Thursday, March 26, 2020

Questions in Comments

In the post yesterday, I was talking about ammunition for sanctioned matches and TwoDogs asked in comments:
What caliber ? What sanctioned matches ?
I shoot with the Cowboy Fast Draw Association, (CFDA).  We use single-action revolvers in .45 Cont, but we use specialty ammunition.  Our cartridge brass is cut to accept a shotgun primer, which propels a wax bullet against a steel target.



The CFDA sanctions titled matches as part of the competition season.  A club can apply to host a titled match, and in my case, we host the Louisiana State Championship.  The Association requires that host clubs provide the ammunition for sanctioned matches so that everyone shoots identical ammo.

One problem is that, as easy as the ammo is to reload, we have not yet figured out a way to automate the process.  A standard progressive loader won't work.  So, we have to touch each piece of brass four times to load a single round of ammo.  That's not generally a problem when you're loading for personal use, but a sanctioned match generally requires 100 rounds per shooter for a thee-day shoot.  So, for Louisiana State, I would need between 6500 and 10,000 rounds. 

Accumulating that much brass is an issue, so we in the Southern Territory have pooled our resources and accumulated 12,500 rounds of brass that can be passed around to the various clubs that sponsor state championships.  I picked up the match brass wen we traveled to Oklahoma.  I brought it here to clean and load for Louisiana State, and the Covid disaster hit us the Monday I returned from Oklahoma.

Currently, sanctioned matches in Louisiana, Arkansas, Arizona, and Oregon have either been cancelled or postponed.  It is a matter or question if Texas State will go forward as planned in early May.  The next shoot scheduled after that is the US National Championship in Amarillo in June.

So, my plan at this point is to clean ad load all the ammo ad take it where ever it is needed.  Then, bring it back and load it for Louisiana State in August.

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