SASS approved long range scopes

[Hopalong Mac McLin]

I purchased a Browning High Wall 45-70 to start long range shooting at side matches.    Are the tube scopes seen in old westerns, ie Outlaw Josie Wales, SASS approved?  If so, where could a person purchase such a scope and what is the approved power.   Old eyes do not do too well with the hard sites at long range.

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

In my Sordid past, most places I attended matches, did NOT allow Scopes.  Iron Sights Only.  Most places I shoot now, don't bother with Long Range side matches.  Well, not beyond 150 yards.

 

Were your heart set on a "Period" scope, you would be looking for a "Malcom Scope."  Google up Malcom Scope and shop till you drop.  Normal magnification is 3x or 6x.  Good ones tain't cheap.

[Desert Pete SASS #42168]

Montana Vintage Arms makes Malcolm scopes.  

[Zeb Gray, #36839]

Montana Vintage Arms.  I have the Series 3000 6X scope with the Creedmoor Rear/Front mount set.  Have the scope bases attached to your barrel to match the scope mounts.  You will then be able to remove and reattach the scope and retain zero settings.  This allows you to switch back and forth from scope to iron sights.  

[Griff]

20 minutes ago, Colorado Coffinmaker said:

In my Sordid past, most places I attended matches, did NOT allow Scopes.  Iron Sights Only.  Most places I shoot now, don't bother with Long Range side matches.  Well, not beyond 150 yards.

 

Were your heart set on a "Period" scope, you would be looking for a "Malcom Scope."  Google up Malcom Scope and shop till you drop.  Normal magnification is 3x or 6x.  Good ones tain't cheap.

Is a relatively recent change...  I think of the "powers-that-be" got themselves a scope and wanted to use it...  Good for cherry pickin' your long range category! 

[PaleWolf Brunelle, #2495L]

REF: SHB pp.30-31

[PaleWolf Brunelle, #2495L]

49 minutes ago, Griff said:

Is a relatively recent change...  I think of the "powers-that-be" got themselves a scope and wanted to use it...  Good for cherry pickin' your long range category! 

 

"Optical category" was added to the SHB in 2008.

[Griff]

3 minutes ago, PaleWolf Brunelle, #2495L said:

"Optical category" was added to the SHB in 2008.

Like I said, relatively recently!  

[Frontier Lone Rider]

I am aware that this category is authorized but have not actually experienced this category being offered any place in the East.

 

The last time I saw anything close to this was with shooting Black Powder Silhouette Matches.

[Buckshot Sheridan]

There has been a category for scoped Buffalo rifle offered as a side match at WR and now EOT. That being said I don’t recall anyone shooting it. 

[irish ike, SASS #43615]

Most SASS long range side matches are speed rifle out to about 150 yards.

Shooter with the most hits in the least amount of time wins. SO BP isn't used much because of having to wipe or use a blow tube.

MVA scope and mounts $1,000+/-. 

A good vernier long range iron sight is around $450.

Scopes are a hassle to adjust unless you're prone and have some time. So SASS LR isn't in that venue, time.

Montana Vintage Arms has scopes, verniers and front globe sights.

 

[Tequila Shooter]

 

I’m pretty sure @irish ike, SASS #43615 is right about the BP in long range, but I shoot it anyway.  Besides the fact that I’m using a trapdoor that was made in 1874, IMHO BP is more fun (and challenging).  

 

Everything in SASS is timed, why long range is timed is beyond me, I have thought accuracy should be the determining factor.  Oh well, I guess if I were into winning trophies or buckles I’d change my ways, but since I’m not I’ll shoot BP and have a big sooty smile on my face.  Remember soot shooters have cookies 

[Tommy Reb]

Hello HMMc.  The Leatherwood/Hi-Lux Malcolm scopes are very good optically.  However, the mounts/rings leave much to be desired.  I replaced my mounts with DZ mounts which are excellent.  I ended up with more $'s in the mounts than the scopes, but the combination works very well and is a bit less expensive in total than MVA.

