Garrison Joe

For all things Cowboy/WB main match related: Ditto Red Dot. Ditto Clays. Ditto WST. Ditto Bullseye. Ditto TiteGroup. good luck, GJ

The Wilson 920 series of magazines are legal, though. Stainless: 920-45FS7 Blued: 920-45FS7B Even this 8 round mag, but no Wild Bunch need to spend the extra few bucks: 920-45FS8 good luck, GJ

This whole thread is about the Shooter's Choice options, some of which involves watching for engaging a target.

I would suggest discarding any rule which involves having to watch for "target engagement" with the 1911. Thus, we would not have to try to get into the shooter's head about "did he or didn't he" have the gun covering a target when a failure to chamber or fire occurs. Especially when considering only the TO is usually close enough to the gun's firing axis to even begin to guess about pointing at the target. Just: 1 - watch the shooter for safety violations, 2- count the misses, 3- watch for violations of any specific shooting order that instructions call for on the target array (to award any earned Procedural penalty), 4 - someone (preferably TO) watching the rounds-fired count (to award a P for too many rounds fired, or to let shooter know he is not yet finished with the required rounds-fired count). And to know what target(s) to direct the shooter to, when they need a "brain-restart" sometime through the string. That is about enough for any TO and Spotter crew to keep track of when the competitor is shooting 28 to 42 pistol rounds in a WB stage. good luck, GJ

That is a major difficulty for some shooters to understand. Review the definition of engagement of a target once more. And, no, engaging a target is not fully equivalent to firing a round down range intended for a target. The use of "engaging a target" is mostly to protect a shooter from a "target-sequence P" on specified-target-order scenarios (like sweeps) during situations where the round does not fire. I have never liked that the rules ever included having to watch for "engagement" of target just in case the shooter could not get the round to fire, and then protect the shooter from the P IF they skip trying to fire another round there. I am much more in favor of discarding "engagement" with just counting rounds fired and misses which occurred. good luck, GJ

Big money to replace a barrel, especially if it shoots well as installed by RIA. Lots of labor, as even the drop-in barrels often are not as easy as the name makes it sound. And not a job for a first time 1911 surgeon, as some things require some special tooling and measurements. So, WHERE on the existing barrel are rub points or tight spots when you install the barrel or work the slide with gun empty? If replacing the barrel simply because of "rub marks" - that is not very wise. If you do not change dimensions where that barrel was fitted to the gun (the locking lugs, the under-lugs on the barrel, the chamber fit to the feed ramp, headspace, barrel hood fit to slide, or the last inch of the barrel where the barrel bushing rides, you can probably file and sand on your factory barrel to clean up cosmetic drag scars or slight rub marks. Maybe take a few pictures of the barrel (or a disappointing target at 10 yards) showing what you don't like right now. good luck, GJ (just GJ, or Joe, or you can spell it out, too. And MR? I keep thinking my Dad (a 1st Sgt in 82nd Airborne in three theaters in WW II) might be looking over my shoulder as I i write. ☺️)

Use a diamond grit, small round ball-tip grinding bit and a Dremel or other rotary tool like a die grinder. Knock in a starting ding with a center punch where you want the retainer dimple. Then, secure the slide stop in a vise, brace your arms and carefully grind a single divot into that rather hard slide stop surface. Use other commercial slide stops as a guide. Grinding hardened steel is easier than spot drilling it. If you do put a stronger slide stop plunger spring in, it WILL make it slightly harder to operate the thumb safety. Not a problem in WB but if you need to shoot quickly for other purposes - consider if increasing spring strength is what you want to do. I've deepened worn dimples in slide stops before. It's pretty quick. good luck, GJ

How About: Call Mernickle Holsters and tell them exactly what you wrote above. They will be honest with you about how any of their holsters will hold the gun. Cliff is one to ride the river with! good luck, GJ

That would make it a clean stage, yep. Drop mag at end and rack to slide stop to make sure the 1911 is open and empty. GJ

He did have 3 misses. He had a jam preventing firing on T5 of the second sweep. Yes, it was "engaged" when he attempted to fire at it. But no round fired on it, and he skipped 2 targets in the second sweep (I assume) without engaging T6 and T7. How many unfired rounds fell out of gun when clearing the jam are inconsequential. A miss on T5. 2 misses for T6 and T7 that he did not shoot NOR engage, and a P for not engaging T6 (also T7, but P already earned). But, I did not read in the "theoretical play-by-play" that the shooter EXPRESSED his decision to skip 6 and 7 target "to save time" - so it's real hard to read that into the shooter's intent and not simply accept that they were working from memory shooting sweeps, and with the fresh magazine they started on T1 again. IMHO. So, P and 3 misses. GJ PS - the definitions section of the handbook, of course, sets the meaning of the term Engaged on page 38

