technique of working the width of a leaf spring narrower. Hourglassing is what it is called, and it's much easier to control the strength of the spring. Taper both ends of the cut to make the narrow section. Take some off, test the spring, when down close to desired weight, polish all scratches or grooves to remove stress raisers where spring steel can break. good luck, GJ

You are hitting the puller too hard! I just finished reseating about 150 rounds that loaded 0.100" too long. That puller is 10 years old and has probably pulled thousands of rounds by now, including some mil surplus rifle rounds. good luck, GJ

To reseat over-length crimped rounds, I use a hammer bullet puller to nudge the bullet FORWARD enough to straighten out the crimp. Then I reseat to proper length and quick as that, the round is ready to fire. good luck, GJ

A malfunction is called for the GUN failing to work and you no longer continue to use it. I am pretty sure that leaving that round you attempted to fire and which FTFd in the cylinder is NOT a MISS nor an overloading of the gun. So, don't call malfunction and you should be fine. good luck, GJ

This situation shows why in the 1920s it was SO important to have a committee of the major gun makers agree to follow some standards with respect to how to make ammo and firearms work safely regardless of who made each of the "parts" I won't use ammo from a maker (like HSM) that fails to comply with SAAMI standards! Too much possible risk. The bottom line to me is - if you feel the need to shoot a very capable handgun rifle - then look for something designed to be more powerful than a .45 Colt! good luck, GJ

Sometimes a long round that is NOT fired (by mistake, or having to clear the gun) will not eject through a port. Jams the gun royally then. Use shorter ammo - do not reseat the slug on an already high-pressure load! good luck, GJ

If your loading cartridges problem will NOT get any easier when you press a blunt screwdriver tip on the front end of the loading gate inwards all the way to the left side of the frame walls, then most likely the loading gate tab (the part that is bent at a 90 degrees angle into the action) could be a little "fat", too long a tip. Try painting the very edge (tip) of the loading gate TAB with a sharpie that has a different color - like silver. If you rub that silver off when trying to push rounds, then the tab has too much metal and needs a little filing. Inside the action, the loading gate can collide with either the lifter arm or the inside of the frame. If pressing the loading gate fully DOES allow rounds to load nicely, then you may need to thin the arm of the gate so it does not have so much spring tension. Don't take much off at time. And it's safer (less chance of breakage) if you thin the width of the arm with a taper pattern, rather than thinning the thickness of the arm. Thinning the thickness makes a leaf spring weaker VERY quickly. Leave no file marks to act as stress risers (where a break can occur). Of course, hard LOADING of the mag tube is something that you can live with because you rarely load the mag tube "on the clock" while shooting. Glad to see you seem to have the new lifter working, though! GJ