Roger Rapid

Make the investment in a Franfort tumbler, and as previously stated get some Strat-O-Sheen from www.riogrande.com. Use 2oz Strat-o-Sheen with one gallon of water and you'll get this (idea to wear nitrile gloves - solution is caustic). If you pop out your primers before you wet clean, the stainless pins and Strat-o-Sheen will most likely clean out the primer pockets. If primer pockets are really gunked get a primer pocket cleaning tool, sit in front of the TV, and give your primer pockets a good cleaning - with subsequent wet tumbling the clean pockets should last for a long time. RR

Hi Old Grouch... I'll send you a copy of my Taurus manual (24 pages). The Taurus "ThunderBolt" Lightning is more similar to the AWA version - the Uberti and Pedersoli internal workings are quite different from each other, and from the AWA version. Uberti or Pedersoli parts will NOT fit the AWA version. (I have also prepared detailed manuals for the Uberti and Pedersoli Lightnings.) On its way to you. Stay Healthy! RR

Hold on Gents… Before we overwork the “make safe” language, please don’t forget that we provided the scenarios that Phantom was referring to as “virtual scenarios.” In the absence of actually being at the range and holding guns in your hands, the scenarios were intended to make you think about everything you do rather than just saying “rifle, pistol, shotgun, you’re done!” We say things like “with pistols holstered, move to…” While you’d obviously holster your pistols, we wanted you to envision doing it. Having you going through the motions in your mind while not being able to be at the range was the whole spirit of our Virtual Cowboy Shooting exercise.. RR

Speaks Easy. We have 24 scenarios that are free downloads (PDFs) on our "Virtual Cowboy Shooting" page in our website. They were intended to use with our "Virtual Timer" to practice on your computer during the coronavirus. Web site is: www.PRVCatLazyArrow.com - then click on Virtual Cowboy Shooting page, or the direct link is: http://www.prvcatlazyarrow.com/prvcatylazyarrow.com/Virtual_Cowboy_Shooting.html Enjoy... ERE

Lightning rifles are super fun to shoot, but do take some practice - as with anything - to learn how to cycle them smoothly and consistently. Most problems I see with Lightnings are the driver, not the vehicle. The AWAs can be made to run well. Taurus is the bottom of the barrel. Uberti's have too many built-in safety's, and a Pedersoli Lightning is a fine machine. They are all tight out-of-the-box and need some help with slicking (unless worked on before), and they all need frequent teardown and cleaning because of intricate inner workings - but look at the cleaning as your friend, it's what you do if you want to shoot one. Because of the bolt design, the straight-shell versions (.45LC/.357) have some blowback (the necked case of the .44-40/.38-40 have much less) but good glasses help. I have several flavors, and my Pedersoli is my favorite match gun - it helped win me a buckle! I have detailed teardown documentation for the Pedersoli, Uberti, and Taurus (Taurus document can be used for AWA) that is available gratis - just PM me. RR

Hi Allie Mo - hope all is good with you! This is our understanding, too. Further, I’m sure there are a few shooters who actually read the waivers, but most don’t and therefore they don’t know what it says - or doesn’t say. I think a waiver serves the greater purpose of having a shooter think or believe that if they choose to participate, they assume some responsibility when they sign it. RR

J-Bar... Not quite sure I agree with the "catch-22" idea. If a club makes a best effort to exercise diligence as it relates to gun safety, or health safety - as in the case of the COVID-19 issue - and someone does get sick, a lawyer "could make a case for negligence..." but I think it would be a very tough case to win. I agree with you that we are responsible for our own health and safety, but others should be considerate and somewhat responsible for OUR health and safety, too. One of the reasons folks should wear masks - aside from protecting themselves - is to protect you and me from something they have (that, in fact, they might not even know they have). I was setting targets at our range last week and I was the only one of four folks wearing a mask. I was a little upset that the other cowpokes were not considering my best interest - as I was considering theirs. You and I are also responsible for our physical safety at a range, but if another shooter is careless, and one of us gets hurt, then we would certainly question why they were not following the commonly-held gun safety rules. Yes, there will be matches that do not follow the guidelines, and some that follow them to the letter. And, for my well-being, I'd rather attend the match where there is some attention to health safety; at the end of he day, I'd much rather be on this side of the grass. RR

