Garrison Joe

And before it got relabeled by Winchester, with perhaps a very minor tweak of the additives, it was branded as Winchester 452AA. Shot tons of it in trap loads in the 1970s, as well as in 1911 cast bullet loads. Good luck, GJ

Usually 4.4 4.0 grains of WST works to give 170 PF with a 230 grain lead bullet. And 4.7 grains with a 200 grain slug. But each 1911 shoots a loading to slightly different velocities, so chrono it. It's the bullet lube that I have to clean out - WST burns clean enough that I don't find much powder fouling. Good luck, GJ CORRECTED the 230 grain load!

Oh, WOE-bble is me! Maybe you can speed it up this year and I won't hit even one. ;D Clem - whatever help I can give you on BAMM, let me know. Good luck, GJ

Sure, holster covers plenty enough of the slide. Good luck, GJ

Heck, Founder's Ranch IS my home range, and I don't get to shoot those stages either. ;D Good luck, GJ

"Ahead of time" and "posted" - hmmmm. No to either part of the question. WB stage booklets at EOT get handed out when you pick up your registration packet beginning on WB warm-up day (or even the first day of the WB match). They are printed. Not posted on any SASS site. Walk to bay. See 'em - read 'em - shoot 'em. ;D Good luck, GJ

Haven't seen just a total stated before to someone asking about how much ammo to bring - so I was going along the line of thought that 450 was the pistol ammo count (the largest volume we shoot in WB matches). If 450 is pistol plus rifle plus shotgun, then it will be a little lighter loadout than what I was expecting. Always helps to see a three-number set to prevent confusion. Good luck, GJ

That would be WAY more than ever shot at EOT or WR. If you are intending to try that on for size, you'd be wise to let folks know they will need MORE MAGS, as well as more ammo. Well before the match. Good luck, GJ

As stated, your plan would be illegal at SASS sanctioned matches. Learn how to slide your pouch slides together so you have no space between them. I use Mernicle 2-mag-pouch-per slides. The design is such that the slide ends can overlap with a little persuasion, and the pouches almost touch. Then practice. I know I have long arms, but I can comfortably reach to a pouch just behind my my right hip with my left arm. I''ll bet you can get at least to the middle of your back. Which is as far around as is legal. And unless you are smaller than a 34" waist, you can easily get six mags on your belt from navel to spine. Otherwise, strap on a shotgun belt and in a clear spot on THAT belt, slide on one or two double pouches. Good luck, GJ

Here's my HO - No need to segregate cases and bullet weights when down at 1600 FPS with cast bullets. Cast or buy good quality slugs. Use careful loading techniques, especially with getting a nicely expanded case mouth that won't damage the slugs. Find the load your rifle likes. Then practice hard. Shoot all sorts of ranges. Write down in your dope book what you find for elevation and wind hold-offs every time you shoot. Shoot positions, Shoot in wind. Shoot so you know how fast you can go and still clean easy, medium and hard target sizes. In other words, shoot as if you are "Sniper, First Class, One Ugly Dangerous." None of that takes lots of benchrest type loading skill or equipment. Good luck, GJ

Pretty easy to estimate - 12 regular and 4 warmup stages 27.5 pistol rounds 10 rifle rounds 6 shotgun rounds per stage Then add whatever your safety margin is. I'll spot you extra ammo if those numbers don't get you all the ammo you need. Good luck, GJ

Nickel steel is the standard steel for barrels for a gun made up to the 1930s, for sure. If the gun works well, you got a nice one. It will take modern loads well. No steel shot, no short magnums. Otherwise, load 'em up. Good luck, GJ

Sure, I remember SweetShooter and all the hooplah with which it was introduced. Didn't trust it then (to live up to it's hype). Suppose if it had been ALL THAT, we would still be hearing about it. Was it OK? Well, about like other bore cleaners. Was it great? No. So many things introduced to the shooting industry by folks without much track record fall into that group. And half the things introduced by those WITH a track record, too. Lucas Oil - been around for years, just not real heavily advertised. When I run out of my existing oils, I'll try some. Until then, I'll apply a little oil and a little grease where they are needed when I clean a gun. I don't believe in trying to extend periods between cleanings by just applying a lube, though. I've found a clean and lubed gun to be more reliable than a dirty and lubed gun. Good luck, GJ

Case gauge some of your ammo, and make sure it's not covered in stray bullet lube or case lube. Clean a dozen or so with a rag damp with paint thinner and try them through the gun. If you haven't changed something in the gun (like the cleaner or lube you are using), it's probably in the ammo. Good luck, GJ

I'll bet you that, unless you have been cleaning the barrel with a milling bit, there is NOTHING wrong with your barrel. You CERTAINLY have not shot the accuracy out of it yet, especially with lead bullet loads. My 1973 vintage Colt 1911 has seen over 100 K rounds through it (probably less than 1k were jacketed), and it still holds tighter than I can. Better check your load, then your barrel lockup in the slide, before you condemn a 3 year old SR1911 to the junk pile. Now, if that is just the excuse you are going to run up the flag pole to be able to get a new toy, well, have at it. ;D 8) Good luck, GJ

They can be made to run very reliably, at least, if not quite as "perfectly reliably" as a bottleneck-rimmed-cartridge lever gun. If you want one, make sure it is built by someone who has built quite a few, and who lives close enough to help you tune out any problems. I know of a few that the owner gave up on after getting the conversion done. And a few that the owner has resorted to special ammo loading techniques to achieve excellent reliability. When a lever gun is built that tailors the action length to the actual length of .45 Auto, I would be somewhat enthusiastic. Until then, what gun designs and chamberings that are commercially sold in pistol-caliber lever rifles suit me to a T. ;D

