Tejas Caballeros
Tejas Caballeros
Long Range Shooting
Questions? Contact Pb Buffalo at Matt.Graham.asme@gmail.com or Farr Ranger at glennjordan10@gmail.com
Ear and Eye Protection is Required on or near the firing line. All rifles must have action open until the range is declared hot by the Range Officer.
Our game:
We don’t shoot for speed; we shoot for accuracy. The rifle butt can only be supported by the shooters shoulder. Shooters can use any position they want: table supported forearm rest while sitting, stick supported forearm while lying down, or sitting, or standing, or whatever is the shooters desire.
We do not time our shoots. The course of fire order is determined by the Match Director Range Marshall just before the match starts. Typically, a match will consist of 24 rounds, shot on a rotating basis of four rounds for each target. For example, a Precision shooter would shoot four rounds at the 175-yard target. The next shooter would shoot four rounds at their first target and so on, until all shooters have shot four rounds, coming back to the Precision shooter who would then shoot four rounds at the 200-yard target.
We currently charge $15 per member shooter, $20 for non-members. Practice only is $5. Additional financial donations are always welcome. Lead bullets only in all guns.
We have 12 shooting tables. Because hooting from the right side creates too much target angle, SASS rifle shooters should sit on the left side of the Buffalo Camp. Metal folding chairs are provided.
Three Courses of Fire are Available:
Black Targets Long Course (175 to 460 yds)
Blue Targets Mid Course (100 to 225yds)
White Targets Short Course (25 to 150 yds)
Five Shooting Categories:
A. Precision sighted, big bore, buffalo rifle: 175 yds to 460yds. Any 19th century pattern rifle, shooting a 19th century rifle cartridge caliber .375 or larger, with a 19th century pattern micrometer rear sight mounted on the rifle's tang.
B. Scope sighted, big bore, buffalo rifle: 175 yds to 460 yds. Any 19th century pattern rifle, shooting a 19th century rifle cartridge caliber .375 or larger, with a 19th century pattern scope sight mounted on the rifle's barrel.
C. Bolt action military battle rifle: 100 yds to 225 yds. Any country's issued bolt action battle rifle in the original configuration as it was when it left the government arsenal. The rifle is chambered in the original government configured cartridge with original government installed front and rear sight.
D. Working cowboy saddle rifle: 100 yds to 225yds. Any 19th century pattern rifle or carbine, with a barrel mounted rear sight, or an action mounted receiver sight, or a non-micrometer tang sight, shooting any period correct 19th century rifle cartridge caliber.
E. SASS main match rifle. 25 yds to 100 yds. Any rifle, ammo and sight combination recognized as legal by SASS, shooting a pistol caliber cartridge.
Picking a competitive rifle:
The most popular nineteenth century single shot, big bore, rifles that appear on the Central Texas long range CAS fields are Sharps 1874s, Rolling Blocks and High Walls. Wehave also seen Trapdoors, Handi Rifles, Sharps 1875 and Martinis. When picking a gun, find one with a shotgun butt and a 30 inch barrel length. Barrels of 28 inches to 34 inches also work well. A rifle with a crisp 3lb standard trigger or a rifle equipped with a single or double set trigger are best for accurate shooting. Single shot and lever rifles require an exposed hammer per SASS rules. The Cabs allow all classic 19th century style non-exposed hammer rifles to be used for match shooting.
Lever repeating guns most seen are Marlin 1895s and 336s, Winchester 1894s, Winchester 1876 and Browning 86s. The triggers on these guns are usually very bad for competition shooting and some work on them is a good idea. Legal lever guns require a tubular magazine and an exposed hammer.
Original military bolt action battle rifles are also shot in competition. This is a special competition called Bolt Action Military Match (BAMM). Rifles must be in the original condition as they were built by a country’s arsenal. Most common rifles are US Springfield 1903 or A3, US Krag, Mauser 1898 or 1896 or 1895, Swiss K-31, Enfield, there are others. No scope mounted Sniper rifles fit in this category; no sporter rifles are allowed.
Calibers:
Big bore calibers are 38 caliber and larger. The most frequently seen caliber in single shots on the range is the 45-70 Govt. Other calibers are 40-65 Win, 45-100 and 38-55 Win. Bullet size in 45 caliber is between 400 and 500 grains. 400 grain bullets are a good choice in 40 caliber rifles. The traditional 38 caliber weight is 265 grains.
