Garrison Joe, SASS #60708

Time for you to open up the SASS Shooter's Handbook to page 13. Read through the roughly 32 categories. You may have a few more questions when you complete that exercise. Get the handbook from here: http://www.sassnet.com/Shooters-Handbook-001A.php Good luck, GJ

Only when I win a box at a big match....

Don't worry. Keep on running the timer. If you make a bad call at a match, I'm sure one of your pards will be glad to post a WTC right here and you'll "get taught" the errors of your ways. I'd ask myself, Self, why haven't you taken a refresher? Then pick up the timer and get to it. Good luck, GJ

new Mernickle mil-spec elastic double-shell loops are as fast as I can go - lay middle finger between the pair of shells as I grab them. GJ

All sounds about like normal fire forming process except there's no need to point muzzle up when firing. Other fireforming technique - get a supply of the cheapest slugs you can, load a light load of Red Dot or Unique (see Lyman loading manual) (plinking load), fire them. Examine first one or two to make sure you are not stretching the case down at the base, and that you have enough powder for full case expansion in the shoulder. Most of the reloading manuals should have instructions for fireforming cases. Good luck, GJ

Price has climbed in the last few weeks as well.

The best advice is always - "Try out Cowboy guns at several local matches before you buy even one". The opinions you almost always get here are what each individual likes best. That may or may not come close to your real needs. We are very willing at local matches to loan out guns and ammo to let you try things out before you start the buying process. Now, what are a fair number of duelists running for their guns and cartridges? The Ruger Vaquero is more used than any other revolver "platform" in Cowboy shooting. Lots of duelists with large hands then specialize the platform down to a Bisley grip, a Bisley or a Super Blackhawk hammer (due to the spur of the hammer being lower and closer to the firing hand), and fairly often, they have a short-stroke hammer modification made to shorten and speed up the distance the hammer must be cocked and then fall back down during firing. The 4 5/8" or 5 1/2" barrels are most commonly used, real short and longer barrels than those are fairly rare. You don't NEED a long barrel to shoot BP any more than you need it for smokeless. Most folks find a 7 1/2" barrel is a little slow coming out of holster. But, there are a large number of variations, a large number of preferences and opinions, which I'm sure you will gather due to your questions. And to add to the "survey", as a Classic Cowboy duelist style shooter, I run short-stroked Ruger Bisley revolvers with the Bisley hammer, gunfighter grips, .45 Colt chambered but shooting Cowboy .45 Special cartridge (the Colt shortened to the length of a .45 auto), and either smokeless or Black Powder. The barrel-to-cylinder gap has been enlarged to about 0.007" so that Black Powder shooting is less troublesome. But the most common and easiest to shoot and cheapest to get ammo for cartridge in our sport would be .38 special. Hard for a beginner to go wrong with .38 special, except for one category (Classic Cowboy - which requires .40 caliber or larger). Good luck, GJ

Nope, lots of categories right now. If ammo cost is holding you back, reload your own cast bullets. Pards in the old west did not go to gunfights armed with 22s. The game is what it is, and probably will stay there for a while. We would welcome you, and as stated above, local matches will probably carve out a special category to let you shoot as you start up in the game. Good luck, GJ

Ditto on trying to look period with shooting glasses. There WERE no shooting glasses back in the day. And the small lenses that movies show folks wearing provide almost NO protection. Cowboy shooters get lots of lead back in the face! You don't want it in the eye. ESS ICE model is what I use. Prescription inserts. Hi-contrast orange/rose or gray shields depending upon how bright. I'm standard eye (R eye, R shooting) dominant and need "bifocal" type correction - I do it with master eye set to focus on front sight of rifle, weak eye set for distance. This makes the lenses single vision, so they are 1. corrected vision at any point in lens and 2. cheaper than progressive or bifocal lenses. Not everyone can adapt to this two-different-lenses style. But with inserts, if you want to change one or both lenses to a different lens, it's EZ-PZ. The hardest thing to do if you get progressive lenses put in is to shoot accurate prone rifle long distance. Almost no way to crank your neck up far enough to get a clear front sight picture. Good luck GJ

Oops, yeah, the OP is talking a rifle, isn't he? Well, details of the guns are totally different (really?), but my conclusion still stands - I wouldn't be shooting (BP or smokeless) something I paid a premium for because of a "Colt signature finishing step" If it completes a collection, go for it. If you are going to be shooting it, then asking here is a reasonable thing to do, but not a place where you will convince many pards that shooting a BP rifle won't drop any "special" value off of it real quick. Good luck, GJ

