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Starting silhouette shooting.

7.6K views 24 replies 14 participants last post by  JBrowning  
#1 ·
This silhouette shooting looks like a lot of fun. I just bought a 1895 cowboy would it be suitable for silhouette shooting. Do they do any silhouette shoots in eastern Oklahoma.
 
#2 ·
Hey RK,

Welcome to MO.

405 gr LFP, Starline brass, 13.7 gr Universal Clays, Fed 210. 1200 fps. Easy on the shoulder, and should take the Rams. 500M. The Turkeys are "hard", at 385M. LOL

And a "MVA #108".

Good to go!

They will not allow you to damage (oops, meant to say shoot, LOL) the pistol caliber targets with the 45/70. LOL

The "Rifle" targets..........you are "golden"!

Later, Mark
 
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#3 ·
I assume that you are asking about Cowboy silhouette and not high power silhouette. The 45-70 would certainly be enough bullet, but you would want to load in down quite a bit. After 40 rounds your shoulder might get a little weary. The rams in CB silhouette are only at 200 meters, so as I said, you have plenty of bullet. I believe there are matches in Ft. Smith, AR at the Old Fort Gun Club, and I know there are matches in OK City. I run the CB matches at the Benton Gun Club just South of Bryant, AR. We shoot smallbore and pistol cartridge cowboy on the 3rd Saturday, and shoot the CLA (big bore) match the next day. Come on over and try it out.

Greg
 
#4 ·
Cowboy Lever Action is a reloaders game. My objective is to develop a load that I can comfortably shoot in a 40 or 60 round match, knock down all the targets and not ruin my shoulder, not lead the bore or not miss the target; quite a challenge.

I'm in St. Louis and travel to matches in Topeka, Oklahoma City and Litte Rock. If you want to play, you'll have to travel some.

Our local club (St. Louis Bench Rest Club) will have monthly CLA (for 30-30 and your 45-70) matches starting on March 19 (then April 23, May 22, August 27 and October 23). If enough people participate the club "may" buy Pistol Cartridge targets too (this is where you'll need a different rifle.) The distances are 50, 100, 150 and 200 meters.

All of the ranges have fine directors and you will be welcome to shoot at any of them (Greg - that comment should be worth a beer).

Welcome to your new addiction.

Michael
 
#13 ·
Michael,
Not true about being a reloader's game. I have been shooting for 3-4 years and only just started reloading. Choose the right ammo and it won't cost an arm and a leg. The .30-30 works great for rifle. .357 works well for the rifle pistol cartridges and both are still reasonable. Plus if just starting you're not shooting 1,000 rounds anyway. Just don't want to discourage non-reloaders from getting in the game.

John
 
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#5 ·
Easily done, Just grab a box of Missouri Bullet company 405gr bullets load up 30gr's(as a starting load) of IMR-4198 and go to it!! Your sights will definitely need to change however for consistency, so I put a MVA# 108 vernier on mine. I also put the Lyman L66A peep as well based on Wind's recomendation. After shooting with this combo for a while, I added the MVA Hadley Eye piece, helped a LOT and allowed me to shoot at shorter and longer ranges easier being able to change the diameter of the peep!
Here is mine, although I did trade away my Marlin 1895 in 45-70, I did put this same rig on my Marlin Cowboy in 38-55.
 
#6 ·
You using a receiver AND a tang sight!?!?
Are you looking through both apertures?
Sorry to be confused, but I don't understand how you can see through both. With my Lee Shaver tang sight I can't get in position to see through a receiver sight.
I do agree on the Hadley Eye piece.

Michael

PS: Nice Jeep
 
#8 ·
I went to two IHMSA sihlouette matches in Oklahoma a few years ago, it seems to me that the range was northeast of OKC., the directions were fuzzy even then, with "turn where the round barn used to be". and such. they did high power rifle matches there too out to 600 yards or so,. dont to the same mistake I did when I started sihlouettes, dont go to max loads, the critters will fall with loads that allow you to drive home with both hands.
 
#9 ·
Ha! No, not at the same time, I put both on there for the picture!! I use my rifles for other things besides bench shooting, so the peep is for that!! Plus, the front sight will need to be replaced with something you can file down...you'll need to...trust me!!
So, bascially, Vernier for long distance shots, or just shooting steel! The peep for everything else. The LYman peep with a push of a button slides off the receiver so it's easy on and off with same POI.
 
#15 ·
I shot at my first NRA CLA silhouette shoot last August (Rumney, NH) same place I took my hunter
safety instructors training 30 years ago. As a newbie to the sport but experienced at reloading, I can
definitely see the benefit in putting together a specific load to do the job. Plus it gives me something
to do during those long cold Florida winter days, like today... ;-) Now that I am hooked, all I have to
do is find a fire-pole that I can use, and a range close to me that offers it. Lots of fun!! :) :)
 
#20 ·
......(snip)...... the benefit in putting together a specific load to do the job ......(snip)..... all I have to
do is find a fire-pole that I can use, and a range close to me that offers it. Lots of fun!! :) :)
Hi Doc,

You can do all sorts of things when you start to sort out your loads. I load a 180gn cast pill sized to .311 into my Zane Grey 30-30 over 20.5 gn of 2207 (H4198 over there I think) and it takes rams fine. I then use a 165gn pill on turkeys with 17gn of the same powder, and switch to 16gn behind the 165gn pill for pigs. I take chickens with the pig load by aiming at where the legs attach to the body. The ram load doesn't kick me too hard with the crescent buttplate, and I don't have to adjust sights at all during the match. So no rushing about at the line, or squinting through a magnifying glass (old eyes, you know?). It is still worth using a rear peep though, as it will improve most people's buckhorn sight scores.
A purist could say I should use the best load for groups and sort my sight settings, but I'm there to have fun (and maybe occasionally beat those that take this stuff too seriously). Closing up a group by an extra 1.5" at 200 just isn't worth it to me when my wobble offhand is worth way more than 6" at 200!

