An AMEN regarding Cowboy Action. You'll be hard pressed to find a better group of folks. They go out of their way to help one another, trying to live up to The Cowboy Way.
Lever action rifle for cowboy action shooting?
- Thread starter wcmd
- Start date
An AMEN regarding Cowboy Action. You'll be hard pressed to find a better group of folks. They go out of their way to help one another, trying to live up to The Cowboy Way.
Well i ain't selling my 38 spl stuff........it only gives me a good excuse to buy a new rifle and a pair of vaqueros in 45lc......lol
cheers
Filthy Phil
- Location
- Prince George B.C.
I am a relative newcomer (5 years) to Cowboy Action and Wild Bunch. I seldom wind up in the top half of the match scores but I have fun. I am more social than wildly competitive so I do not fire thousands of rounds in practice. My club's monthly fun shoots and several matches around the Island are my practice sessions. I go through around 3500 to 4000 rounds of 45 Colt and a couple of 1000 rounds of 45 Auto annually. I would consider myself to be in the middle of the pack as far as rounds fired over the year.
As for caliber choice, 38/357 is more economical but 44-40 and 45 Colt are more authentic and for me much more satisfying to shoot. 44-40 would be my ultimate choice but it is not as easy to come up with revolvers in that caliber. The 44-40 case is a bit necked and a bit thinner. That results in less blow back in the cylinder and much cleaner guns (and hands). After a couple of stages with 45 Colt my hands are pretty grubby. But I still love it. I have observed that 45 colt seems to have less feeding issues in some rifles than 38. I have not seen many Cowboy Action shooters who are using 357 mag cases. That might be their problem.
Loading costs are climbing as the dollar plunges. Primers are up to a least a nickel each after taxes and powder for my loads comes out to about a nickel a round. Bullets are costing me 6 cents each at present. So I am paying around 16 cents a round or $8.00 for a box of 50.
True, nowadays most commercial bullet providers are charging up to 20 cents per 250 gr 45 caliber bullet after taxes. So the box of 50 would come in around $16.00 using commercially supplied lead bullets.
At the commercial bullet price an average Cowboy action shoot for 5 stages would be around $32.00 for revolver and rifle plus $9.00 or $10.00 for shotgun shells.
My actual Saturday match cost for ammo comes in around $25.00.
At our club, we pay an additional $20.00 for the match so my overall direct costs for a Cowboy Action Saturday fun shoot comes in at $45.00.
If you can find lead and have time you can cast your own very cheaply. In the old days (the 70's) when I was into Smith and Wesson 357 stuff I cast my own lead bullets and could load 357 for around the cost of a 22 round. Now that sounds like I am whining but was the case back then.
Aside from my horrible math I hope this paints a bit of a picture of shooting costs for a cowboy match shooter.
If you feel up to it take a look are our Cowboy Action club's website. The address is www.valleyregulators.com. You should find it entertaining and pretty informative. Be careful though, you might be a bit envious of the fun we have playing the Cowboy Action shooting game.
As for caliber choice, 38/357 is more economical but 44-40 and 45 Colt are more authentic and for me much more satisfying to shoot. 44-40 would be my ultimate choice but it is not as easy to come up with revolvers in that caliber. The 44-40 case is a bit necked and a bit thinner. That results in less blow back in the cylinder and much cleaner guns (and hands). After a couple of stages with 45 Colt my hands are pretty grubby. But I still love it. I have observed that 45 colt seems to have less feeding issues in some rifles than 38. I have not seen many Cowboy Action shooters who are using 357 mag cases. That might be their problem.
Loading costs are climbing as the dollar plunges. Primers are up to a least a nickel each after taxes and powder for my loads comes out to about a nickel a round. Bullets are costing me 6 cents each at present. So I am paying around 16 cents a round or $8.00 for a box of 50.
True, nowadays most commercial bullet providers are charging up to 20 cents per 250 gr 45 caliber bullet after taxes. So the box of 50 would come in around $16.00 using commercially supplied lead bullets.
At the commercial bullet price an average Cowboy action shoot for 5 stages would be around $32.00 for revolver and rifle plus $9.00 or $10.00 for shotgun shells.
My actual Saturday match cost for ammo comes in around $25.00.
At our club, we pay an additional $20.00 for the match so my overall direct costs for a Cowboy Action Saturday fun shoot comes in at $45.00.
If you can find lead and have time you can cast your own very cheaply. In the old days (the 70's) when I was into Smith and Wesson 357 stuff I cast my own lead bullets and could load 357 for around the cost of a 22 round. Now that sounds like I am whining but was the case back then.
Aside from my horrible math I hope this paints a bit of a picture of shooting costs for a cowboy match shooter.
If you feel up to it take a look are our Cowboy Action club's website. The address is www.valleyregulators.com. You should find it entertaining and pretty informative. Be careful though, you might be a bit envious of the fun we have playing the Cowboy Action shooting game.