Buckshot - I know that the Red Dot you have a stock of would work REAL well for you. It was not on my list because here in the US, Alliant has not released any to the marketplace for 18 months or so now. Same reason my list did not include Clays - has been impossible to find ever since Ukraine was invaded. And, if you have a newly-made ADI powder that is a Clays replacement, that would work well too. GJ

If you are going to cite the VV powder company, then to be useful to the shooter, you should say WHICH of the several VV powders you see being used for WB. GJ

I'm not sure what availability of powders in Australia looks like right now, but to answer this with a US-suitable reply, I'd have to say TiteGroup (aka High Gun). A good replacement for both pistol cartridge and shotgun, but slightly louder report and can be slightly dirty at low pressure. Followed up with 700-X,Trail Boss, Bullseye, Solo 1000 and Winchester Super Handicap (won't be much data for these last two). If you have to drop to slower powders, then Unique or Win 231. We are not seeing any Alliant pistol/shotgun powders in our marketplace in US. good luck, GJ

You are correct on the rules as written. It may seem like a slight advantage is being given to the double shooter, but that disappears as you shoot, due to time needed to load and eject any additional pairs. And, no, a pump or lever shot gunner, does NOT get this advantage. GJ

You can use solid (no lightening holes) triggers on a Traditional gun, either with or without the "Overtravel adjustment" screw. If you get one with an overtravel screw, you can certainly adjust it to give you the overtravel length you feel comfortable with. Harrison Design has some triggers that are solid, have an overtravel screw (but the screw hole does not show from the face of the trigger), and are pretty reasonable and very reliable. Lots of traditional 1911s in WB carry their fixed sight sight blades - very nice. Take a look at this page: 1911 Triggers from Harrison Custom And you will see a short, medium and long trigger available. (HD-101, or 102 or 103, available silver or blue finish). good luck, GJ

This Artful Bullet article shows some good pictures of the three common 1911 lip designs. https://www.artfulbullet.com/index.php?threads/1911-magazine-feed-lips.9672/ Magazines with lips which uniformly narrow for the full length from the back plate of the magazine up to the release point of the round - those are THE BEST for a "round ball" load. That was what was provided in both WWs to shoot military ball. Often called GI-Ball or tapered lip design. Magazines with wadcutter type lips, also called controlled feed lips, usually have a good chance of feeding non-ball loads. Especially made for short stubby nosed wadcutter loads for target shooting. These wadcutter loads will often pop up the round too fast in a military (tapered) lip mag and lead to point-up jams against the feed ramp. The wadcutter lips are usually parallel at the rear for a short way, then open to a clean release of the cartridge at a specific point engineered for best feeding of wadcutters and the stubby hollowpoints. Most good quality magazines today are made as the hybrid design, combining a shorter taper section at the rear, and then an opening of the lips which allows almost the same type of controlled feed of the wadcutter magazine. Like Boggus, I like a magazine with hybrid lips for Wild Bunch, especially with bullet designs other than a 230 grain round nose. Hybrid lips give the most reliable feeding with a wide selection of bullet shapes and compositions, in my experience. good luck, GJ

Mine run 15 recoil, 19 main. You can easily tell if you're sprung correctly. Fire a couple mags of your match ammo from one spot. Look for the center of the pattern of ejected cases. Step that off from your shooting position. If closer than 5 feet, you are sprung stronger than needed. (results in harder slide pull than needed, and can get to where you get a failure to eject) If pattern is more than 10 feet away, you are too lightly sprung (can batter the frame and slide). And the recoil and main springs usually "balance with each other" best with the recoil being about 3-4 pounds lighter than the main. The mainspring bore in the grip housing often needs honing to remove the roughness from factory machining. good luck, GJ

Simple answer is - yes, a 38 Spl rifle will be legal, especially since you already have it. And - Yes, current PF minimum is 60 for Rifle. If you need to access the handbook - it's at: SASS Rule Handbooks page Welcome to WB! GJ

Model 25 is not legal (currently). If you can run a "short mag tube" shotgun with some single-loading required, go for it. You will likely be slow on a 6 shell stage. good luck, GJ

