Last year was my first exposure to Cowboy Action Shooting. I hadn't been shooting for long and had just started to shoot IPSC. Initially I wasn't very interested. I liked the guns, but wasn't interested in dressing up. However my neighbor (Reb Win) talked me into going to watch a match. That was it - I was hooked! Seeing all those cowboys was like a flash out of childhood. Everyone was wonderful! Folks offered to let me try out their guns, and asked when I was gonna shoot. I had a great time.

While at that match, I ran across another shooter that had a pair of Cimarron's to sell. They were just what I wanted, 4 ¾" barrels, blue/case color frame, and in 45 Colt. We agreed to a price and I was off and running. My wife had purchased a Winchester Trapper in .45 Colt several years before and I was gonna use that. I also picked up a Stoeger double barrel at the local shop. A few months later, I picked up a Uberti '66 as well. I jumped in with both feet.

I went to several matches over the rest of the year and did pretty well shooting smokeless and in traditional style. But I wanted more challenge, so tried duelist. At the last stage of the match, Antelope Bob and I decided that we'd both shoot it gunfighter style. I knew then that that was how I wanted to shoot.

There was still something missing. I was fascinated by the boom and smoke and smell that followed the black powder shooters around, and thought that I would try it. In September I traded for some 45 black powder rounds, and 12 ga shot shells. Shot the next match with them and loved it! After that I went and ordered 5 boxes from Ten-X and picked up a few boxes of roll crimped, paper BP shot shells, and shot black powder the last match of the year. That was it for me; I had to learn to load BP over the winter break. It was much too expensive to keep buying. Since I was already loading .45 Colt, all I needed was to find out how. I also needed to learn to load shot shells. Then, Christmas came and Santa left a MEC 600 jr. shot shell press under the tree.

I didn't have the faintest idea of what I needed to do in order to load the "Holy Black." I turned to the SASS Wire for advice and was steered toward Mike Venturino's book on Shooting Six Guns of the Old West. When the book came in I read it from cover to cover. Then I came up with what I thought would be a good load. I turned back to the wire and posted my thoughts. After much advice, I adjusted the load a little. I ordered some SPG lubed bullets, picked up some magnum primers and Goex FFg.

The last thing I didn't know about was if there was enough lube in the lube grooves of the bullets or not. If there isn't enough lube, the fouling left in the bore will get hard and throw off the accuracy. There should be plenty of lube in the bullets for the pistols, but my '66 has a 24 inch barrel. I figured that while I might not need extra lube - it sure wouldn't hurt.

The next several nights I spent in the kitchen trying to make up sheets of lube to make wads. I didn't know if I needed them or not, but thought I'd use 'em anyway. I melted some beeswax in a small pot and added an equal amount of Crisco and some vegetable oil. I melted it very slowly. While that was melting, I boiled a pot of water. For the next step I sacrificed one of my wife's cake pans. I filled it most of the way with the freshly boiled water and slowly poured the lube into it. I only poured in enough to cover the surface of the water. Then I let it cool. Once it hardened, I put the pan into the freezer. When I pulled it out a little later, the lube sheet had pulled away from the edges of the pan. I dumped it out and dried the sheet. I punched wads out of the sheet with an empty .45 ACP case (I stuck a nail through the primer hole to punch the wad out of the case).

I had also bought a .45 caliber wad punch from Cabelas. I used this to punch out wads from a sheet of wax paper. Considering that the heat of the summer would melt the lube, I thought a piece of wax paper between the lube and the powder would help prevent contamination.

By this point, it was getting to the middle of January. So I thought I should make up a batch of .45 loads to try out at a shoot in Marietta Ohio. Following the instructions and cautions that I received from the Wire, I removed the powder hopper on my progressive press. It seems that plastic and black powder produce static electricity. This could cause a spark and make the top of the press go BOOM. So, instead of the powder hopper, I taped a paper funnel into the powder through die. As I ran the cases through the press, I could just pour a 2.2cc dipper full of FFg into the funnel and this would charge the case. I settled on 2.2cc's of powder as that is enough to fill the case to a level so that when I add the wax paper wad, the lube wad, and the bullet, the powder is compressed. With black powder, it is very important that there is no air space in the case. This could cause very unusual ignition and pressure higher than needed. Anyway, I managed to get 100 loaded and ready for the shoot in Ohio. I brought along some of the BP shot shells that I had bought.

I went out the day before as I had a six-hour drive to Ohio. It was a little cold the next morning, but clear and sunny. I was sure glad I brought some warm clothes! Very nervously I stepped up to the line for the first stage. I cocked the gun, pulled the trigger and it went BOOM! Lots of noise and smoke! Whew, I got it! I was elated as the 45 loads worked great the entire day. The lube was needed that day in the cold. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to hit anything with that rifle.

I made it home and spent an hour cleaning up the guns. It was time for me to figure out how to load BP shot shells. I collected a bunch of empties at that shoot in Ohio, so I had plenty of hulls. But I didn't have any primers or shot, so it was time for another trip to the gun shop. But before I left, I turned again to the wire for help. I received a lot of advice on how to load shot shells and what goes into them. With that information, I left for the shop. I picked up a case of primers and 25 pounds of size 7 ½ shot. However, they didn't have any fiber or card wads, just plastic. From previous experience, I didn't want to clean the melted plastic from the inside of the bore.

When I got home, I put the primers and shot away and turned to the Dixie Gun Works catalog. They had several wads listed. I ended up buying 1000 .125 over-powder card wads, 1000 ½" fiber wads, and 1000 .030 over-shot cards. They took a week to come in.

Now that I had everything in place, I unpacked the press, bolted it to a board and clamped it to my bench. Following the press instructions and the information that I received from the Wire, I got to work. At station one, I punched out the old primer and sized the hull. Station 2 seated a new primer. Using a paper funnel and the same 2.2cc scoop that I used for the 45's, I put 2 scoops of FFg (not raisins) into the hull. I moved the hull into station 3 and seated the .125 over powder card and a ½" fiber wad compressed to about 50 on the meter. I added 1 1/8 oz of shot and went to the next step. I scooped out a little Crisco with the over shot card and pushed it into the case. Then I went through the other 2 stations to crimp and had my first shell done! I loaded up another 49 and packed them away.

Come February, I had everything ready to shoot all my own BP loads. We found a shoot a few hours away down near Richmond VA, with Black Creek Shootist Society. My wife (Single Malt Sal), and a friend (Suds) packed into my pickup and drove down. We were welcomed with open arms and had a great time. Anyway, I finished the pistol and rifle parts of the first stage and picked up my shotgun. I loaded 2 shells into it, closed it, aimed, pulled the trigger and BOOM! Clouds of smoke obscured the target. When I could see again, I aimed at the second target and fired again BOOM! What a relief! I was finally able to load up my own shot shells.

I am now loading BP for my 45-70 as well. While it is a little more work to load, the boom and smoke sure put a big grin on my face. Isn't that what Cowboy Action Shooting is about?

Doc Shapiro is the author of Black Powder Loading for Cowboy Action Shooting. For more information, see his web page at: http://jnshapiro.home.mindspring.com/BPLoad.html, or via e-mail at: jspublications@mindspring.com.