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I can also assure you that those volunteers don’t care one whit about those “titles”. They bust their butts for the betterment of the sport.

I've resigned from my role as WBAS Wire admin/moderator (I didn't really do much anyway). Thank you to all the ambassadors who have made and tried to keep this game great. I prefer a competitive, fun, and challenging shooting sport, but it seems Misty is now taking WBAS in a different direction. Looks like EoT 2024 might be my last SASS Wild Bunch™ match.

Well, it is called Wild Bunch ACTION SHOOTING! If I want entertainment, I’ll turn on the movie and watch it. For me the fun is in the challenge. Figuring out how I can shoot a stage to the best of my abilities. What can I do to better myself. I’ve said for years that WBAS isn’t for everyone. Neither is benchrest shooting, NASCAR racing or brain surgery.

You’ve got some good advice here and some poor advice. I’m going to against the grain with a couple things, though. You’ll hear people say “front sight”! Forget it! Your mind should know now how to line up the sights on target. MUCH more important is proper trigger manipulation. You can spend all day lining up the sights perfectly but when you jerk the trigger all that is moot. Dry fire practice and slow fire target practice will help. But everyone flinches to some degree at some point. Controlling it is the key. That’s the only place dummy rounds are handy loaded in the mag. It will show you your flinch. Also, forget “muscle memory”. It’s a fallacy. Your brain tells every muscle what to do, when to do it and how much to do it. Don’t pay attention to where the empty mag falls. Too many people waste too much time making sure they land on the table or carpet. All you want is it out of the gun. As for malfunctions, properly tuned guns with quality ammo and proper mags mitigate malfunctions to practically nil. Also, no need to go to the line with a “Barney” mag. That will be the mag you grab when you need a full mag.

Those whiners will never shoot it but they are the ones that have caused the s@&tshow it is now. They’re the ones that said they would shoot when we went to 7 in the mag, when we went to tactical reloads, when we puts base pads on. And every time we tried to accommodate them, they just come up with another reason not to shoot.

JJ, for years we heard “if you do _______, I’ll shoot Wild Bunch.” 7 rounds in the mag, tactical reloads, base pads, total time(which was forced on us) and you know what? As soon as those rules all went into effect, those same people had another excuse for not shooting… Like I mentioned in my previous post that was pulled from above, those same people are already making excuses as to why they still won’t shoot Wild Bunch…

I'm planning on it. I'm guessing the places I like to travel to and shoot the most will keep doing what they've been doing, so I'm not worried about finding great matches to shoot. It seems like some folks really do want bigger closer targets and simpler sequences, and that's fine, but it's those qualities that make CAS boring for me, so I don't shoot it much any more. If sanctioned WBAS matches are moving in that direction, those aren't matches I'll return to. I have no issue with Misty pandering to her members in an effort to make money -- it's a business after all. However, it does seem kind of dirty how she has treated the volunteers who have done so much work to make WBAS what it is (or was). I'm not much of a leader, but I'm an OK soldier, and I'll be glad to support those ambassadors and other volunteers who want to keep building and shooting a game like yesterday's Wild Bunch.

