Garrison Joe

Yeehaw, up to 82 shooters now. If you are comin' to EOT, might as well shoot WB too! Good luck, GJ

Oh, thanks for the clue. Found it at: https://www.sassnet.com/wildbunch/wbEvents.php From that page you can see the Troopers signed up, and the categories that qualified. Hey, we need more pards signed up! Only 67 right now. Good luck, GJ

I am pretty familiar with the SASS site, and I've done a ton of hunting around and not found what you call the "events tab". Betcha others may be similarly mystified. Can you be a little more specific? Did they put it somewhere on the EOT area of the Cowboy Forum? I already see it's not just an additional page on the Cowboy Who's Coming list.... Thanks, GJ

Brand new. Limited loading data. Now posted in Hodgdon's burn rate chart (wasn't last week) as being between 231 and Unique. Hodgdon has some .45 Auto loading data for the 200 grain lead bullet - the low end of their recommended range is 176 power factor. And 230 grain also has low end of 175. That hints it is not going to be real good if you only want to make 160 PF. It will have to be tested, and PROVEN consistent, below their minimums to be very popular with WB shooters. If you are getting powder residue with WST, you are loading wrong. I have nothing left in 1911 or rifle barrel, and only a little "BULLET grease" blowback, which I expect with conventional lube bullets. I would not expect 244 to be cleaner than the much faster WST! It might be slightly less sharp recoil, though. Good luck, GJ

That is a VERY common result. Somewhere between the military rear sight markings for 300 and 600 yards is usually where a 1500-1600 FPS cast bullet will be sighted in for a 100 yard BAMM target. There's a lot of drop difference between 1500 and 2500 FPS! Good luck, GJ

The "period" footwear for the US army 1915-ish period was the Model 1912 marching shoe. Like what WPG vendor has: https://onlinemilitaria.net/products/1937-US-M1904-Marching-Shoe/ You can see this is essentially "a non lugged short top work boot" The packer you show is very common and for folks with bad feet, more comfortable and stable. I wear White's version of of the packer. If you don't like the kiltie in your lacings, you can trim it or take the kiltie insert completely out of the lacings. My kilties stay in my boots. More period footwear exists that are not Cowboy boots (although a lot of WB shooters wear their Cowboy boots). Examples: http://www.civilwarboots.com/store_century_turns.asp Good luck, GJ

? ! Even more simply this time, heat shield is ok if it was original on gun, as the gun was issued. If you or some other person added it after gun left factory, it's an illegal external modification. If it's on a civilian marked 12, its PROBABLY not factory installed. Bayonet LUG is ok.

Believe the heat shield is fine, IF it appears to have been originally installed by factory or military unit. Four years ago the same question was answered with: A bayonet is not allowed on any of our guns during matches, however. Since the rules explicitly state a military style 97 is fine: I would expect the same would apply with a Mod 12 heat shielded military variant if it was issued with that shield. You would never gain any advantage with a heat shield over the barrel. Good luck, GJ

If you didn't clean the barrel of ALL copper fouling, before shooting that first batch of lead bullets, that would be a real good reason you had some leading. Clean barrel real well, until a barrel has been wet with solvent overnight, and you start getting clean patches after all the green/brown copper fouling is out. Then check accuracy with your lead bullet load, bet it will be better. At 1500 FPS, only a real lousy bullet and lube will lead up a barrel in good shape and only shooting lead bullets. Remember a real good cleaning if you shoot any jacketed slugs later, repeat the rigorous cleaning. 1917s ought to shoot a .310 size bullet. I usually go up to .311 myself in my Springfields. Remington put real good quality barrels on those, so it may still be a very good barrel. Most folks have best luck stretching the bullet out so it almost touches the lands in the barrel, just ahead of the throat. But if you go too long, jamming bullet tip into the lands, you will see rifling marks on a chambered and extracted load, it can increase pressures, and you can end up sticking bullet so bad it pulls out of case when you have to remove an unfired cartridge. Avoid getting contact with the rifling with your cartridge length. Good luck, GJ

Went to Sarco's site and read all the posted reviews. The trend I picked up is the mag retention slot is mis-located and has lots of burrs. The design uses a follower that is almost guaranteed to do some "nose diving," like most cheap mags. Here's one review that really would scare me off: Sounds about as good as the lower end of imported mags usually are. Ugh. Good luck, GJ