The Marlin and Browning lever guns come in 45-70 and the Marlin and Winchester can be found in 38-55 Win. Some shooters choose to shoot 30-30 and 32-40 in lever action saddle guns. Winchester 1876 guns can be had in 45-60 and a few other obsolete calibers that work well.
Sights:
Sight Adjustment Video: https://youtu.be/s5PQfWhuO1A
Precision Front sights should be a globe style with interchangeable inserts. Adding a bubble level to the front globe is a great idea because if the gun is tilted left or right, then bullet will follow the sights and miss the target. A third option that can be added to a front globe sight is a wind gauge. This is a micrometer mechanism that allows the front sight to move left or right to augment windage needs.
Precision Rear sights can either be Soule or Creedmoor style. Precision Rear sights must have vertical and horizontal adjustment. One minute of angle (MOA) scale is the only recommendation. Finer scales can’t be read by our old eyes, courser scales won’t let you be accurate enough. Bronco Birnbaum recommends Sharps bases on Sharps and Winchester bases on Rolling Blocks and High Walls. Lever guns require special bases because the bolt drives back to where the sight is mounted.
We do not allow any shooter to shoot past 225 yards with open barrel sights, receiver or non-precision tang style sights. There is no way to measure bullet placement with open sights at longer ranges. Bullets can’t be allowed to exit our range onto neighboring property. We require shooters to know where their bullets will land at every yardage prior to shooting on our range. There are calculators on the web that can plot the path of the bullet given: weight, diameter, speed and ballistic coefficient. The shooter must be able to transform inches of bullet drop or windage to the MOA micrometer scale on the sights. Knowing air temperature, wind direction and speed is helpful. Knowing how to adjust for those natural functions are what separates winners and losers on the range.
Montana Vintage Firearms has excellent sights. Their website also shows a variety of choices.
https://montanavintagearms.com/sights/
Ammo:
Lead bullet tips only. 1100 fps to 1500 fps should work well for any caliber. Black or Smokeless is ok.
Club Rules:
1. All bullets must be lead.
2. Only one competitor shoots at a time, rifles are unloaded, action open, when not shooting,
3. The rifle butt stock can only be supported by the shooters shoulder.
Scoring:
Generally, bullseyes are two points. Target hits are one point. A miss, with no hit on the steel is zero points. Tie scores are broken by number of bullseyes. Further ties are broken by shoot off with shoot-off rules being extemporaneously designed by the Match Director Range Marshall. Only one person shoots at a time. Other competitors are expected to use spotting scopes to watch the target and pass judgment on the quality of other shooter’s hits. Scoring is determined by multi-person argumentative agreement instantly. There are no appeals.
A Clean Match is awarded when every target is hit for at least one point.
A Perfect Match is awarded when the maximum score for every target is achieved.
Scopes:
Spotting scopes enhance your enjoyment of the sport, because you can participate in the scoring while you are not shooting.
Price range is a big factor. Spotting scopes can range from $200 to as much as $2000.
The other thing is the power range. You need at least a max power of no less than 60 up to 80 power.
Spotting scopes come in straight or angled view. The angled-view scopes are difficult to use while still sitting at the table. Some angled-view scopes can be rotated to be a sideview, which is useful for viewing from the table without moving your gun or getting up.
Some Specific Recommendations:
1. Recipes. Zeke’s load for 45/70 is 14.2 grains of Unique with a 405 grain RNFP bullet. Speed is ~1175 fps. Be careful. Double charging is even more dangerous with bigger loads.
2. Bullets. Cheycastbullets.com
3. Gun Rests. To shoot uphill at the bear and buffalo targets, you need a taller tabletop gun rest. Two gun rests that are 11 inches tall are:
a. Highwild Shooting Rest Front Rest Adjustable Gun Rifle Rest for Outdoor Shooting and Hunting - Convenient Height Adjustment - with Front Rest Bag ~$60.
b. Caldwell The Rock Deluxe Front Rest Combo Adjustable Ambidextrous Rifle Shooting Rest for Outdoor Range, Green ~$93
4. Spotting Scopes. Brands that Circuit Judge likes are Redfield, Vortex, Leopold and Nikon. Bronco Birnbaum has a Vortex. Farr Ranger did okay with the Barska 25-125x88 Spotting Scope Porro BK-7 for less than $200. The tabletop tripod that comes with it, is too high. A substitute tripod is available for about $25. He upgraded to a Leopold.
5. Chairs. Folding metal chairs are provided. If you buy your own folding chair, bottom side rails will minimize sinking into the decomposed granite.