I think all my competition needs to use them.😊 JFN

I guess I will stir the pot a bit with some history. I don't know how many times over the years I was reminded that "SASS and CAS is in the Entertainment Business NOT in the Shooting business". People who do well are happy and that makes for good business. That has always been the driving force and it still is today. A number of years age I was approached by The General, The Judge, and Coyote and they wanted to add another thing to SASS since it was not highly thought of in the shooting world. They tasked me with making Wild Bunch Action Shooting, which was to be a Real Shooting Sport, as well as enjoyable within the general SASS guidelines. So I created WBAS as a Shooting Sport. I had a lot of great help over the years making it go. The early years most of the EOT stages were written by Pecos Clyde (a great guy who introduced the Model 12 SG to WBAS) Then the stage writing was taken over by Texas Jack Morales (one of my heroes). It was 7? of 8? years before we had the first shooter shoot EOT clean!!! NOBODY complained to us. Those shooting WBAS enjoyed the more challenging sport. We had retired operators who were glad to help new shooters learn how to "run a 1911". I produced the training video on WBAS for Holy Terror. We tried really hard to make it a shooting sport. WBAS was NEVER intended to be like CAS with a 1911. Sadly, IMHO the sport has begun drifting away from the founding principles in recent years. Just a bit of history for those who are interested. Humbly Presented, Happy Jack SASS 20451 Life Patron Regulator CAS was a lot different when WBAS was started. Aerial SG targets, Reloads on the clock for pistols and rifles, and various more difficult target engagements were common even at the biggest matches (regionals, EOT) so for most CAS shooters moving to WBAS was a lot easier than today.

Ahh, Wednesday morning and this horse is still kind of twitching. I was really hoping someone with actual authority would have chimed in and answered this. But oh well, It's like waiting for the VA to make a decision, very slow and hope you get the desired outcome. I will also say I do not intend to start using a SxS in WB. But I did actually shot a stage at a North Carolina match recently and did use my SxS. It was the perfect scenario. Only two shotgun targets, sitting right next to each other. SxS kinda stoked will sure beat a pump every time, at least for me in this situation. Everyone called me a gamer, "NOT ME", I said. Ok final comment from me on this post, to try and lighten it up a bit. Maybe my attempt at humor will wake that horse up, and he can run far away from this post. Many years ago when I was working at our HQ, we had one of our instructors who taught the mini gun and 20mm armament system on the Cobra helicopter. He really was not a good instructor. He would basically read verbatim from the lesson plan to the students. If anyone had a question this instructor would re-read the same exact verbiage, except he would read it really slow. Then he would ask, "got it?" Repeat this action if questioned again. Then move onto the next lesson plan. This guy was the perfect example of an individual who experiences the phenomenon called "Illusory Truth Effect". So I will continue to give a no call on this situation, if it ever come's up. Benefit of doubt to the shooter. Hey about a new Mantra: If you see a SxS cycled-it's cycled If you think a SxS is cycled-it's cycled If you think the SxS is open-it's cycled If shooter throws it on table, not opened-It's not cycled Y'all try and have a nice hump day

Look what a good friend surprised me with yesterday at our monthly WB match in the carpark whilst Jenorado and I were unpacking our cart. A hand made, lined with tanned kangaroo skin, customised with a tooled bear, 1911 holster for my SR Ruger which up unto yesterday I had been making do using my single action holster. Thank you Rusty for handcrafting this for me, you bowled me over with this kind and generous gift yesterday 🥰

I am officially retired from Wild Buch management BUT I can tell you for the first 10 years of real Wild Bunch this question of "Shooters Choice " never was even thought about or considered. If you had a failure to fire the 1911 for any reason, you just cleared the gun, put in another magazine and continued where you were. Everyone shooting would do as Eyesa asked. Fix the gun and proceed to avoid penalties and hopefully misses. Aparently those days are past. Very sad in my opinion.

Dang, sounds like a great match. I almost wish I had shot it. Oh well.

Like Boggus, I have used springs from many suppliers, but recently have gone with a lot of Springco. We are lucky to have Boggus to take care of a lot of problems with Wild Bunch guns. With the loss of Bodie and Goatneck in recent years he is one of the few who specializes in Wild Bunch guns. He is VERY good with them.

I did not find pistol and shotgun targets at 3-5yds fun, and I don't feel the drive down from Tucson was worth it for a match like that. I still like to shoot some local matches to support the folks around here that put them on, but this mindset of bringing all the targets in that close has got to go. It's not safe, and it's not fun. No shade to Zona -- he puts on quality, well thought-out matches, but let's put the targets out further.

