Garrison Joe

Some amount of bragging and implied running down of other matches could be read into that advert. Hopefully it's in good fun. "Big Boy Britches" - well, I believe our costuming rules already keep out the shorts and speedos. :o I believe in the big tent theory. There is room for all kinds of WB matches. As long as the WB rules are followed, spotters stay awake, shooters enjoy it and it runs smoothly, I'll shoot what is out on the bays. It's nice to have a heads up that targets may be set to emphasize accuracy over speed, but I like shooting both kinds. I've found I do better at the accuracy matches recently, but I love Bordertown's WB "side" match, too, and it's all speed. I'm still trying to learn how to set my "expected shooting cadence" clock to properly match the targets. The more variety, the more chances to tune my clock.

So, you make your self your own darn check weight! Stop by a junk yard, pick up a chunk of heavy steel that you can cut down to ABOUT 40 ounces. Perhaps a heavy angle iron or even a short length of i-beam. Just using a bath scale, lop off pieces until you get between 2.5 and 4 pounds. When you go to a big match with a calibrated scale, have them weight your check weight. Write the weight on a label on the chunk. Then, if you get a cheap kitchen scale to do your own weighing, start by weighing your chunk and calibrate scale to read out that weight, and to read 0 when the scale is empty. You will be almost perfectly calibrated to weigh a 1911 then.

Swap out extended safety with standard one. Save a fraction of an ounce. ;D Grind positioning button off the grip safety. Save another fraction of an ounce. ::)

Tight holster will continue to be tight until you adjust it. Lubes are a "coverup" of the problem. Wet holster down well, stick oiled pistol in a good freezer bag, shove it down deep into holster and place in a warm place to reshape the holster to your gun. Couple of days, custom fit to your piece, and you won't be having to lube the leather. Good luck, GJ

Try this link for all ten stages. Let me know if you can't see them. https://plus.google.com/photos/102143975088562546523/albums/6123705287851739905?banner=pwa&authkey=CKeq8_r1mPqlugE

My suggestion for what I thought was a weak point of the match (the arrays of targets to be shot once each with rifle and once or multiple times each with pistol). Spotting that "array" of targets for fast shooters in an accurate manner is almost impossible for the folks we draw to matches. There were several 0,1,and 3 finger displays by spotters at WR for some of our faster shooters. Do away with having to spot those kind of shooter's choice of order target sets, and go to only knockdowns. Shooter can go as fast as they dare, all the spotters do is count the standing targets at the end. The ultimate shooting gallery. Yes, more knockdowns means resetting and higher target costs. But, if we want the game to be getting better as shooters get better, then we have to upgrade our target concepts, too. Good luck, GJ Oh, BTW, I really like 6 stages per day, and would like to return to that. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. And do the side matches and warmup stages on the day before match, perhaps? We didn't turn out many folks for side matches in the afternoon after the 5 main stages this time!

State 3 - per Dan's OP. Round with an indented primer, powder charged and bullet seated. In my book, that is a live round. I have fired at least twenty of those in matches quite successfully over the last year. I have a nasty habit of cycling the lever on 73's before I've gotten to the break point on the trigger. I get a light indent on primer. I load it next stage and it fires fine. For safety purposes, your state 3 HAS to be considered a live round. I can see lots more states for the ammunition than just 3. For example, what state is: round that has no primer but has powder and bullet? round that has a good primer, bullet seated but no powder? and a few more. I understand you want to get to the point of dividing the ammunition into two conditions, "live" and "otherwise". So that you can better understand the rules. Happy Jack's proposal or even mine, to use the common definition, will work, as long as the ammo can be inspected from five feet away and determined to be "live" or "nope, that's not a live round" Because it is the safety of the shooter or posse members that is the basis for establishing MOST of the rules in the WB (or Cowboy) handbooks.

