Edward R S Canby, SASS#59971

I liked the tumbleweed blowing by in the opening scene - nice touch!

At the beginning of April the Independent published this article on the ranch. The ranch is open with CAS matches held and the Sporting Clays course in operation.

I just ran a poll for one local club regarding adults using .22s at local matches. The overwhelming response was that it was OK and we needed to start soon as many members were almost out of primers. We learned during previous shortages that some members who quit shooting CAS for awhile never return.

Here is the Grand Canyon Official Site. According to this article the monsoon season runs from mid-June to the end of September. Here is the National Park Service's weather summary for the park. Driving south on US89 after the 4-Corners Regional I encountered strong winds and camped in the trees at a KOA in Flagstaff for shelter. I watch the weather forecasts carefully when pulling a trailer in the Spring. Cholla is right, the Colorado Plateau of Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico is full of features worth visiting.

There are plenty of RV parks south of the Canyon in Flagstaff and Williams. If you lack a towed vehicle I'd rent a car and drive into the park. Drive the full length of state highway 54 along the South Rim stopping at the overlooks. Take at least one full day. North Rim is great too but more distant. I recommend October. That is the best weather in the Southwest and after families with children quit traveling. Springtime can be very windy. The Grand Canyon is one of our most popular parks and summer crowds can detract from the park experience. A caution about stopping at locations wher

There's not too many shooters in the black powder match. I might just shoot my ROAs for extra fun.

My wife and I switched to practice with .22s, saving our center-fire ammo for matches. I maintain e-mail communication for one club. We had a few members plea for primers. We forwarded their requests to the membership and their needs were met. It helped that they were all hard workers who efforts support the club. I also shoot a modern action pistol sport at another club. The lack of ammo was profound there. Normally we get ~80 shooters. The last match we got 16. They were mostly retirees who have been reloading for many years. The younger shooters who shot bulk 9 mm ammo

Since I am moving towards mostly coated bullets, I am going to buy more Sport Pistol. I do not load BP or BP subs into 45 ACP or 9 mm Luger cases. These cases are meant for smokeless powder. My preference for smokeless handgun powders are those that meter well, are versatile, burn clean and are readily available (in normal times). There are really lots of good choices. I don't mind dirty burning powders for CAS. Our cowboy guns run dirty pretty well.

I wore a pair of Roundhouse overalls this weekend in a match. I like the striped, railroad fabric. That might have been a custom order for West Virginia.

Are you shooting Marlins?

The Utah State SASS match is in Salt Lake City starting June 1st. June 3rd, 4th or 5th would be the best days to shop. This match is local for you.

I had a different experience this weekend. I had just shot black powder. The brass picker dumped my brass on top of a pile of brass for a lady shooter. I groaned and explained to the lady how to wash the brass to prevent corrosion (her brass and mine were the same caliber- 38 Special and indistinguishable). She gave the entire pile to me and then quietly took the brass picker aside for a discussion.

Remington Nitro hulls are brass colored and would look good on shotgun belt. For CAS a single stage press can easily load all the shotgun shells you and your wife need. Contact the Wire for favored light loads after you get a press.

LD, other things can cause cap caps not to fire. A poorly seated cap may not fire (just like a partially seated primer in a cartridge). Carbon buildup on nipples can cushion hammer blows. Clean carbon off nipples and seat caps firmly with a push stick for reliable ignition.

There are some CAS safety protocols the host club needs to understand that differ from modern action shooting sports. We can shoot at steel targets closer than 25-yards because we only shoot lead bullets at limited velocities. Further, our shooting line extends from the loading table to the unloading table. Uninformed observers may think we do not load on the line. Try to get a club officer to sponsor your activity. Club politics can get petty. Don’t loan your steel to anyone or leave it set up or it will quickly become scrap.

Pyrodex will make functional BP loads but is the least suitable sub I tried. It is hydroscopic and loaded shotgun shells can have poor ignition unless protected from humidity. As others stated Pyrodex residue will cause rust. I hosed down every surface exposed to smoke with a household cleaner with vinegar as the first step in cleaning and did so at the first opportunity. Locally smokeless shotgun shells are available in small quantities at high prices. Remington products showed up at two big box retailers. A LGS had Winchester promo-grade shells. Keep shopping. You may not

I believe that was Birdshot, a SASS Regulator. I remembering him admonishing a careless reloader that it was possible to turn a long gun into a shoulder-mounted pipe bomb.

I check loads offered on the Wire against manufacturer's published load data like this. I don't load above published maximum loads and expect possible poor performance if loading below starting loads.

There are several current auctions for this brass on Gunbroker. Prices vary from $0.17 to $0.50 per case. These are poor prices but at least some brass is available.

Take a look at MGM Targets and Evil Roy Targets. I would not bother with knock downs for rifle and pistol rounds but recommend them for shotgun targets. You should be able to see hits on a pistol target. My 45-70 hits on a 145-yard target at the 4-Corners Regional were easy to see without a spotting scope. For practice I would just use round or square targets. Targets made with mild steel don't last long. Avoid rebar for target stands. Targets made from half a gas cylinder are durable and ring loudly when hit. I would consider these for a long range target if you had a suitable backsto

One local big box retailer lists Winchester AAs for $11/box. (Of course they are out-of-stock.) The prices listed in this thread are consistent with current retail prices.

Clay ranges often have abundant, free, once-fired Gun Club hulls. I reload them once with black powder and toss them.

I usually have a few loose factory smokeless shotgun shells laying in my gun cart. I would gladly give them away to a shooter needing them. I don't hand reloads to other shooters - too much liability.

Regarding nickel-plated brass, my experience is that they are prone to splitting. I shot some in my revolvers at a match yesterday and got at least six split cases. I expect this and will just toss them in my recycle brass can. My plan for big matches was to shoot once-fired, all brass 38s in my rifle. However, at the 4-Corners Regional I had one of these once-fired rounds spilt in my rifle. I wasn't a full-length split and my rifle did not lock up. However, it was a warning that I should shoot unfired brass at major matches.