Garrison Joe

I assume you are referring to this product, the Wilson "1911 Checkered Front Strap" - a 0.006" thin steel overlay. http://www.brownells.com/handgun-parts/frame-parts/frame-hardware/front-straps/1911-auto-checkered-front-strap-prod16409.aspx Checkered front grip strap overlay seems to be allowed for Modern guns, as long as it is not "part of the grips". Why is this my conclusion? For traditional pistols, the rule says: When checkering, matting, or stippling is mentioned, it means actually cutting a pattern in the frame or slide. But in the Modern pistol requirements, it is softened to read: Checkered front strap and trigger guard allowed. This means any type of checkering, stippling, and/or serrations are legal. As for the Group Gripper, I sure would not consider it a recoil reduction device. Rules allow, for Modern (or Traditional): Internal accurizing and action tuning is allowed. But I'd weigh any reduced reliability that the Gripper might introduce against the rewards that Wild Bunch has for high reliability of pistol operations, and fairly generous target size, and might well decide WB is a speed game rather than an accuracy game. In fact, I'd go so far as to venture the statement: "If you are missing targets with your 1911 in Wild Bunch matches, it's your own darn fault, not that of the gun." And probably due to improper time, trigger and sight control. Good luck, GJ

Well, there's at least one rub about trying to find data on-line anymore from Alliant, the manufacturer of Red Dot. If you go to their current published data, all you find is the MAX load and velocity for the bullet weight and powder type. They stopped publishing a range of loads that work well several years ago! Made their data much less useful for light loading! http://www.alliantpowder.com/reloaders/recipedetail.aspx?gtypeid=1&weight=230&shellid=35&bulletid=63 BUT, if you go to the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook, for a 230 grain RN slug and Red Dot, you get what Lyman considers to be the full useful range of loads from minimum to maximum, from whence you can then get a good estimate of the load to make any particular Power Factor you want. But, anybody shooting a WB match at the state or higher level had better run their loads over a chrono before going to the match, to ensure you "make" power factor! Remember what happens when some powders get cold, too!

Well, most of the commercial loading manuals are assembled by technicians and ballisticians with years of experience, and "insider" information about the makeup of the powders and other components. I sure trust them more than I do Joe Reloader's pet load on a free web site. But, I also know what makes sense and what pressure signs look like. I put ALL that data together as best I can and have never blown up a gun. So for a beginning reloader (perhaps just beginning on this one particular chambering, in fact) I still recommend a study of the commercial loading manuals before starting to assemble rounds. And, when talking cast bullet loads, the only manual with a good number of those is the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook. So, if you don't mind, I'll just keep recommending pards at least look Lyman over before they start. ;D 8)

I never trust loading data for semi-auto pistols to come out at the velocity that the manual shows, either. I always chronograph. But, the loading manuals sure get you to a good safe starting point, and the chrono will take you the rest of the way! GJ

Minimum weight bullets for Wild Bunch is 180 grain, by rule. Kinda hard to make power factor with them, however. Practical limits for 1911 bullets are from 200 to 230 grains, and usually either a round nose, RNFP, or truncated cone nose. Semi-wadcutters will work but not many folks use them because extra attention must be paid to throating and polishing. With what you have on hand, use the 200 grain RN or RNFP. Either will be fine. That will need a little more powder than the 230 grain loads you have received so far. Lyman suggests about 4.6 to 4.7 grains Red Dot to make 800 FPS (PF 160).

Well, what bullet weight are you going to shoot in .45 Auto? You gotta give us that if you want safe loading data. If you follow many of the other shooters, a 230 grain bullet at 160 Power Factor (PF) should be your aim. That would be 695 Feet Per Second (FPS). Red Dot at about 3.7 - Whoa, more like about 4.3 grains - according to Lyman - would get you close to that. Any good reloading manual should show that load and it's velocity. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A RELOADING MANUAL yet, get one!! I'd recommend the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook for a great resource for loading for Wild Bunch and Cowboy, too.

ER - Glad to. Team Shotgun support will be on my to-do list.