Widder - thanks for clarification. I used "bacteria" wrongly and should have said "virus." And the thought did come to mind when reading John Kloehr's response whether the heat could actually have the opposite affect, and stimulate growth of the virus? Hmmm ...RR

One of the points we've been discussing is whether fired brass could host live bacteria? One would think that the extreme heat would kill any bacteria on it. Do we have any med techs or pathologists out there who could comment on this? RR

Hells Comin... Not quite sure that SASS is providing these details to "...cover their butts." These are good useful "ideas" for clubs to do we can to manage safe matches. I know of several clubs that are discussing such issues. We (PRVC) are having our first back-to-shooting event this Saturday and are implementing a lot of these and other ideas. We want to do what we can to keep our shooters and friends healthy, and we've had zero thought to "covering our butts." RR

For those of you who have not shot the SASS Western Regional at CVR before, this is a truly great match in a spectacular environment. The Chorro Valley Regulators’ range is about 8 miles from the Pacific Ocean, which always brings mild weather to the range. As Hollywood pointed out, daytime temperatures in November are in the 70° range with virtually zero humidity. The match features challenging and fun scenarios, with something for shooter's of all levels to enjoy. And, there's usually a few dozen vendors to occupy your downtime and help you find some goodies that you either need, or just gotta have. Before, after, or during the match, neighboring Morro Bay - an active fishing village on California’s Central Coast - features several really good seafood restaurants boasting daily catches. Chorro’s 5-Star dinner on Saturday night exceeds expectations, and the match is run by a bunch of superstars - as one would think after 26 years! Tons of room for trailers (dry camping) and a bunch of nearby motels makes being here easy. Come on out and shoot this great match with us!!! RR

Hoss... Did shooter move to another position to pick up rifle? If so, did he fire the pistol from the rifle position? (I assume he didn't move back to pistol position with cocked rifle in hand.) Sounds from your description that it was a real situation. Interesting one... RR

Verdigris Kid - Look at it this way: you didn't come in last on your first match so you did GREAT! Welcome to the sport. RR

Unless it's a steal and you just want to own a cheap Lightinng to play with, stay away from the Taurus Lightnings. As H.K.Uriah stated, it is the worst of the four versions (Pedersoli, Uberti, AWA, and Taurus). Pedersoli is by far the best from a standpoint of workmanship, attention to detail, re-engineering of the internal parts, and functionality for CAS. Uberti has introduced too many safety functions which makes the rifle function only reasonably well without a LOT of practice. The AWAs are "okay", and the Taurus is just very poor made (even though it is the closest replica to the original 1884 Colt Lightning). If you do get a Taurus, I have prepared a 24-page fully-illustrated tear-down and assembly manual for the Taurus Lightning - it's free - just PM me. RR

Snakebite... Sorry for your and our loss. I had the pleasure to know him. Our thoughts and prayers are with you, members of KRR, and Hawkeye's family. RR

Sidewinder Bill.. Glad you shot your virtual Annual match and came in First Place Gunfighter!! Good job! Curious if you got a virtual buckle or just a virtual pendant? Sorry about the virtual holes in your virtual garage door, but here's some virtual tape to cover up the virtual holes! RR

Thanks for the good words and thoughts Bushy, and I so much enjoy hearing you deliver them at Cowboy Church. Happy Easter to all... RR

Well, I just calculated that during this time off, if I just read this post once a day for every VIEW this post has had to this point, it will take me 10 years and 59 days! RR PS: Good seed you planted, DDD!

