Doc Holloman

Yes, but. Open category is only sanctioned for local matches. But within that, commanders and officer models are good, as are 9mms .40s 10mms, and .38 Supers. Within traditional and Modern categories, the 1911 rules appear to be unchanged. Any SASS legal shotgun is OK, so 20 and 16 gauge are allowed (had my eye on a used 20 gauge Model 12 the other day. HMMMM) . Your .32 rifle should be OK. I'm guessing that with the opening up of the rifles allowed, that "rifle not last" will become the rule.

Maybe this will be clarified when the new Wild Bunch rule book comes out. The existing rules are silent on this point: If shooting a match in the Doughboy or Doughboy or TR categories, are both Traditional and Modern 1911s allowed (both in terms of the guns themselves and in terms of shooting style?) I would hope it is shooters choice.

Update on .38 rifles for Wild Bunch. Will it require “Rifle not last?”. I had planned to test my .38 rifle against shot timer after today’s Tejas Caballeros Cowboy match, but circumstances made it unnecessary. I ended up as a TO for our posse and was able to observe whether the timer was picking up .38 Special rifle shots over several stages. In short, the answer is “sometimes.” Interestingly, while the load being used was important, and to a lesser degree, whether the stage was open or enclosed was a factor, perhaps just as important was barrel length. Two shooters back to back on the same semi-enclosed stage, the first shooting 105 grain oner 2.5 gr of Trailboss, the other shooting 158gr over 5gr of Trailboss. Most, but not all of the first shooters shots were picked up. But, counter intuitively, the second shooter’s shots, with the heavier load, were not picked up at all. The big difference appears to be barrel length. The first shooter was using a 73 with a 20 inch barrel, while the second was shooting a Marlin with a 24 inch barrel. As another data point, I was shooting 147 gr over 2.6gr of Titegroup, using my 73 with a 19 inch barrel and the other TO said the timer picked up all of my shots. I was taking care to hold the timer at shoulder height, as close to the shooter as I could without crowding him. Bottom line, the timer would not reliably and consistently pick up the .38 rifle shots, even with heavy loads.

Well, this weekend I will test it after our club cowboy match. I will be shooting lightly loaded 125/147/158gr loads at both enclosed and open stages to see if out timers pick them up. (I don't have any 105gr bullets, but the 125s are laded pretty light -- 2.5gr of Titegroup.) Somehow I don't think that 177/180gr rule is going to end up being applied to .38s. Don't know anyone that loads bullets that heavy.

I think my biggest gripe with the rule changes is that it might eventually lead to "rifle not last" in Wild Bunch.

Beginning Saturday, June 3, the Tejas Caballeros will be holding its inaugural first Saturday monthly 5 stage Wild Bunch match! This will currently be the only monthly Wild Bunch match in the Central Texas area. Matches will be held at the Caballeros' first class "Determination Ranch" facility, located just west of Blanco, Texas, about a half hour north of San Antonio. Gate opens at 7:45 with shooters meeting and safety briefing starting at 8:30. Hammers down at 9:00. Doc sends.

Just a data point. After trial and error I have found that a 17 pound spring works best in the Springfield Garrison that I shoot for WB, with my loads. Your gun, your loads then your mileage may vary.

I recently picked up an old Model 12 at the local gun store. As both of my other 12s were broke I figured I could use the backup and the price was unbeatable (I could easily part it out for a lot more.) Problem is the gun is STIFF. It requires much more effort to cycle the action than either of my other 12s or either of my 97s. I'm not referring to an action slide lock problem, but the actual amount of physical effort required to pull the slide back and push it forward. I had my local gunsmith clean it when I bought it, but how well he knows 12s is an open question. Any suggestions on loosening this old warrior up?

When a stage has split shotgun targets, when can you move with the shotgun stoked? As an example, the stage has 6 shotgun targets, two at the right side shooting position, and 4 at the left side position. Rifle and pistol targets are at the middle shooting position. Order of targets is shooters choice. Shooter loads the shotgun with six rounds. At the buzzer, he engages the two right hand targets from the right hand position, and then safely moves to the left hand position to engage the 4 remaining targets, before stowing the shotgun and moving on to the pistol and rifle targets. Sounds pretty basic to me and that is how I have seen this situation run many times. So what's the issue.? Well, a club member who is a long time WB shooter and RO pointed out the language in the WB Shooting Handbook that reads: " •Shotgun magazines may be loaded with the number of rounds required for the initial target sequence. Any additional rounds needed must be loaded from the body or other specified staging position." Issue revolves around the phrase "initial target sequence". How does that language apply to split shotgun targets? Should the shooter have only loaded two at the loading table and then loaded the remaining four on the clock? Or do all six shotgun targets constitute the "initial target sequence", in which case loading six was legal. And would it have made a difference if the shooter had engaged the pistol and rifle targets in between the two groups of shotgun targets (safely staging the shotgun in accordance with the rules "Hammer fully down on an empty chamber or expended round, action closed (restaged for further use)." If the first interpretation is correct (reload four on the clock) than I am not sure I would see the applicability of the shotgun movement rule: "• Safe for movement shotgun in hand only – Action open, round on carrier. – Hammer fully down on an empty chamber or spent round, action closed. Maybe I am reading too much into this , but I know we have a split shotgun stage coming up at a match this weekend, and would love an "expert" interpretation. Doc sends.