ER - I'd be glad to help you (or Goatneck) again with a side match, as long as I can get free to shoot some as well. Last year the timing was easy to do that. This year might need some "time slots" if a big turnout occurs. Oh, max range we should expect on the Long Range 1911? Thanks for running these! GJ

At the very least - Slide welded up to allow use of a mil-spec fixed rear sight in a dovetail. No wrap-around front strap covering rubber stocks (but the standard wooden grips available on one GC model would be fine) Trigger replaced with a "non-target" trigger (no holes drilled in it, at least) And the "National Match barrel & bushing" would be fine as is. A bull barrel - look at a Midway or Brownell's catalog - you will find out how big a diameter a bull barrel has. It does not fit in a standard barrel bushing! And, check the 40 ounce weight limit with an empty magazine in it for Traditional category, too! Although that weight limit is more easily achieved now (with recent rule changes), it has in the past snagged some folks who thought they had a gun that was good to go in Traditional, until weigh-in at a big match sank them! I think you can see why BD recommended just not getting a Gold Cup if you want to shoot Traditional category, but getting a more stripped down gun. A Colt Series 70 or Series 80 Government model, or a Springfield Mil-Spec, or Armscorp produced government spec models (made for several distributors) would be what you would more commonly see in Traditional category. By the way, Wild Bunch shooting is NOT a high-precision game. It's more a reliability game. Having a gun that shoots 2" 50-yard groups, for example, is not necessary. Having one that goes thousands of rounds of perfect cycling and high reliability, now that is priceless! There is a fair amount of difference between shooting Modern and Traditional. As much as there is between two handed Cowboy and Duelist styles in cowboy matches. It's probably wise to try a borrowed Traditional gun to see if you like shooting single-handed. It's not for everybody, and may not be your cup of tea if you have shot a lot of modern slide gun action matches..... Good luck, GJ

Sorry, but I believe you are the one who is interpreting the rules to be exclusive instead of meaning what they say, IMHO. The word ONLY appears nowhere in that section. You have added it when you wrote about the rule. Please stick to the rules. The factory-machined low rib is not a modification. It was manufactured that way. The rib was not attached. The rules prohibit an "attached external" rib. Really pretty clear. Good luck, GJ

IMHO, it is likely the Llama's slide rib will be ok,as the Gold Cup is cited in the rules as an example of a rib manufactured into the top of the slide, rather than attached later as a target sight device. The rule literally is: That Llama rib was machined in when slide was made. Not attached. But, some Spanish made copies do not have a grip safety. A functional grip safety not being present would certainly be a "killer" for complying with WB rules, either category. Shooting the gun in Modern category opens the rules requirements up considerably. Make sure he reads over all the rules in the WB shooter's handbook.

No experience with 2 grooves, but Cast Boolit site has lots of comments about them. Sometimes a little harder to find a cast boolit that shoots well, but not impossible, according to them. They are reported to like a long and fat nose design. If you want to find 50 different opinions about this in one CB thread, check this one: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/archive/index.php/t-191007.html

Although the main web site for the club has changed to: http://www.shootingsteel.com/ You will at least for now find their large archive of cast boolit resources at the old location: http://www.lasc.us/ArticleIndex.htm I sure hope they continue to keep that set of articles available, but I would guess there has been a change of command at the club, and you know how that can go. Especially valuable are the articles by Glen Fryxell! Such as: From Ingot to Target: A Cast Bullet Guide for Handgunners This is a PDF that, if printed as a cast boolit shooter's handbook, would cost probably $30 bucks and be priceless at that price point! And Chapter 7 is worth it's weight in gold because it dissects the common symptoms and causes AND SOLUTIONS of various types of leading in barrels. After carefully reading Chapter 7, your shooting buddy will be able to both DESCRIBE the leading he is getting (much better than "the gun gums up") and FIX his leading problems! Good luck, GJ

Size,size, size. Bullet MUST seal the barrel well or there will be leading with cast bullets. Do a GOOD job of slugging the barrel. If necessary, Cerrosafe cast the rear end of barrel. Make the bullet one thousandth over that diameter, and lube with a good lube. I like White Label BAC or for something not sticky, White Label Carnuba Red. TOO HARD an alloy - I now shoot 8 Brinell hardness (for the last 2 years) - and get very little leading. That is about 1.5% antimony, 0.5% tin. Just about range scrap from ranges where it is primarily pistol lead. I used to shoot harder .45 slugs, and got leading in the first half inch - at the throat. That was with 12 to 14 Brinell hardness. I have also been coming to the conclusion that crimping should not be very tight. If the mouth of a loaded round is at 0.471", on a typical .452 bullet, that is tight enough. Taper crimp, of course. I read a set of guidelines for where the leading occurs and why. Something like this: in front of chamber, nowhere else - bullet too hard or undersized (gas cutting past base) all along the barrel - bullet too soft or lube not working well only out toward muzzle - lube running out Even with pistol ammo, there should be a little lube left on the muzzle (a lube star). If it's dry and dusty out there, lube grooves may not be holding enough, or lube is not working well. Sub 1000FPS pistol ammo should not be all that hard to make run without leading problems. And the chamber pressure of .45 auto ammo (about 18K psi) does not demand more than about 10 Brinell MAX hardness. Shooting "hardball" alloy, at 16 BNH, for what we do in WB? I've found it a waste of hard lead. Good luck,GJ