Dusty Devil Dale... It's is clear to us the reaction you are having from not being able to go to the range and shoot! Take a few aspirins, and get some rest!!!! (Hope we get to shoot together soon!!!!!) RR

My wife, Ruthless Rose, has been making masks several hours a day. She’s done two kinds - the ones with tie straps and those with elastics that go over ears (top one, the elastics are partially visible). We’re giving the masks to local hospitals, doctors, nurses, and clinics. As some previous posters have pointed out, there are several patterns you can download, although my wife has just developed her own pattern that makes construction a bit easier. Regarding masks for COVID-19 when at the range, the photo on the bottom is of a bandana I wear, especially when running the timer and I’m in close proximity of lead particulate. This bandana has an elastic sewn in the back so that it pulls tight (rather than going through the hassle of tying a knot). (You can’t see elastic because its inside the bandana.) I should wear the bandana when I’m shooting, too, but it seems to get in the way when looking down at holsters, etc. So, when we’re up and shooting again - which I hope will be end of this month - I’ll be wearing my bandana full time more for COVID-19 than for blood-lead issues, until we hear that things are safe (whenever that will be). RR

Just for clarification, the idea of virtual shooting is really no different than folks standing at the loading table and - without guns in hand - practicing or “ghosting” - going through the motions and transitions and thinking through each step of the scenario as if you were shooting it. That’s really what we hoped to provide here; the scenarios to shoot (and we’ve provided 24 of them), in addition to a timer that you can measure your results with. Ideally, you’d read the scenario and study the targets, just as if you were listening to the TO read the scenario as you were looking at the real targets. Then, launch the timer and stop it at the first message block where is says to STOP. Then, put your fingers over the space bar, either close your eyes or look at the targets on the scenario, say your line, click the space bar, wait for the TO’s “STANDBY” message and beep, and then really focus on shooting the stage, going through your gun handling transitions, drawing pistols and re-holstering, envisioning moving from position to position, and then press the space bar at the end to stop the timer and read your time. When I do it, I try to think of all my moves realtime so that my time is somewhat accurate, hard as that is to do. Hope you shoot it fast and CLEAN !! RR

Creeker - thanks for the input and the Q's. We do several things: 1) We have a monthly newsletter that addresses several topics and includes our calendar of events. 2) We do send out two reminders before each match - one that is two Mondays prior to the match, and the second that is the Monday before the match. 3) We do have a website that has several tabs that includes our Shooting Schedule. Our scenarios are typically written a few weeks before each match so, it is VERY easy for us to attach PDFs to the email blast(s). At the moment, after hearing all this positive responses about sending out scenarios early, our plan is to send them with the second email blast (on the Monday prior to our Saturday match). One of our deputies, Bushy Blonco, suggested that from time to time we'd send include one scenario that was a surprise stage - in which the scenario page might have a big question mark ("?") on the page - sounds like a fun idea. Our matches are the fourth Saturday of every month and we send out scores via email on the evening of our matches (sometimes it is Sunday morning before they are sent out). As to "how are we writing our match," we create them in WORD and then convert them to PDF, and our page formats are all the same for consistency purposes. (We have another post going on "Virtual Cowboy Shooting" in which we posted 24 of our scenarios. While these have slightly different wording like "until you envision it going down" because of the virtual shooting idea, they are basically the format of our regular scenarios. If interested, you can see them by clicking here: SAMPLE SCENARIO ) You've all provided great input here, and it's helped us decide to send scenarios early... THANKS TO ALL!!!!! RR

Ditto on Bear Creek - good prices, coated bullets, great quality control, super source of information. Steve Miller runs is the proprietor: mmwww.bearcreeksupplybullets.com - 209-874-4322. RR

All good input - thanks!!!! And just for clarification I was referring to regular monthly matches. (I'm not sure that we'd want to post our Annual Lazy Arrow ShootOut scenarios prior to the match.) Thx... RR

Wondering if any of you match directors are sending out your scenarios prior to a match for your shooters to review? Sending scenarios early has positives and negatives: On the positive side, it becomes a promotional effort to entice your shooters to come to a match. It also gives the shooters a chance to review the scenarios with the hope they can do better. On the negative side, if shooters don’t like some of the scenarios they might not come to the match (although I don't think this is likely). Also, some might consider it “gaming” to give shooters an edge. Lastly, it may be a little more work to attach scenarios to your email notices, but not really a big deal in the scheme of things. The thought was sparked by a SASSwire post we have going about PRVC's Virtual Cowboy Shooting scenarios and Virtual Shot Timer. In addition to the SASSwire post, we also sent out an email announcement to our club members and our promotional list about our club's Virtual Shooting web page, and we have received several responses from folks who have seen the scenarios asking if they can "shoot our Virtual stages at a real match?" Interested to learn your thoughts… RR