KatfishKid

It’s kind of wild to think it’s been over a year since I made my first post here when I was brand new to cowboy action shooting. I figured I’d post an update and share where things are headed for 2026. This season I’ll be switching to Frontier Cartridge while still shooting Duelist. I feel like I made pretty good progress during 2025, especially considering I missed about half the season due to illness. When I was able to get out and shoot, things started coming together more than I expected, and that gave me a lot of motivation to keep pushing forward. For 2026 the plan is simple. Shoot more matches. I’m hoping to attend as many as I can, including Indiana State and Tennessee State, and maybe a few others if the schedule allows. Most of my gear will stay the same. I still love my Marion River Woodcraft cart, but when my wife shoots with me it tends to get overloaded pretty quickly. Because of that, I’m planning to add a Rugged Gear cart for next season so we have something that fits our needs a little better when we’re both on the line. The Marion River cart isn’t going anywhere, it’s just time to spread things out. I’m also planning to add another rifle and a shotgun, both to set my wife up better and to have reliable backups. My pistols were trouble free all through 2025. The only issue I had with the rifle was a broken firing pin, and the shotgun has had a few gremlins that are in the process of getting worked out. As far as lessons learned in 2025, the biggest one is that match time matters. Practice helps, but matches teach faster. Reliability matters more than chasing speed, especially early on. Asking questions goes a long way, and this community has been a huge help. Most of all, I learned to relax and enjoy the process. What I’m hoping to get out of 2026 is cleaner, more consistent stages, more time on the range, and more chances to travel and meet people along the way. I also want to help my wife enjoy the sport as much as I do. Looking forward to another year of learning, shooting, and having a good time on the firing line.

I've been playing around with various combinations of wads and cards and I'm shooting the same amount of FFFg as you. I found that a combo of nitro card, fiber wad, shot, overshot card. I was getting large blown out patterns. The fiber wad seems to be blowing through the shot and causing the pattern to blow out. I lowered the charge and it helped but I liked the way 55-60gn felt. then I decided to try placing a card between the fiber wad and the shot and for some reason that fixed the blown out pattern issue. I'm guessing a lot of the shot was sticking to the fiber wad.

I just want to finally accept my fate and put feet pics on the Internet. For more exclusive content, join my patreon.

I bought the gun from Persimmon Dan and he did the repairs when the right barrel stopped working. He wants to take a look at it now and see what's up. He says he can convert it to mechanical if need be.

I will likely go this route. I appreciate all the replies.

I have a pair of Ariat square toe and a pair of rounded toe Chelsea boots that I wear daily and a I have a pair of Wolverine 1000 mile Chelsea style pointed toe boots that I wear occasionally while shooting. They're comfortable as could be.

Sent you a message.

No, it will not fire. I have to switch it, open the action and close it in order for it to fire.

If I fire the first barrel, I can open the gun, switch the selector to the other barrel, close the gun and it will fire the selected barrel. Or I can fire the first barrel, Smack the butt of the gun and it will then fire the second barrel.

Looking for some advice from folks who know their way around an SKB. I’ve got an SKB 400 SxS. Recently the right barrel quit firing, so I had someone look it over and he replaced the trigger and a couple springs. Now it fires the first barrel just fine, but it won’t switch over to the second barrel under recoil. Doesn’t matter which barrel I start with. The only way it’ll transfer is if I smack the buttstock, so the inertia parts do move, they just aren’t moving on their own. The first rounds I tried were Winchester LNLR and thought maybe they just weren't enough to activate the transfer, so I tried some pretty stout Black powder rounds and it made no difference. The barrels still wouldn't transfer. I tried holding the shotgun tighter against my shoulder and I also tried making sure my finger was coming completely off the trigger before trying to fire the second barrel. I’m thinking it’s something like the inertia block spring being too tight, or the travel/stop screw(assuming there is such a thing in this gun)not being set correctly after the work was done. I’m comfortable with light gunsmithing, but I’m not very familiar with the internals of this shotgun. I’m planning to take it back to Dan if the fix ends up being more involved, but before I do that, I’d really like to understand what’s actually causing this and learn how to fix it myself if it’s something simple. So for anyone who’s tuned SKBs before: Which screw or adjustment controls that inertia block movement? Does anyone have pictures of the trigger group showing the correct area? And what are the risks if I adjust it too far—doubling, light trigger pull, anything like that? Any guidance or photos would be greatly appreciated.

Yeppers. I found a lot of inconsistencies with shotgun loading components when it comes to sizing. Even using 11ga cards some of them just fall out or they're nearly impossible to get in without creasing/deforming.

Can you send me a link to the bullets you use and if you know that discount code.

Yeah, I dumped 3 rounds worth of shot on the floor before I had the forehead slap moment and mounted it vertically.

I tested a few and while they all shot fine, the load I liked best is using the 4.0cc Lee dipper of FFg, nitro card, Clay buster wad, 1 1/8oz of 7.5 shot and a cardboard overshot card. I might dial it back just a bit, but the recoil is fine and the smoke and noise is good. I'm using an old hand crank roll crimper and after loading a hundred rounds and getting blisters on my hand, I'm definitely getting a roll crimp bit for a drill press.