Ferret
Member
Yesterday (Sat 10th June) was my first BP SASS match. Held by the Molalla River Rangers, in Canby OR.
Tools -
2 * Remington 1858 repro's, 2 * Colt 1860 repro's, EMF Hartford 1892, Remington / Spartan SPR220 Coach.
Loads -
C&B Revs; 30gr Goex FFFg - 44 cal wool wad soaked in lube - lube pill - 457 ball (this seats ball just under chamber rim)
Rifle; 23gr Goex FFFg - pinch of grits - lubed 45 wad - pinch of grits - 255 gr lead SWC
Shotgun; GOEX Black Dawge 12Gauge shotshells
6 stages, 40 shooters, a great time.
This started out a little 'bad' for me. I took the two Remmies out with me and I had 'forgotten' to snap caps / clean the nipples before loading up and stepping out for the first stage. DOH! I scored myself 5 missed out of the 10 pistol rounds coz the caps went 'fffft'. I was a little flustered and didnt even reach down to the bag hanging off my belt in which the capper sat. Hmm, a couple of seconds recapping could have saved me 25 seconds of missed penalties. Other than that no misses with shotgun and rifle. When I got back to the bench to reload the cylinders, I found that the bolt/trigger spring had snapped in one of the remmies, so, I dug down into the bag and pulled out a Pietta 1860 to sit on my left hip.
2nd through 4th stages ran without a hitch. The rifle loads were working quite nicely hitting about 2 inches high at ranges of around 20-25 yards, since this rifle was being used by 3 people, two of which were using smokeless, I wasnt having any issues with anything gumming up. Shotgun shells working perfectly. Shotgun was a little stubborn. Its brand new and is still a little tight, not breaking open enough to let me slip the shells in, or toss the old ones out, I had to push the muzzle end down quite hard to get enough clearance. The pistols were working great. A couple of times I had a cap fall jam the cylinder a little, but, I had an awl in my bag and just popped them out of the way before resuming fire.
The 5th stage was a little weird. Rifle goes Bang-Bang-Bang-Pop-Bang-Bang, steels go Clang-Clang-Clang-plink-Clang-Clang. The spotters jested by saying that they could see the bullet arc its way over to the steel before bouncing off in one piece! Hey... they heard it go plink off the steel, so it was a hit... but, that could have cost me a miss, it was loaded WAY low for some reason (a reloading mistake by me probably.)
6th and final stage was fun. This one had a single rifle and single pistol reload as part of the scenario. Rifle course and reload went without a hitch. I had loaded and capped 5 chambers in my 1860 (left holster) and 6 chambers and 5 caps in the 1858 (right). Pistol course went perfect with the 1860 and then things got interesting. First round went off fine, i then slipped the cap on to 'reload' and continued. 2nd shot fine. The 3rd shot, pop, cap went off but no bang, 4th, Bang, recap 3rd, 5th Bang, 6th pop. Hmm... cock, letdown, cap 6th again. Spin to 3rd, pop. Cock, letdown, recap third. Spin to 6th, Bang, cock, letdown until 3rd again... cock, fire.... BOOOOOOM!!! The last chamber of the match must have had a little more than my normal 30gr in it... cant work out how it happened but... the Boom was heard 500 yards away at the clubhouse. The timer operator in the next bay dropped the timer... Our RO fell over in hysterical laughter, followed by most of the spotters and I turned towards the unloading table shaking my right hand... It felt kind numb....
So... total of 6 misses (including the BOOM which went way over the top of the steel) outta the whole match.
Placing, 2nd to last in the 39 who finished... I am not concerned about this as I was taking it SLOW and trying for as few misses as possible (I WANT a clean match and dont care how long it takes me to get one...) and hey.... the person who came last was my wife... which also isnt a prob, this was her first match ever and she has been shooting a total of 2 weeks now. This was a good start for her... the only way is up and a little practice will get that.
What did I learn?
- I am now addicted to BP cap and ball etc.
- Always clean out your nipples before a match
- Ballistol is a godsend for keeping Remington cylinder pins from binding
- Boresnakes are your friend
- Disabling your range officer with laughter gains you brownie points
- Accuracy is better than speed
- Dont have conversations when you are charging your cylinders.
- Shooting BP will quickly gain you the nickname 'Ol Smellie'
- Bringing spare cylinders and a spare revolver is a BIG bonus.
