Joining Up

[Dave T]

I'm new to CasCity but not to wearing a badge or CAS. Long since retired but I was a Deputy Sheriff, then a Detective and for my last 6 years the chief firearms instructor and range master for the Pima County Sheriff's Dept., Tucson, AZ. I was active in what I liked to call "cowboy shooting" for 9 years before opening my own firearms training business.

I carried one model or other of Colt 1911 45 ACP for all but my probationary year on the department. Not surprisingly with single actions my first love was always the 45 Colt and I was lucky enough to own a few restored 1st Gen Colts, which fired only BP hand loads. Did a lot of research on the performance of the original BP loads and reproduced it with modern components. Slowed me down but I didn't care. Loved the cloud of smoke, the smell and the way those steel targets hit the ground. However, match directors didn't like me all that much (LOL).

Back in my SASS shooting days I thought of myself as a Western Lawman, which wasn't all that much of a stretch. Now that I'm getting back into 19th Century style SA revolvers and LA rifles I still think of myself that way. I'm too old and busted up to do anything like that any more, but shooting the old style guns is a way to relive a little of the romance and reality of those days and that profession.

Dave
Deputy Ret.

[Coal Creek Griff]

Welcome!  Jump in and offer some insights from your years of LE and firearms experience; we can all learn!

CC Griff

[Dave T]

Thanks for the welcome Griff. My first task is to develop a smokeless load that delivers 865 fps with a 250g bullet from a 4-3/4" barrel. That's the average I got with 40g of FFg in balloon head cases from a 1st Gen Colt with that barrel length. I may not want to mess with black powder clean up any more but I still want that authentic performance. (smile)

Dave

[Coal Creek Griff]

You should be able to get that velocity with Unique (http://www.alliantpowder.com/reloaders/powderlist.aspx?page=/reloaders/powderlist.aspx&type=1&powderid=3&cartridge=36).  I've used a lot of it in 44 WCF with great results.  I'm currently still using my old load with W231 for .45 Colt, but when my stock runs out, I'll probably switch to Unique for that too so I can just stock one kind of powder for both.

Are you still in Pima Co?  I was just down that way a couple of weeks ago.  When passing through Tucson, I stopped by the train station (where Frank Stillwell was killed) and one of former Sheriff Bob Paul's houses.  One of my favorite things to do is to visit historic sites.

CC Griff

[Dave T]

I've been to the area of the original train station several times when we lived there. My wife's job moved us up to the Phoenix area about 11 years ago so I'm not in the county where I served anymore, just the state.

Dave