Subject line pretty much says it -- should we expect any new rule changes coming out this year?

I went the Pershing Expedition route.

I keep mine on the left but in a single mag pouch with a snap flap, to keep it from getting mixed up with my loaded mags on open top pouches.

Our club president shoots a Marlin in 45ACP. Don't know if it came that way.

Interesting! Do you have any information on it? My research found only the fact that the Army adopted .50 and 1 inch gatling guns in the late 1860s, nothing about a Naval gun.

Looking at the carriage and the size of the barrels, I would bet it is an early gun, 1860s.

If you are not wedded to the idea of a Dan Wesson, and looking for a gun that has what you need and nothing you don't need, I would suggest the Springfield Garrison. I picked one up a few months ago, and it functions flawlessly for me with my Wild Bunch load.

76, 86, 94, and 95. (94 in Rifle cartridges like 30-30. Not .357 or .44.)

I carry my full mags in open top Mernickle Pouches and my 1-round mag in a snap flag single pouch. That way I don't get them mixed up. I know some folks don't bother with the one round mag, but simply load a full mag and dump it after chambering one round.

Tried that. Even offered to only use one stage (one that goes unused but is big enough to set up 4 different stages. Offers to use the smaller target steel and plate racks the cowboy shooters didn't use . Another weekend is not an option we shoot on a private ranch that we only are allied to shoot on one weekend a month

That's kind of my feeling. Right now, for me it is the only game in town ( or within 300 miles.) But I have a lot invested in guns, ammo, reloading equipment and supplies, uniforms etc for Wild Bunch, so less than half a cake is better than none. But I don't feel like I'm really getting realistic practice for a Wild Bunch match when I can empty a mag (5 rounds, sigh) at an 18 inch target five feet away without even bringing the gun up to my eyeline. And yo are correct, a lot of the cowboy shooters resent my presence.

K, according to Outlaw Gambler, the threaded parts of a Chinese 1897 are not interchangeable with Winchester parts, but the non threaded parts, like the extractors and extractor plungers, are interchangeable. At any event, I've decided to send him the gun for an action job, and he will replace those parts in the process. Thanks all.

Shot our Club's "Cowboy 1911 2.0" Category On Sunday. Not many shooters on Sundays, particularly on a cold windy January Day. Only Three of us shooting 1911s (and one was a guest.) so we shot with the single Cowboy posse. We shot the Cowboy Pistol and Rifle Targets, two mags each, with the 1911s. The Rifle targets were not bad. Some of the pistol targets were so close I practically shot them from the waist (not literally, but almost). For Rifle, we shot the Cody Dixon Targets (6 rounds, using the Cody Dixon sequence) at about 40-50 yards. This required a change in mindset from Wild Bunch shooting -- slower aimed fire. Also the .45 Colt ammo I had loaded for Cowboy shooting probably needs to be loaded a little heavier for the longer range. And it took me a couple of stages to figure out what the sight picture/rear sight setting should be. For Shotgun we shot the four Cowboy knockdowns, but were allowed to have our shotguns stoked with four shells. Wild Bunch legal shotguns allowed. No split shotgun targets (which are rare in our cowboy stages) so no movement with the shotgun. Sinch we were shooting both the Cowboy Pistol and Rifle targets with the 1911s, there was movement with the pistol on 4 of the 5 stages, including one where we shot shotgun in between, which meant grounding the 1911 and then recovering it. That made it interesting. I was a little disappointed with the turnout, but 4 of our regular WB shooters were out with health reason or otherwise (face it, our club membership is getting old. At 65, I am one of the younger WB shooters.) Also, 3 of our regular WB shooters were shooting Cowboy (getting ready for EOT.) Finally, shooting on Sundays never draws the participation of Saturday matches. We may lose a couple of our WB shooters completely over the shift to Cowboy 1911. I'm going to stick it out for a while. We will see. Doc sends.

Will the right hand extractor for a Winchester 1897 fit in a Norinco 1897 bolt? Was trying to diagnose an ejection problem this morning and the right extractor and plunger spring fell out and disappeared into the Black Hole around my bench. Fortunately I found the plunger. Chinese 1897 parts seem to be hard to find so I was wondering if the Winchester parts would work here.

New suggestion to me from another member of the Club Board: A variation on "Cowboy 1911." Shoot with the regular Cowboy possees (usually about 15 shooters.) Shoot two 5-round mags at the Cowboy pistol targets] Shoot one 5-round magazine at the cowboy rifle targets Shoot the rifle at the Cody Dixon Targets (50 yards) (6 rounds) Shoot the shotgun cowboy style (unstoked) 4 rounds. While I can see he is trying to compromise, I still have issues with it -- no movement with the shotgun. My Model 12 would probably not be allowed. Not sure about my 97 Trench gun. In fact I might as well use my side-by side as I am totally hopeless single loading the 97. Also the Cody Dixon targets seem a stretch with a pistol caliber rifle unless I really tune the sights. I may take my .38-40 out this weekend and see if I can hit them with it. But I guess my biggest problem is that I am trying to shoot a hybrid Wild Bunch in the middle of a bunch of Cowboy shooters. It is a different culture. I really dont like the Rush,Rush, Rush of the large Cowboy posses I get the feeling I will be the odd man out -- dressed different, shooting different guns. And off course I will still have more brass to pick. Really not interested in being a one person category.