Johnny Knight

Tequila, do you have a preferred vendor for your nitro cards/shot cards/wads? Johnny

Bet that would make an interesting mount with 10 rounds of 38-55...

Had a chance to get the Winchester out. Couple of observations: 1. Black powder (43- 46 grains Grafs 2F ) and (43 grains Grafs 3f) was much more pleasant to shoot than smokeless (31 grains IMR 3031). No chrono to tell me the difference in speeds. Shot a little more accurately with the black powder compared to the smokeless. 2. Loaded up the rounds with a method recommended by Chas B. Wofson, with a fiber wad over powder, with a grease cookie, and then shot card underneath a Missouri Bullet Company #1 Ballard .379 Hi Tek coated bullet. Only put a handful of rounds through to test the gun, but overall had a bit of a grease ring on the barrel and cleaning wasn't too bad. 3. Definitely not a fan of the factory sights. Front pin not very distinct, and a non folding rear buckhorn that doesn't play well with the marples style rear sight. Will try to get out to some long distance matches to put an eye on better sight options. Thanks again for all the feedback everyone! Johnny

Wildphil, Checking out your local club, looks like you've got the Great Spaghetti Western coming up, do you know if space is still available? Figure the only thing that makes a road trip better is a chance to shoot with a different club. Johnny

Sounds good, let me know your schedule and we'll work out a convenient time. Johnny

Wildphil, I'll take it off your hands if its still available. I've talked 3 friends into starting Sass in the last couple of months, so they are all in need of something. I can get the cart to one of them which will keep me from having to make one for them. I'm down in Houston, but spend a lot of time on the road, so getting up that way isn't too difficult. Thanks in advance. Johnny

It'll look sexy on you Mr. Squirrel!

Lots of interesting information, Thanks!

Thanks for the detailed comments and pictures. If I am following the above, this results in the correct size for a proper 44-40 round. The challenge as I understand it today is that most gun manufacturers are using .429 barrels, same as 44 Mag, since they don't want to tool up a separate .427 barrel on the original sizing. That was further complicated by Ruger cutting undersized throats in their cylinders on the 44-40. Mine are mic'ing in at .425, so it seems that reaming them will be in order regardless of which die is used for the final crimp, unless there is an alternative I haven't heard of yet? Johnny

Lots of good information, thanks as always for the suggestions! Once the Uberti rifle gets in, then I can check to confirm what I am currently loading cycles reliably. ooc, anyone have a good source for 44-40 brass? Johnny

In checking out various forums I've seen conflicting comments on whether epoxy coated bullets would be problematic. So, I thought I would ask here if folks have had good luck/ bad luck/ or didn't seem to make much difference when shooting with black powder......

Quick question to the black powder shooters out there. I'm still pretty new to SASS, so far I've been shooting duelist with regular smokeless powder 45 Colt rounds. However, I've been intrigued by the dark side, so I thought I would try my hand at something different, and open up the option for shooting classic cowboy and/or frontier cartridge. To that end, I'm looking to get setup to shoot black powder in 44-40 rounds. I picked up a vaquero in 44-40 and loaded up a few rounds. Initially, they did not want to chamber, so that sent me through a bunch of forums, including this one, that commented on the challenges of loading 44-40, and undersized throats in the early vaqueros in 44-40. Shaving a bit off of the lee sizing die seems to have moved the shoulder back enough to allow the rounds to chamber cleanly now, so onto the next question. 1. Lube- I've read a number of recipes for black powder lube, but how much lube is required? And, is that affected by shooting coated bullets? I have about 500 rounds of .428-.429 bullets from Bang and Clang that I was hoping to devote to this cartridge to get started. From what I've read, most of the modern 44-40's are using barrels chambered for 44 mag, so the size should work. I haven't slugged my barrel yet (still on the to do list), but I figured the rounds will at least let me get some time in with the gun. I've attached a picture of the bullets I'm referring to. I don't know if the lube groove is sufficient to provide adequate lubrication to prevent leading and/or facilitate cleanup? 2. I've gotten a hold of a couple of pounds of Graf's 3F. My understanding is to not have any void in the case, with a recommendation of slight compression on the powder when seating the bullet. I haven't weighed out the powder yet to see about how many grains that will be. 3. Putting a mic on the vaquero chamber throats, they are coming in right at .425 or so. On a number of forums, it seems that folks have either reamed their own chambers, sent them back to Ruger (with mixed results) or sent them off to several smiths who ream them out. It appears the topic has been kicked around as long as Ruger has made the vaquero in the caliber. How much of a difference have the folks here noticed, if they have had the throats addressed? Has one approach become the "go to" for addressing the issue? I'm looking to pair the pistol with a 44-40 Uberti 1873 , (which I understand also has a .429 barrel), but I don't want to just open everything up to turn it into just another 44 mag/spcl. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance! Johnny

Well it looks like I've kicked a fire ant mound (Texas reference...). I'm pretty new to SASS, less than a year since I joined. So, just getting my basics down for regular matches((though I did manage my first clean stage last month). I mention this because I'm trying to get a handle on those skills, but wanted to start educating myself on the long distance shooting. I appreciate everyone's suggestions, as always folks are very generous in sharing their experience. I have a Miroku Winchester 1885 High Wall, chambered in 38-55 en route, once my ffl gets around to sending their info to the seller. So, as usual, jumping the gun a bit, as it were. I figured that would at least get me started, since my main priority is going to be the regular main match shooting for awhile until I've got a decent handle on things. I've got some Winchester brass on the way, until I can get ahold of some of the longer Starline brass. As a starting bullet I just got in a box of #1 Ballard 245 grain (.379) from Missouri Bullet company that I will load up when the brass arrives. The plan is to try and get some time with the gun and sort out a bullet and a load that works well in the gun. The gun already has mounted a Marples style sight. I was planning on using that while getting more input on a Soule style sight. Probably not the most efficient way of going about things, but I figure it will at least get me started... Thanks again everyone, I'm enjoying the learning process. Johnny

Sounds like I need to make it out to a few of the long range practices/matches to see the different options. Ooc, what percentage of events are shot off hand vs with a rest? Johnny

So how do the MVA sights compare to the C Sharps? Seems lots of folks are fans of the MVA sights, but they have several options between the Soule and the Vernier, then it looks like C Sharps also has a handful of options. Johnny