:flute::flute: :laugh::laugh::laugh:
 
#17 ·
405 gr. bullets are way to much for the chickens at any speed. We have invited one fellow not to come back after he broke the feet off 17 chickens in 5 matches with his 45/70 CB.
After I welded the feet back on those chickens,we went 28 matches and had 5 chickens need to be repaired again, along with one ram and 4 pigs and 1 turkey.

I use 300 gr. bullets out to the turkey's and 400's on the rams sometimes from my Browning 1886 and Marlin 45/70 CB.
 
#18 ·
I agree - 400 grains is rather large and unnecessary (except maybe hard set rams). I use a 300 grain (Buffalo Arms 459300 mold) for everything including rams, over 14.3 grains Trailboss. I can shoot this load all day long comfortably and have never worried about loosing rams. Recoils like a mid range 30-30 load. AAA scores don't lie...

 
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#19 ·
years ago, we had a guy out at aircap gun club shooting silhouettes with a t/c contender and factory 405 gr. no target damage at pistol velocities, but messed up his arm real bad. I have bent my heavy swinger with the trapdoor a few times.
 
#21 ·
Hey Curan, thanks for the response. Choosing a specific load for each stage sounds like a pretty neat idea. I went nuts trying to get my sight adjustments set to the right number of clicks when I was
preparing at the line for each stage. (yeppers old eyes syndrome here too...) ;-) I am definitely planning on .30-30 as my cartridge of choice. Sadly, I hear that NRA regs won't allow me to use my
336A in .30-30AI even if I shot factory loads, but I will get over it by finding a beater and fixing it up.... :) Thanks again!
 
#22 ·
My pleasure to help you out Doc. The more people we have enjoying silly-wetts, the better I reckon.

The 30-30 is a great round for the match, but you will want a heavy load to give some certainty to knocking over the rams. If you are shooting cast, look for a gas check pill that is over 170gn, and preferably 180gn. Since I found my load for the 180gn I am using, I have hit 77 rams, and haven't had one stand yet. Previously I was using a 165gn flat base, and would ring and not drop about one in five.

There was finally a day when it all came together (the wrong way) and I hit 7 rams and only 3 fell.
That was when I decided I needed a gas-check and more ooompf! :boxing:
 
#23 ·
A few of us over the years shooting CLAS have found that velocities in the black-powder range are perfect, so between 1100-1500 fps with cast bullets. This allows you to use the heaviest bullet possible in any smaller calibre such as a .30. In .45 though all you need is a 300-350 grain bullet. Easy on the shoulder & cheap as you get many hundreds of shots from a tin of powder.
Slug your bore, just a pure lead slug very lightly tapped into the muzzle is enough to get a close idea of what your bore measures (find a sinker that almost fits these are pure lead). Make sure your cast bullets are several thou' larger. If you have micro-groove, don't worry, cast shoot just as well in them. Just make sure your bullet is oversize, you might need 4-5 thou' more, each rifle is a law unto itself.
Lube the bullets with something, (don't use them dry regardless of what folks say - those grooves around the bullet are meant to be filled with lube) there are hundreds of lube recipes plus commercially made stuff, try just beeswax & vaseline in a 50/50 mix, you can just lube your bullets with a finger when your starting out.
An almost perfect cast bullet powder for CLAS in 4227 (Australian made 2205). For .32-20 try 9-10gns, the 30-30 family of cartridges & .35 Rem start at 13gns, for bigger cases like the 45/70 start around 17gns. These will be very mild and easy to shoot.
To test accuracy put the rifle chicken at 200m & shoot offhand at it. If the bullet goes where you point it, load development is almost finished (this is also good training for trigger control & follow through). To check your ram load just set the rams up with the full foot on the rail and shoot them from 200m. If your load will roll the "hard set" rams then load development is finished.
If you get everything right, particularly the bullet size you shouldn't have too clean the barrel ever again with that sort of load, assuming that your lube is non-corrosive. If you have lead in the grooves it will be normally one of two things, an undersize bullet or to much speed. (The only barrel I clean these days are my BPCR guns as I don't shoot copper anymore.)
Anyway that's my humble experience for what it's worth with cast for CLAS matches
Good shooting
Mick

Oh I almost forgot. Regarding sight settings & getting mixed up in the rush before the detail starts. It's easy, set your sights for the next target as soon as you finish the targets you are on. This is when you normally have the most time, are thinking clearest & are the most calm. Then next time you come to the line you just check your sights & away you go.
 
#25 ·
We have 3 clubs in N.H. that have matches all summer, April till October.
Only Pemigewasset does CLA, the others do 1/5 smallbore, Cowboy SB , and PCCLA.
We also have a Cowboy regional 3 day match where CLA is shot the first day, PCCLA
another day and Cowboy smallbore the 3rd day. We get some wonderful people
and fantastic shooters attending from Tennesee, Pennsylvania, etc.
Last year Kimberly Clingan made a new woman's long run record on the pig target
in PCCLA. Kim beat the old record of 32 with a stunning 54 straight after shooting
an 80 round match.I believe she could have gone even longer had her Henry Big Boy steel
not gotten a little heavy after a long day of shooting.
Here is a link for schedule and results for these 3 clubs.
If you are in the area, come on by, we'd love to have you shoot with us.

Smallbore Metallic Silhouette, the REAL game!: New Hampshire Silhouette Match Schedule, Results, Past and Present