Garrison Joe

Could even be an insurance requirement. I can imagine an insurance company having the position, "if you (SASS) are not setting the rules and qualifications of safety officers for that game, we no longer want to insure it under your (SASS) policy." Good luck, GJ

I think you will have good luck with the taper crimp at 0.470" The .45 auto does not need as much crimp depth as most revolver loads anyway, so Precision's recommendation is probably a little tight for auto. We are not running high-recoil loads (to cause bullet pull), and if your gun feeds well without jamming nose of bullet into ramp or barrel hood (no bullet collapse), you should be good. You can always do the "loaded round push test" to see if crimp is snug. Take a round you loaded, hold in hand, push nose into a hard wooden object (like a garage door frame). If bullet does not push into case further, and bullet does not rotate within case either when twisted by hand, crimp is good. Good luck, GJ

A con - if you are sensitive to expensive powder, it's at the top of the price list. Fewer vendors carry it. A pro - usually accurate. Good luck, GJ

I think almost all the pards know about the WB wire. I think some may be a little intimidated to ask here. Fairly frequently one of our WB gang will make the gentle suggestion and post the link for using the WB wire. Seems to work fairly well. Good luck, GJ

I'd say it is well out of the acceptable range of rifles fielded before the end of WW II. Probably a very good rifle, just not a BAMM compliant gun, nor is it chambered for a round used before end of WW II. Good luck, GJ

If you allow loading the magazine only with 5 rounds at a time, that "levels the reloading process" for most military bolt guns. Good luck, GJ

Mine is a 0.256" bore diameter (lands) per the stock disk (6.50 mm marking). Haven't slugged it to measure groove diameter. I size bullets to 0.266". As long as I keep the velocities at 1600 FPS. I get good accuracy, no leading. Good luck, GJ

Factory 230 grain loads make about 187 PF. Wild Bunch shooters run about 165 PF. That leaves some room to lighten springs to get easier (quicker) racking of slide manually, and to ensure you get consistent ejection with those 10% lighter loads. Factory 5" government models are usually shipped with 16# recoil and 23# mainsprings. Because the 1911 uses a balanced set of springs (mainspring to convert recoil energy into cocking the hammer and slowing the slide down, and recoil to strip the next round and drive the slide forward), if you lighten the recoil spring, you should also lighten the mainspring. This also will probably require smoothing out (honing) the mainspring housing's spring bore, since a lighter mainspring will be storing less energy. I (and many other folks tuning their 1911s) find a 15# recoil spring and a 19# mainspring work real well with Wild Bunch ammo. Do you HAVE to change springs? No, the factory springing works pretty well for some folks. But if you find you are leaving an occasional fired case in the slide, and the extractor and ejector are doing their job most of the time, then it's time to either step up the powder charge (slowing you down) or lighten the springs (speeding up parts of your loading and firing cycle). A lighter mainspring also slightly improves the trigger pull weight and felt smoothness of trigger pull, too. Yeah, as a rule of thumb, I like to see a well tuned gun throw it's fired cases 6-8 feet from where I stand. Does that prove anything? Wilson and several other tuners think it does. It certainly is better than having cases dribbling out of the gun, because soon one case won't. Another rule of thumb - lifted from Wilson - Fire a single round from a good magazine (loaded with just that one round) with weak hand only - if you can get a reliable slide lock back 10 consecutive times the recoil and main springs are not too heavy for your ammunition. Well broken in, or deburred/slicked guns, can usually run with lighter springs (sorta like cowboy guns can). Good luck, GJ

I don't shoot the 140 grain slugs much, as I've found heavier ones are better in the Swede. Best "5744 plus 140 grain slug" load - grouped about 1.75" at 100 yards. That was with 16 grains 5744. Best groups so far after a couple years of testing loads and shooting matches: A 162 grain bullet, with either 17 grains of 4227, or 17 grains of SR 4759 (hard to get) or 17 grains 5444. Some of those will hold close to 1.5" at 100 yards in my gun. As small a diameter as the bullet is, it has to be cast of really clean alloy and care taken to avoid/reject voids or imperfections! Good luck, GJ PS - with 140 grain bullet and 4759, I'd start at 16 grains. The Lyman book shows a range of 13.5 to 22 grains of 4759 as safe with the 140 grain slug, velocities for those run from 1375 to 2200 FPS (that top end is way too fast for any accuracy) I agree that 4759 powder is usually the ACCURACY STANDARD for cast bullet loads in medium and even large rifles! GJ