Yep, those numbers are consistent with my testing and use. I almost always find 0.1 or 0.2 extra grains of CD is needed to maintain exactly the same velocity as Clays in pistol cartridges. You will also find that CD is not cold sensitive like Clays has been. Haven't had a chance to test any Canadian Clays yet - all I have is Australian-produced Clays. Good luck, GJ

There are strict rules about only loading 5 in a magazine, however. All the side matches involving the 1911 I have shot have held to the 5 round max load out. Why tempt fate at a state level match and risk not getting to hold one again? Good luck, GJ

How much you want to spend? And do you want a US arm, or settle for foreign, like Mausers? And do you want it to be easy to load cast bullets for, or stick only with FMJ (and perhaps not be able ot shoot some smaller matches). In a US arm, price ranges for good guns that will shoot well and have a Muzzle Wear of 3 or less (in other words, still several thousand rounds of barrel life left): * Springfield 1903 - will have open rear sights, and don't buy in the range of serial numbers where there is brittle receiver possibilities -- about $800 - $1000 * Springfield 1903A3 - will have rear peep sight (and no brittle receivers) -- about $700 - $900 * Model 1917 (Enfield design) with dog-leg bolt handle - $600 - $800 Of course, you could shoot a 30-40 Krag, but they are getting awfully hard to find, so prices are going up British SMLE rifles, of the, what 4 or five major variations? Still pretty easy to find .303 British ammo. Usually pretty accurate. Guns so good, that the British government bought/borrowed tons of M1917 and M1903 rifles from us during WW II! In a Mauser, most of the German guns have disappeared off the market, with just a few being sold off due to estate sales and folks thinning a collection. Yugo 24/47 Mausers in mid-length-receiver 8MM Mauser are still being sold - $300-$500 should get a nice one with matching numbers. Will not be a fancy gun, but it will be serviceable and pretty accurate. Easy as 30-06 to load cast bullets in. Open rear sight. Swedish M96 Mausers - a big lot of them came on the market in the last year. They are chambered in 6.5x55 MM cartridge, which is cantankerous to load cast bullets for (but I do, with pretty good results), but they shoot jacketed very easily. $400-$600 should get a nice one with matching serial numbers. Ammo was pretty sparse, but with this big batch, several European companies and even some US are making ammo again for them. Open rear sight. Argentine, Chilean, Peruvian, Brazilian Mausers - the nice ones have been collector bait for the last 5 years, so they are getting thin and pricey and often cruddy barrels. South Americans seem not to have paid much attention about cleaning after firing corrosive primer ammo in the 20s and 30s. Maybe $800- $1000 for a nice one (usually 7 MM, but Argentines are 7.65 MM) , which I find to be too much to spend for that. Open rear sight, and sometimes crude at that. Now, if your eyes are old and you can't use an open sight precisely, you probably ought to stick with an 03A3. If you love tinkering with fine Swedish machinery, the Swede M96 is very cool (and long, unless you get a carbine). If you want to be "REAL" Mexican Punitive Expeditionary Force, well, nothing but a Springfield 1903 (or a Krag) will do. It just all depends. Good luck, GJ Oh, another Euro rifle to consider, since a bunch of them are being sold off, too. The Swiss K31. It's in an obscure cartridge, 7.5 Swiss. Ammo hard to find, so you will HAVE to reload. Straight pull bolt, makes it fast to shoot. Can be pretty accurate. French MAS guns from WW II are around, too. Most were unfired and only dropped once. ;D ;) And then lastly, the Russian Mosin/Nagants. Really drying up fast with the import restrictions on Putin's boys. Surplus ammo going going, gone soon too (that's quoting Wideners there). For as crude a build as was done, they shoot awfully well.