For shotgun makeups?😆

Wow....Just WOW. Some of these comments are just.....WOW The new TG system has taken on the responsibility of fixing all of this. Don't like what's happened? Get your club to elect you WBTG and fix the problem. .38's isn't written in stone. Fix it. Don't just bitch about it, become part of the solution, or shut up. I talked to a lot of shooters, here in Arizona who said "I shoot (fill in the blank) and I don't want to change from condition 1 to SASS" or "I don't have a 40 caliber or larger rifle", or "I don't have a Model 12". Now that most of that is the norm in WBAS, they say "Oh, I got rid of those guns years ago". "I don't have time for another shooting sport". etc. They never intended to shoot WBAS, they just wanted an excuse. Now the excuse is gone, they have to face reality. Don't like the, current, system? Get involved and fix it....Or shut up.

Solution to a nonexistent problem that will come apart at the worst possible time. WBT will come back and haunt me if I ever put one in a 1911 🤠

Howdy Griff, From the TG meeting I have attended it was agreed that a good TO could pick up a .22 rifle so the rifle being the last firearm shot should not be an issue. So "get rid of rifle not last rule?" Jim

IMO, it's just being inconsiderate of everyone that has been using the large primer 45Auto brass for decades. So yep, user name fits. Folks using the small primer brass are simply making it harder for those set up for large primer 45Auto to reload. Brass is not cheaper. I haven't found anywhere that sells new, unprimed small primer brass, and those that sell used brass charge the same, whether small or large primer. I will not return your brass to you, when it winds up in my brass bag, I put it in my scrap brass bin and sell it. In my view, small primer 45 Auto brass is probably the brain child of some "anti-gun" engineer who thought it a great way to infuriate gun folks. Very much how I feel about Hodgdon and its Pyrodex rusting agent that burns.

I am watching the evolution of Wild Bunch with a great deal of interest, as I enjoy it as much (and maybe more than...!) Cowboy Action Shooting. Evolution does not reward that which is best; it rewards that which is best suited to survive, given a certain set of conditions at the time. I was intrigued by the match; the abrupt changes made to WB were undertaken to increase the interest in the game, and, given the modestly robust turnout, with a host of new attendees, may have worked. But I feel like the match itself ran contrary to that ethos. I shot it, and did reasonably well. But, this is the entertainment business, and, listening to shooters who attended, I heard a few things which stuck with me. 1.) "I was never having any fun. I was working the whole time." 2.) "It was humbling; perhaps even humiliating, to have one shooter clean the match." 3.) "When the Super Bowl comes around, they don't move the goalposts back another 20 yards." I'm not sure what the game plan is, but I didn't think it was a great match. I respect all the work that went into it, and the workers who made it so. Also, I will shoot whatever you put in front of me. But the Fast Guys (and Gals!) will still win, and match organizers might do well to consider the experience they are offering for the 80% who want to shoot safely and just have a good time. Cheers, FJT

Don't look for your mags. You don't need to pull them in a specific order. Just drop your hand and grab what you touch. Keep the pistol up when you change mags, don't lower, insert, raise, takes too much time and you have to regain the target. You don't need to hammer the bottom of the mag into the pistol, just put it in right the first time. Whirlwind Wendy taught me all this.

More time is wasted on mag changes than anything else in WBAS. Don't take the gun too far down from the line of sight and practise with your eyes CLOSED. You have to feel the change to get it right. Watch shooters, most have the gun in a lowered position and canted when changing magazines. Both are time wasters. Many change the position from mag change to mag change, they don't know where they have the gun and have to look for it. GOOD LUCK.

