Griff

I went to my first cowboy action match, late summer 1985 with a .30-30 Winchester 94, Colt SAA 45 and an old Riverside Arms SxS with a box of Peters Blue Magics. The BMs didn't shuck a lick! Mostly because the gun didn't open well enough. I ordered a Stoeger Coach Gun. Took my brake hone and polished those chambers till they were mirror bright, and tried to remove the machining marks out of the forcing cones as well, a couple cleaning patches around a brass brush, coated with Flitz™, helped tremendously. Got a box of Federal paper hulls. Shucked like magic. I bought a case continued to use those paper hulls with both smokeless and BP until there were so many holes around the base that I feared they would separate. Never had one do that and by the time I felt they needed replacing, they were no longer available. I went with Winchester AAs, Mostly ones I picked up from folks that didn't reload. Same as Snakebite, I was told and have probably repeated that ribbed hulls don't shuck worth a darn. And from my own experience, they generally don't. I can only swear to that from the few boxes of cheap donated shotshells that I've won as a door prize, here and there. I still shoot that Stoeger on occasion, and it still shucks my Winchester hulls well, even the new, supposedly less reliable ones. Whether they be new, or my reloads with BP. I've never "coned" the chambers on that shotgun, just polished any burrs and sharp corners from the extractors. I feel that any aid that "coning" might provide is loading is mitigated by a decreased lifespan, especially when it literally removes all but the faintest line for the shell to headspace on. Just an opinion, no facts to support it... but... who wants to hear from a guy that enjoys being a last place finisher?

Not as a CCW, but as open carry. Rarely. Usually it's a Combat Commander.

I've shot a Colt SAA in cowboy action since day one... (1985). Bought my 2nd in 1993 to match with the first. My wife started with a Ruger BH, and my son with a clone. My wife switched to a clone and then to a SAA in 1993. My son shoots a pair of clones. All mine have been fairly extensively altered from their stock form. I'm of the opinion that any firearm used in this sport needs some modifications in order to be reliable and dependable. I haven't found any gun that is timed to run at the speeds generated during a course of fire. I'd assume there are folks that are unwilling to alter their pristine Colt SAA just to shoot cowboy... Whereas a clone is a less onerous purchase, and altering them to be a "race" gun won't materially affect their value. Rugers have never had the collectibility of the Colt's, plus, they're fairly rugged as they leave the factory, and with coil springs, they're less likely to suffer breakage.

I do the same as Joe. 45 Colt sizer/decapper, .45 Dillon expander with the die set for the same height as my 45 Auto setup. I seat & crimp in one step using a 45Auto/AR/GAP roll crimp die from RCBS, their #18942. Also on a Dillon 550. You just have to add the seating stem for the bullet profile you use. I just stole it from an old non-carbide set I still had, so mine's all set up on it's own toolhead.

See, ya done it again... s/b "Cowboy 45 Special." 😁

Although I prefer TiteGrouup, QuickLoad ptredicts 5 grains of HP-38 wil will yield 763 fps @ 7010psi from a 4-¾" , maybe a little less due cylinder gap. Use a good roll crimp. And, to stay in character, it's Cowboy 45 SPECIAL!

It's a case of "let's play 20 questions." What cartridge? What weight? What powder? Coated or not? Ad nauseum. IMO, a definitive answer requires more info.

Lrevergun? You'll want "Truncated" cone bullets.

;is your friend!

Ain't anyone made a real "quality" shotshell since the Peter's "Blue Magic: was discontinued... but I mighta said that before!

In the OP it was state "with the 10th round", and in the actual stage instructions, I don't see any requirement to hit the bonus with the 10th round specifically. Simply implied as the shooter should have fired 9 rounds at targets 1-3... but as we all know, and probably experienced, what happens after the beep is often far from what we intend!

↑↑↑ That certainly changes things. Different than stated in OP. So... award bonus. Thanks Scout.

Agreed. Here we disagree. It seems like a simple matter of Boolean Logic. "If, then, else." If you triple tap targets 1-3, then choose between target 4 and 5, else you earn associated penalties. By not including the phrase, "with the 10th shot" into the count of "associated penalties", you're penalizing every other shooter than shot it in accordance with the instruction. I would be scored as a "P", for shooting it out of sequence, and would receive the 5 second penalty for "Shot Not Fired." Agreed. But by rewarding that shooter, you're effectively penalizing everyone who accomplished the feat by correctly following the stage instructions.

From the OP's post: I read that to mean in order to earn the bonus, the 5th target must be hit with the 10th round.

For those of you that disagree with the "P", a miss & no pistol bonus, look at the responses that PWB marded as "likes".

