Cowboy Action Shooting....equipment?

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Once you get rolling check out Pioneer Gun Works for a short stroke kit and aluminum carrier. If that is a Uberti mfg gun his parts will drop in for the most part. My 73 is a Chaparrel and I was able to use his kit with some heavy modifications..

http://www.pioneergunworks.com/Competition_Parts.html

I am looking for a 66 to back up my 73. I started with a Marlin Competition Cowboy in 38 and would never go back to it now on purpose, but it's my backup.
 
msta999, if the 45 hurts your wrist you are reloading way too heavy. The purists will tell you that the 45 is the only way to go, use a 250gr bullet, and when you shoot it onehanded, the barrel must reach 45 degrees. They will state that it is the cowboy way. One cowboy has always lamented that he doesn't have a chance shooting 45s when we shoot 38s. Seriously. Big whoop!!
I started with 45s. 165gr lead bullet, 4.2gr American Select with a very tight roll crimp. Soft shooting round. They will run good in your 66. They ran good in my 73. A Marlin is very OAL sensitive but the 66 and 73 are not. The OAL on the 66 and 73 must be just long enough to not allow another round to feed in to the elevator and lock it up. Again, the 165s and up should work fine.
This is a game of ringing steel, not knocking down a man. Play the "game" as you see fit, stay within the rules, and have a ball.
Talk to the "shooters". Find what they load.

Now if you want to see some amazing shooting:

http://www.spencerhoglund.com/worldrecords.html
 
herritage manufacturing hads cheaper guns in .45 colt and you can get a belt and guns and holster for pretty cheap but the only thing is they dont make rifles so.....
 
45's will only hurt your wrists if you use full-power loads and beyoond.
Do you relaod? if not the cost of 45 ammo is gonna kill ur wallet.DO save your brass,you will want to reload as soon as possible for saving big $$$.
I used 165 grain bullets for a while,but like the 200's better for accuracy,etc. I know a fella who sells cast bulleets very reasonabley I could turn ya on to.
I"m still going to the Capitol city gun club shoot this coming Saturday,come on up and watch the fun.
I'll be the guy in the cowboy hat. lol
 
I have ordered my first 200 rounds of 200 gr .45 rounds. I did find a place online, that will reload them pretty cheap if you send your brass. I talked to a buddy of mine, the guy who got involved with this sport, and he said if I buy the dies or what ever is needed, he will let me use his reloader, which I think is only fair.....I mean if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have spent all this money on guns and equipment. ;) I know 200 rounds isn't much, but I'll have to wait till the end of the month to buy more, I bought everything to get me to the first comp in Apr and do some practice too, so I'm short on cash now. I was thinking of looking around for some brass, but I need to find out what I have to buy to get my buddies reloader to reload .45's.

Anyone know if the reloader dies/casts or what ever they are called are the same for the colt and the acp? That would be nice to reload for my ruger P90 .45.....although I have ever collected the brass for it, I'll have to start.

One other thing, what 12 ga rounds are you using for targets? My buddy bought what he called heavy rounds, I think they were 3 inch and after five ranges I was feeling it a little in the sholder.
 
The colt and acp dies are not the same. You will probably get a 3 die carbide set for colt and 4 die for acp as it needs a taper not a roll crimp. As for 12 gauge, go with low casing #7, usually cheaper and not as bad in re-coil. Good luck and be safe
 
for 12 guage,ESPECIALLY for cowboy matches,you want the lightest you can possily find.Our targets are very close and ANY 12 ga. round will take down reactive targets.Most offerings are listed by fps/velocity.Some by the old Dram equivelant method.The smaller these numbers,the better.Just use 2 3/4" rounds,and the more bb's the better,as in No.8 shot.
My local bimart had shot shells,2 for eleven bucks this week,but I ddin't notice what 'power range' they were.
IF possible,get brass based hulls,but they usually cost more..they usually eject easier out of a double barrrel,althou you can polish the chambers with tooth paste to make them slick.Try to avoid ribbed hulls as they also can hang up in a double barrel.
You will need 2 seperate sets of dies fot your 45's.To save a few bucks Lee dies are fine,I"ve used them for years.I like a seperate roll crimp die for the colt rounds,you want a good roll crimp on your lead bullets so they don['t move under recoil,and having a seperate die makes adustinig the dies easier.
 
To expand on the shotgun shells, the boxes have listings related to "power", shot, velocity. Most of the time you will see the word"dram'. This is a term used in blackpowder loads that carried over to shotgun verbage. Do not buy a 3dram load or one that says 1300fps. Strong load. The cheapest round out there is the Remington black hull that is the devil in disguise. Those things hurt. You will knock down the targets if you don't get "the flinch".
Most 12 gauge medium loads are around 15-16gr of powder under an ounce or an ounce and 1/8th ounce of lead.
A 7/8 ounce load with 2 3/4dr of #8 shot will more than suffice. When I competed, I loaded one ounce of #8 over 12gr of American Select. With a long forcing cone, the barrel fully backbored (no restriction) I could take any knockdown over. Very soft recoil and great shot recovery.


