Griff

It appears as though your crimping die is set too low, or if you're crimping/seating in one step, you are too low. OR... your case lengths are inconsistent. I've used the Dillon powder funnel/expander since 1987 with no problems. I loaded about 250 rounds of 45 Colt yesterday.

Over thinking most anything will lead to ulcers, heart burn and stress you don't need. Basic rule of thumb for decades has been: .451" for jacketed, .452" for cast. Powder coated cast bullets are just that, cast. If your groove diameters are .4515", then anything up to .002" over that .4515" will be just fine. I run a 200 RFN in my 1911s @ around 825fps just so I don't have to cast or buy two different bullets for WB & cowboy. These run thru 7 different 1911s, 3 Colts, a Rock Island, 2 Taylor's & a Remington Rand slide on an Interarms frame with Wilson internals & Bar-Sto barrel. 'Nuff said. Does not translate to anything .45 auto related.

I shoot a .36 caliber revolver in Frontiersman. Back in the early days of SASS, I loaded a 90 grain conical to engage knockdowns. I ultimately quit and just kept using my 77 grain round balls. I just aim for the upper quarter of the target. From a new competitor to match & club organizer back to well seasoned competitor, my perspective might differ from most. Without a standard design KD target, having a measurable, repeatable specification to which KDs will fall is impracticable. Part of the fun in cowboy action shooting is the variety and sometime ingenuity displayed in target design and execution. KD calibration is not a thing, that stays stationary. Over the course of a days shooting that calibration can go from excellent to completely stuck in a matter of minutes. Doin' the "best we can" is better and more enjoyable goal and maintaining, than trying to meet some arbitrary standard imposed by a sometime seemingly distant and uncaring organization dictating how we play.

I have to wonder what you were expecting. I feel that no firearm will meet the demands of this game/sport straight out of the box. I didn't KNOW that nearly 41 years ago when I started... but... at my very 1st EOT @ Coto de Caza in Apr, 1986, I learned that. I'd been shooting about 8-9 months with a factory 3rd Gen Colt in 45 Colt. The 1st day I struggled a bit with my handgun... Not unusual for me. One of my posse members suggested I take my Colt to Bob Munden and have him cowboy tune it for me. I did... Bob returned with my tuned Colt the next morning. What a difference. I had to check the serial number 4 or 5 times before I believed it was the same gun. I had him subsequently tune my backup pistol, a Armi Jager in .38/.357, and a couple of more over the next few years. All were much better for the experience. I've never been a frontrunner for a category win (well... with very few exceptions), at any major match. At my best I was slightly ahead of the middle of the pack, by best finish at an EOT was in 1987, (3rd Place BP, top 5 1990 & 1991 in Frontier Cartridge), my best finish overall was in 1990, with a 33rd, (IIRC). But, smooth working guns are just SO MUCH more enjoyable to compete with. Even my Colt 2nd Gen 1851s are tuned and modified. Do I always get thru a match with them flawlessly... no. But, that is the nature of Frontiersman. Have they broken after being tuned? Yes. Once in 39 years, a broken bolt leg on the last shot of the last stage of day 2 of a three day match. Luckily, my trusty backup pistol was up to the task for day 3! A new bolt, and the primary gun is back in business. I've shot my 1851s in Frontier Cartridge, Elder Statesman, Cattle Baron and of course, Frontiersman, even shooting CAC as a Frontiersman Gunfighter two years running. I truly believe that sole reason I don't end up on the podium every match I enter, is because I simply don't like running fast... ALL THE TIME. Hell, I don't even jog. A leisurely stroll is more my speed. Finishing a match without a broken gun, whether at the head of the pack, or eating dust... is still a WIN.

Aye... but someone has to initiate that request. Who better than the TO?

I will stipulate that failure of a TO to advise a shooter to properly stage their guns in accordance with the stage instructions is not specifically listed in the SHB as a reason for a reshoot. I will further stipulate that "coaching" a shooter thru a stage is not a TO requirement. However, I will note that "improper coaching" IS a noted reason for offering a reshoot, in accordance with my 2022 RO I Handbook. While not generally considered coaching a shooter thru the firing line, and is not the firing line defined as from loading table to unloading table? Just in case: Failure to ensure every shooter starts a course of fire with a measure of equality would, in my estimation, equate to "improper coaching." For the 40+ years I've been involved in this game/sport, two things have always been stressed: 1 - safety; and 2 - Good sportsmanship. Although no longer a part of the RO Instruction Manuals, RO rule #4 was never superseded by explicit language in any rule book or guide. As a reminder, RO rule # 4 stated: "Don't be a hardass!" Reliance on strict reading of any rule book is counter productive to Good Sportsmanship and not being a "hardass". Not every situation is going to be covered by the SHB, RO Courses, or even the Match Director's Guides. We humans are rarely subject to being error free. If forgiving ourselves for a temporary lapse by offering a FELLOW COMPETITOR a reshoot isn't in your wheelhouse... stay away from the Timer!

When I last checked with PWB, the Trapdoor can be a legal Traditional gun. Since it's not delineated in the SHB, it's kinda up the MD for a particular match. Most I know, allow the 1873 Trapdoor in the Traditional Plainsman category,

So far, everyone has been really circumspect in their comments about Pyrodex. As some would say, a "rusting agent that happens to burn..." Let me put it this way, I wouldn't use it in your guns if you were dating my sister... and I don't particularly like my sister. If I may, I suggest you read Professor Marvel's discussion on cleaning firearms after the use of Pyrodex & 777: Regarding the Cleaning of Guns After the Use of Pyrodex and 777.

Back when I was first learning to be a TO, that was standard practice, some around 40* years ago. However, it became cumbersome, tied up posses, posse rotations became problematic. To say it fell out of disfavor is putting it mildly. In the modern era of cowboy shooting, most matches simply don't have the time to continue this practice. Rules are rules... for a reason. If you let a bad call or a call you disagree with, suck the fun out of your game... that's on you. Ain't got anything to do with rules, calls, interpretations, good, bad, or otherwise. Oh... you're too reticent.

Congrats.

Jack a round out... unfired? My gawd what is this coming to?

Okay... it's been 2 weeks, what's the verdict?

$7.75/K in 1975/76. I think my last case was ~$35/K.

I've found they are just a phone call away. While I jumped the gun on getting a quote for some color casing on a Marlin, their shop foreman told me that costs go up the more of the refinishing work they have to do. Since I was sending a fairly badly pitted receiver, I was just going to sand the majority of the pitting away and lightly polish it, so they didn't have do anything but clean it if any surface scale developing in transit. If they just have to dump in with other work, it seemed quite reasonable. Removing the current finish and polishing is where the costs go up... or so I was told.

I guess that would have been Hugh EMF... Tho' I don't don't how to pronounce his last name.