Side match trial, Frontier Hunter

["Big Boston"]

The range we shoot at is 100 yards deep, that gives us a bit of latitude on what we can shoot. I'm a bit of a 30-30 fan, and I've wanted to have a reason to shoot it with cast bullets for a few years. A few months back a fellow shooter asked if we could set up something to shoot single shot Buffalo rifles. We began a project to come up with a side match layout that would work at our 100 yard range. We did some testing on targets and chronographed our loads to determine a good velocity. We also tested several bullet alloys, looking for a hardness that would be compatible with our targets. 

 

In the end we had 25, 50, 80 and 100 yard targets. The 25 yard ones are for pistols, 50 yard are for small pistol caliber , rifles, 80 for 30-30 and 100 for 45-70 and similar cartridges. Our rifle velocities were in the 1200 fps zone cast with lead alloy a bit on the soft side, roughly equivalent to 96-3-1 (softball) with a BHN of about 13. Gas checks were allowed for the 50 yard and beyond targets. 

 

Anyways, that was the plan. The trial run went well. We're not at the final configuration yet, but it's close.

 

Looking for input from anyone that has shot something similar. TIA.

 

Here's a picture of our layout:

 

 

We did take a few videos as well, here are the links.

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/QIXptoQcbRg?si=EtYZiECYEfr7Orqw

 

and

 

https://youtu.be/X0tNe-RGeWg?si=WK7iZOnWv5niBDS2

 

BB

[Frontier Lone Rider]

Looks great.  Make the most of what you have available.  100 yards may be a little close for the big bore 45-70s, but have fun shooting.

[Diamond Jake]

I've shot 40-65 with 400 gr cast bullets at 100 yard targets and the targets seemed to hold up well, though I don't know the hardness of the steel.  You might put the 30-30 in the same range as the 45-70.

 

For the 80 and 100 yard targets, I'd suggest at least three targets of progressively smaller sizes for more of a challenge.  We give one point for hitting largest, 2 for next smallest, etc. At our last monthly, shooting at 5 targets, twice each, my pard and I each had one miss.  But he missed the smallest target and I missed the second smallest, so I won 26 points to 25.  At our state match, another shooter and I each had two misses, but he won on points.

["Big Boston"]

4 hours ago, Diamond Jake said:

I've shot 40-65 with 400 gr cast bullets at 100 yard targets and the targets seemed to hold up well, though I don't know the hardness of the steel.  You might put the 30-30 in the same range as the 45-70.

 

For the 80 and 100 yard targets, I'd suggest at least three targets of progressively smaller sizes for more of a challenge.  We give one point for hitting largest, 2 for next smallest, etc. At our last monthly, shooting at 5 targets, twice each, my pard and I each had one miss.  But he missed the smallest target and I missed the second smallest, so I won 26 points to 25.  At our state match, another shooter and I each had two misses, but he won on points.

 

Thanks for sharing on the scoring. We have struggled with the scoring aspect. 

 

We're shooting lead, and at 1250 fps, the targets are doing well. At 80 yards the 30-30 targets are enough of a challenge IMO. I wanted to keep the targets separated by distance. Hitting the Bison targets at 100 yards with a 30-30 would be a bit to easy. The premise behind the bison is that they are big and should be easy to hit.

 

But I do like your points scoring. 

 

BB

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

Looks great.   Wish the targets were bigger, but I'd give it a go as is.

Suggestion; use all 4 guns in one stage.

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

Addendum; just watched the videos, and as I was watching them, the following occurred to me...

The closest targets could be engaged with a .22 rifle.   The next closest the "main match" rifle.   The next closest the .30-30 style gun, but the targets need to be bigger, the far targets with the .45-70 style gun, but with the use of a repeater.   

Call it, "The rifleman's challenge."

Or, thinking about even more, you could easily use the set up for 4 single shot rifles instead of 4 repeaters.   Yeah, that'd work!

So, where is the place where this is done?  I'll put it on my list.

Edited August 27 by H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619

[Sedalia Dave]

Love your setup.

 

Here in Texas we shoot a side match called Cody Dixon and sometimes Billy Dixon. I match direct for a local club's matches.

