2 questions?

[Ace Lungger]

Since I know i can't shoot a whole match, do any of the clubs have pistols side matches?
And the other, I have a pound of Pyrodex ffg eq. Is everyone shooting the real deal!! Magic Black!!
I am a total rookie, the only thing i do have figured out is my lube, havn't figured out the patch or wad thing??

This is all new to me!!I got to have something to do! I love my leather work and plan to get better with time, buyt I WANT TO SHOOT A LITTLE!
I will be great full for any and all help!
ACE

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Ace!

Go forth and shoot, pard!

That Pyrodex will do ya fine - just be religious about afterwards cleaning.

As for wads or grease - I often do both.  The wads will scrape some of the fouling from inside your barrel as they fly happily downrange, and the grease (many have used Crisco - but it gets pretty liquid in hot weather) will do a better job of lubing the ball as well as the gun itself - but it's messy.

If you go to a match, see if you can't pick up some ammo beforehand (maybe the kind you want to buy for yourself) and I'll bet you have pards fallin' over themselves tryin' to give you a rifle to "try!"

[Dick Dastardly]

Howdy Ace,

Try to hook up with a pard that has a gun cart at a monthly match.  Do your contact work ahead of time if you can and see if you can ride share.  Take a folding portable stool/chair and umbrella.  I'm thinkn' you will last a Five stage monthly match and make a lot of friends as you go.  Let it be known that you are trying to acquire some long guns on the cheep.  You may be surprised at how much hardware there is out there looking for a newbie.

At the match, don't try to pick up brass.  Take your stool/chair and help to spot misses or keep score.  There's plenty you can do where you won't have to be on your feet.  When it comes your time to shoot, make your handicaps known and state any limitations you may have.  The RO will do much to see to it that you can still shoot the script.

Good luck and be safe.

DD-DLoS

P.S.  I replied to your pm.

[Ace Lungger]

Thanks DD, where I have went to shoot they have a small group, and i like them a lot, but with 7 shooters the pace is so fast, i cannot get ant rest and it kills me! Maybe try another place twice as far away, but more shooters, so i might be able to get some seat time, i have a gun chart and folding chair, I just can't rush so much
Thanks i will read my PM.
ACE

[Ace Lungger]

Steel Horse, I do leather work and I like making my own dyes ect., I saw this once and i dont know if it will work or not they called it a seal, and i don't remember what it was, put I make a butter, that i am going to try, I buy 100% pure bees wax cuts into pieces put in a stainless container on a hot plate ading just enought Virgin olive oil to turn it into a butter.
But all the felt wads I have found are the same price wheter they ARE lubed or dry! What about a patch, can you find them cheap?  Okay give it to me strait, this was my plan, I was going to put in my powder a patch then the ball and pack, then put a small amount of this butter in each chamber, not enough to over flow or anything.

I sure could use some help, maybe this isn't what i want to do, i will not be shooting that much, what ever help anyone can give me I will be great full.
Thanks ACE

[Noz]

Sam Colt said powder and ball and nothing else. Lube over a ball will help keep the cylinder from binding and give some protection from a chainfire. Lubed wad under a ball will help keep the barrel clean and give some protection from a chain fire and possibly add a little lube to the cylinder. Since I have had "around the ball" chain fires, I always use a wad under the ball.

Wad material. http://www.durofelt.com/image_26.html  Order: FM18H  12" x 54" $16

Buy 7/16" hollow punch from Harbor Freight or equivalent type cheap tool retailer. Set of six different sizes are less than $10.
The 12" by 54" felt material will make a whole PILE of wads. Soak them in your hot "butter" and you are good to go.

[Deadguy]

Here's a little tip for making your own wads.  If you really want to crank them out, take that hollow punch, sharpen it all the way around on a belt sander, then heat up the sharpened edge to a glowing cherry red on a torch, quench in oil, wash off, then chuck it into a drill press.  Set the press to about 250 RPMs, put a piece of plywood on the drill press table, put your felt on there, and crank them out.  You can do over 100 wads/minute this way.

[Cuts Crooked]

........and you don't need a patch with a C&B gun. The proper sized balls/bullets will seal the chambers jist fine!

[Capt. Augustus]

If you are shooting for fun, you could shoot every other stage.  A lot of the older pards only shoot the first half of the match during the summer.