I would NOT include the powder as being a necessary item to make a live round. A primer and bullet are enough for all of our rule-making purposes, and are MUCH easier to check on the firing line than having to disassemble a round to check if the loader put any powder in it or not. I checked all 17 places in the WB shooter's handbook where "live ammunition" is called out, and that is a lot of citations without a definition. It is assumed that the "common man's" definition of live ammo will be well understood. Until someone decides that it is important to include in the definition list, use the common definition and you will get good results. I did the thought-exercise of replacing "round containing a bullet" for all the places where "live ammunition" occurred - it worked for all the rules in WB shooter's handbook. "Live round" is what is used about 5 times in the Cowboy Shooter's Handbook. A "live round" is not defined there either. The common-sense definition of live round has served them pretty well for about 20 years or so. Bottom line - don't look for a definition for "live ammunition" to be added to the WB Shooter's Handbook anytime soon. Good luck, GJ

Nice shooting, Sam! And Silvertip! Good luck, GJ

All Mod 12s were cut with the "new" 2.75 chambers, not the 2 9/16ths common to 97s. Lengthening forcing cone would be an easy and effective improvement, since you probably will shoot those modern plastic wads. Back boring requires removal of barrel thickness. You would want a good gunsmith to do that work anyway, and first thing he'd better do is measure carefully to see if it can be done with the barrel you have. It would eliminate any future addition of choke tubes, almost certainly. I've never heard of anyone back-boring for Cowboy/WB shooting, as it is most often done to improve patterning as much as reduce perceived recoil. good luck, GJ

Well, most of the rectangle blocks should be decision blocks (diamonds). The No answer out of those blocks should flow out to a "Not Safe to Move" state (rectangle) block. The final "Safe to Move" is a state block, so it is already shown properly as a rectangle. Because that is what you are determining - is the gun safe to move with, or is it not safe. Once even one of the conditions fails to be safe, the flow goes to the Not Safe to Move result, and the decision process stops. However, when you use terms that the rule book does not use (like "no loaded round in chamber"), you will probably confuse folks, and take the chance of getting a slightly different meaning put into your chart (it may disagree with the rule book). It may be shorter to use that term, but that is not the wording from the rule book. Rule book usually says: "empty chamber or expended round (in chamber)" Good luck, GJ

Well, no. You have the right ideas in mind and the requirements, but you don't have the general concepts of how to draw a decision chart, nor have you remembered that a toggle link rifle has a round on the carrier almost all the time. So, requiring there be no round on the carrier for safe movement on a fired round in the chamber is not right. Don't think the rules care about a round on carrier if you are in "fired round in chamber and action closed" state. If you look at the Miss Flow Chart shown in the Cowboy's Shooters Handbook, you will see how to combine several decisions, branch (split) the flow depending upon what the decision is (like - chamber loaded or chamber with empty case in it or chamber empty - that would be a three way split of logic). It is actually simpler to understand the situation just with the rules than with what you have for a chart right now. There is considerable promise in making up a good simple decision chart, so I would encourage you to try again.... perhaps starting with the really important decision diamond being the if action is open or closed. Then, based on the first decision, you may not even need to question if there is a round on carrier. Good luck, GJ PS. Here's a good tutorial on how decision flow charts are made up. http://www.edrawsoft.com/How-to-draw-flowchart.php GJ

Sounds like tons of fun! A lead slug (even with GC) at about 1500 FPS is more appropriate to much of what WB is trying accomplish with bolt-action rifles, whether in a stage like yours, or in a stand-alone BAMM (rifle only) match. Maximum-Speed-onto-fairly-generous-target-at-short-distances (yep, for these rifles, 75 to 150 yards is a short distance). Snap Shots, in other words. To get that 1500 FPS, you surely can use a variety of powders, but some of the best are faster powders than 4064, ranging from Unique, to 2400, to 5744 (about 18-20 grains, perhaps), to 4198 (fastest to slowest). Trail Boss? Maybe, but you won't find the folks who are shooting cast boolits regularly using TB by the truckload. A good mil rifle with open sights ought to be able to shoot 2 to 2.5 MOA. And, given a good bore, that is usually a good target for a quality cast boolit load. Good luck, GJ