 

Shoot your main match pistols and shotgun just like everyone else. Instead of a pistol caliber rifle we shoot Period Rifle calibers with the smallest being 30-30 and the largest being 50 cal. Categories are broken down into Single shot, Repeater, and Modern. Those are divided into Smokeless or Black Powder / Open or Ladies.

Categories are not broken down by the shooting style used for the pistols. I allowed pistols to be shot any style including gunfighter.

Single shot includes any period single shot except Handi Rifles.

Lever Action are period correct lever or pump actions. 

Modern is for Handi Rifles with or without ejectors. The reason handi-rifles have their own category is because they are way faster than any other single shot design. So it levels the playing field. Some clubs don't allow them but I did to get more participation.

Typical rifle count is 6 rounds with the occasional 7th round as a reload.

Rifle is shot off hand and unsupported.

All rifle bullets must be cast lead. We allowed gas checks as they were not a splatter hazard out past 25 yards and don't cause any damage to the targets.

["Big Boston"]

1 hour ago, H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 said:

Looks great.   Wish the targets were bigger, but I'd give it a go as is.

Suggestion; use all 4 guns in one stage.

 

We did use all 4 guns in a stage. I have to say, after shooting all 4 I was a bit drained. It took a few minutes to recover, then I wanted to shoot again.

 

The targets are sized to what AR plate was on hand for 25, 50 and 80. The other shooter bought offcuts from a salvage yard. They won't go through a crusher so he puts them aside. The circle was precut, and the rectangle is as it came. We work with what we have, or can get. 

 

The 30-30 targets are 12" wide, and about 18" tall. At 80 yards 12" is 12/.8 = 15 MOA.  The Buffalo are 24 MOA. The Buffalo are big so they are heavy enough to handle 45-70. BTW, the loads in the 577/450 were max with black powder. The 30-30 will handle a 170 grain at 1250 fps. If I were buying AR plate and cutting it, I'd likely make four 24" squares and nine 16" squares. All our plate is 3/8" (10mm).

 

Just as a FYI, I've attached the program we followed (sort of)

 

 

August 23rd Frontier Hunter Scenarios.pdf

["Big Boston"]

I liked and considered a few of the suggestions and decided to incorporate some.

 

> Score on hits. The idea was to have a hit on a smaller, or more difficult target worth more, but for simplicity we will count misses, and subtract from rounds needed to complete.

> Accommodate Main Match firearms, for a side match.

> the 75/80 yard targets may be a bit small.

 

We had a demo side match after our regular cowboy match last Sunday. I set up 3 pistol targets at 25 yards, 3 rifle targets at 50 yards and a big round gong at 75 yards. We only had two shooters other than myself. One raised the ramp on his rifle, the other just did a bit of Kentucky elevation. Both enjoyed the shoot. 

 

I set up 3 targets at 75 yards and used my 30-30. It was overcast and the color of the targets washed out when sighting, I only scored 3/5. 

 

24" may be a bit big for 75 yards, but it works. My present targets are 12"x16" and although hitting is very doable, they are a bit small for the sights that come on most rifles, especially in poor light. 

 

With main match rifles, going out to 100 yards may not be a good idea. Because of the logistics of our range, I was able to set up the 75 yard gong, and the 50 yard targets before the match. With a bit of fiddling, I should be able to do them all before the match. The process is to shoot the main match, then pack up the main match targets and tables an move the firing like back. IOW, we work with what we have. I'll also be on the scrounge for some more AR plate, to make a few more targets. 

 

Thanks for all the replies, and good feedback.

 

BB

[Diamond Jake]

Here's a pic of our longest targets at Wartrace TN.  207 yards.  Largest circle on right is 30" diameter; smallest on far left is 14" or 16" diameter.  We use these targets for all rifles over pistol caliber.

 

We don't like using time as tie-breaker for long range matches, since different rifle designs have inherently different required time to re-load and repeat shots.  If two or more shooters are tied after two shots at each of the five main targets, the tie-breaker is the small target hanging in the frame between the two largest targets.  It's shaped like a playing-card spade; 11" top top bottom, but only 8" at widest point.  Kind of hard to see with iron sights, too.  This year at TN state, the top two single shot shooters were tied after ten shots; one hit the spade 2 of 4 shots before running out of his match ammo.  The winner hit 3 of 5 shots at the spade.