May be why the whole Signature concept, of an Italian parts gun put together here and priced at three times what a "shooting" C&B revolver was, never took off. Priced like collector's gun, but mostly the quality of a shooter. As I said, would not be my cup of tea. I'd have it going to a smith right out of the shipping box to tune for competition if I had one. And there would go the specialness of it. GJ

Personally, I wouldn't buy a "special issue" or "commemorative" gun for any shooting in Cowboy action, where I had to pay a premium over the standard model. Once you shoot them, especially with BP, values tumble. "Signature series" types are built for folks who want a nice wall trophy. But then, the "bling" factor of the first few times out might just be worth it to you. Only your and your wallet know for sure. Good luck, GJ

In NM, almost all matches less important than club annuals, or state matches, no longer serve any. Pretty simple if you do that. At annuals and states, you have almost all shooters signed up a few weeks ahead (so that awards can be made), so planning food to come out right is easy. Good luck, GJ

Over the shoulder - makes it a bandoleer rather than a belt. Rules treat the two very differently. Good luck, GJ

Try this - Marshal Harland Wolff, SASS #5019(you can PM him by searching for his profile, and sending a private message. He still does a little gunsmithing.) A web page for him: http://www.onsp.us/Profiles/5019.html Shotgun Boogie originally from Germany, now from Southern California. Does a lot of gunsmithing. Good luck, GJ

Ditto on 20" octagonal barrel, straight grip stock. It's what is cheapest. It's what is most commonly in stock. It's fast and fairly light without getting whippy and sliding past targets when you have to shift aim. It fits through most doorways and windows nicely. It doesn't need a 6'4" football star to get it quickly into action. Get a 20" octagonal straight grip, but only after you try it and decide you like it. Just because all the other lemmings pards have one, doesn't mean you will like it. But then, I've got 3 and wish the other one was the same 20" straight grip, too. Good luck, GJ

Clumsy, heavy, hard to find leather for, and a tough trigger pull. Otherwise, have fun. Good luck, GJ

Strong enough to let you bruise yourself if you ever try to break it with .45 Colt rounds. Yes, it's strong. It's the vertical locking bolt design that makes it so. Can be, will depend upon how well that particular lifter arm was tuned. If it's not, NKJ can sure slick it up, as can several other pards. Nope, it will never be good enough to shoot one hole 5 shot groups at 100 yards (that would be, in my book, superb accuracy). Now, will it be enough to satisfy YOU? You haven't told us what you would be satisfied with. 5" groups? Most likely any one of their 92s will do that with a load that rifle likes. Minute of hog chest at 100 yards? Yep, unless you get a really bad one. Accuracy in a rifle really can't be "foretold" - you gotta buy one and shoot it and even tune your loads for it. But then, you knew that. Good luck, GJ

Please keep us updated with the electronics on the Lyman Mag 25. I've read TONS of reviews saying those just do not hold up well, and they get replaced with a bolt on PID controller after a year or two. And mine don't, unless I have Ca contaminated alloy that cools in the nozzle. As always, mileage varies. Thanks, GJ

Had an old Lyman bottom pour back in the 70s. Like late 50's vintage. Not quite the temperature control I wanted. But a good pot. Lyman not quite making the same quality pots any more, though. Have used two Lee bottom pour pots, both had HORRIBLE temperature control and would never cast without dripping, despite valve grinding compounding the valve and lots of other recommended tinkering. Bought an RCBS Pro-Melt. Lost it to a burglar. Bought a second Pro-Melt. Wonderful temperature control and very minimal dripping problems. Love it so much, got another Pro-Melt for rifle bullet alloy, since a guy was letting a lightly used one go for about $275. Oldest one probably had 25,000 bullets cast without a problem. The mid-age one is now 12 years old and has cast over 50,000 bullets. Think I'll keep using Pro-Melts. If I get a drip problem now on a pot-full of alloy, I KNOW there is 0.5 to 1% calcium metal in that scrap. It forms a collar down in the spout that is just about impossible to burn out until you add 80-120 degrees F extra heat to the melt. Good luck, GJ

Thanks to G.E.P Box and K. B. Wilson. A tip of the old statistical hat!

Each gun is different enough that the only way to find which will be "most accurate" is to try the load in your son's gun. Sometimes the loading manual makes a suggestion that turns out to be best in one of my rifles. Often, though, another powder works better for my gun. The data in loading manuals are only compiled from firing loads in one test barrel (in this case, the one barrel that Nosler has). And often that "test firearm" is not a hunting gun, but a test fixture. Good luck, GJ