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Frontiersman - Hardest?


Tequila Shooter

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I’ve shot Frontiersman category in a few matches and plan to shoot it a lot more.  At one of the local matches someone told me that it’s the hardest category and it got me thinking (never a good thing).  Other than loading and the occasional hot cap falling onto my hand I didn’t find it any harder than Frontier Cartridge Duelist.  Of course it may not be as fast as other categories, but overall I find it’s just a hoot to shoot and gets a lot of questions from others. Plus it’s always funny to hear the occasional TO yell out “get ready black powder shooter coming up”. Has anyone else been told something similar? 

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ONLY by those whom don't regularly shoot properly set up Percussion Guns.  I "REGULARLY" shoot Frontiersman.  I also shoot Frontier Cartridge Gunfighter with Cap Guns.  I normally shoot "Frontiersman Gunfighter" which is simply Frontier Cartridge Gunfighter with Cap Guns.  Properly prepped, Cap Guns are every bit as reliable as Suppository shooters.  Cleaning, on the other hand, is actually easier than that heathen fad smokeless stuff.

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I have shot Frontiersman about twelve years now and still enjoy it. I do on occasion shoot FCD and enjoy that as well. I agree that once your cap guns are tuned it is a lot more fun. The hot dropped cap in the palm does cause a bit of distraction but that is just part of what I enjoy.. When I started everyone told me cap guns were cheaper to start with but six sets later I am not sure. I switched to brass shot shells in my 30” hammered double just to add more fun. I am not sure it is the hardest but I am not changing now. Yes I think cleaning is much easier once you get a good routine going. I want to try gunfighter with my cap guns next year and add another take on the game we all love. Cap guns are not for everyone but I am very happy shooting mine.

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Its also hard when  its 90 degrees and your sweat drops into the cylinder while you're loading!:(

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1 hour ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

Its also hard when  its 90 degrees and your sweat drops into the cylinder while you're loading!:(

 

Haven't had that happen yet but water dripping off the brim of your hat sure doesn't help the powder ignite.

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12 hours ago, Tequila Shooter said:

I’ve shot Frontiersman category in a few matches and plan to shoot it a lot more.  At one of the local matches someone told me that it’s the hardest category and it got me thinking (never a good thing).  Other than loading and the occasional hot cap falling onto my hand I didn’t find it any harder than Frontier Cartridge Duelist.  Of course it may not be as fast as other categories, but overall I find it’s just a hoot to shoot and gets a lot of questions from others. Plus it’s always funny to hear the occasional TO yell out “get ready black powder shooter coming up”. Has anyone else been told something similar? 

In only a few matches? Watching you shoot at Hangin' at Coyote Creek last weekend I thought you must have been shooting Frontiersman regularly.  Keep up the good work! :rolleyes:

 

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The old "Black Powder" category in SASS was way more fun...  Just think, just like all the age-based categories, you got to hold your pistol in both hands!

 

And if caps are falling into the palm of your hand... you're holding your pistol far too loosely for good control. :ph34r: Mine always land on the knuckle of my index finger... sometimes back in the web just in front of my thumb... that's where they really sting!  

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I, too, have shot Frontiersman and enjoyed all the nuances of it (including those pesky hot caps falling into my open finger shooting glove; talk about a moment!)

 I do think it is technically a more difficult category than smokeless powder cartridge ones; from prepping the guns correctly to reloading in between posse chores to trouble shooting on the line with the timer running.  So many more things that can go wrong need to go 'just right' to finish without a hangup/fumble etc. There's always that little thought in the back of my mind just before the timer goes off, "is everything going to work ?"

I like to think of it as the 'element of surprise' that cap and ball brings to the shooting line. I don't think most CAS shooters can handle that let alone enjoy it as we Frontiersmen do!

I also feel there is a bit more camaraderie among the Frontiersmen; we all chose a tougher category, tend to dress differently than the rest (I went to a big match once in TX and immediately recognized the small group standing together at the shooter's meeting!), relish the bigger boom and recoil afforded by black powder (My 10g sxs was a big crowd pleaser, if not a spotter favorite!) and realize we aren't going to win top shooter but don't care!

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4 hours ago, Griff said:

The old "Black Powder" category in SASS was way more fun...  Just think, just like all the age-based categories, you got to hold your pistol in both hands!

 

And if caps are falling into the palm of your hand... you're holding your pistol far too loosely for good control. :ph34r: Mine always land on the knuckle of my index finger... sometimes back in the web just in front of my thumb... that's where they really sting!  

 

Yep that’s where mine have landed right on the web just in front of the my thumb :ph34r:

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5 hours ago, Hellbender said:

In only a few matches? Watching you shoot at Hangin' at Coyote Creek last weekend I thought you must have been shooting Frontiersman regularly.  Keep up the good work! :rolleyes:

 

 

You’re too kind.  Makes me think no one in your neck of the woods shoots Frontiersman. :lol:

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Slightly more complicated.  Definitely more challenging - therefore even more potential for great fun and variety!

