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Barrel length:
The most popular barrel length is probably 4-3/4". It's quick handling makes up for the short sight radius, and we're not shooting at long distances anyway.
The SASS Wire is always full of people asking which barrel length they should get and which caliber. The answer to the barrel length is get whatever you want. I've shot with more than one World Champion. One shot long barreled Blackhawks. The two others shot 4-5/8" Ruger Vaqueros. Barrel length doesn't matter if you're comfortable with it. Your persona could be a factor. If your alias is a fictional character with a funny sounding name ("Wild Mill Hickenlooper" for example), you can use anything. If you're playing a 1875 Army officer, your gun should be a gun used by an 1875 Army officer, a 7-1/2" barreled Colt, Vaquero, or Clone or a 7" barreled Smith and Wesson Schofield (or clone). You get the picture. (But no one cares. Lefty Longridge, traditional class World Champion 2000, dresses as an Army sergeant but shoots 4-3/4" Stainless Steel Vaqueros. They didn't take his world championship away from him. John Wayne used Colts (and clones, Great Westerns) in movies set as early as 1840, and one of SASS's rules is: The Duke Can Do No Wrong. Don't let your "persona" overwhelm you. Shoot what you want.
Moon shoots 7.5" barreled Cimarron Thunderers
(Colt SAA clones with birdshead grips, guns that never even existed in the
Old West). He also shoots Gunfighter, meaning right gun with right hand,
left gun with left hand, both guns fired alternately on stages allowing
it.
As for calibers, I talk about that more in the Reloading for Cowboy Action Shooting section. I would recommend .38 Special for economy and future competitiveness. I don't think any of the top guns are using .45s anymore. If you want one of the new Colt SAAs, they're again available in .38. The Colt Cowboy is only available in .45 Colt. Some of the clones are not available in .38/.357. (I use 45 Colts because I was given bad advice when I started out, but I'll never be a top gun. Don't use me as an example if that's your goal.)
Expect to have your gun tuned by a gunsmith unless you buy a Ruger. Even a clone with a seemingly smooth, light action might need mods to keep it from eating its innards due to out-of-spec tolerances. As noted in the section on Ruger Modifications, most Rugers just need a spring kit to be good for thousands of rounds. But I wouldn't consider using a clone or a Colt SAA without having a good specialist gunsmith work it over. If you're REALLY into this sport you'll shoot more rounds in a year than, say, an active Texas Ranger would shoot in a lifetime. A Colt SAA or clone without perfectly adjusted parts will destroy itself in short order. Every serious competitor I know using either a Colt SAA or a clone has had a gunsmith at least look at it. I could be wrong, of course, and obviously exceptions do occur.
GUNSMITHS I CAN RECOMMEND WITH A STRAIGHT FACE:
(No particular order)
Coyote Cap Gunworks--Cap is the shotgun wizard, whether you shoot a Winchester '97, a Stoeger SXS, or a Bounty Hunter SXS, he will make it work better than you ever expected.
Lee's Gunsmithing--Orange, California based CAS gunsmiths. Many of the top shooters use their guns. They're the only ones I know of who can make a percussion 1860 Army reliable.
Peacemaker Specialists--Edward Janis, proprietor. (530) 472-3438. Eddie specializes in Colts, not Rugers, not clones. He is not cheap. He was recommended to me by Clint Smith of Thunder Ranch. Clint is very stingy in his recommendations.
Just because a gunsmith isn't listed here doesn't mean they're not good. I haven't dealt with every CAS gunsmith. I am pretty picky about who works on my guns, however.
Sundown Jones demonstrates the ridiculous
end of barrel length, firing 18" barreled Buntline Specials in Frontier
Cartridge (Black Powder Cartridge). His buscadero holsters are strapped
to his ankles. He won Cartridge Black Powder at the Tin Star CAS Open 2001
and finished in the top ten.
I've concentrated on Colt 1873 replicas and look alikes. You don't have to shoot those. You can shoot any nineteenth century single action revolver or replica or look alike. There are Smith and Wesson clones, including one now by Smith and Wesson of the 1875 Schofield. I have seen several of the clones at matches. They are very complex firearms and generally have more problems than Colt clones. Many gunsmiths can't disassemble and reassemble them. Their quick-reloading advantage won't be used very often, certainly not at major matches, where reloading stages take too much time. The Smith and Wesson modern version is beautifully done and uses modern coil spring innards, so it should work quite well. It does cost $1495 at a local Houston gunshop.
I've also seen a number of cartridge conversions, generally of 1851 Navies. The now out-of-production Armi San Marco built Cimarrons seem to be good for 2,500 rounds between trips to the gunsmith. For me, in the summer, that would mean less than a month. The new Uberti-built Cimarron conversions seem better, but don't expect Ruger-like longevity.
Cap and ball pistols are also used. They have a category, Frontiersman, at major matches. At smaller matches they will shoot against black powder cartridge pistols. Aficionados who want to use them will do so without any advice for me. They do require a lot of time reloading them. They appear at first glance to be the most inexpensive way to go. But black powder and substitutes are more expensive than smokeless, so expenses will catch up. As they have the basic Colt action, the C & B Colt clones should be gone over by a good Colt-clone gunsmith.
This is a Ruger Old Army,
the choice for Frontiersman. See Frontiersman
for Dummies.