Marshal - What's that lever at the leading edge of the trigger guard? Is that an aftermarket speed safety made to work like a Garand's safety? That probably would be considered an external modification that could be ruled illegal. Worth asking about before you go shoot in a match. Good luck, GJ Did some more digging. That indeed seems to be an aftermarket "rotating" or "crow's foot" safety that has been found on a VERY few Model 12s - reported to have been marketed in the 50's to work like a Garand or M1 Carbine lever safety at front of trigger guard. Although we don't use the Model 12 safety in WB matches, I would expect you would have to get that thing cleared by the Rules committee, or it could well be declared an illegal external modification. Similar to the poly-choke being an illegal modification. Good news is, lots of places have parts for a Mod 12 safety rebuild. GJ

Sounds light, and I'd guess about 1350 FPS would be the velocity. Safe, perhaps not top accuracy. Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook, for a 1600 FPS load with 140 grain slug, likes 17 grains 4227 or 16 grains (or slightly less) of 2400 Those, or slightly slower velocities,would be where I'd start with the more common powders. My best accuracy in the Swede usually comes with 5744, but it's a pricey powder. Seat bullet to a fairly long overall length so the jump into the rifling is as short as possible, too. As always, working up a good cast bullet load depends SO much on the condition of the individual rifle. What my rifle will shoot to 1.5 MOA groups, yours might throw out to 4 MOA. Or vice versa. Good luck, GJ

I am concerned that a shock buff would be taking up 1/4" of room that JMB designed into the recoil spring area. I see no reason to shove a foreign object in there where critical functions are already working perfectly. (Not a single shock buff was needed in any 1911 all during WW I and WW II.....) Good luck, GJ

For a Wild Bunch gun, a carry gun or other sports - I would not, as they can affect reliability. Perfect Function is SO important in a semi-auto handgun. If your load is causing the slide to slam into the frame at the point where a recoil buffer might save the frame the first few times a hot load is fired, then you don't have strong enough recoil and mainsprings in the gun for that load. If the gun is already sprung as heavy as you can handle, then lighten the load. A buffer that is being hit hard enough to provide some protection to the frame, is going to wear out quickly from those hard hits. I don't believe shock buffs make any difference in shootability of a gun. So, I'm with Happy Jack! Forget them, they give you a false sense of fixing a problem that needs to be fixed by proper springing or good load selection. Good luck, GJ

August - Seems I had the same experience cleaning my M96 Swede rifle. Outers bore cleaner eventually cleaned that black fouling out and patches came out white - on about the 12th cycle of scrub and wipe. Good luck with your new 6.5. Keep lead slugs at 1600 FPS and it will shoot real well. GJ

The best advice to the holster maker is to push the customer not to encumber his holster with loops! Offer to make him a belt slide that can then be used for rifle (very handy), and count on magazines to do pistol reloads! There's a valuable acronym for this condition in the shooter's mind - YAGNI You Ain't Gonna Need It! This isn't a cowboy shoot where you will need to single load a round into your revolver. Good luck, GJ

If that is the intention, it needs to be published to be an effective rule that everyone can execute.

No prohibition on loading a loose round into 1911, but it's fairly slow to do (compared to slamming in a mag) and very likely to end up breaking the extractor tip off. OK to put an ammo loop or several on holster. But I just always carry an extra mag (or stage 'em) if there is ANY chance of needing it. So much more useful and quicker with the rounds already in a mag! Here's the rule citation about the holster as a legal place to put loops to carry reloads: Page 14, WB Shooter Handbook Good luck, GJ

Another reason I don't dry fire 1911s. There's no need to learn the two-hand synchronization mechanisms that you have with a single-action revolver shot 2 handed. As in "Hammer, sights, trigger, repeat." The main dexterity moves you need to learn are punching the mag release, grabbing and inserting new mag, and tripping the slide release (or slingshoting the slide). Those really are best practiced live, too. Because you find out if any mags don't insert well, drop well, or feed live rounds properly. GJ

For dry fire practice? Or to test feeding? I find it cumbersome to dry fire a 1911 - having to either cock hammer manually or rack slide to take the next "shot". So I don't have dummies for dry firing. I live fire for all my practice. The recoil of live ammo (two to four times more than what most Cowboy revolvers have) is part of what in practice you must learn to control (and reduce). Recoil is zilch dry firing the 1911, of course. Test feeding - you want to use exactly the case sizing, seating, crimp and slug shape that your live ammo has. For that, the only dummy ammo which has all those dimensions is what you load. For that, I leave a fired primer in, process the cases and load a slug just as I would live ammo, but not dropping any powder. Then mark the case head with a sharpie to make it clear it's a dummy. Some other purpose? Tell us what. Good luck, GJ

