Fun at cowboy silhouette (pistol caliber) match.

[stubbicatt]

The rules at the club stipulate no more than 1100 fps so as to avoid damaging the steel targets. So, me being me, I took some untried 357 magnum loads with me to the match, loaded with 160 grain Lyman RNFP bullets, loaded over 5 grains of 231, as it seemed to be a modest load. The rifle is a 20" Uberti copy of an 1873 rifle.

Previously I had shot that same bullet with a modest charge of 2400 and noticed it shot pretty much to the point of aim to 100 yards, but began to fall precipitously after that.

I am using the standard buckhorn sight that came on the rifle, which is probably a handicap, but it is what I have.

With that apologetic 5 grain loading, I had to bring the rear sight up one click on the slider for each of the ranges, from 40 yards or meters to 100 yards or meters! Now THAT was surprising and I found it a bit humorous. The trajectory must have been a pretty rainbow or something. :)

The game itself is a whole lot of fun, and I learn something each time I shoot it. I am tossing around the idea of putting a tang sight on the rifle and a globe front sight, but mostly considering getting a dedicated single shot rifle for this game.

[Nobade]

Our club has been shooting hunter's pistol silhouette for years. A while back I got them to introduce pistol caliber levergun as an addition since it is the same course of fire. Since then, we have way more rifle shooters than handgun shooters. Everybody really seems to like it. So, just to make things more interesting, I have taken to shooting the match using black powder ammo. The 357 mag, 32-20, 44 mag, and 45 Colt rifles all work quite well with black. I am just as competitive as I was with smokeless, but have more fun and entertain the other shooters more that way. Glad you found out what a fun match this is, have a good time with it!

-Nobade

[stubbicatt]

Nobade, you don't "foul out" with the black at 40 rounds? Do you have to clean your barrel in between stages or something?

I am tempted to duplicate your feat, but I can hear the old gaffers coughing and complaining already, and I haven't even fired a shot. :)

[Baja_Traveler]

I spent a year shooting nothing but black powder in all our silhouette matches. It was great fun - even loaded .22 long rifle with #4 Swiss and shot the small bore match, so it was .22 for the smallbore, .357 for the pistol cartridge, and 38-55 for the rifle. Never had a fouling problem with any of them, and the only repercussions of doing it was the pewter finish receiver on my 38-55 Legendary Frontiersman started to turn a blued color in the front. Not sure why, but it does look nice - kind of a patina...
Do a proper load with good compression and fouling will be minimal, if at all.

[Nobade]

Just as Baja Traveler says, use the right bullets, good lube, and good quality powder (Old "E" is my choice) and you can go 40 rounds no problem. Of course the weather matters a lot - around here it is hot and dry in the summer, and occasionally I will have to wipe between animals. In the winter it's no problem. You can also cheat and add a couple grains of smokeless under the black and shoot with no worries at all.

-Nobade

[TXGunNut]

Does sound like fun. Sillywets are apparently not going to happen at my club but I enjoy beating on them in Raton with rimfires. Don't fall over very often but the "ding" is entertaining.

[stubbicatt]

Oh dang! I'm giggling like a school girl at the mere thought of it. I have some mixed headstamp cases I bought from a widow that I have never used. I tried 5 or 10 25 grains of 3f loads awhile ago, just Goex 3f, and the cases got nastified quickly, and the bore was pretty crusty. The additional cleanup and washing of brass is an annoying prospect, but the giggle factor is pushing me over the edge here. The 25 grain load I got from the Goex website. I didn't compress the charges any other than what the bullet imparted to the load upon seating.

Bring a phial of moose milk and a cleaning rod and some patches, and swab the bore between relays? This really does have promise. Or a grain or so of 231 and the rest 3f?

The boolits I'm shooting are the fat groove Lyman 160 RNFP with Emmeritt's lube, so they should do OK with black powder. It is an enticing prospect to be sure.

I might even duplex some cartridges for my 32-40 in the rifle caliber match and see how that works? I have some 1.5f OE I'm not presently using in any other caliber. Hmm... it does have an appeal.

[snaketail]

GunNut - you do know about the matches at the Halton City Club? Here is a link to their web site http://www.haltomcityrpc.org/levergun.html. Watch out for a big guy in bib overalls...Preston tends to win all the matches.

M