April 8th, 1860; the spring buffalo hunt

[RanchRoper]

Well not really a buffalo hunt, but my targets were my buffalo today. Nice day, cold @19F but sunshine. Blinding glare in fact. I need to get the dark safety sunglasses I guess, but since the old frontier cowboys shot with no sunglasses I guess I can too. But it was VERY tough to see the little corner targets on my 2 twelve inch bigger targets.

Anyhow, 2 targets at 50 yards, off hand standing with open sights on my 45 Colt 1860 Henry. Ammo was Sellier & Bellot 250 gr LFN. It's ok ammo, and the cheapest factory stuff I can find so far on the Canadian frontier.

First few buffalo, I decided that anything inside the 2 inner circles was a kill. I guess that's a 4" target. Anything touching any of the little corner targets was a kill. Man they are tiny at 50 yds. 25 rounds and a few kills. Anything outside of my defined kill zone, I wounded the critter and it trampled me to death. Oh well, that's a good cowboy story on it's own. Not bad for blinding snow glare. No wind though for a change.

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2nd herd of buffalo, again 50 yds and anything in the middle or outer diamonds was meat on the table. Again, some major squinting going on, but i'm ok with the results. My family won't starve.

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Love that Henry rifle....

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[Cofisher]

Proud of ya boy!

[PT7]

Great and entertaining cowboy story. As usual, very good shooting although you said the "wounded critter trampled you to death." So if you were trampled, who is that in the picture holding the Henry?!?

And glad to hear that Maria was blowing elsewhere during your shooting time. But you still shoot spot on either way, RR, with or without Maria howling all around you. Good job once again.

Take care.
PT7

[RanchRoper]

It's rare to have a no wind day here. Good to get out to the range, and winter might be taking it's leave of us for awhile this week. Time to get horseback and go see if the grizzlies are up yet...

[North Country Gal]

Time and time, again, you manage to shoot great targets under some very demanding conditions. Love it.

Send some of that spring weather, our way. Got down below zero, last night and we've had as much snow so far in April as we had in all of February. Spring? What spring?

[RanchRoper]

Will do NCG. Thanks to all of the folks for the kind words. Here's the lonely little 50 yd board today lost in all the whiteness....

[JEBar]

considering your handicap, nicely done .... having to compensate due to the lack of a cross wind shows you can overcome such adversity ..

[RanchRoper]

...aiming straight at the target? Who would have thought?

[BigAl52]

Darn I thought when you said you was going to the range you were gonna do some manure pile shootin.

[RanchRoper]

Darn I thought when you said you was going to the range you were gonna do some manure pile shootin.

At the pile or from the pile? What's your preference?

[BigAl52]

NO No at the piles

[RetiredSeabee]

Love your range reports. Thanks for the time travel.

[RanchRoper]

Love your range reports. Thanks for the time travel.

That's the beauty of these old style lever actions & revolvers....you cannot help but be transported back to the wild frontier!

No wonder we like 'em!

[DAVIDF]

Great range report! And, your incredible photos always help with the time travel. Much faster than a stage coach

[GFK]

Nice shooting!

[RanchRoper]

Thanks all!

[JEBar]

just curious .... with the untold numbers of jacketed rounds you've run through your 45, have you run a patch through it coated with a copper solvent ?

[RanchRoper]

I only shoot lead; have never shot copper jacketed rounds through either the revolver or the 1860. I did shoot a couple of boxes of American Eagle JSP's with the Big Boy I had, but nothing since. I have a box or two left of the JSP's, might use them in the revolver sometime but that's all. I have copper barrel cleaner but only used it on the Big Boy before I sold it, there was a hint of green on the patch but not much. Copper worries me in the rifle for sure, so I stick with lead flat nose bullets only. Too bad because 45 Colt FMJ copper rounds can be purchased in bulk in Canada from Western Munitions. So I'm always on the hunt for cheap lead.

I know I know....reload. If I ever had a place to set it up properly and the time to actually do it, I may get into it someday. By then I'll have a million brass casings....I actually found a supplier for reloaded ammo that is approved by Natural Resources Canada (game warden guys), and supplies some regional police forces. Talking to him the last few days and will try some of his 45 Colt. 1 time fired Starline brass, 200 gr or 255 gr, no hot loads, they cast their own lead. Been at it since 1993. Sounds promising and at 68 cents a round, that is best price I've seen. Shipping extra of course, but might be a good way to stock up.

ps....rifle gets a good clean this weekend. How much is too much cleaning? I clean every couple of hundred rounds or so. I always get two or three dirty lead patches until it gets clean. What do you guys do?

Info below on the reloading guy: Note* this is NOT "Wolf Ammo" made by some Russian company....this is a different guy in eastern Canada. I checked.

Discover the best in remanufactured ammunition for consistently great results at a price you can afford. Wolf remanufactured ammunition is the best in commercially reloaded product. All cartridge specifications have been certified by Natural Resources Canada and cartridges are checked regularly on a Trius pressure gun for product consistency. Wolf ammunition velocities are designed around IPSC (International Practical Shooting Confederation) standards and are used by top shooters and organizations across Canada.

.45 Long Colt Wolf Remanufactured Ammunition 250gr - Wolf Brass - Lead Round Nose Flat Point (RNFP) - 1 Box, 50 rounds

Caliber: .45 Long Colt
Grain: 250gr

The Process to Great Remanufactured Ammo All brass casings used are commercial, once fired non-military. All rimless brass is full length sized before loading to return cases to factory specifications. Rimmed brass is roll sized which resizes the portion of the case conventional dies cannot reach, returning the cases to factory dimensions. Rimless brass is mechanically sorted and goes through an initial cleaning. It is then lubed and pushed base first through a carbide die. Any bulges that may be present from the initial firing are removed as it passes completely through the die. A Scharch Auto-Reamer then checks for case deformation and cracks. The brass is de-primed and a rotary tool chamfers the primer pocket. The brass is then sent for final polishing and loading.

[JEBar]

thanks for the info .... I didn't realize you use lead bullets .... have you had any issues with lead accumulation .... as to cleaning, we clean the inside of the barrel after every outing .... when hunting and not firing a shot we still run an oil patch down the barrel prior to putting the firearm in the vault .... we also take care to wipe down the outside .... with the exception of our 11-87 shotgun, I seldom take a firearm completely apart for cleaning .... I have done so but simply haven't often found the need to do so

[RanchRoper]

Just posted an edit with more info.

No issues with lead, although my hair is falling out...kidding it was falling out long before that. It seems good, and who doesn't like great big lead cowboy bullets?