Diamond Jake

One of my western-themed boards will be one of several items in the benefit auction at TN State. Bring your gold!

No long range Buffalo Rifle off cross sticks his year?

Great pics Cowtown. Glad I met you and got to shoot with you in the BP match in Alabama.

I love the looks of the 8" 1860 Army, and the replica 7th Cavalry SAA I had was a dandy, with its 7 1/2". I've used the 5 1/2" Colt replicas for a few years, but now I mostly use the 4 3/4" clones. They seem to balance a bit better for me.

I'll be there if the creeks don't rise. 🙂

You'll like them Horse Creek. Very good option for you, based on your other post. Duece has a very good review of Great Western II on his YouTube channel. Check it out.

The people mentioning to go to a few shoots before buying may not have stressed that you will almost certainly be offered to try other shooter's guns. Sometimes for the entire match, sometimes for some practice shots before or after the match. You won't be just watching. Having said that, I bought all my stuff first: Uberti 1873 rifle in 45 Colt, Uberti Cattleman revolvers in 45 Colt, and a Stoeger SxS 12 ga. (Whatever shotgun you get, make sure it's 12 ga.) The rifle was box stock, and I personally deburred the action and replaced the main spring with a lighter one, using simple tools and following some YouTube "How To" videos. Same with the Stoeger shotgun. It was too stiff when new, but it didn't take much to get it opening and shucking well. You'll want someone to funnel the mouths of the chambers to allow smoother and faster loading. The Stoeger stock is a bit straight for me, so now it's my backup and my main shotgun is a Navy Arms (made by same company as CZ) Coach, with single trigger. It has screw-in chokes, but I think no choke barrels would perform just as well, and be easier to clean. The rifle performed well enough that I was able to shoot third in category at my first State match, and won state champ in category in my third year. In my fourth year I felt I was finally getting good enough to get value from a slicker rifle, so I bought a used Taylor/Uberti 1873 with short stroke, shorter barrel, and trigger work. My jacked rounds and rifle jams have been greatly reduced with the better gun, but I still use my original rifle occasionally in monthly matches since I carry it as a backup (though I haven't needed a backup yet). The Uberti revolvers were another story. In three years I broke three bolt springs, and had to go to backups. I found the Pietta 1873 revolvers, though not as good fit and finish as the Ubertis, were much smoother out of the box. I sold the Ubertis and bought four Piettas, this time in 38, plus a Pietta in 45 Colt. Now I can shoot Josey Wales if I want.

I decided to not do Classic Cowboy, so I'm selling the CZ Hammer Classic. Modified and tuned by Longhunter. Barrels cut down to 22"; no chokes. $1100 OBO. Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler. Looks and runs like new except cracked cover over motor. My wife bought it for me, not knowing I already have one. $100. These and other goodies will be outside my room at the Cowboy Yard Sale at Alabama State this coming week.

We sometimes have a popper as one of our mandatory SG shots, no bonus, but a static plate for the typical SG "shoot until all targets are down". I like that a lot more than stages calling to shoot a 12" hose "snake" until it's out of a circle or across a line. after a few shooters the hole in the ground is so deep the snakes often hide in there and don't come out.

yes, what is the spacing of the screw holes? (I have a Pedersoli Sharps.)

I don't know about "need", but I use both with my 40-65. I tried different powder charges, resulting in different amount of compression, until I found the combination with excellent accuracy.

We'll miss you Dave. You're one of the guys I always look forward to seeing there. Anyone choosing to use a 7-shot Spencer in a 10-shot competition is all right by me!

I usually by pre-lubed, and use them "as is" when I use APP. When I'm loading or real BP, I just put a tray of bullets in the oven and the lube melts off. Then I pan lube with homemade mixture of beeswax and tallow. Recoil isn't an issue for me. I only use 45 in my rifle (38s in my revolvers) so no problem.

When I had Big Lube Bullets, I shot .452 dia 250 grain in my rifle. Now I shoot 200 grain. I'd prefer the 200 gr now, but would use either weight in .452.

Pardon me for asking, but how did you do that? I have 4 GWIIs and the cylinder bushing is so tight on all of them I thought it was a designed press fit.