The case is being slammed into the slide wall during ejection, probably around the ejection port opening. This is very common when the geometry (shape) of the extractor (which you just changed) is not yet fitted to your gun. The dent comes from impact, while the sideways scratches are caused by the high-speed "twist" imparted during ejection as the case is pulled on the right side by the extractor hook and hit in the left lower rear by the ejector. Look for where there is a shiny spot of "brass rub" on the slide. Often it's on the lower side of the ejection port. But some times in other locations. There is more work to do when fitting a new extractor than just setting the tension. One of the best but short descriptions that I have found is here, written by Bill Wilson: https://www.m1911.org/technic2.htm Look at the very last diagram very closely. If you understand all of the angles and beveling he shows, you may not have to do more study. OK, so you probably do not understand why he is so particular about EVERY facet (machined cut) shown on that extractor tip. So, read this one next, and SEVERAL times, as it is pure gold! https://www.1911forum.com/threads/steve-in-allentown-extractor-fitting.829865/ And the extractor section of John Marshall's instructions: https://sightm1911.com/lib/tech/reliability_secrets.htm He makes this statement that speaks volumes about just "slapping in " any company's new extractor: "Most factory extractors and many aftermarket extractors need attention to achieve the optimum in reliability." OK, the lazy way to solve cases hitting the slide, is to cut away the slide where the shiny brass impact spot shows up. The "lowered ejection port" found on lots of 1911s from the factory is this kind of fix, whether a gun really needs it or not. Opening the ejection port like that lets a factory get "no contact" ejection without having to do special fitting. John Browning did not think that it was necessary - his slide designs did not use a lowered ejection port. Case denting was fixed by hand tuning the extractor tip to turn loose of the case rim so that the case ejects straight out to the right, or even upwards at 2 o'clock. I'm sure you have seen 1911s that toss brass straight up to land on the shooter's head, as well. That too is due to a poorly shaped extractor hook. A tighter grip on the case by the highest part of the hook will pull the case out high (12 to 2 o'clock). A tighter fit on the case rim down low in the hook pulls the case out so it slams into the slide wall under the ejection port. Also, check that you have the firing pin stop fitted so that the extractor is not twisting in it's bore. A problem called clocking. Can cause the extractor to turn and hold onto the case in a deleterious manner. Also, look for severe gouge in the extractor cut of the fired cases. A sharp or poorly shaped extractor hook will put a "horizontal gouge" in the angle part of the extractor cut. good luck, GJ

Just a shout out and a Thank You for the certificate for a Wild Bunch rig, donated to the Kansas State Wild Bunch Championship held this past weekend. I was lucky enough to win this. They support SASS at numerous shoots I have attended. As do other leather makers . I have used mernickles products and never disappointed. If you see them stop and Thank them for their support and take a look around.

Just my 2 cents, after shooting the World Championship Wild Bunch Match at this years 2024 EOT, to me the match was nothing but a cowboy match with a 1911. There was no challenge to the match, target sets were the same as the Cowboy match, with maybe a couple of added Shotgun targets. Target sizes were big and close, with a couple of plates racks to engage. I believe SASS will continue to lose veteran and seasoned Wild Bunch shooters under the current rules. Whatever you are attempting to gain in new shooters, you will lose in the veterans, who loved and enjoyed the challenge and variety of targets and scenarios of the original basic style Wild Bunch matches. Wild Bunch is not a speed match as depicted in your comments in the new rules booklet, page 4, version 17.4, dated April 10, 2024. Maybe an Open Category or a Mild Bunch side match, would be a b etter place to start, to collect information and drive interest. Power factor, even for .38 ammo should still be required, as with weapons (1911) safety checks. It's suppose to be different than Cowboy Action, with a greater challenge. Not a match where lots of clean match pins are awarded for accuracy and speed. Let's get the 28, 35 & 42 pistol round count back in the game. Pistol only stages with lots of targets. Rifle round counts in the 5 to 10 per stage. Shotgun- 4, 6 & 8 rounds to a stage. Poppers, swingers, action target sets. Again, just my 2 cents. The old way was better. I'm afraid the new way will end up being a Cowboy version of fast and furious with a 1911.