[Ace Lungger]

 :)I want to thank everyone for the advice, I think it is better to have to much lube then to little lube. i like the idea d making my own patches and using my own lube! That is also why I like to cast my own bullets, you know exaclty what you have got! I shot a 16 ga double, and I shoota 28ga load in it, the big boys at a Tulsa store told me it couldn'tbe done! I hav been loading smokeless for 32 years. the reason I shot a super light load is my back an't take the joilt! here is my load, around here and even 120 miles away all the 16ga wads are Remmy SP16 which is a 1 1/8z wad (that is a field load 12 ga)I use 18 grain of IMR 4726 (I think) I would have to go to th shop and look and my back is killing me, so I will cane this lter if need be,I use the SP16 wad put in my 5/8 oz of shot and then a 20mm thick card board wad and bingo, perfect crimp, nice load. Some time when down range gets all there testing done, they have a 3/4 oz wad and i will useing them at making my own 75mm crd board wad, If i get to shoot!

I am very great full to you guys for ll the advice, because when it comes to BP I am dump as a stump! Iam also ooking to lighten the load, I have heard of corn meal, sream of wheat, flour, ect I know that is cheating, but I have to keep everything to the least impact I can!

Does any one have any advice on reducing the load? would you put your powder charge in, in a dry patch then your cor meal and a lubebed oatch and then ball and pack good and a light lube around the ball?
Thanks CA, from now on it is all about the fun, that is why i like the leather work, it is fun!

I would be lost in the woods with out you guys!!

Thanks so much!
ACE

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Howdy again, Ace.  Sorry it took so long to answer.

My lube is just like you mention: Bees Wax and enough Olive oil to make it workable.  A wad isn't necessary in a C&B pistol.  Just smear that grease over the front of your cylinders and let fly.  I DO sometimes use a wad, however - and it's soaked in the same lube I smear in front of the ball.

I'll let others comment on your shotgun loads: I shoot 12 ga. and to me, fillers are for cooking, not shooting.  If I want a light load, I put in less powder and shot.  However, my loads are hand done in brass shells using BP and thats WAY different than any plastic shells using smokeyless powder in machines.  I simply have not enough knowledge, so I won't/can't say. 

Nozzle Rag said this:

"Sam Colt said powder and ball and nothing else."

Absolutely true.  HOWEVER, the typical CAS shooter probably shoots more in a year than they did back then in their lives!  It was called a 6-shooter: NOT a 12, 15, 20 or whatever.  We use 'em WAAAAy different than old Sam ever envisioned!

And WE have more FUN!

[Ace Lungger]

SH,
I was only talking about someless load in my 16ga, I wasn't rying to get anyone turned aound, and I have heard the pro's and cons about fillersin there B.P. guns, but as i stated I am in it for fun and not the compation, I don't need to impress anyone except me.
Thanks for the Help!!
ACE

[Steel Horse Bailey]

It's all fun.  By the way, Magtech makes 16 ga. brass hulls.  Loadin' is a bit labor intensive (read, slow), but it's relatively simple and LOADS of fun.  Pardon the pun. 

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Just made a few 16 ga. smokeless loads.  Ballistic Products multi hull, Herco (a bit less than the book says), RP16 wad, 1 oz. #8, an overshot card, and a Modified roll crimp I call a `jam-roll`

I cut the cases to 65mm for my old Husqvarnas.  I put them through the crimp start and crimp on a MEC Jr press.  It turns the star crimp down over the O/S card to just leave a star shaped version of a roll crimp. 

I put my BP loads up in Magtechs.

[Ransom Gaer]

Ace,

Like Steel Horse Bailey I use all brass hulls with a overpowder card, 1/2 " lubed fiber wad and overshot card.  Reducing the load is very simple.  When I first started with these hulls I was loading 80 grains of 2F BP and 1 1/8 oz. of shot.  Was I think punching holes in the pattern and a fair bit of recoil with my little coachgun.  One night I was reloading shotgun shells and set my powder measure to 70 grains and not 80.  After loading 5 or 10 I discovered my "mistake."  It then dawned on me that there was nothing unsafe about what I was doing since I had no gaps in my loads, just less powder, so idecided to leave it alone.  It works great.  At one match there were 35 shotgun targets and I used 35 shotgun shells and a lot less recoil.  With the brass cases I can back the load down even more if I get the urge to do so.  Using the brass cases and cards and wads makes altering loads really easy and safe.

Ransom Gaer