It's listed as a "pocket" revolver. So I wouldn't think it would qualify as a full size 6-shot revolver. IMO

A "P" for hitting the #5 target out of order and a 5 second penalty for not firing 10 pistol rounds. And yes, only getting the rifle Bonus. The intent of the shooter is impossible to discern. So the only call to be made is what happens. Ergo, whether the shooter missed target 3 with the 9th shot or intended on hitting target 5 is immaterial. The fact remains that he hit target 5 with that 9th shot, clearly out of sequence, ergo, the "P". Since target 5 was a pistol target it still counts as a hit, but by not firing a tenth round, the shooter earns a 5 second penalty for not firing 10 pistol rounds. Which is the same as a miss. As for a bonus on the 5th target, I wouldn't award it as it was hit out of sequence. Whether stated or not, it was implied thru the instructions that to earn the bonus you must have fired all 9 rounds on targets 1-3.

Tell her you have my permission!

Grease where you have to disassemble to check or add... oil where you can check or add without disassembly.

My 1992 Uberti "Hartford Model" certainly doesn't.

In a word... "shouldn't." But, have you slugged your barrels to know what size your projectiles should be? You also might consider dropping that powder charge behind the 228 grain bullet to just 5 grains. Even the 200 grain load would benefit from the lessor charge. Even then you'll notice a bit of difference in velocity between the 5.5" & 8" bbls, depending on the exact chamber dimensions, groove diameters and cylinder gaps between the two revolvers. As for myself, I've quit loading 45 Colt except for my rifles in favor of the "Cowboy 45 Special" brass, which allows me to use even less powder and gain better efficiency in burn and SD numbers. The C45S is basically a 45 Auto length case with a 45 Colt rim. Feel free to ignore the following... The cartridge developed for the 1873 introduction of Colt's Single Action Army is simply called the 45 Colt. Yes, for a time there was a "45 Colt Government" which was a shorter cartridge than the original, but the longer cartridge was never renamed... some folks just simply described it a the 45 long Colt. The 45 Colt Government hasn't been produced since the very early 1930's. So... nearly a 100 years later, the descriptor is a useless affectation. Back when I first questioned the "long" added into the 45 Colt name, some folks told me it developed this nomenclature to distinguish it from the 45 Auto, (aka 45ACP), another misnomer... I've only seen a few pieces of foreign produced brass labeled 45 ACP, everything else I see is marked 45 Auto. I don't recall how my old military brass was marked, it has long been cycled out of my inventory. (My 3 Colt produced 1911 pattern handguns have 45 Auto stamped on the barrel, visible from the ejection port, while my 3 foreign produced 1911 pattern guns read 45ACP on their barrels).

Nothing else to say... just wanted to click the "follow topic" button.

I'm not a collector, and have very few old guns. A .32 Short "Lemon Squeezer that's never worked, a .38 S&W top break that's aged to a nice plum, it works, pretty well, but could use a little "tightening up"... I have a Marlin 1894 that I bought as a "kit gun". Frankly, externally it was a rusted hulk of a carbine in 44 Mag, yet nearly pristine internally. Someone had attempted to rebuild it with a 45 Colt Cowboy bbl., but became discouraged. So for $350 I became its new caretaker. Since, it was uglier than sin, whatever I do to it will be an improvement, even if only in my eyes. I've turned it into a "short rifle", and modified the carrier to feed the C45S. While I haven't achieved it yet... I want it to feed 45 Colt also. And until then, the metal will remain unfinished. Plan is to CCH the receiver, lever, buttplate, nose-cap, hammer, and lower tang. Pictured here with about 3 coats of tru-oil on furniture. I've heard some folks express the feeling... "we're only the caretaker of a firearm while it's in our possession... we should pass it on unmolested..." For a historically important firearm, I'd agree... but who determines whether any particular firearm is "historically important"? My feeling is that the person in possession of it does. So... if Colt SAA serial #1 was in my safe, I'd think that'd be a pretty historically important firearm... (and probably sell it)... but serial #SA61xxx, not so much... other'n it's mine! I'm not a believer in defarbing a firearm... or prematurely aging a piece... while one's intentions may be pure... later caretakers may decide to take it that one step further and unload it on an unsuspecting newb, as something it ain't. I'll not enable their deceit. Although... the diatribe on that Marlin Cowboy bbl is mighty tempting to remove! I have softened it up a bit...

Actually, Scots... but my "brrrs" usually indicate I'm simply cold! Let me spend a coupla weeks with my cousin & my NZ accent comes right back! And it's dinnae

I use the same RFN 200 grain bullet for WB in the 45 Auto as I do for cowboy in the C45S. To make the 150 PF for the 1911, you may be able use as little as 5 grains of 231, but you won't have a very wide margin of error on your loads. And in some guns, you might not make it. I load mine to run about 825 fps to have a fairly wide margin. Minimum bullet weight is 177 grains.