 

Especially if you make your own bullets.  My Dad taught us how to make the bullets in our back yard over a campfire.  That was when I was an early teen and my older brother got a Navy revolver and a copy of the 1858 "Remington" rifle.  We went in together to by a pair of Spanish percussion double barrelled shotguns - $25 for the pair.  :D 

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Could you imagine the reaction that they had back in the day when cartridge revolvers came on the scene? I bet they could hardly wait to get their hands on one!:)

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1 hour ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

Could you imagine the reaction that they had back in the day when cartridge revolvers came on the scene? I bet they could hardly wait to get their hands on one!:)

No... but I'd bet some of them said "that new-fangled contraption won't stand up to the test of time..."   Same as some of 'em said, "that new-fangled 'Centre-Fire' thingy is likely to fall out!  I think I'll stick with my rimfire 44s!"  :P

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4 hours ago, Sacramento Johnson #6873 said:

 (My 10g sxs was a big crowd pleaser, if not a spotter favorite!) 


I remember meeting Sacramento Johnson when she competed at the Missouri State Championship in Branson about 2004 or so.  Folks from neighboring posses would hang around just to watch every time she came to the line, and there were cheers whenever she touched off that 10 gauge stoked with blackpowder!  I think she received/earned a special award at the banquet for being the most entertaining shooter.  And well earned it was.  It is a privilege watching her shoot.  

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I have an idea!

Let's start a new category.

1. We'll tell them what kind of powder they can use.  black only

2. We'll tell them what kind of ignition they can use. percussion caps only

3. What kind of pistol they can use, SS percussion fired only

4. How many hands can you put on the gun at any firing. One, duelist prefered

5. RE: #1 Some of the new substitute powders are getting awful clean so let's add a minimum smoke allowed per shot.

OK enough about the pistols.  Let's give them a break on the rifle. They can use any rifle that can be used in any other SASS category. AS LONG AS THEY COMPLY WITH #1 AND #5 ABOVE  Lord help them when they try to burn charcoal through their delicate Swiss watchmaker tuned rifles.

We also won't tell them about the rust that forms everywhere the powder touches and places it doesn't have to touch like the inside of the magazine tube, the trigger return spring, base pins etc. Oh, and rifles must meet every restriction placed on any rifle used in any category in SASS.

 

SHOTGUN. This will be easy.

6.  See #1 and #5 above

Use any shotgun used in SASS............except Winchester models 93 or 97.. Too modern don'tchaknow.  You can shoot the 87,   if you are very patient and careful.

7. Double barrels? Any is fine unless they eject the empties.  If they do that is too much of an advantage.  There are gunsmiths that will happily remove the mechanism that was invented in the 1860s to make your shogun easier to shoot.

8. Be prepared to load 2 to 3 times as much powder as is necessary to meet the unkind harassment by a group that calls themselves WARTHOGS   Sissys shoot reasonable loads

 

Additional aspects.  The guns, your hat(You know the one that has holes burned in it), your boots, your clothing(also with holes) your hair your beard and your body all stink.  Burning sulfur has a way of clinging.  A closed car ride with the heater going on the way home with a Frontiersman is a real adventure.  On trips frequently made you will soon remember where each sewer plant along the trip is located.  A good place to stop for a breath of air.

 

Now some good things.  Every Frontiersman in SASS is totally convinced that their method of shooting, their guns and their attitude toward the less fortunate suppository shooter are superior and very much prefer to "hang out" with only others of such an elite group.

 

ONE PLEASURE

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1 hour ago, Noz said:

I have an idea!

Let's start a new category.

1. We'll tell them what kind of powder they can use.  black only

2. We'll tell them what kind of ignition they can use. percussion caps only

3. What kind of pistol they can use, SS percussion fired only

4. How many hands can you put on the gun at any firing. One, duelist prefered

5. RE: #1 Some of the new substitute powders are getting awful clean so let's add a minimum smoke allowed per shot.

OK enough about the pistols.  Let's give them a break on the rifle. They can use any rifle that can be used in any other SASS category. AS LONG AS THEY COMPLY WITH #1 AND #5 ABOVE  Lord help them when they try to burn charcoal through their delicate Swiss watchmaker tuned rifles.

We also won't tell them about the rust that forms everywhere the powder touches and places it doesn't have to touch like the inside of the magazine tube, the trigger return spring, base pins etc. Oh, and rifles must meet every restriction placed on any rifle used in any category in SASS.

 

SHOTGUN. This will be easy.

6.  See #1 and #5 above

Use any shotgun used in SASS............except Winchester models 93 or 97.. Too modern don'tchaknow.  You can shoot the 87,   if you are very patient and careful.