This not to be meant as an elitist statement: My choice of pistols is:
1. Ruger 3-screws. Works like a Colt but stronger. Been very tempted to build two "Cougars" from my back up 3-screws.
2. Colts
3. USFA
4. Smoke Wagons
 
For the non-shotshell reloader nothing beats the Winchester Low recoil, low noise loads. The dram is listed as MIN.

They are readily available at every Wal Mart in my area for $7.47 a box which is only $2 a box more than the bulk box stuff.
 
YEP! I love them 45 colts. Been shooting and reloading for a while, now. Expanded reloading to my 300 Weatherby and my 45 acp. Been looking at maybe reloading 12 ga too, but haven't touched that one yet. If I could reload 22LR and 22 mag, I would be able to reload for all my needs. Thanks for the info and advice. It was a big help.

Oh, I even cast some of my first bullets.....I still need to work on that skill though, having trouble keeping the 6 bullet mold hot, keep getting little lines in the bullets.
 
Nice yellowboy ! I love the 66 and 73 replicas ! much more than later stuff (except the big bore 76..)

here is my CAS stuff :

wester10.jpg


now I need a 1860 henry replicas plus a 1875 remington !
 
Here are mine.

3837908998_d28d1337e2.jpg

I have a couple of BP guns if I want to go that route.
2 AWA .45s
1 Colt .45 SA from 1903
5" Schofield from Navy arms
Uberti 1873 with 26" barrel
Stoeger Uplander double barrel
Winchester Model 97 Shottie for those times I need to pump it up.

All in .45 colt and 12 Gauge. Anything less and John Wayne is going to slap you silly.

oh yes, and here is my long range rifle. A real Borschardt Sharps rifle in .45-70

3837929042_570d9d0c5f.jpg
 
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I'm curious: Why are two handguns required? Isn't authenticity part of the allure of Cowboy Action Shooting, and if so, did historic cowboys really carry two handguns on their hips? Thanks!
 
Authenticity is only one part of the sport. I think only shooting one revolver would be less enjoyable and negate some of the "Action" part of it, definitely would reduce the "Shooting" part.

There are plenty of re-enacting groups but the shooting competition sets CAS apart from that.

With that said, you can shoot with one pistol at our club, we have a category for people without complete equipment who just want to try out the game before investing in all of the gear.
 
I dont know why, but you are right.. 2 revolvers, even more when they are 1873's is not much authentic (exept for Hollywood)...

actually, if CAS was meant to be authentic, we should see a lot of cappy & ball crap revolvers..
 
The 1878 Sharps Borchardt gets no respect.
SASS says: All rifles MUST have exposed hammers.
NRA BPCR Silhouette likewise.
NRA BPCR Mid and Long Range will allow the '78, though.
There is a seldom seen Military category, too.


When I started CAS about 1994, only one sixgun was required. They soon added the second so the match round count could be increased without requiring reloads on the clock.

There are some cap and ball shooters, some for the authenticity, some because they think it will let them get in cheap. But it is a chalenging skill to keep them running.
 
The guys who started SASS had their vision of a combination of 1800's cowboys and also the movie and television westerns that a lot of us grew up watching. If we were going to be authentic we'd all probably have one gun and not shoot more than a box of ammo a year. Not a whole lot of fun. Same thing with two revolvers. It's more fun to shoot or watch another person shooting two revolvers than to watch someone on the line reloading. A lot of people have their preconceived ideas as to what cowboy action shooting or IDPA or other shooting sports are or should be.

You can choose to be authentic as you want to be (like some civil war reanactors), with your clothes, gear and guns. I shoot all blackpowder ammo in my 44-40 rifle and 44 Russian in my revolvers. Some are there mainly to shoot and just dress to the minimum requirements to participate. As long as you're within the rules it doesn't matter. :)
 
The thought of CAS is becoming dangerously compelling for me, financially speaking, that is. As if I need one more passion to spend my money on!

I've got the coach gun covered, but have only one Colt .45 without even a rig. I'll also need to find a rifle. So since I'm more or less starting from scratch, from what I've discerned thus far, looks like a pair of Ruger .357s and a rifle of matching caliber are in my future.

I guess Maw's operation will jest have to wait!
 
Some are there mainly to shoot and just dress to the minimum requirements to participate. As long as you're within the rules it doesn't matter.
Click to expand...

Lot's of people ask me about cowboy shooting. I always tell them that some guys do it because they love playing cowboy and some guys do it because they love to shoot competitively. Nothing wrong with either and you can usually tell the difference when you look at a posse. You don't see too many of the competitive shooters running buntlines :D

Of course there are guys who are both and probably guys who are neither for that matter, that's what I like about CAS. It's social, fun spirited, fast pace, you shoot a lot and you can stand at the loading table with a 12 year old girl on your right and a 80 year old man on your left.

Sleazy, you should hit a couple of matches to watch and meet a few people. I guarantee you will have fun and more than likely have multiple offers to shoot a match with some borrowed equipment. Regardless of "why" we shoot the sport we're all addicted and the average shooter has doubles of everything, some of us have triples, quadruples etc..
 
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