 

TR

[Hoss]

9 hours ago, Tequila Shooter said:

 

I’m pretty sure @irish ike, SASS #43615 is right about the BP in long range, but I shoot it anyway.  Besides the fact that I’m using a trapdoor that was made in 1874, IMHO BP is more fun (and challenging).  

 

Everything in SASS is timed, why long range is timed is beyond me, I have thought accuracy should be the determining factor.  Oh well, I guess if I were into winning trophies or buckles I’d change my ways, but since I’m not I’ll shoot BP and have a big sooty smile on my face.  Remember soot shooters have cookies 

Most LR matches only use time for tie-breakers. Typically due to time constraints the LR matches are limited to 19 shots or so. Easy to have a tie! 

[Savvy Jack]

Too bad, I love my Malcom scope on the 73' 44 WCF.
 

[watab kid]

i have one for my sharps but ive not installed it yet , i had once thought to shoot long range at side matches of state shoots but now im thinking ill just shoot for my own enjoyment , too many of the side match long range i used to see have gone away or been modified to less than long range 

[Savvy Jack]

I figured since we are talking "Cowboy Action Shooting" CAS, "long distance" would not be that far, maybe 200-300 yards if that. However, if we throw in Elk, Buffalo Hunting, etc...I guess long range could be about 700-1,000 yards. I wonder how many CAS ranges east of the Mississippi offer those distances?

[Frontier Lone Rider]

On 11/7/2022 at 12:08 PM, irish ike, SASS #43615 said:

Most SASS long range side matches are speed rifle out to about 150 yards.

Shooter with the most hits in the least amount of time wins. SO BP isn't used much because of having to wipe or use a blow tube.

 

 

This is still accuracy based.  First the shooter has to hit the target, then if more than one hits the target the maximum number of allowed shots, then time comes into effect.

 

The target distance is based on what the range has to offer.  Many ranges just do not have 300–400-yard distances offered at their range.

 

Knowing that shooting black powder might be a tad slower, we at High Noon (TUSCO) offer the competitions as separate categories.  Black powder shoots against black powder and smokeless shoots against smokeless at the same targets.

 

We do not limit the number of shooters in any category.  The more shooters, the more fun to be had.

 

[irish ike, SASS #43615]

1 hour ago, Frontier Lone Rider said:

This is still accuracy based.  First the shooter has to hit the target, then if more than one hits the target the maximum number of allowed shots, then time comes into effect.

Thats what I said. Our range we go out to 750 yards. We put 4 targets out at 4 distances. We line up 4 shooters with spotters. We go down the line only person shoots at a time. By the time your turn arrives you've had time to adjust sights, wipe the bore etc. We don't use time. Most hits wins.

[Griff]

9 hours ago, irish ike, SASS #43615 said:

Thats what I said. Our range we go out to 750 yards. We put 4 targets out at 4 distances. We line up 4 shooters with spotters. We go down the line only person shoots at a time. By the time your turn arrives you've had time to adjust sights, wipe the bore etc. We don't use time. Most hits wins.

Might be ok for a small number of competitors, or when everyone shoots at the same time, but my preference is to let me take my "x"  number of shots, post a time & let me go on about my business  and shoot other side matches.  Worst long range I shot in had a six hit qualifier to get in the "shoot-off "for the "win".  When I came up the person running the match asked me to only hit 5, as no one had hit all 6.  

~200 yard long range match @ EOT '86.. .53 caliber Hawken.. after the 1st shot, I blew down the barrel to extinguish any embers (success), dumped 50 grains of 2F down the barrel, followed by a .526 round ball, sans patch, a quick tamp of the buttstock against my foot to settle the ball against the powder, up to the shoulder, cap, aim, fire, repeat for 10 shots!  5 or 6 hits... good enough for 1st place in unofficial "Fur Trade combat reload category.. or last place overall!  But even at that, I wasn't the slowest to fire all 10 shots!  I musta had them worried, for the next year they made me shoot one of them new-fangled suppository guns!