7. Double barrels? Any is fine unless they eject the empties.  If they do that is too much of an advantage.  There are gunsmiths that will happily remove the mechanism that was invented in the 1860s to make your shogun easier to shoot.

8. Be prepared to load 2 to 3 times as much powder as is necessary to meet the unkind harassment by a group that calls themselves WARTHOGS   Sissys shoot reasonable loads

 

Additional aspects.  The guns, your hat(You know the one that has holes burned in it), your boots, your clothing(also with holes) your hair your beard and your body all stink.  Burning sulfur has a way of clinging.  A closed car ride with the heater going on the way home with a Frontiersman is a real adventure.  On trips frequently made you will soon remember where each sewer plant along the trip is located.  A good place to stop for a breath of air.

 

Now some good things.  Every Frontiersman in SASS is totally convinced that their method of shooting, their guns and their attitude toward the less fortunate suppository shooter are superior and very much prefer to "hang out" with only others of such an elite group.

 

ONE PLEASURE

 

 

Sign me up!!!

 

OH Wait.  I am. :)

 

 

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Four bushwhackin' Missouri Frontiersmen from a few years ago.  Sadly, Rootin' Tootin' Range Bum has left us, Noz and Fingers McGee are shooting less, and J-Bar is shooting slowly.  Stuff happens.

 

IMG_5221.jpg.2b3f624550e093f4b4b41625a7d03a79.jpg

 

Rootin' Tootin' Range Bum, J-Bar, Noz, Fingers McGee.

 

 

 

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Cap guns push the fun level to 11, but when things derail, they really derail hard.  I had two revolvers lockup on me, and then somehow a cap fragment got into the rifle action and locked it up.

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As I recall, it was Nuttin' Graceful who observed: "When shooting Frontiersman, you are one trigger pull away from disaster."

 

Each Frontiersman can relate.

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2 minutes ago, Cemetery said:

Cap guns push the fun level to 11, but when things derail, they really derail hard.  I had two revolvers lockup on me, and then somehow a cap fragment got into the rifle action and locked it up.

 

That's why those shooting Frontiersman are so special. We can have some of the most epic train wrecks and still have a smile on our faces,

 

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2 hours ago, Noz said:

I have an idea!

Let's start a new category.

1. We'll tell them what kind of powder they can use.  black only

2. We'll tell them what kind of ignition they can use. percussion caps only

3. What kind of pistol they can use, SS percussion fired only

4. How many hands can you put on the gun at any firing. One, duelist prefered

5. RE: #1 Some of the new substitute powders are getting awful clean so let's add a minimum smoke allowed per shot.

OK enough about the pistols.  Let's give them a break on the rifle. They can use any rifle that can be used in any other SASS category. AS LONG AS THEY COMPLY WITH #1 AND #5 ABOVE  Lord help them when they try to burn charcoal through their delicate Swiss watchmaker tuned rifles.

We also won't tell them about the rust that forms everywhere the powder touches and places it doesn't have to touch like the inside of the magazine tube, the trigger return spring, base pins etc. Oh, and rifles must meet every restriction placed on any rifle used in any category in SASS.

 

SHOTGUN. This will be easy.

6.  See #1 and #5 above

Use any shotgun used in SASS............except Winchester models 93 or 97.. Too modern don'tchaknow.  You can shoot the 87,   if you are very patient and careful.

7. Double barrels? Any is fine unless they eject the empties.  If they do that is too much of an advantage.  There are gunsmiths that will happily remove the mechanism that was invented in the 1860s to make your shogun easier to shoot.

8. Be prepared to load 2 to 3 times as much powder as is necessary to meet the unkind harassment by a group that calls themselves WARTHOGS   Sissys shoot reasonable loads

 

Additional aspects.  The guns, your hat(You know the one that has holes burned in it), your boots, your clothing(also with holes) your hair your beard and your body all stink.  Burning sulfur has a way of clinging.  A closed car ride with the heater going on the way home with a Frontiersman is a real adventure.  On trips frequently made you will soon remember where each sewer plant along the trip is located.  A good place to stop for a breath of air.

 

Now some good things.  Every Frontiersman in SASS is totally convinced that their method of shooting, their guns and their attitude toward the less fortunate suppository shooter are superior and very much prefer to "hang out" with only others of such an elite group.

 

ONE PLEASURE

 

Noz,  

Are you saying you want to change Frontiersman?      Just checking.   :lol:

 

Angus

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4 hours ago, John Kloehr said:

Do you have any idea how hard it is to get Tequila and OJ off of a keyboard?

Just bring 'em both a couple hot dogs .....:lol:

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4 hours ago, John Kloehr said:

Do you have any idea how hard it is to get Tequila and OJ off of a keyboard?

It ain't really bad unless the mixture has exited at high velocity thru your nose!

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