H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619

Surprised to see the F-4

I will admit that I once shot a match at a place in Pennsylvania that allowed for stoking on every stage. I really enjoyed it. The most fun I had was on one specific stage where the instructions were to successfully hit any 6 of the 8 shotgun targets. in any order. Target 1 was a knockdown. Target 2 was a clay that was thrown upwards by 1 falling. Targets 3 and 4 were identical to 1 and 2. 5 thru 8 were clay targets that were set on a stand. So, I loaded up my 97 with 6 rounds and shot 8, 7, 6, 5, 3,1 ignoring the fliers. I was one of the last shooters on that stage, and nobody else had tried it that way. Comments ranged from "Why didn't I think of that?" to "Is that legal?" The decision was that I followed the stage instructions as written. It was a hoot.

Yes, you can. There is no good reason why you can't do it. "This is the sort of nonsense up with I shall not put." But seriously, there are many ways to end a sentence with a preposition and still be perfectly understandable and natural sounding. Doing otherwise makes your speech sound pretentious and stilted. What am I referring to? Insisting that the above should be... To what am I referring? You can also split infinitives. Just because you can't do those two things in Latin does not mean you can't do them in English. And you can start a sentence with the word this one started with. You can also start one with but and because and be perfectly understood. Irregardless of what some may say, I started this sentence with a real word. If we take the arguments of the grammar police seriously, then we would all know the correct way to use thee and thou, the "est" verb ending, and speak in perfect King James English. Which by the way, includes split infinitives, sentence ending prepositions and other "broken" rules of English grammar throughout. To say nothing of its at best British, and at time obsolete spelling. The English language is a living breathing changing over time one. To say otherwise is to watch it stagnate. In other words, I don't like overly pedantic grammarians. LOL

I use 3.7 grains of Win231 behind a .355" 125 grain Lead Round Nose bullet. Works well in my Luger, Browning Hi Power, Beretta 92FS. Don't know if that's a good shotgun powder though.

Only semi-serious here, but I will admit that there are a handful of terms that I see here on the Wire from time to time that cause me to roll my eyes every time I see them. They are not offensive or hurtful or something that angers me or anything like that. I just wish I didn't see them so often. Terms like... .45 Long Colt Spelling Cavalry "Calvary." Period Correct (I'll admit that I didn't find this one so bad at first, until someone I respect greatly said why he loathes it, and he had a good point.) The War of Northern Aggression. 4th Generation Colt So what are some of the other terms that while in an of themselves are probably really quite innocent, just drive you bonkers when you see them?

Never mind

I usually don't use a belt for my shotshells. I put them loose in a big pouch with a flap closure that I leave open.

PaleWolf has given the answer, stoking on the clock is allowed, if the stage instructions are written to say it's okay. But, at least in my experience, very few clubs actually write their stages that way. It's allowed for, but not done very often. As to why you don't preload your shotgun like a rifle, well, that does make sense to me. Allowing 87 and 97 shooters to do that would truly give them an unfair advantage over folks using a SxS. I would say on the clock stoking should be always allowed. I would oppose the idea of pre-loading your shotguns like a rifle. At the moment, the rules say load no more than 2, so that's how I do it. This is one of a very small handful of rules that I think could be changed without harming the game. But, a game MUST have rules, and they should not be lightly changed, and certainly not ignored outside of some sort of "specialty" match where people know going in how it is an unusual event.

Curious. Neither of my pistols has this feature. Nor does my brother's for that matter. In fact, I have never even SEEN this feature before. I guess they must all be older models.

One time, after I had already blown the clean match, I said I was gonna do it, just give me the P. I was told don't, it would be a SOG penalty. So I didn't. Personally, I think stoking on the clock should always be allowed all the time. But it's not.

Other than the sights, they are no different from contemporary .22's made by Colt in a more standard configuration. I've got 2, and find them to be excellent pistols. As to price, well, I've seen the cost of Peacemaker and New Frontier .22's all over the map, but that looks to be an about average price that I see for them. As far as a "cross bolt safety" goes, are you referring to how the firing pin is mounted in the frame instead of on the hammer? That's not really a safety, just a modification of how the .22s work. Which is fine.

Speaking of the different frame sizes of the Lighting rifle, I have to say that while I often come across the small frame .22's, I do not often see the large frame variant. Of course, all the reproductions are medium frame pistol calibers, so we are talking original Colts here. According to Wikipedia, a little of 6000 were made, so I guess that counts towards their scarcity. The relative handful that I have seen at gunshows are also quite expensive, so I don't know if I'll ever own one. Still the thought of using all three sizes for main and side matches is attractive. Wiki however does not indicate what all the calibers the large frame was offered in. Anybody know? Based on how it one of the few listed is .38-56, not .38-55 suggests to me that they may have been chambered for cartridges that are now more obscure that contemporary Winchester and Marling big bore guns. Which may make reloading and shooting the more problematic if getting brass is exceptionally difficult. I have a feeling that it'll be, oh look, an affordable one, I'll get to get it without regard to caliber. Anyone have any answers?

We need to have a specialty shoot. Minimum requirements is that everyone must use a Lighting for their Main Match rifle. Extra credit is awarded if you use the Lightning Bolt from AWA, sort of a Lightning version of the Mares Leg, as one of your pistols, and since extra long range targets will be added, more extra credit for using a large frame Lightning for them, and of course in keeping with the theme, everyone must use a 97 with the magazine stoked at the loading table.

When I was in the market to get a Lightning, I was able to compare the Taurus to the Beretta to the AWA. The Taurus had an action that felt like pulling two pieces of sandpaper against each other. The Beretta, made by Uberti, was smoother, but had a clunky action in my opinion. The AWA had an action that was smooth and felt "right" to me somehow. I bought the AWA, .45 Colt, and it soon became my favorite Main Match rifle. I found that I could shoot faster with it than any lever gun, not that I am all that fast to begin with, but still. I also shot my first ever clean match with it, at End of the Trail no less. It has never given me any problems, with one minor exception. One time I had a few failures to fire. Took the gun home and flushed out the firing pin with gun scrubber. Cleaned out a lotta gunk, and since then the problem has never reoccurred. Bottom like, they must be kept clean. Especially a .45 that gives a lot of blowback into the action. I like the gun so much that I decided if I ever found another AWA in .44-40 I would buy it. Soon after making that decision, I found one, so I bought it. The chamber was a bit tight, to the point where ammo would not chamber. Had a gunsmith polish it, and the problem has gone away and it now works just as well as the .45. And, since there is no blowback with the .44-40 the action stays much cleaner. Then, not too long after that, I found a genuine Colt in .32-20 that had been "expertly restored" and given a good action job. It is now very pretty, works flawlessly, and since it's collector value has been "ruined" I could actually afford to purchase it. I am quite happy with its performance. So, in my experience, AWAs and Colts are good choices. Tauruses are be avoided at all costs, and the Uberti/Beretta leaves much to be desired. The other brands out there I have no first hand experience with. And for what it's worth, both the Colt and AWA will slam fire, if that is something that appeals to you.

Now I have to laugh. Those are my pistols! Since it's cropped, here's the full pic... Believer it or not, I have never shot the 2 Sheriff's at the same time. but I do occasionally pair the 2 nickel guns for contrast.