Garrison Joe, SASS #60708

Asking WHY for SASS rules is usually an exercise in frustration. Unless you personally are going to be writing rules for the sport, it really doesn't matter much. The use of Model 97s is because the SASS cowboy action shooting decided to allow Model 97 pumps into that game early on (and only 97s), and lots of potential WB shooters already had one or more of them. IAC 93/97s hybrids were allowed in to allow the enlarged loading port. Model 12s were allowed in because it was in the WB movie, after all. Others were not. Buy that way, shoot that way, enjoy the sport. Save o

Stripping it down is a pain. Putting it back together right is even more so. Be warned. Mine's not rough, but it won't feed very reliably. good luck, GJ

Hate (literally) the Win 94 I have in .45 Colt. Never runs a magazine without a jam. Stroke long enough to load a .300 Win Mag. No one else wants it either. Guess I'm picky. GJ

Nope. So WHAT if the crimp bites into the copper plating or the poly coating? You are not making bullseye competition ammo. Plinking does not take sub-moa accuracy. You WILL need the stronger bullet "pull" that a roll crimp provides to get the powder to burn well when you are using a fast powder and a light bullet. Use a moderate ROLL crimp, either into the crimp groove or a full-diameter band of the bullet. Won't need a hard bullet (12 BN or harder) for your purposes. Load with 12 grains of Red Dot. Or Unique. Or 7 grains Bullseye. Fire away. You don't wan

'73 easier to take apart for deep cleaning. Much less chance of an Out of Battery discharge. Better fit for most folks statures. The most used rifle in SASS is the 73. So, more likely you can sell one faster (and for more money) than a '66 if you want to later on. The real way to tell - drag your carcass out to a local match and try them out. Bet you will be offered the chance to shoot a wheelbarrow full of guns. Ask lots of questions and thank all the kind cow-folks. good luck, GJ

That is not an appropriate substitution to make unilaterally. With customer permission, perhaps. Those will be stout loads for cowboy. good luck, GJ

Doesn't by itself. It can be a clue, however, that the design may not be pre-1900. Did the design that this specific manufacturer (IJ) used for this model (the Cadet 55-SA) originate with IJ before 1900? No, it first was used by IJ in 1961 or so. So, IMHO, this makes the Cadet not a legal "SASS pocket pistol." I have seen several British Bulldog guns with short barrels used successfully for pocket pistol matches. IMHO, the rules for Pocket Pistol are just about the hardest to understand and make accurate application of, in all of SASS's regulations. Be aware als

I shoot Iver Johnson black powder or smokeless era top breaks. Never had anyone complain that the smokeless gun having better steel and a hammer safety is not legal for pocket pistol. Even though the Third Model were not made until about 1908 - the basic design dates from about 1894. But your IJ Cadet is a LOT newer than that. Most all of those old IJ guns will be "loose" and may not even stay latched when fired. Check them carefully before you by. Make sure the double action still is reliable. Use VERY light smokeless loads. Not even factory 38 S&W ammo if you want t

Regardless of what you think of US police departments and state governments, neither are going to allow multiple home invasions and murders by any group of outlaws. If someone really believes the US will not be able to enforce order in the near future, then yes, something other than a varmint gun is in order. If they are losing chickens, then a better maintained hen house may be in order. Rarely is the head of the house awake when a varmint hits the hen house. Especially if they don't own a dog. A shotgun will be more effective and easier to hit the target with i

Legal if they are break opens, because swing-out cylinder guns not allowed. Also, fixed sight, pre-1900 design with barrel length of four inches or less. You should verify that those exact models you are considering were first made no later than 1899. Not familiar with the H&R 925 model. But it seems to be a top-break gun that was first made in 1964. Which would have adjustable sights and also not meet the 1899 cutoff, IMHO. Have a book on Iver Johnson revolvers, and the only Cadet named model is the Model 55-SA, which was first made in 1965, is solid frame wi

Black powder really NEEDS to be dispensed to a volume, not a weight. The amount of compression affects it's burn and resulting accuracy. I never weigh my individual charges in .44-40 or .45 Colt or .45-70 with black. And only weigh individual smokeless charges for smokeless powder for high-precision rifle loads. Other smokeless reloading is done on progressive loaders after setting the measure to drop the weight desired, on average. good luck, GJ

Simple Savage or even CZ bolt action .22 solves a ton of varmint visitation vexations. At the cost of having a gunsmith try to lighten up the stroke of that Win 94 Angle Eject, which is probably too heavy and too much gun anyway. Ammo will be one quarter the price, too. Unless he has 400 pound varmints.... GJ