There are two shooting categories that would be your main choices in WB. Traditional, requiring a pistol made ROUGHLY "to original government specifications" and with pistol shot with a one-hand grip. Then there's Modern, which allows several improvements to the pistol, and allows a two-hand grip. Your Remington has a beavertail grip safety (at least) which makes it a Modern category pistol as pictured. Replacing the grip safety might allow that pistol to qualify as a Traditional gun, but other items might also have to be changed. The rule book is very clear on what each of these two categories have as requirements. You said you did not want references, but the answers depend upon what you own and how you want to shoot the pistol part of the game, so unless you really like a game of 20,000 questions from us, you are best advised to read the rule book for yourself. Yes your Rossi would be an acceptable rifle, but not the choice most competitors make (a '73 rifle or carbine). A 97 or a Model 12 in 12 gauge would be the choices for shotgun, with most competitors choosing to shorten barrel to 20 to 23 inches in length, and then making sure the magazine will hold six rounds and function flawlessly when stoked that way. Good luck, GJ

My current Wild Bunch holster is a Mernickle, and I am pretty sure it has a steel stiffener sheet between inner and outer layers of leather. My understanding of a "metal lined" piece of gun leather is that metal is the contact surface with the gun or magazine. Stiffeners don't qualify as a metal lining. I have in the past used a true drop loop 1911 holster by Black Hills Leather. It was never questioned. At least one model of the early 1911 service holsters carried the 1911 below belt level (Model 1916). Rules do not disqualify a drop loop as far as I found. I'd expect it would be fine. I do agree that the criteria "traditional or military design" is pretty hard to use at matches to disqualify WB equipment. Good luck, GJ

Kinda depends upon how competitive you plan to become. Your fastest rifle times and most reliability will come from a gun that is close in feel and stroke to what you already run for Cowboy. Cartridge choice makes less difference in Wild Bunch than in Cowboy due to the high power factor requirement (150+ PF). Since the .45 Colt can be loaded to minimum power factor requirements without too much fouling or gas blowback, thinking of a shorter version doesn't seem to make much economic sense (like .45 auto or .Cowboy .45 Special). We NEVER have to shoot more than 10 or 10+reload in Wild Bunch, so being able to shove 16 cartridges in a mag tube is a no-gainer. But the conversion of a lever gun to run .45 auto can allow you to avoid buying a few hundred .45 Colt cases and a set of dies. $200 savings or so with that, but a conversion cost in excess of $500.... .44-40 is a good choice in Wild Bunch. It will run a little cleaner due to the thin case. It will suffer more case damage due to being stepped on. Buy cheap only if you are pretty sure you won't like Wild Bunch - and that idea will probably come true. Otherwise, buy to suit your expected competition level. I run the same bullets in .45 auto loads as I do in the .45 Colt for 73 rifle - 200 grain truncated cones. If you are a heavy bullet fan, a 230 grain round nose flat point or truncated cone bullet will work well in both. Good luck, GJ

What info you need? Poly coated slugs are the "new hot thing." Pretty widely available from the professional bullet vendors, easy enough that some individuals have set up to coat their own cast bullets. Removes need for lubing the bullet, and in 1911 that means the load hardly fouls the gun at all, since there is no lube to blow all over the slide and frame. Doesn't add much to the cost of bullets. They load to about the same velocity and pressure as a cast bullet load of the same bullet weight. I'd say, if you need real detailed info, you should call or email a couple of the vendors and find out from the horse's mouth. My opinion? I'm not convinced yet that I want to shoot poly coats, and so still cast and lube bullets. The tried and true serves me well. The poly coated bullets serve several pards I know well. If you are not fully convinced yet, get a 250 pack and try them. At the worst, you can give the remainder away to a fellow WB shooter. Good luck, GJ

Ummm, just discussed earlier this month, right here. https://www.sassnet.com/wildbunch/forum/index.php?topic=2732.0 Lots of pards like them because they load and shoot real cleanly. Many folks find they have almost the same accuracy as the best lead alloy lubed slugs. Good luck, GJ

As an aside.... POP and GAMM ..... That has to be someone's grandparents. Come on, fess up!