Many seemed to have loaded the .45 acp for a power factor closer to 160, to ensure making the cut. Not unreasonable for the power factor to be 150-160 for the .45 For the rifle, it would be easy to get to a PF of 120 with a 158 gr bullet and many of the common powders used for the .38 special, according to the loading manuals that I have looked at. Going to a .38 +P or even a .357, which is the chamber anyway, may require a different powder, and I would bet that some would use that (getting another powder) to PREVENT them from shooting WB. In any case, I am in favor of a higher (than 60) PF for the rifle, and continuing the 150 minimum for the 1911, .45 acp. And, I would chrono at State and above matches.

Please don't use SPP 45acp brass in a wild bunch match. The way the 1911's fling brass all over the place, others WILL get some of your brass. If you absolutely must, then: 1. Mark your brass with a heavy sharpie mark across the bottom or even across the sides if possible, and 2. Let your posse know what you are shooting and how you marked it. Thank you.

Okay, @Garrison Joe was helping another shooter out and I thought maybe I could add a few points to those new to the 1911. I have built and repaired many 1911s over the decades and learned a lot of things to use and to avoid, I hope this will be helpful. #1 1911s demand good magazines. Cheap ones will fail you, spend a couple more bucks and get good ones. Genuine Colt, Kimpro, Wilson, MecGar, McCormick and Actmag are all good and reliable. Don't expect the regular Kimber magazines to be reliable and surplus ones can run well IF you put fresh Wolff springs in them. #2 On the subject of springs, just go ahead and buy a Wolff spring pack when you get a used 1911. They are easy to swap out and well worth the effort in caring for Old Slabsides. #3 1911s need good lubrication. I'm a dinosaur but have had great success with Miltec grease on the rails and barrel lugs and good old Remoil on the rest of the moving parts. Don't forget to put a drop inside the barrel bushing where the barrel rides. #4 When you have to replace parts, get good stuff. Wilson, Novak and Ed Brown are the best you can get and will give you excellent service. #5 Grip bushings can come loose if you are not aware and put too much torque on them. If you replace grips regularly this can happen, so if they start to loosen give the threads a drop of blue loctite. #6 1911s are heavy, so get holsters made of thick, strong leather or they will flop around on you. #7 Milspec 1911s have lousy sights. [Hey, they were designed at the turn of the last century] If you decide to swap sights, just go ahead and have a dovetail cut for the front sight, it will save you a ton of headaches in the future. #8 Get a bushing wrench, sooner or later, you will get a 1911 with a really tight bushing. Oh, BTW, there are 3 types of 1911 shooters; those who are so new to 1911s they haven't launched a recoil plug yet, those who admit to it, and liars. You will eventually launch one...