Not legal, if they extend below the frame. Can you return 'em? Good thing to read the rules before buying, or attend a match, or even ask here. Buy good quality mags - 1911 is a finicky gun with the wrong combination of ammo and mag and then perhaps a factory stock (non-tuned) gun. With Tripp mags I can run almost any ammo. Colt, most. MANY other mags - always a problem of some sort. good luck, GJ

Considering the fact that the current administration is trying to attract shooters to Wild Bunch who refuse to buy a 40 caliber or higher gun, or even load a heavy factory type load in .38 special, I'd say the politics would prevent it. Even if it would be ballistically feasible. GJ

Hmmm, 20% of the shooters were dangerous enough to earn a SDQ or two? Seems to say there needs to be MUCH better introduction of new shooters to the safety precepts common to all kinds of action shooting, but especially with the 1911. None of our SDQ penalties are for a trivial safety malfunction by shooter, except for shooting out of category. good luck, GJ

You answered your own question there, EC. Yes, a good load like that CAN work in a .38 special case if you "shoot for" the 150 PF target. GJ

There is NO standard course of fire for Bolt Action Military matches (BAMM). The match director, if they are being shooter-friendly, should publish the course of fire that they have decided to use with any match invitation. That way, the shooter can come with proper ammo and any other equipment that may be allowed. Shooting a few BAMM matches is the best way to find out how to put on one. Not everyone has that much ability to travel to the bigger Wild Bunch matches where BAM matches are held (like EOT or Land Run, for example). Yes, I have set up up at EOT as a BAM match director. So - I'll describe the general approach I've seen at four different venues, and used for EOT. BAMM is usually considered to be a "combat-shooting" match, using, of course, WW II or earlier military rifle designs. Because many ranges have no more than about 100 or 200 yard bay lengths, the setting of targets out to those distances is common. Shorter than 60 yards or so, usually is not considered much of a challenge other than just working the action and reloading. Use of fairly strong targets and stands is needed, as a military rifle of those times can throw a cast bullet of 150 grains or so at up to 2000 FPS. Jacketed bullets usually are not allowed due to damage to all but heavy armor steel plates, and the facts that folks love to hear the targets ring and don't like tramping down 150 yards to patch paper targets, or reset heavy knockdown targets. Since some of the "poster boy" rifles for BAMM are Mauser 98s and Springfield 1903 designs, and they have 5 round built-in magazines, usually the match consists of shooting 10 or 15 rounds in sets of 5 shots, which will take about 40 to 60 seconds, usually with the reloads "on the clock". If possible, target distance is varied to encourage understanding use of sights and hold-offs. Sometimes using shooting sticks or benches is allowed, but some of the more fun matches either shoot all rounds off-hand unsupported, or use a variety of standard military shooting positions, like kneeling, sitting and off-hand. Prone, not so much if you will require shooters to get into position and recover after shooting, all while on the clock (consider your shooters' physical capabilities). Scoring is USUALLY like most long-range rifle matches - number of hits during the run, with ties decided by lowest time to get those hits. I've shot in one BAMM that scored it like a main-match stage (lowest time after adding in penalty times for misses), but then the match rewards speed over accuracy (which was not the design purpose of bolt action rifles - to "Project Power At Distance"). So, because of a variety of potential course layout, number of rounds fired, target distance, shooting positions and even the scoring method, now you may understand why you want to publish the course of fire to be used AHEAD OF THE TIME THAT FOLKS TRAVEL TO THE MATCH. However, I've not seen one yet which accomplished that. So plan ahead. I usually take at least 50 rounds of ammo loaded to 1800 FPS to a BAMM, a rifle that I have sighting dope for 50 to 200 yards (even 300), several stripper clips, shooting sticks, a mat, and a spotting scope. One of the biggest deterrents to getting good attendance at BAM matches is the need for shooters to reload fairly accurate, rifle caliber, moderate power cast bullet loads - not something many folks know how to do. And commercial ammo loaded like that is real hard to find. Even if the venue has a suitable bay or rifle range and strong steel to shoot BAMM on. good luck, GJ

Yes, that SASS alias rings a bell with me. A few years back, I used to see it in some of our forum discussions. If I remember correctly/ A SASS Alias name is requested by a member as part of their shooting personna. If the requested name meets SASS guidelines and is not registered as a SASS alias yet, the SASS office assigns the requested alias to the member requesting it. Then, when they shoot or converse here on the Wire (forums), the alias name is used rather than real names. Never have heard of a family member asking about an alias being assigned to one of our members. If you have a serious concern, then you should contact the SASS office by email or phone. good luck, GJ