The beautiful thing about CLA is you don't have to break the bank, to be competitive. I bought an old (1948 I think) Marlin 336A off the internet for $ 190.00, actually $ 215.00 delivered. It even has a small compass that still works imbedded in the top of the stock. Helps me find my way to the firing line LOL. My dies are a set of old Herter's that I bought at a garage sale for $ 10.00 ( but they were in the original box and are like brand new ). I found an old, good set of Lyman receiver sights on E-bay, not the crappy new alloy ones. My front sight is an old redfield that is similar to a Lyman 17A, again off of E-Bay. I probably have $ 70.00 in sights.
The gun had a broken butt plate which my dad replaced with a Recoil pad, which is Legal. As long as the replacement is the same as the original, or a normal recoil pad, it's legal per the silhouette dept. Basically, stay inside the spirit of the rules.
One key is that my father did trigger jobs on both my 336A & 39A, and they are EXCELLENT.
I shoot fairly potent loads, because although we are an old established Hunters Pistol Range, are 200 Meter range is only a couple years old and still needs refined. (This by the way will be done this summer before a CLA Regional which we will be hosting right after Hunter Pistol Nationals in July. ) My C,P, T load is 130 G. Speer FN, in front of 35 g of W748 and Fed 210's. For Rams 170 G. Sierra FN and 27 g. of H-322 same primer. I do crimp my cases. I do like to load all, into the magazine. We have been also shooting 100 gr. plinkers, but squashing the noses in a vise to flatten them out, this was my Dad's idea. I loaded these with 17 grains of 4227, and they show potential. One of the other guy's also shoots the 30 carbine bullets like Tony was saying and they seem to do real well.
As far as load development goes my old rifle wasn't drilled and tapped for scope bases, so all my shooting was done with the open sights ( receiver peeps, front globe) at 50 and 100 Meters. I then went out to 150 and 200 and the groups were still reasonable, so I didn't change anything. So I don't know exactly how well for that matter the gun will shoot. But, I can usually call my shots fairly well and most important have confidence in the setup.
For, me the problem is less with recoil than with heat. The gun just gets really hot in the summer. We shoot straight through on our monthly matches as opposed to squadded relays, because we don't draw enough shooters. Also, we combine both HP, and Long Range Pistol at these same shoots. As we get our Range in Order, I'll work on milder loads. One thing I do is keep my gun really loose, ( a rattling old club) but it doesn't seem to walk around even as it heats up.
Our range is a shooters range, and the scores are great. Bill Zewe, who was a top pistol silhouette shooter set the CLA national record in 2002, with a 55/60. In 2003 the record went to 56 at our state shoot, and in 2004 at the state shoot the score went to 57x60. Also, on the rimfire side the national record of 56xi60 was fired on our range in 2004, which had raised the old record or 54 which again had been shot on our range in 2003.
Bottom line is Cowboy is fun, and economical. I hope we get a nice turnout in July at the Regional we will be hosting. This will be taking place at the McKean County Rifle Club, Bradford, Pa.
