Abe E.S. Corpus SASS #87667

Good point; I overlooked the 50th Anniversary .44 Magnum which is a flattop but it uses the large cylinder frame (which it must to handle .44 Magnum). I read that the .41 Magnum flattops were assembled on frames from the 50th Anniversary .44 Magnum production run. We need a wall chart to keep up with the different Ruger single action variants!

The New Model Flattop is also available in .45 caliber. I think all the ones I have seen are convertibles. I agree, though, no “Ruger only” level .45 Colt loads in the Flattop.

I cleaned out my local SW’s stock of Black MZ. I use it for shotshells; 3F APP is reserved for metallic cartridges.

I’m going to give you my “cheapskate” advice. There’s no need to spend a bunch of money for a Wild Bunch holster. Many holsters designed for a single action revolver will serve for a 1911. It only stays in the holster from the LT until the pistol is drawn. We don’t reholster the 1911 at the end of the string. Spend the money on ammo.

A friend gave me a Frankfort Arsenal Vibra Prime when he found it would not work well with large primers (I mostly use small primers). It works very well with small primers. I contacted the company and they sent me a new tray for large primers but it still doesn’t feed well even after some sanding. I found the Hornady 1911 style tool on sale. It does a better job loading large primers but I find it more fiddly than the Vibra Prime.

That would be a Hornady product. I have one myself.

This used to be stated in the Shooters Handbook. I didn’t realize until I looked for it that the language was eliminated in about 2017. Probably as a result of eliminating rules that don’t carry a penalty. I can recall one spectator who showed up with a revolver. Instead of barking rules at him, I welcomed him to the match, explained that the rules (at the time) allowed only registered participants to carry firearms but we would treat him as a participant for the day. I explained that our revolvers stay unloaded until we are at the LT and had him “show clear” at a table. From there we gave him an orientation and lent him guns to shoot a stage or two. My home club is a “cold range”. Insurance requirements being what they are, I’d be surprised if a club allowed guests who are not participants in a match have a loaded firearm.

Miroku in Japan made the rifle sold as the Browning B92. A friend has one in .44 Magnum; they made a smaller number in .357. Very nice Carbine. Miroku also makes the 1892 sold as a Winchester; those have a tang safety and a rebounding hammer.

Ruger’s website says there is one ounce difference between a .357 Blackhawk (the one with the aluminum grip frame) and a New Vaquero in the same chambering and barrel length.

And who was it again who asked you to start carrying APP? You and Tommy are doing a great job bringing us good products.

The grip frame is small but the cylinder frame is the large size. The “medium size” cylinder won’t handle .44 Magnum.

There are two cylinder frames available in the New Model Blackhawk. The Flattop variant is shares the New Vaquero's medium sized frame. It began as the 50th Anniversary .357 Blackhawk, later as a .44 Special, and more recently as a .357/9mm or .45 Colt/.45 ACP convertible.

When I started shooting cowboy I ordered a rig from Paul after seeing one in my home club. The owner had ordered two rigs from Reddog. Paul made a rig for my wife. It's excellent. I also bought a Wild Bunch holster and belt from him. The eBay Store shows samples. He can do many other types.

B-Western does not require a Buscadero rig. There are other belt/holster styles that comply with the requirements of that category.

Another recommendation for Scarlett’s “Cowboy Cartridges”. Once you are ready to load your own cartridges Scarlett can provide you with the same bullets used in her cartridges and the label of the cartridges provides you with the load data so that you can duplicate the ammo! Some thought went into that.

My first stroller cart was “convertible”. I built it for cowboy shooting with long guns oriented vertically between the frame tubes. Several years later my club began Three Gun matches and I tried it a few times. Muzzle down long guns were the norm. I bought two pairs of ATV gun mounts and attached them to the outboard side of the frame rails. Oh, and the wooden box used for cowboy ammo was replaced by a nylon range bag for Three Gun.

I had a standard model 10/22 that I wanted to upgrade. There’s a good video series on the Fire Mountain Outdoors YouTube channel that included contact info for a fellow who converted my stock barrel to a sleeved, threaded, fluted bull barrel with a Bentz chamber. It was less expensive than an aftermarket barrel and less wasteful. I had already installed a Volquartsen hammer which made a big difference with the trigger pull. I dropped it into a Magpul X22 stock that I caught on sale. It’s still light and handy and shoots much better.