I've written before about the things I've learned from Wilson and other 1911 builders, and my own experience shooting 1911s for 50 years, but here's a short discussion for Wild Bunch. Power factor we shoot in the .45 auto is about 160. Which compares to a factory .45 auto load that makes about 195 PF. So we shoot a light but not bullseye- target-light load. That is what "drives" your need for a 1911 recoil and main spring set. Several builders understand that the recoil spring and mainspring need to work as a balanced pair for best function and reliability. Both are fully active during the operation of the slide. The mainspring is not just "a hammer spring," it assists in taming part of the recoil of the slide. Keep them balanced with the mainspring three to five pounds heavier than the recoil spring. The 1911s coming from most makers today are sprung to handle that factory load 195 PF all day long, and run for 100 years (just about). And even shoot +P level loads. Colt uses (and has used) these spring weights with a simple single coil recoil and mainspring spring in a 5" 1911 in .45 auto for years: 16 pound recoil spring and a 23 pound mainspring. That gives long life and excellent function. But the slide can be a bear for some folks to retract, and to drop the slide release. The springs that I find are "strong enough" to let our lighter loads at 160 PF run reliably and without damage occurring to the gun and with easier racking and dropping of the slide, are: 14 to 15 pound recoil spring and 19 pound mainspring. With a broken-in smooth running gun, and a mainspring housing honed to remove any internal roughness. The Wilson guideline for checking that you have a proper weight of recoil and mainspring in the gun that I also follow is: Fire a magazine of the loads you will normally run. Mark where you were standing and where the center of the group of ejected brass fell. Measure that distance. If the distance the brass was tossed is less than about 5 feet, you have stronger springs than you need for that load. 5 to 10 feet - nice springs. More than 10 feet - weak springs that can be allowing damage to occur to the frame. Then check that well-manufactured rounds always fully feed from full magazines. Other problem areas (including ammo and mags) can affect that second check, but if the rest of the gun is running well, proper springs will never cause any problems feeding or ejecting. Trigger is driven by one leaf of the 3-legged sear spring. Try to just use a factory spring from a good maker - no bending or thinning. Then, when you replace THAT spring after 20,000 rounds or so, you can put a replacement in and be pretty certain it will still work. Firing pin spring is something I never tinker with by installing a non-factory weight spring. The 1911 hits a FP hard, no need to go to a light FP spring. And the factory spring seems to protect from unwanted firing of a dropped, off-thumb-safety gun. My advise - don't drop loaded 1911s! A spring that IS useful to swap with a lighter than factory part is the magazine release button spring. As often as we drop mags on the clock, you need to be 100% certain you get both good mag retention when shooting and fast reliable drops of mags when empty. Hope this helps. Just because a maker has specialty springs for special uses, you don't need to be buying them UNLESS YOU HAVE A WELL THOUGHT OUT REASON! good luck, GJ

Howdy Wild Bunch Shooters, By now you should have been contacted by your TG with information about Cowboy and Wild Bunch category changes. End of Trail has decided to offer ALL of the new categories for 2026. The new Cowboy category of Shootist (90 years old +) already has one entrant. If you are not already signed up, you can submit an online application choosing El Ray as your category and then send Sunshine Kay an email asking to change to Shootist. Your birthday must be on or before 2/26/1936. You may also email her and request an email application that you can fill out and mail in with your payment. ALL of the new Wild Bunch categories will now be offered. The existing Open and Ladies categories of Modern and Traditional will have age new designations of Senior (60-69) and Elder Statesman/Grand Dame (70+). Sunshine Kay will be contacting already registered 60-65 year olds and 70+ year olds to ask if they want to stay in their original category or switch to the new one. If you sign up online please pick any category and then email her with your changed category. Four new Wild Bunch categories have been added: Classic Traditional in Open and Ladies, and Classic Modern in Open and Ladies. All four will also be offered in Junior, Senior, and Elder Statesman/Grand Dame in addition to the base category. The Classic categories will return the firearms and power factor conventions that were in effect prior to the last change: Power factor of at least 150, .40 caliber or greater rifle, and pump shotguns of the Winchester 1897/Model 12 type. Sunshine Kay will be sending emails to all currently registered WB shooters informing them of how to change to the new Classic categories if they want. If you don’t hear from her in the next couple of days, feel free to send her an email. As in the above, if you are not registered yet, just pick a category and email her your category change. PLEASE NOTE: We have already ordered awards for the 2026 match. We will make every attempt to add awards for categories as they meet the minimum number of shooters. However, we may not have awards in hand for the Awards Ceremony for all the new categories. We will have stand-in awards for pictures and will ship you your award as soon as it arrives. We hope that our adoption of these new categories, although late in the year, will increase your enjoyment of End of Trail and make it more fun for all. Sunshine Kay’s email is Register@EndofTrail.org

That rig is set up for the buckle in the back.

Illegal modification………was it approved paint?

Whoever dreamt-up Teddy Roosevelt and Doughboy should have thought a bit more about the pistol requirements. Both of these new WB categories should require that they be shot with a Mil-spec 1911, Traditional, single-handed grip - the way the Good Lord and John Browning meant for it to be.