February 2003: These are new 5-1/2" barreled stainless steel Ruger Old Armies. They were gunsmithed by Lee's Gunsmithing (see below), and they sport Eagle American Elk stocks. They do handle better than the long barreled ones, and these operate pretty flawlessly for C & B pistols.
This
is a "Colt" 1860 Army used by Ten Bears at Winter Range 2002.
Highly modified internally, his pistols didn't hiccup all week. Rowdy Yates,
of Lee's Gunsmithing, is the man to talk to about Cimarron 1860s. I'll let
him describe the package in his own words: To make
these guns reliable we install cap guards similar to the original Cooper.
Trim the sides of the hammers about the same width as Remington and solder
in the guards to the frame. With the hammer down this modification cannot
be seen. We also install larger and taller front sights and square and open
the sight notch on the hammer. The action is smoothed and timed and the
sear and hand hardened.
Forcing cone opened and cylinder edges broken but not chamfered. The package runs about $150. The sight work is an additional $65 but well worth it.
The 60s are a love hate relationship and will definitely
not hold up like the Rugers but they are good for style points.
Yes, you
get more style points if your 1860 Army looks like it went through all 4
years of the Civil War in the holster of a Confederate cavalryman.
Bottom Dealin' Mike's son Rob demonstrates
why you can't shoot "Gunfighter" style in Frontiersman. On the
left is a Colt 3rd Model Dragoon, and on the right is a Colt Walker. Both
have dropped their loading levers and hopelessly locked up the weapons unless
you (a) tap the levers up on the opposite wrist, no doubt scaring the heck
out of all assembled with 170° violations in mind, or (b) lay one down,
fix the other. Lay it down. Fix the first. Not good. This is also an example
of why these 4 lb. + guns aren't used that much in Frontiersman. But they
look good. (Photo stolen from Bottom Dealin' Mike.)
If you're an IPSC master class shooter coming to CAS for competition, you'll probably get Ruger .357s and shoot light .38 loads. (This isn't a bad place for a duffer to start, either). If you're in this for the history, the fantasy, and the relaxation, get what you want. I will make 2 recommendations: As soon as possible, get 2 guns of the same caliber. We've found .44-40 cases which had obviously been loaded in a .45 Colt at the range. Not good. Also make both guns shoot to point of aim. Having one shoot high left and the other low right will guarantee misses when you forget. Ideally both guns should be the same model. Every time I see one particular competitor with a Colt clone and a Remington 1875 clone I know that competitor will miss with one gun and shoot well with the other.
T.X. Cleanshot shoots his Navy Arms Schofield replica
in a cloud of black powder smoke. He has no problems with the Schofield
using Clean Shot, but if you use real black powder, be aware that some gunsmithing
will be required. Navy Arms and Smith and Wesson do not put in a grease
groove which was on the base pin of the originals, and the base pin will
bind, sometimes after as few as 3 or 4 rounds. The Navy Arms replica fits
.45 Colt cartridges, but T.X. Cleanshot uses Schofield rounds, which are
shorter and thus fit. The Smith and Wesson requires Schofield rounds.
From here it looks like the same gun, but this is Jake
McReedy's .44 Russian Navy Arms #3 Russian replica. .44 Russian is the father
of the .44 Special. The sights are quite different from the Schofield as
well as a lot of other features.
T.X. Cleanshot opens and instantly
unloads his Schofield. This feature is why most cowboys who buy them buy
S & W replicas. But don't do it for this reason. You won't reload under
the clock that often. We did it once at the Tin Star CAS Open 2001, and
that's the only time I can remember doing it at a major match. There are
shooters who keep a Schofield in their gun cart for a reloading stage. But
as Capt. Ira Aten says, if you're doing that, you've got the wrong sport.
If your blood pressure isn't lower after shooting than before, you're doing
something wrong. Shoot Smith and Wessons because you like them as T.X. Cleanshot
does.
Women and men with small hands have been buying the Cimarron Lightning, left, bottom, like hotcakes. Shown compared to the full-sized Cimarron Thunderer, a Model P with birdshead grip frame á la the original double action Colt Thunderer, the Lightning is markedly smaller. The availability of this gun has made the difference for some women, enabling them to shoot in this sport. It comes in .38 Special only (which means .38 Long Colt rounds will function, an advantage for Black Powder shooters). Note how many of the women are carrying Lightnings and Thunderers on page 2. (Photo courtesy of Cimarron Firearms.)
Deadeye Dawn shoots 2 Cimarron Lightnings
quite well)
This is Deadeye Dawn's Lightning. It's
a 4-3/4" barrel, but the ejector is about 3" long. The grip size
is perfect for her feminine hand. I recommend at least the 4-3/4" barrel
for sight radius, the longer, the better. When I mentioned something in
the SASS Wire about 3.5" not being long enough, Bubbles La Rue said,
"Most women will tell you 3.5" is not enough."
I don't yet have photos of the new Ruger Vaquerito, a small-framed gun in .32 H & R Magnum. It can solve the small hands problem. Unfortunately, it's in .32 H & R Magnum instead of .38 Special. Theoretically the .32 offers less recoil, but a .38 can be loaded awfully light, and the cost of reloading will still be less in the .38, not to mention easy availability of ammunition.
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