Reloading for CAS

[eridepilot]

Just bought my first SA pistol, a Ruger Vaquero in 45 colt. Whats the best way to reload for cowboy action shooting? I have been researching using IMR Trail boss, Starline brass and 185gn cast bullets. Any thoughts?

[eridepilot]

Forgot to add 5.5" barrel on the ruger, and to ask the question round nose or wad cutters?

[Fjold]

Load to the lighest level allowed in competition. It makes for faster recovery times between shots.

[eridepilot]

I understand that. I guess my main question is then, does anyone have experience with Trail Boss or should I look into another powder? From everything that I read trail boss has several benefits including; a cleaner burn, less recoil and no chance of double charging a case therefore making it a safer powder. The guy at the gun store was saying that it is great with lead bullets of almost any caliber.

[eridepilot]

Once agin forgot to add one more comment to my thread, primers for Cowboy action shooting. From what I understand federal primers are the way to go over winchester and cci. Any thoughts?

[gatesbox]

Trail boss is great, everyone uses it...Starline brass is great but so is anything else you cand find in 45 colt, Winchester, etc...cheap primers are fine, never had a problem with cci, or Remington, etc...

Bullets, round nose flat point RNFP I use 200 grain....make sure and order the .452 not the .454....

These guys on Facebook do a great job and are cheap....

http://www.facebook.com/pages/2nd-Chance-Bullet-Co/190229570996444

[eridepilot]

Cool thanks Gates, now what about load data for Trail Boss?

[gatesbox]

Go here....

http://data.hodgdon.com/main_menu.asp

Pistol cartridges for LRNFP with your desired bullet grain....then use the minimum load.....

[Whiterabbit]

Love trailboss. Those brass don't need to tumble long before they are clean...

[wellfedirishman]

Trailboss is definitely the way to go. It is safe, clean, and you doesn't make hardly any smoke (a big plus if you shoot in evening matches).

Good luck with reloading, it's very helpful for CAS since you will be shooting a lot of ammo.

Just bought my first SA pistol, a Ruger Vaquero in 45 colt. Whats the best way to reload for cowboy action shooting? I have been researching using IMR Trail boss, Starline brass and 185gn cast bullets. Any thoughts?

[DC45]

Roundnose is fine for revolver rounds. Some don't like them for the tubular magazines for fear of recoil setting off primers.
So, Round Nose Flat Point (RNFP) or Truncated Cone (TC) is the way to go for the rifles.
And your wadcutter bullets have to protrude a little from the case, not flush or recessed.
And.... a heavy crimp will help ya..

[Lucas McDennis]

Another Cowboy's Opinions

Well I see some of my fine cowboy pards and a couple other varmints have already jumped in to answer your questions. I would add that it's always good to slug your cylinder throats and size bullets one or two thou' bigger. My three Ruger .357 revolvers all have 0.359" cylinder throats (and they're very consistent in sizing), so I buy bullets sized to 0.360" for them. So far I've only found Penn Bullets to cast large enough to be able to size to 0.360". My .44 mag Ruger Bisley has very consistently sized cylinder throats of 0.432", so 0.433" is the best bullet sizing for it. Again, hard to find from anybody but Penn.

I have HEARD that Ruger's .45's run small, but have never measured one myself.

My Rossi and Uberti lever guns run closer to "standard" sizing in both .357 and .44 mag, so I buy bullets sized to 0.358" and 0.431", respectively, for those. And yes, I load different ammo for my revolvers and rifles.

I'll add another vote for Trail Boss. It's a little more expensive, but the bulkiness makes loading easier, and you avoid position sensitivity of the powder in the case.

I'll also add that for this game, when you generally just need to make noise by hitting a steel plate, you want to use the lightest bullets you can, and keep the speeds low. Read the rulebook for minimum speeds, but you want to be sure to avoid sticking squibs in your barrels.

However, sometimes in CAS you need to knock something down, and it's frustrating to keep hitting that something with mouse-fart loads, and having it stay up. So you want some "cheater" knock-down loads hidden but handy in your cart. For this, I keep some .44 mags loaded up with 320 grain bullets, propelled to just under the maximum SASS speed limits (1000 fps for revolvers, 1400 fps for rifles). Trail Boss is not the powder for these "magnum" loads, though. I use WW-296, IMR-4227 etc. for these. You will also want to select brass that has not been fired too many times.

Oops! Almost forgot to mention primers. If you get serious about this game, you will be lightening up all your springs as much as you can. Federal primers pop the easiest. Their "sensitivity" is the reason Lee prefers you not use them in their loading equipment. But when you take your race guns to the ragged edge of reliability, Federal primers do give you some extra margin. One of my guns misfires about 8% of the time on CCI's, but goes bang every time with Federals. Over time, more of my guns will be like this. I've only been at it for less than a year.

[wtkaiser]

This last post is why a) I never won, although I had a lot of fun, and b) why I left SASS, although I still have my badge and number. The phrase "if you get serious about this game" says it all. I shot "standard" lead loads, with a stock set of Rugers and a stock Marlin. When you have to shoot to knock something down, you can do that with every bullet you load. You don't have to play with springs and primers and guessing what will go off. I'm from the "keep it simple" school of thought.
Of course, I was ecstatic just to run a clean stage! Winning? FORGET IT!

[Lucas McDennis]

Ha! Well we come in all shapes, sizes, colors, ages, and dispositions. Half the fun for me is load development, and scheming about how to get the best advantage in any shooting situation. I sweat the details on accuracy, figuring every half inch gained in tighter groups is another half inch margin in my sloppiness due to speed!

[noylj]

You should be loading black powder for realism.
Don't use any compressed loads with Trail Boss.
I would think that a .32-20 revolver and 1892 lever action would be the way to go.
There should be a SASS forum where your question would have been covered several hundred times.