Cowboy Junky

Many people fall victim to the gate spring and the pawl spring.......I did too. But once you get those figured out it's easy.

I don't like them for SASS as a two-handed shooter but they shine for shooting large caliber guns.

It's just low powder.......not a primer issue. If you just put an empty case in with a live primer and fire it the gun will lock up every time.......like clockwork. If you don't have enough recoil to reseat the primer it will do the same thing.

14 grains of Redot & 1 oz of 7.5.

Wow so easy thanks.

A 12 ga is no heavier really and then you don't have to buy another shotgun later. Cut the stock down and keep the wood. Then get a used MEC jr and you can load 12 ga down to very usable levels. Then when they get older add the wood back and cover it with leather.

We just don't have the manpower.......I would like to but I spend that time focusing on the match because IMO that's what brings people back.

You have people that won't even file the sights on a Ruger here........so you KNOW you will get blasted for modifying the Holy Grail of handguns.........What would Sam Colt do?

IMHO it's only temperature sensitive if you are trying to use too little. If you stick to the charts you'll not have to worry and probably shoot better too.

My take is I want my pistols to shoot well. Just because SASS will let you run fast on big targets there is a LOT of benefit in having the correct POI. Again IMO point shooting is a bad habit to get into and not all the targets will be 3 yards like some clubs.....like at Winter Range or something and then you carry those bad habits with you when you go there as well. Also when there is a small target, bonus target TX star, or plate rack etc if you are trying to win you need those points either way so IMO there is no reason not to have correct POI and use the sights even in SASS. The gun is a tool and the tool should be setup correctly........no negatives in that. Or you can aim wrong for years miss targets and then sell the gun with a nice pretty stock sight on it to a guy like me that will just file it down..........lol All the guns for SASS I have sold it was looked at as a plus if you know how to market it. I told them my load and that they were already sighted in and the buyers actually like it because I was selling them to SASS shooters. Just my .02.

If the people that worry about this stuff ever went to a skeet shoot they might vapor lock on the spot...........lol.

Mag primers from everything I have read add to the overall load by about .2 or a tad more. So if you are shooting really light loads or light loads in the cold the extra bit the primer adds might help as you have seen in a few of these replies. I played that game for a while using light loads and Fed 100's in the spring summer and fall and 200 Mag primers in the winter. It worked but it was counterproductive IMHO. Now I just use enough powder and it's much easier, safer and you shoot just as well........probably even better.

Over the last couple years I have been playing a lot with my loads looking for the same answer as the OP. I'm a 105 man.....I guess that's kinda' like a Dapper Dan man without the head net......lol. Anyway I shoot 3.6 grains & 105 of Reddot in everything and very rarely have to reach into my little leather bag of tricks. If I do it's usually for that target everyone is complaining about at the end of the match. When I run into those I have 158's and 3.1 grains of Reddot which i have tested and it has a little more authority.

Marlin says it will hold 8 .357 so I would sue think if you played with the spring & follower it would hold 10 38's because ours tend to be shorter than even standard 38. How it will cycle the short loads may have to be tweaked.

It'll do fine if you do your part. Good luck.

One of mine did it but only with hot ammo. I borrowed a Gold nitro for a stubborn KD and when it when off I thought MAN I have gotten to use to light loads that really had a thump to it. Then when it wouldn't fire the next barrel I decided to eject and load another round and that's when I saw smoke and two empty nitro's leave the barrel......both nitro's had gone off at the same time so the extra recoil made more sense..........lol On my SKB the sears were polished so well that they could slip off under heavier recoil. If yours just started doing it with the same loads......my guess is that the sears are worn. I would "think" dirt and grime would make them stickier and not let them slip off easier but you never know and that probably the best place to start. Good luck.

I didn't have a way to turn my barrels so I widened the rear opening (rear sight) with a smooth edge file to correct the windage and to get a wider rear sight for faster sight acquisition at the same time. Then ONCE you determine the loads you will compete with I file the front down to raise the POI. After your done re-blue it or polish it depending on the finish. I stopped where my POI was still a tad low (about an 1 inch at 8 yards) because it's harder to put the metal back on than it is to take it off and even for small targets that's plenty good.

Soon I'll be able to post one.......maybe by the weekend.

I know people using 3 grains with a 105 all the way up to 4 grains. TB gets really dirty in the basement and burns cleaner if you don't go really light. I think for SASS it's a great powder if you don't load it too light....light recoil and great case volume for larger cases. The only reason I stopped using it was it cost more per pound and loads less rounds per pound. If other powders like Reddot & Clays (for 38's) didn't work just as well and cost less I'd probably still be using TB.

IMHO for what we do the bushing is accurate enough IF you stay with the same powder. I know when my wife started we used a 19 bushing with Clays & 1 oz of shot/ CB1100 in my efforts to "make the shotgun great again" for and she went from hating it to loving it. In time I weaned her up to a 21 and I was using the 27. So that's a 11.? to 15.? grain spread with the same wad & shot so I don't think the lot number of the powder (for what we do) is really an issue since we aren't timing our shots, shooting straight on or pushing the top of the loading data. Even the clay poppers at the distance we shoot are unaffected by the FPS change at that distance. The 19 bushing loads will still reset the triggers in her Dirt Merchant SKB 100 too.........but not in mine.

For the time & effort to make one I wouldn't mess with it. I used the PGW speed sight on all my 66's & 73 carbines.

I chrono'd a few loads a while back and a 27 bushing on a MEC with Clays/ CB1100 wad/ 1 oz of shot was 1000FPS which is a tad hotter than a featherlite. If I remember correctly that threw 15 grains of Clays so I think Garrison Joe is right on the money if you are trying to mock that load. You can go lower and people do but it won't be the same load if that's yer' goal.

We target for about 10% clean. I think if you are getting 20 - 30 % that might be a local thing and part of the problem.

I'm with coffinmaker……...no need to deprime before you load. If anything IMO that primer keeps stuff out of the primer pocket. Then the press pushes it out and it's clear of obstruction. Compared to many folks here I haven't been doing this as long but in the 20+ years I have been reloading and shooting 1000+ rounds a month I have never had a squib or failure to fire so for me it's not worth my time.

Years ago I was told about the Clay's being temp sensitive so I loaded a bunch of my 44 spl (which was my MM ammo back then) and put in the freezer overnight. The next dat I put the ammo in a plastic bag in a cooler full of ice and went straight to the range....about a 15 minute drive. The chronograph didn't show enough difference between that and the ammo that was about 80 deg unless I would have shot 100 rounds and charted it out. I think from what I have seen the only people having issues with Clays in really cold weather are shooting basement level loads (or less) and then it might be an issue but if you are setting comfortably in the recommended load levels I don't think you will have any issues......I never did.