You can already read what my recommendation was to the OP on the original thread. And that still stands in SPADES, IMHO. Do you even know who makes those mags for SARCO? There ain't a cheap imported magazine (nor a cheap USA made mag for that matter) that I would trust if I was using them to shoot apples out of a tree, let alone for a match or even more important, defense. Life's too short and valuable to be laying on a gurney and in your last breath say, "but I saved $20 on that magazine in my jammed up 1911." Back in my college days, yeah, I shot lots of various types of surplus mags in my Colt 1911. If you rummage through my gear at a match today, you will find nothing but Tripps and a couple of old nostalgic 40 year old Colts. If you can afford to shoot Wild Bunch, you can afford great mags and not be worrying about whether one will bite your butt. There's a handful of parts that are really worth buying the best available for a 1911: magazine extractor sear hammer barrel bushing barrel slide stop disconnector And AFAIK, the importance is in that order, most important at top. Where's your magazine quality requirement fall? Good luck, GJ

Oh, JUST COME SHOOT with us! the weather is starting to be too nice to spend any time indoors pawing through clothing racks! I usually just have a half-placket solid color twill shirt and canvas jeans. You only have to look like you are heading for Parral, Chihuahua, if you are really die hard for costume. Once you shoot a couple matches, you will see there is a lot of latitude in the costume. If you want a Montana Peak/Drill Instructor hat, fine. If a sombrero keeps you cool, fine again. But looking around at matches tells you SO MUCH more than what anyone here will provide in print. Costume plays a less important role in WB than it does in Cowboy. Unless you are going for a full-blown military outfit for the costume contest. If there's "subtle visual differences" - likely no one but Captain Baylor will see them. As for the gear that you shoot with (belt, holster, pouches) I'd suggest you start with simple leather and then as it strikes you, add some of the web or canvas gear. That period gear will not be very fast or comfortable compared to even the simple modern gear. Good luck, GJ

WB (that'll keep him quiet while he tries to figure out what that stands for) Second approach: When he says DISCIPLINE next time, you fall on the floor laughing. Then you can say, "discipline in Wild Bunch? Nah, we just pull the trigger and let the lead fly." Good luck, GJ

IMHO, and if I remember right a discussion on this several years ago: One major factor that set the WB initial pistol condition (condition 3) is: SASS matches (WB or Cowboy) are run under their concept of maintaining a Cold Range except when shooter is explicitly allowed by command (in our case, a beep) to chamber a round in the 1911 and start firing. Carrying fully loaded, cocked & locked (condition 1) would not qualify the range as cold (until shooter is started on his run). Because the 1911 being in loaded status (by SASS definition) at the loading table and during the walk to the firing line would mean the range is no longer a "cold range." We don't do the 97 or Mod 12 shotgun in "Condition 1" either. And with no safety on many of the rifles allowed to be used, and none on the 97 shotgun either, they have no real Condition 1, but are ready to fire with a trigger pull or hard jolt that trips the hammer. So, uniform gun handling from "condition 3" is how WB does things. For the condition numbers, see: https://www.sightm1911.com/Care/1911_conditions.htm Good luck, GJ

What you are seeing is a real tight sizing die which is reducing case diameter down to about 0.468" or so. Then you shove the expander button in it, just wide and deep enough to get the bullet to fit with a little tension, and a LITTLE bit of flare at the very mouth to ensure bullet starts straight. As BD already stated, it's very normal. Function trumps perfectly pretty all day long. You could hone out the sizer die with some carbide based grinding/polishing compound - if it is a carbide die. Or with a normal adjustable reamer if it is a steel die. But I wouldn't bother. All my match ammo is slightly wasp-waisted. A flat-based slug will leave a lot more visible ridge showing at the slug's base than a bevel-based slug. And check OAL of your loaded rounds. Most 230 grain slugs are very long behind the nose. The base can be extending way down in the case if you seat deep. Seat them deep enough that the curve of the nose ogive starts RIGHT at the mouth of the case - if you seat deeper, the case mouth is unsupported, and if shallower, the nose starts to hit factory barrel throat and lands. Good luck, GJ

Well, Them's WASHERS the category scores. The Overall WB is a short report at: http://www.winterrange.com/wb2018overall.pdf You see, B40, the way that WB Stage Point scoring is done currently, it's possible to get overall results that rank different than the top shooters in the fast categories on the Categories report. In 2017, it worked out well and the Overall matched up with the Categories data. Just taking a wild guess, perhaps this year it didn't work out quite that cleanly. Although suggestions have been made for a slight mod to the scoring system which would prevent that, none of the big WB matches have decided to try that cleaner way. Sigh. Good luck, GJ