Null, I posted a WTC on the Wild Bunch forum while back after we had a similar situation in a WBAS match. There we had static rifle targets and knockdown targets for the shotgun. A new shooter mistakenly engaged and dropped the KDs with the rifle (each shot being a miss under the flowchart) so that those targets were not available when the shooter transitioned to the shotgun. On the one hand, "shoot where it was" usually comes into play when the target is absent by no fault of the shooter. Here the shooter caused the problem by engaging the wrong targets. On the other hand, not allowing the competitor to "shoot where they were" results in two misses being assessed for each shot. The answer to my post was against penalizing the shooter twice.

I will toss in a couple of comments. Call Georgia Arms and ask about cowboy ammo even if the website says it is out of stock. Perhaps you can be first in line for the next run. They attend many of the Gun shows in this area and I've seen cowboy ammo at the shows when their website said they were out. Their ammo has worked well for new shooters here. It is great to find a reloading mentor to show you the ropes. Finding someone who loads the type of ammo you plan to make (such as a fellow cowboy shooter) is great. I would not worry much whether that person has the same type of press.

One of the new firearms announced at the 2017 SHOT Show is replica of the Colt SAA. You can see it on Gunblast.com's video of "Industry Day at the range". Standard Manufacturing says they are making them in Connecticut; another YouTube host reported that this will be a close replica of the Colt so no transfer bar. If anyone has or gets more info about these revolvers please post a reply.

My understanding is that the 150 power factor and the requirement of the .40-plus caliber rifle (the 1911s have to be .45 ACP and the shotgun must be 12 gauge) was something of a reaction to the tendency in cowboy action shooting towards small calibers and light loads. Wild Bunch targets tend to be more challenging (in terms of size and distance) than CAS targets. When my local club offered WBAS matches, we allowed any SASS-legal main match rifle because, as you said, many of our shooters were cowboy shooters who owned .38 caliber rifles. This seems to be the approach at most local clubs. I enjoy WBAS but I was reluctant to buy another expensive rifle for a game that only got to shoot four or five times a year. My club's WBAS match director thought that the big bore rifle requirement was a barrier to growing the sport. His opinion was to leave the 150 power factor but let shooters use any caliber they wanted. My local club eventually decided to replace Wild Bunch with modern Three Gun. There's lots of demand for those matches; they usually limit the match to about 70 shooters and when they open the online registration it fills up in a matter of minutes.

Welcome. I will add a word of caution about ordering clothing online. The sizing of Old West clothing, especially the pants, may be very different than modern clothing. For example, I usually wear a 34" waist size. In one brand of Old West pants, I have to buy a 36. In another brand I have to go up to a 38! I am fortunate to have found two stores within a reasonable drive where I could try on clothing so I have not had to deal with ordering clothes and returning them. I agree with the comments about visiting "vendor row" at state and regional matches; that's another good way to shop. Keeping it simple at first is good, too. I found some good shirts at a thrift store, and a New but reasonably priced Henley shirt at a local workwear store.

I believe both of the revolvers are Uberti 1873s with different features. Pretty sure the Runnin' Irons all have low wide hammers which would not match your USFA's hammer.

I agree with Jefro that the Lee Classic Turret (the classic has an iron base as opposed to the other Lee Turret press that I think they now call the "value" press) is an excellent press for a beginner, given the volume of ammo you need to crank out for cowboy action. When I started shooting cowboy seven years ago I used my single stage press which required lots of time at the bench. The LCT is about as simple to use as a single stage but the timesaver is that you are not picking up and putting down the same case four or five times to produce a loaded cartridge. The LCT is often paired with one of Lee's auto Disc powder measures. I recommend that you get the Lee Auto Drum Measure instead. Not much if any price difference. Kemph will have them. If you are shooting .38 Special you will save money over factory ammo. The cases last a long time and you can often find once fired range brass at a good price. Ask other cowboy shooters for a good cast bullet source. If you buy locally you will save on shipping. If you want to order some I recommend www.clarksbullets.com. You won't realize as much savings loading shotshells, in part because of the high cost of lead shot. I'd recommend buying game/target factory shells by the "flat" (ten boxes). I can catch sales and get factory shells for clayshooting in the $60 range which is $6.00 per box of 25, which will usually get you through a local match.

I bought some Titegroup specifically to load 9mm (plus Cabelas had it at a very attractive price) but the container is still sealed. I have found Titegroup to make for a "snappier" load in cowboy ammo. I have had good luck with Red Dot and Universal in 9mm but I agree with Widder that Clean Shot is an excellent choice. It meters well and performance has been very consistent. I like the 124 grain bullets in 9mm, either cast bullets from Clark's Bullets or Berry's plated when I can find the latter on sale. Scarlett carries Clean Shot and the other Shooters Wirld powders but I have seen them on the shelf at a local store as well.