Tools -
2 * Remington 1858 repro's, 2 * Colt 1860 repro's, EMF Hartford 1892, Remington / Spartan SPR220 Coach.
Loads -
C&B Revs; 30gr Goex FFFg - 44 cal wool wad soaked in lube - lube pill - 457 ball (this seats ball just under chamber rim)
Rifle; 23gr Goex FFFg - pinch of grits - lubed 45 wad - pinch of grits - 255 gr lead SWC
Shotgun; GOEX Black Dawge 12Gauge shotshells
6 stages, 40 shooters, a great time.
This started out a little 'bad' for me. I took the two Remmies out with me and I had 'forgotten' to snap caps / clean the nipples before loading up and stepping out for the first stage. DOH! I scored myself 5 missed out of the 10 pistol rounds coz the caps went 'fffft'. I was a little flustered and didnt even reach down to the bag hanging off my belt in which the capper sat. Hmm, a couple of seconds recapping could have saved me 25 seconds of missed penalties. Other than that no misses with shotgun and rifle. When I got back to the bench to reload the cylinders, I found that the bolt/trigger spring had snapped in one of the remmies, so, I dug down into the bag and pulled out a Pietta 1860 to sit on my left hip.
2nd through 4th stages ran without a hitch. The rifle loads were working quite nicely hitting about 2 inches high at ranges of around 20-25 yards, since this rifle was being used by 3 people, two of which were using smokeless, I wasnt having any issues with anything gumming up. Shotgun shells working perfectly. Shotgun was a little stubborn. Its brand new and is still a little tight, not breaking open enough to let me slip the shells in, or toss the old ones out, I had to push the muzzle end down quite hard to get enough clearance. The pistols were working great. A couple of times I had a cap fall jam the cylinder a little, but, I had an awl in my bag and just popped them out of the way before resuming fire.
The 5th stage was a little weird. Rifle goes Bang-Bang-Bang-Pop-Bang-Bang, steels go Clang-Clang-Clang-plink-Clang-Clang. The spotters jested by saying that they could see the bullet arc its way over to the steel before bouncing off in one piece! Hey... they heard it go plink off the steel, so it was a hit... but, that could have cost me a miss, it was loaded WAY low for some reason (a reloading mistake by me probably.)
6th and final stage was fun. This one had a single rifle and single pistol reload as part of the scenario. Rifle course and reload went without a hitch. I had loaded and capped 5 chambers in my 1860 (left holster) and 6 chambers and 5 caps in the 1858 (right). Pistol course went perfect with the 1860 and then things got interesting. First round went off fine, i then slipped the cap on to 'reload' and continued. 2nd shot fine. The 3rd shot, pop, cap went off but no bang, 4th, Bang, recap 3rd, 5th Bang, 6th pop. Hmm... cock, letdown, cap 6th again. Spin to 3rd, pop. Cock, letdown, recap third. Spin to 6th, Bang, cock, letdown until 3rd again... cock, fire.... BOOOOOOM!!! The last chamber of the match must have had a little more than my normal 30gr in it... cant work out how it happened but... the Boom was heard 500 yards away at the clubhouse. The timer operator in the next bay dropped the timer... Our RO fell over in hysterical laughter, followed by most of the spotters and I turned towards the unloading table shaking my right hand... It felt kind numb....
So... total of 6 misses (including the BOOM which went way over the top of the steel) outta the whole match.
Placing, 2nd to last in the 39 who finished... I am not concerned about this as I was taking it SLOW and trying for as few misses as possible (I WANT a clean match and dont care how long it takes me to get one...) and hey.... the person who came last was my wife... which also isnt a prob, this was her first match ever and she has been shooting a total of 2 weeks now. This was a good start for her... the only way is up and a little practice will get that.
What did I learn?
- I am now addicted to BP cap and ball etc.
- Always clean out your nipples before a match
- Ballistol is a godsend for keeping Remington cylinder pins from binding
- Boresnakes are your friend
- Disabling your range officer with laughter gains you brownie points
- Accuracy is better than speed
- Dont have conversations when you are charging your cylinders.
- Shooting BP will quickly gain you the nickname 'Ol Smellie'
- Bringing spare cylinders and a spare revolver is a BIG bonus.