Regardless of how well tuned your 1911 is or how well you reload your ammo, knowing how to safely and quickly clear a jam is not something to be overlooked. Things happen and I've seen far too many newer shooters struggle with what to do when it happens. Going to slide lock, manually pulling mag from the mag well, clearing a FTF safely and indetifying what can't quickly be fixed should be learned/practiced. When things decide to go wrong, it can really eat up time fixing it. Totes

Depending on application, I have springs from Wolff, ISMI, Springco, Wilson Combat, Colt, EGW, Thunder Mountain and others.

I shoot left handed, I wouldn't want to swap mag release sides even if it were legal. I use my middle finger to drop the mag and have my index finger outside the trigger guard hovering above the slide release while changing mags. mag in finger down on slide release then back on trigger, fast. Practice practice practice.

So I did it... Much handier now...

The only gripe about the.38 was now rifle cannot be last due to low loadings on the .38 not registering on the timer.

I do know the top Traditional shooter, male or female, Lady Jane, won Lady Traditional using a .45 Colt rifle and did not feel the least hindered by it. Went head to head with Holy Terror in the Top Gun shoot off and came close behind her using one hand.

Measured the two pills that I have and also their length so fully understand now how the reloading manuals OAL's are meaningless if they don't tell you the pill. Got the crimp good now. Loaded round are going in easy and dropping straight out of the case gauge and pistol barrel and I can turn them with my fingers in the barrel. Did put some Hornady locking rings on the Dillon dies, made things easier for me. Its all fun.......just hot in the shed in the middle of Summer!!!

There are different recommendations for OAL in the .45 auto, because there are BUNCHES of different mold designs. The designs with a longer ogive have a skinny nose, and can be seated farther out. Short, blunt, fat noses will start sticking in the very short throat of factory and similar short-throated 1911 barrels if you load them to a long OAL length. OAL "requirements" for the .45 auto cartridge are the place where OAL becomes kinda stupid and just about useless. IGNORE OAL when loading, because you are not going to be loading Wild Bunch ammo up at MAXIMUM LOAD pressures, where the amount of bullet that is pushed into the case walls matters. If it really matters in these loads, they would tell you exactly what bullet mold design they were using. What you NEED to do, is make sure ALL the cylindrical section of the bullet is inside the case. Just the nose part sticks out. Nose being any part of the curve or conical part (for a truncated cone) at the front of the bullet. So, you look at your bullet, and find where the cylinder shape of the bands on the bullet shank "turns the corner" and becomes the curved part (or conical part) of the nose. Mark that spot with a knife cut or a Sharpie. Then set your seater die to put that mark just even with the case mouth. This puts the cylinder (shank) of the bullet in the case and the nose outside the case. No one knows WHICH of the various molds for 230 grain round nose that Hornady technicians selected to load and run the pressure tests on. So their "exactly 1.200 inches" OAL label on the load is what THEIR bullet probably needed. But won't be what you need. You found by trial that 1.260" OAL would stick the nose of YOUR slug into the rifling of YOUR barrel. And 1.250" would not. Which means you are not making much of a jump at all with the bullet - maximum jump gap would be 1.260 - 1.250 or 10 thousandths. That is nothing. Even if you had a gap to jump of 50 thousandths, it would not make a lot of difference with a pistol bullet. The techs are mostly trying to prevent folks from seating a bullet so far into the case that it raises pressures due to smaller volume for combustion at "bullet start". The deeper the bullet is seated in the case, the more combustion space the bullet takes up, leaving less space for combustion. IF they were trying to give you an OAL for best possible accuracy, they would be putting the bullet nose out closer to the rifling, which for your bullet might be 1.255" Your 1.250" is just about perfect for best accuracy, and not so long that you stick a bullet solidly enough into the rifling to have the problems of too long a load: * provide too much resistance to getting the bullet started down the barrel, raising chamber pressure wildly, or * stripping the bullet out of the case if you have to open the slide with a live round (which leaves a slug stuck in the barrel), or * if really long, then slide fails to go into battery because the bullet has hit the rifling and the case does not get 100% of the way into the chamber (the firing pin won't fall). So, to review, the recommended OAL in .45 auto loading data FOR CAST BULLETS is usually wrong because you don't have the same bullet that the techs used. The important part is to load so the curved nose section of the slug is all that is forward of the case mouth Crimp is just a taper that straightens out the expansion bell you put on to make bullet seating easy, and to return the OD of the loaded round at the mouth to about 0.471 or 0.472" And, make sure your OAL is short enough to let you shuck out an unfired round without having the bullet stick in chamber or refuse to come out the ejection port. For comparison, I shoot a truncated cone bullet, which has a longer nose compared to the typical Round Nose of a lot of .45 auto case bullets. My OAL is 1.180". Bullet still feeds fine, I don't get higher pressures than the loading books show, I have no failures to go to battery or stuck bullets when ejecting a live round. Both my loads and your loads need to share only one "measurement" - that the case mouth gets put where the cylinder of the bullet shank starts to curve at the beginning of the nose. Those OALs are vastly different. Both are safe and effective because they keep the fattest diameter of the slug back behind where the rifling starts. good luck, GJ