Be careful about cutting a Model 12 barrel below about 20 1/2 inches, makes reassembly a pain. good luck, GJ

There are consumers, and there are shooters. Many today are just consumers. Some wise guy centuries ago wrote about "Much sound and fury, signifying nothing." Believe that applies to lots of ammo dumping I see at ranges today. Could it be that high volume shooting helps contribute to our current ammo buying panic? Where a range trip involves shooting up 500+ rounds? Yeah, sure, it's great for ammo vendors. For building shooting skills? Not quite so much. good luck, GJ

A shooter who does not understand that every gun has it's own favorite load has not gained enough experience to worry about. And if you think a gun writer has found a perfect load for YOUR gun by shooting his choices of factory ammo in his gun, you are seriously ill. It's the precision shooters (of either rifle or pistol) who are MOST in need of a custom load. Only in shotgun ammo does accuracy not play as much importance. Consistency of velocity and high quality shot (thus patterns) rules those sports, and even that is possible to obtain with custom loading.

Old saying, Those who can - do it. Those who can't - write magazine articles. Besides, articles in most magazines are accepted so that advertisers will have a publication to place their ads. Articles don't have to be right, just eye catching. Like news broadcasts. Masterson feller was an exception, and could sorta do both. And that Skelton feller - sure miss my monthly dose of Skeeter stories. good luck, GJ

Yes, Win 231 / HP 38 powder can be used for cowboy loads. It's meant for power loads, so it won't go to real low power levels. Look for loads in the manuals with either powder name. Won't be real clean (like Clays), but it works well. I have personally shot .45 Colt cowboy loads made with this powder. For example, a starting load for 231/HP38 for .38 special with 125 grain lead bullet is 3.8 grains of powder to make 876 FPS. Right from the Hodgdon on-line loading data at: https://www.hodgdonreloading.com good luck, GJ

Possibly shot in a machine gun.

It damages the slug inside the cartridge to resize a loaded cartridge. Slim above has the answer - you are bulging the case mouth at the crimp most likely. For most folks, this means the bullet seater is set to seat a little too deep, and then when the crimp is applied, the edge of mouth can't fit into the crimp groove cleanly. The brass has to go somewhere, so it bulges just below the crimp. One can feel the bulge with fingers, or measure with a caliper (digital or vernier). If larger than the rest of the cartridge diameter, even a thousandth or two, it can be a tight fit getting it into

No to retempering. Very hard to guess exactly a good temp to quench and to draw when you don't know the steel used. Browning company parts service: https://www.browning.com/support/parts-service.html Art's Gun Shop - a well known factory repair center in Kansas (IFRC) https://artsgunshop.com/ Ol # 4 - this thread from last December describes a spring he has for BSS lever. https://forums.sassnet.com/index.php?/topic/309829-browning-bss-lever-spring/ If all else fails, a SlixSpring for the Colt 1878 (TTN) may have the right s

Simple Green cleaner is banned from US Military aircraft cleaning (and probably any aluminum cleaning) since it is corrosive to aluminum. Has been known to be so since at least 2001. Of course, Nickel plating is not Aluminum. But I'd consider it off limits myself. Use tested gun cleaners on firearms - they are too expensive to damage trying to save a few bucks a year. good luck, GJ

No, there are two real BP sites, different names and different URLs. Powder Inc is in Arkansas. Powder Valley in Kansas. Both very reputable outfits from my experience. I've ordered BP from both. I can believe that Powder Inc may not have the high level of IT support that Powder Valley has. Powder Inc sells no smokeless powder. Powder Valley does mainly smokeless, with a variety of BP as well. Note - as I got to some of the second level pages on Powder Inc sites using Chrome browser, even Chrome starts showing a malware warning. good luck,

Details that Firefox shows on my windows 10 machine: www.powderinc.com has been reported as containing malicious software. You can ignore the risk and go to this unsafe site. If you have ever ignored a warning about Powder Inc's site, you may have a cookie set that says you are wanting to ignore the warning now. And probably another 100 reasons why your computer does not show a warning. I can easily confirm that Firefox shows the warning on MY machine. As the OP reported. Computers, contrary to popular opinion, can give different results than other compu

It's some sort of problem between the Powder Inc web site and the Firefox browser. Perhaps there is a minor malware situation (as the alarm says) with the Powder Inc site which Firefox detects and other browsers do not. Chrome browser on Windows thinks things are fine. Edge browser on Windows thinks things are fine. This isn't the end of shooting as we know it...... good luck, GJ

They ARE a wide-body shotgun. Action is as wide as two 12 gauge barrels "side by side," you might say. Nothing svelte to see there. good luck, GJ