Gun Loads

[Dusty Walker]

Hey fellers. I have been reading alot of posts for awhile, but this is my first post. I am thinking of getting into cowboy action shooting and I have read that people reccomend having all firearms of the same caliber. I already have a New Vaquero in .357. Does it cause alot of problems if i wanted to get my rifle and second handgun in .45 and carry my .357n in a crossdraw holster?
My next question is people that carry guns of the same caliber, is their rifle load usually the same as their pistol load. For instance, you have to adjust the OAL of your rifle bullet to get it to cycle correctly and have the bullet weight and powder weight set up for that rifle to shoot its best. Then will they have a seperate load for their pistol, but be the same caliber? Sorry if this is long or doesn't make sense.

[Pettifogger]

You definitely don't want different caliber handguns.  Especially going from a .38 in one to a .45 in the other.  The recoil pulse would be so different it would be hard to shoot them fast and consistently.  Having your rifle in .45 is no big deal as it will have virtually no recoil with CAS loads regardless of the caliber.  A lot of people use different handgun and rifle ammo if they are shooting the same caliber in both.  Generally, they will load their pistols lighter than their rifle loads.  The easiest thing and it makes logistics a lot easier is to use the same caliber and load in the rifle and handguns.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Merry Christmas, Terry H!

You get whatever you want.  A lot of folks - me included - feel that it's an advantage to have everything in the same caliber.  That just makes it simpler.  If you have a rifle in 45 Colt and a pistol in 44 WCF (44-40) and you accidentally load a 44-40 round in your 45 Colt rifle, then you could have a possible problem.  HOWEVER, let's turn that around ... to a 44-40 rifle and 45 Colt pistol.  I use these 2 calibers as an example because they are VERY nearly the same dimensions.  If you try to chamber a 45 Colt (many call it 45 LONG Colt) in a rifle chambered for 44 WCF you will need to dismantle the rifle to clear the jam!

Now lots of pards have 38 Spl and 357 rifles and pistols.  Most of the regular competitors use 38 Spl in their 357 guns.  Not always a problem, but SOMETIMES the guns have to have slight modifications to properly feed the shorter 38s in their 357 rifles.  (Pistols would be NO problem if you have a 357 caliber handgun.)

There are similar calibers that can be used together.  #1 - 38 Spl/357 as already mentioned.  #2 - 44 Mag/44 Spl.  #3 - In 45 Colt, there are even more possibilities: 45 Colt, 45 S&W or 45 Schofield and 45 Cowboy Special.  And there ARE a few more - just too many to mention here.

To me, if you can keep your ammo straight - and certainly 357 and 45 Colt would be simple, there's no real reason you couldn't have all different.  I   wouldn't do this, but you COULD have your 357 in the crossdraw you mentioned, a 45 Colt on your side and a rifle of 44-40 caliber !!

As far as ammo goes, MANY have somewhat different loads for their rifles and pistols, but many of us use the same load in everything.  For instance, I use 45 Colt and all my rounds are loaded with a 250 gr bullet, pushed by a FULL case (about 34-36 grains) of 3F Black Powder.  That's nearly identical to the ORIGINAL loading for 45 Colt, back in 1873.  The only reason mine aren't the same is 'cause my mould produces a 250, not a 255 gr. boolit, and due to modern case construction, it's a bit easier to have 35 or 36 grs of powder than they used to do with their cases full at 40 grains.  (The case walls and bases are thicker now and stronger, so they GENERALLY won't hold quite the same capacity ... but I HAVE [with extra work] duplicated the old rounds with 40 grs before - it just requires another step in the loading process, since I load all my own ammo.)

Loading your own ammo allows more money for practice (and fun) and is ANOTHER reason for loading and shooting the same ammo in your guns ... but it IS your choice!  Whatever you choose, make sure to load plenty of FUN in your guns! 

 

[John Barleycorn]

Hey Terry,
I would stick to just one caliber too, This game keeps getting more expensive and reloading is the best way to keep those cost down, your time is also a factor my reloading gear changes over rather quickly but some do not. I just finished Doc Shapero's online book and found a lot of valuable information on what the top shooters are shooting and Doc's book actually tells you why they picked the guns they use. Its gonna come down to personal preferance and what your comfortable shooting. Merry Christmas, JB

[Dusty Walker]

I appreciate the replys guys. I was wondering about the loads because you could adjust your pistol loads and bullet weight to get the gun to shoot point of aim, but that load may not shoot good out of the same caliber rifle. Or, maybe I'm trying to get to technical about it for the target ranges of CAS. Where can I find that Doc Shapero online book?