I had the misfortune of breaking my Les Baer Premiere, two weeks ago, on the eve of the Nevada State Wild Bunch Championships. A quick phone call to Les Baer netted a brief but very enjoyable conversation with Les Baer, himself, (seriously? he's got nothing better to do than answer questions from some yahoo out in California?) and I overnighted the pistol back to them, in Iowa. It was returned to me at no cost, in as new condition, in three days. I cannot begin to tell you how pleased I am, with both the 1911, and that level of customer service. Nevada State WB was a challenging match, and my freshly repaired Les Baer performed brilliantly. I can't imagine another manufacturer doing that, in that time window. Look; I get that computers crash, BMWs break down, and even space shuttles blow up. It's what happens after that that matters. Very pleased, Frederick Jackson Turner

I will agree with Deacon on mostly things, the only one I will comment on is magazines. They have changed a lot in recent years. McCormick was bought by Wilson and by far the most widely used by pro shooters and best magazines currently available for 1911s are the cobra mags from Tripp Research. Don't get me wrong I have had good results from Wilson, McCormick, real Colt, and Actmag, but I only shoot cobra mags anymore.

We are proud to announce the formation of "THE Prairie State Wild Bunch" wild bunch action shooting club. We will be hosting an Illinois State Wild Bunch match on July 28, 29 & 30 at the Sandoval Sporting Range, Sandoval Illinois. More to follow.

No buffer is needed NOR recommended. These are essentially a gimmick for when folks shoot hot ammo in lightly sprung guns and believe they see damage due to that. If the gun is correctly sprung, it needs NO buffer. A shock buffer does not make recoil less or the gun shoot softer. Buffers do add a piece of plastic/rubber that breaks down and jams the gun. I've run one 1911 Colt Government that I got new back in the 1970s with 130,000 rounds fired. Never had a buffer in it. Ran factory springs when I was shooting full power ammo. Put in lighter springs and retuned the gun when I started using it in Wild Bunch. My other 1911s do not have shock buffers either. good luck, GJ

CND - thanks for the fix. And, no, lots of other forums make me much sadder than this one ever does. This is one of the MOST useful forums on the net. good luck, GJ

I apologize if our forum makes you sadder than any other on the Internet. Make no mistake, it's not that we care that you edit your post, it's that we're volunteers and we can only fix things like this if they get reported. Thank you for your professional report. Much obliged. Edit: all registered members can now edit/delete their own content at any time.

I know, it was just a side match, but there were so many signups that they had to split up into three posses - that's pretty close to 40 WB shooters - about 1/4 of the total entries for the state cowboy match - on a windy Thursday afternoon! I guess if you build it, they will come! And the Cajon Cowboys could not have been more helpful or accommodating. Delighted to be a part of it. Cheers, A delighted FJT