It's getting more and more common. Most WB shooters I know REALLY want and enjoy the flexibility and "puzzle-solving" aspects that this introduces into the game. Some folks, however, dislike having to figure out "the best way" - they'll say, just tell me how to shoot it and I will. or "don't make this match a memory quiz" A flexible stage is certainly harder on the spotters. One way to reduce the load on spotters is to use more knockdowns (reactive targets) on those stages. If the stage is "all knockdowns" - spotting is easy. Just watch for any Ps or Safetys, and the misses "count themselves" The happy spot right now - mix "static path" and "several flexible ways thru stage" until the grumbling dies down. ;D Good luck, GJ

Even in Wild Bunch, a shooter is allowed to replace a jacked out round that he did not get to fire. That is NOT considered an extra shell, because it replaced a jacked out shell. There is never a penalty for replacing a round that is jacked out, knocked off the lips of a magazine while inserting into a 1911, clearing an unfired jammed round, loading a new round to replace a dud round from which the bullet did not leave the case, or replacing a round that rolls out of the open action of a gun.

Stage conventions don't cover the complex situations of popper/thrower targets. They usually HAVE to be explained in the stage description. If it's not clear in the stage description, then shooters need to ask their Posse Marshal to get clarification BEFORE anyone shoots the stage. If you don't discover that there are some problems with how the stage is to be shot until someone tries to shoot the stage in the wrong way, you put at least that shooter at a disadvantage, and the confusion over what is to be done (for situations like activator was missed, activator didn't work with a reasonable hit, bird was already on ground when shooter attempted a shot, etc) can even cause posses to have to reshoot a stage (has happened at WR and EOT before, so don't think it is all that far out in left field). But remember some basics: a target/prop/actuator failure is not normally a penalty to shooter - shooter should "shoot where it was" (or close to that if safety is compromised) if shooter was slow to get on the bird, at least an attempt has to be made to safely "engage" where the bird would have been - and even pulling the trigger on an empty gun would be an engagement (by our rules). Doesn't require an actual shot to have been fired. All these complications usually mean that well-run large matches don't use any "action" targets except for knockdown targets (individual and racks of targets). It just gets messy and can become contentious. If you do use a target on which proper target action is required to continue with the shooting sequence (pulling an activator lever, shotgun flyers, etc), put that action target into the stage at the very beginning of stage, where it is easy to restart the shooter after fixing the target failure.

Absolutely. We discussed this a month ago. Right here. Same answer today. ;) PWB's guide does not require the makeup round for the "ejected" round to be loaded or shot at any particular time. There are options in that document. For a different option in that document, where a target is skipped and never has a round fired at it, the guide states you can go back to it at the end of the handgun string and pick it up. But possibly with a P for hitting targets out of order. Specifically for your scenario above, Yes, the standard way most shooters will hit that 5th target is by loading a new mag and hitting the fifth target before going on to any more sets of pistol targets. That will protect the "hit targets in the correct sequence" requirements that are usually in most stage descriptions. Skipping over target five, shooting some other targets, and coming back to hit the skipped target at the end will get the shooter a P if there are target orders called out.

I NEVER shoot coated slugs, but especially not in BAM. The pards shooting mil rifle cast bullet matches do NOT shoot coated slugs. I figure they shoot 100x the rounds I do. So, I still use tried-and-true White Label Carnuba Red lube on 16 Brinell hardness slugs, gas checked. In 6.5, Rx7 runs about 17.0 to 17.5 to get a 150 grainer to 1600 FPS. I kinda find I load to the chrono, and often get the sweet spot with a powder between 1550 and 1650 FPS. I think adding coated bullets would drive me completely over the end of combination-madness. I've only got time for simple. And no equipment for powder coatings.

The M96 is capable of some mighty fine groups with cast bullets, at least mine and a couple of other guns here in town can do it. I find 5744, Reloader 7, 4227, and old 4759 are some of my best powders. 2 MOA groups that will hold out to 250 yards at least are usually possible. A heavy bullet 150-160 grains, at no more than 1600 FPS, seated out to the lands works in my gun. Good luck with it!

An Outers Foul Out III electronic "deplating" cleaner might be your next step. It normally has the ability to pull out bore fouling that brushing type cleaning just can't touch. Oops, it's been discontinued for lack of profitability. Too bad, it was a good rig, but expensive. Or a few rounds of fire-lapping rounds (Cast Boolits has articles on how that is done by embedding fine grit in lead slugs and firing them) to smooth the bore up and make cleaning easier. Does a bore scope show you a rough groove surface compared to say an 03A3 barrel? My M96 seems fairly easily cleaned, but I don't have your round count experience yet. Good luck, GJ

I avoid using primers that were in pulled ammo or that I punched out and re-seated in match rifle ammo. Because I want only the best possible load. The cost of discarding a primer is low compared with possibility of losing out on a first place in a match. But, I've never damaged a primer by impact pulling or depriming that would not still work reliably in practice ammo. It's all about the amount of risk that you want to take on the quality of the ammo you load. Don't be surprised if there are differing opinions upon that "field of battle."

The problem I reported on 11/30/16 was not due to special characters or pasting text in from another source. Problem eventually cleared the next day, and I was able to make a post with standard text on 12/1 that did not work on 11/30. So, this one seemed to be a transient system problem. (Managing and developing an Enterprise-level data management system as I do, I am very aware of some databases not handling special characters well at all, so I try to avoid them like the plague.) Thanks for all you do for our forums, though!