At the lower end of traditional 1911a1 guns, lots of pards have good results with a Remington R1. Black out the white dots on sights and it's legal. If you are worried that you won't be able to get parts in case Remington doesn't survive it's umpteeen-million-th bankruptcy / reorganization efforts...... I wouldn't worry, because standard 1911A1 parts from any after market manufacturer of repute will fit. I shoot a Colt Series 70 with over 100,000 rounds through it, and it's still tight and accurate. Backup gun - same, just made 40 years later then the original. Guess I like Colts. Good luck, GJ

To answer what started this off, you say that a gunshow would have something and "would it work?" Well, local or on-line gun dealers, or other shooters, usually have much better matches to your needs at lower prices. One of the new-manufacture Series 70 Colt 1911A1s run about $1000 to $1100 new, and would be a better gun for WB traditional. And the Remington R1 at about $600 or so would be even more cost effective. A more modern gun would be a good choice for Modern category. (Duh) So, like so many gun show "finds" - that one you have seen is neither a good choice for either of the games you are talking about, nor all that good a deal. That one was built to be a collector item mostly, for those interested in the 1911 original model. Even though it (a 1911 model) is representative of the TIME that Wild Bunch covers, remember, we are not a RE-ENACTOR org, we are largely a shooting org, and the value the gun has to be shot quickly and accurately is real important in the long run of things. And the 1911A1 design was a major improvement over the original 1911 in "fast and accurate and controllable by most shooters." Good luck, GJ

Yep. To avoid penalties of any sort, have the slide locked open (not held open) when you move. Good luck, GJ

As you will find in the rule book, the old small "military" sights are not required for either of the two major styles of shooting in Wild Bunch. They can be used, but they are very hard to find quickly. Even in the Traditional category, it is legal to go to a taller front sight with more definition, and a matching taller rear sight (as long as they are not screw-adjustable blade rear sights). Modern category guns can have adjustable rear sights - please see the specs in the rule book. You first should decide for Wild Bunch whether you want to shoot in Modern (two hands holding pistol) or Traditional (one hand on gun) style. This decides a lot of what the gun can be. Realize that one-handed means you need to be pretty capable of quickly managing and recovering from the recoil of almost-factory 45 auto levels, and of working the controls almost exclusively with your strong hand (that is, the slide stop and mag release button). Most shooters are not all that capable of handling that recoil and quickly working the controls. It takes a medium size hand and a firm grip. There's four times as many folks competing in the Modern style of categories than in the Traditional. And they generally shoot faster in Modern. A couple of visits to Wild Bunch matches will help you fix your category/style. And introduce you to the common 1911 guns used in your desired category. Then you can make a great choice of 1911s. Good luck, GJ

We did see that on our posse once. It was fortunately not called out loud while shooter continued through stage, but the MSV penalty was simply applied at the end of the run. Shooter was relieved it was not the SDQ he expected..... It's a good reduction of severity based upon the lack of a real hazard. But it remains a slightly difficult one to adopt your TO style and habits to. Good luck, GJ

I shot all seven to slide lock, as I was used to with just 5'ers. I've been shooting seven in mag for everything but Bordertown for almost a year now. Saw several folks have problems trying to do the 6 and recharge. With the sweeps at WR set for seven or multiples, usually, they could forget to finish their current sweep after charging mag. As a traditional shooter very used to hitting the slide release with shooting thumb, I could not gain much time at all, I would think. Perhaps the modern shooters can, but I doubt it. A tactical reload didn't seem to help anyone I saw shooting them. A year's worth of practice by those shooters may make a difference. A 6 shot sweep might make it attractive, too. IMHO, a tactical reload is most valuable when you never can have your gun empty (as in a real gunfight). Since our targets don't try to shoot back as you are slapping a mag in, well, it is just a game. ;) Guess we will see another demo of it at EOT. Good luck, GJ

But my best cast bullet loads with 8 Mauser is with 5744 - I push the 170 grain slug at about 1550 FPS in my Yugo 24/47. Good luck, GJ

Use the "general purpose" recipe for TB loads for light rifle cast bullet loads! See: https://www.hodgdon.com/resources/data-sheets/ and punch up the Trail Boss light loads. That should get you to: https://www.hodgdon.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/trail-boss-reduced-loads-r_p.pdf Follow the 3 steps to figure out where to start. Good luck, GJ

TM - No, I'm going to guess it will be hard for us to stay in a proper position to see the slide racking, if it happens. Especially since we have not really been practicing doing that and watching closely, since racking has not been part of the standard drill before (only on recovery from failure to lock back). As I say, this year will be one of testing the waters on the new rules. GJ