As a review, last year had three 16" (if I remember them right) round targets, one at 100, 125 and 150 yards. FMJ was allowed. I gotta hunch this year will be about the same, but confirming it would be real nice. :D

I cast my own bullets, so I can pick from several 200 grain designs. (I never put a "head" into a cartridge case in my life.... :o) But I'll bet Badman has a 200 gr RNFP at least. Makes a great load with both 45 auto and 45 Colt. Good luck, GJ PS - I checked for you. Yep, BB has the 200 RNFP either cast lubed or poly coated That design usually has a crimp groove, but that does not mean you have to use it. I find if I seat a 200 grain RNFP in 45 auto just about so the mouth reaches the beginning curve of the ogive nose, and then taper crimp, I get a great feeding round. PPS - looked in several gun reference books. The term "HEAD" is often defined as the solid end of a cartridge case which contains the primer. The HEADSTAMP is the cartridge designation and sometimes manufacturer and sometimes mfg year information stamped into the head of a cartridge case. The slangy attempt to use head to refer to a bullet in a cartridge case is just really wrong because it is already taken for a different meaning. Just MHO. This is ammunition loading, folks, not assembling Mr. Potato Head. ;D

I know of no one running 185 grain slugs in WB for .45 Auto. The gun is just not all that easily tuned to do a 185 at 900 FPS (to get you 166 PF). Muzzle flip is almost all in how you control the gun, given the same power factor. A faster slug does clear the barrel faster, though. So based on that and lots of experience shooting a 200 grain bullet from 1911, that's what I shoot in WB. Clays and Clay Dot are very close to giving same velocity and pressure. I like about 4.2 Clay Dot to give a 170 PF in my gun, but not as much as I like WST. Trail Boss - don't like paying extra for all that air to bulk it up. Besides, very hard to find right now. Good luck, GJ

I find it produces more enjoyable results to run the gun that I run best. And you probably do the same.

Glad all you pards glommed onto the M12....leaves more 97's for me. Although I've tried a couple of M12s, I find them too hard to run really fast. Leave me to my China doll 97s! At least I know how to fix everything on them! But, actually, in 6 years, only a startup glitch on one and the others have been perfect. Shorten the mag spring and away you go.

Better recovery time from each shot. Sure, it would be in the milliseconds per shot. But it especially helps keep tungsten insert recoil guides and other race gun features out. If there is not SOMEWHERE on the frame or slide where you could not shave off .4 ounce of weight, I would be REALLY surprised. Like in the mainspring housing. Or even a groove down the middle of the light rail. Good luck, GJ Well, no, we would hope you would call yourself out for .4 ounce. It's a different game here!

Well, P, you know where the rules are that govern this. You can read them yourself in the WB Shooters Handbook, or right here, too. Page 5 and 6. MODERN CATEGORY MODIFICATIONS Pistol finishes vary widely. Bluing, plating, polishing, painting, etc. are all legal. • Barrel length must be five inches. No barrel porting or compensators or other recoil reducing devices allowed. No recoil reducing devices are allowed. This means no Springcoil, STI, Fire Dragon, Hartts, tungsten, or similar recoil reducing guide rods, full length dust covers, extra weights, and the like. Dust cover light rails are legal. • Unloaded pistol weight may not exceed 42 ounces with an empty magazine inserted. • Barrel with standard barrel bushing. No Bull barrels allowed. • Magazine wells may be beveled, but may not be oversized, extended or flared. • Adjustable or non-adjustable rear sights and blade type front sights are allowed. • Sights may not be optical or fiber optic. Laser sights are not allowed. Sights may be painted or have colored dots or inserts. • Stainless steel pistols are permitted. • No target style grips or thumb rests allowed. Wrap around grips that cover a portion of the front strap are illegal. • Front and rear slide checkering or serrations allowed. • No external "rib" allowed on top of slide. This means no external rib such as a BoMar may be attached to the top of the slide by screws, welding, or any other means. The top of the slide may be flattened, serrated, and/or matted to reduce glare. Original Colt Gold Cup ribs are legal. • Extended beavertail grip safeties allowed. • Magazines must be standard length and cannot hold more than eight rounds. No extended base pads on magazines. This means NO base pads of any kind. Empty magazines must weigh no more than three ounces. • Magazine release may be extended but not oversized. • Thumb safeties may be extended and be ambidextrous. • Slide release may be extended. • Full-length recoil spring guide rod allowed. • Lowered and flared ejection port allowed. • Match trigger allowed. • Lanyard loop is optional. • Lightweight competition hammer allowed. • Checkered front strap and trigger guard allowed. This means any type of checkering, stippling, and/or serrations are legal. • Finger grooves on the front strap are illegal •Flat or arched mainspring housing allowed. Mainspring housing may be serrated or checkered. • Internal accurizing and action tuning is allowed. • Thumb and grip safeties must function correctly. As for a light rail and paint job, those are legal in Modern. You will want to check that you can make the upper weight limit! I highlighted in bold a couple of things to watch for. As I've not had one of the Marine Corp versions in hand.

So, CALL them. Just because a pard puts down an email address does not mean he reads it regularly. When you are getting ready for a big match as a match director, email reading may not be your top priority. Not every baby boomer lives and dies by email, let alone social media - strange as that may seem to younger pards.