That is a reinforcing block that was used on, if I remember right, earlier variants of 97s to support the ejector spring so it would work better and break less. If yours is loose, you can try to find a new one that will fit the pin hole tightly enough, but that may be real tough. You may be best off soft soldering the block back in. Gun Parts Corporation shows they have some in stock. Item 45 on this page of catalog: http://www.gunpartscorp.com/Manufacturers/Winchester-33573/Shotguns-42603/97Takedown-41826.htm?page=5 Good luck, GJ

If the lost brass pickup happens like it did 2 years ago, the Scouts will have school, and will pick it up at the end of the day. That way you still can buy it back the next day. Glad to hear that someone other than me enlightened them that they had priced pickup brass way too high 2 years ago. I'm sure they will be adjusting. Good luck, GJ

The Scouts (and some hard working parents and siblings) in Phoenix usually hustle pretty well. I've seen the brass available each morning, after the day it was shot, unless there was enough rain to make that day's crop impossible to retrieve. Watch for a tent set up with the Scouts under it with bagged brass. Good luck, GJ

Thanks NB. That was the intent - to point out it might be just one more. QM - if you are a new shooter to WB, you would do well to find a local shooter to let you know where locally you can get good ammo, or whether someone might load for you to get you started. We almost all load our own, especially for .45 Auto, as there is almost no commercial ammo that is really suitable for this game. For us to make a local recommendation, we would need to know where you are located.

Garrison Joe re-upping for side match assistance. PS: I see you did not have my name recorded on the list you posted of who was helping. Double check, as I can help where you need me! Thanks, Gene, you da man! GJ

You guys playing with trolls again?

First clean the mag tube good and lube lightly with an oil that dries well. EEzox or Boeshield. Look to see if you have kinked your spring. If you have, a Rem 870 spring will replace it, but it will need to be trimmed. Look to see if you have got the rear end of spring correctly into the follower. Reversing the spring sometimes makes the fit much better. Easy to switch ends of spring by mistake. See how much spring sticks out the end of mag tube. If more than about 4 inches, you might be able to trim back to 3-4 inches. But since you are trying to fix a weak-feed situation now, I'd save trimming it until the last ditch attempt. Most likely it's assembled wrong somewhere. Good luck, GJ

Yep, you can ease the slide down to prevent possible battering caused by dropping slide on empty chamber. Just don't ease the hammer down - let it fall. I usually will ease my slide down to protect the action work I have done. Good luck, GJ

Could well be that allowing "finger in the trigger guard" is a root cause of some east Texas clubs going to the additionally very silly, local "plant and then poke" rule to prevent the ADs that were occurring with non-hammered double-barrel shotguns. If folks maintained good trigger discipline, no ADs could occur while moving. Good luck, GJ

You do realize that it would be easier to run a lighter bullet at 125 PF than a 230 grain? Making that PF and still getting the 1911 to cycle would most likely be fairly easy if you go to a 200 grain or even a 185 grain slug. But 230 may be a challenge. Bullseye target guns have been run with 185 grains at about 700 FPS, or 129 PF, for years. Sometimes by dropping the recoil spring to around 12 pounds and mainspring to about 18 pounds, and a judicious amount of smoothing.

Here's a serrated mag release. http://www.midwestgunworks.com/page/mgwi/prod/1911-magazine-catch/F404770

You really don't need much beyond what is needed for a Cowboy match. Except for MORE brass pickers! Figure out how you want to score your local match. The Usual Choices are * total time * rank points * stage points It's easy to start with total time and then move to, say, stage points later, so even that is not something to worry about. Training (WB RO class) for at least 3 or 4 shooters will get you some knowledgeable ROs. It's a little disappointing to show up for a WB match and not have anyone with a rule book in their cart and the major rules clear in their head. But with the two great helpers you mentioned, that should not be a problem either. And, you might decide to "relax the firearms requirements" when you get started to let .38 spl rifles and modern pump shotguns in for a while - makes getting new folks out to the match much easier. Maybe even let 9mm pistols in, but the requirement for lead bullets often discourages 9mm shooters with their Glock factory barrels. Go Shoot! Good luck with it!