[John Barleycorn]

Doc has a topic called "breaking the shot" in the CasCity shooters forum,  go there and he has a link to the online book. My pistol and rifle rounds are the same load, .357 125gr truncated cone on top of 4.5gr of Unique. Though I will have some  hotter 158gr rounds in the cart if I observe a stuborn knock down that might need a little more umph to knock down.

[Will Blastem]

Howdy Terry and WELCOME to the fire

I agree with everyone about the revolvers being the same caliber. Personally I like my rifle in the same caliber also...keeps everything simple...matter of fact, I like to keep my loads simple too. I use the same load for revolvers AND rifle. First of all, accuracy is not an issue with the rifle (assuming you stay within the load data published in a reputable loading manual...Which, BTW, you should). I worked up my load for the revolvers and I was happy when I found that my off hand groups were within 2" at about 10-15yds. Even at the lightest published loads My Ruger .357 NV's (shooten 38 specls) were within that 2" or less so I just went about .3 grams higher than minimum and left well enough alone. recoil was light and the groups were low to POA. I then permanently adjusted the POI to match the POA by filing down the front sight. If you have blued barrels you can touch up the bluing on the top of the filed sight with some cold bluing and on SS just leave it be. When shooting the same load through the rifle the bullet gained about 200-250 fps. I found that I had to purchase a lower front sight (about $30) and was able to use the elevation adjustment on the rear sight so that I could be accurate out to 100 yds. I then sighted the rifle in at 25 yds.

Now when I load, it's the same load for everything. For me there's enough going on at a match to keep my mind busy without having to worry about which bullet for which gun...Works for me, anyway

BTW, I use 158 gr bullets and they have no problem with any knockdown target I've faced. I also tried 125 gr but I found that the preceived recoil was no different than the 158's so that ended that experiment.

Merry Christmas and have a happy and safe shootin New Year!

[Arcey]

Good ta see ya at the fire, Terry. Pull up a stump 'n sit a spell.

Could be me bein' strange. I shoot Black Powder (always capitalize Black Powder) outtah .357 Magnums. Different loads fer the rifle 'n pistols.  With one of Missouri Marshal's loadin' blocks keepin' 'em separated at the loadin' table is so easy even a cowboy kin do it.

Ya see, went to one load a few years ago when I switched from the fad smokeless powder. Found out a stage for an up comin' shoot was gonna make ya shoot rifle targets with the pistols. Tried it at home from 25 yards 'n they shot way low. Had ta aim at the bolt ta hit 'em. Lightened up the load a l'il 'n I could do sweeps on three sixteen inch circles at 25 yards all day long aimin' dead center. But the bullets for that load won't feed in the rifle.

If I have a question about the stubborn KDs like John mentioned I just stuff the pistols fullah rifle ammo. At normal pistol ranges the POI/POA makes little difference.

One last werd. Carefully check out any loadin' data ya see here against a reputable reloadin' manual before ya go loadin' 'em up. Might save yerself some heartache. There's some awful good folks on this spread that'll help ya any way they can but they, like me, make mistakes. A mistake in reloadin' can lead ta bad things. 

[John Barleycorn]

Thats good advice, I use the Lyman 48th Ed. & Alliants cowboy load data its available at most powder retailers for free its also on their site alliantpowder.com.

[Greeenriver]

It's less confusing to have them all in the same caliber, but not mandatory.

I have been known to use a 32-20 revolver on one side, a 45 Colt revolver on the other side, and a 44 special rifle.

On the next stage, using a 32-20 rev., a 32 H&R Mag rev., and a 45 colt rifle.

Some days I change for every stage, mixing things up all over the place, and on other days, shoot the same caliber in all my guns.

You just have to pay attention to what your doing when loading. It's easer if your diferent calibers are way diferent in size.

Greeenriver

[Cyrille]

I agree with those that champion the "one caliber for all firearms" It is a lot eaisier to K*I*S*S* than to have two or three diffrent calibers to have to distinguish between, particularly if the calibers are very close to each other in length and/or circumference. I favor the Holy Black over smoke-less powder because  I find that Black Powder is much more "forgiving" and a whole lot eaisier to clean-up after than the smoke-less stuff, although one has to clean-up Black Powder fouling from a firearm in a shorter period of time than smoke-less powder residue. I consider the cleaning process part of the fun of shooting rather than a chore.