Howdy
I shoot a lot of cowboy, and I have a lot of friends who do too. That's the way it is with Cowboy Shooters, we tend to hang out together and become good friends, even though we only know each others aliases and don't know real names.
I'm racking my brain right now and I can't think of anybody who is a regular cowboy shooter, and shoots a lot of matches a year, who does not reload. Or of they don't reload, they have a pal who reloads for them. When I am at the loading table, just about the only time I see somebody show up with factory ammo they are either a newbie, or an infrequent shooter. Ya just cannot afford to shoot cowboy very often with the high price of ammo these days. As for who is buying all that cowboy ammo you see on the shelves, it ain't regular cowboy shooters, I can tell you that. It is usually guys who just bought a Ruger or a Uberti or something, and want to fool around a little bit with it at the range. It ain't regular cowboy shooters buying that stuff, it is just too expensive. I have heard a lot of conversations over the years at gun shops, and whenever somebody is buying cowboy ammo, I don't know him. And I do know most of the regular cowboy shooters in these parts.
I shoot 45 Colt, 45 Schofield, and 44-40 in CAS. When I started about ten years ago I realized right away that I was going to have to reload if I wanted to shoot without winding up in the poorhouse. And that was ten years ago, before the present skyhigh prices of ammo. Just for comparison, back then a box of 45 Colt cost between $18.50 and $22.00 for a box of 50. Your typical cowboy match may consist of 6 to 8 stages, with 10 pistol rounds, 10 rifle rounds, and maybe 4 shotgun rounds at every stage. You do the math. How often can anybody afford to shoot with today's prices, which are much higher than what I just quoted? I just did a quick check at Midway and 45 Colt is going for between $32.50 and $37.00 today for a box of 50. I had to check because I ain't bought any cowboy ammo in years. So say $35 a box of 50 for 45 Colt. Say you shoot 45 Colt in both your rifle and your pistols. A 6 stage match is going to require 120 rounds of ammo for your rifle and pistol. That's about 2 1/2 boxes at $35 a box. Add to that gas money, the entrance fee, and lunch, and that's why everybody I know reloads.
A few years ago Mrs Johnson decided to start shooting Cowboy with me. I bought her a pair of 357/38 New Vaqueros and a Marlin in the same caliber. My plan was to buy cheap 38 reloads for her, at around $5 per box of 50, as I did not reload 38s at that time. At that time I could still find cheap 38 reloads at gunshows for $5/box. Well, guess what, the supply of $5 boxes of 38s reloads dissappeared. So now I reload 38 Sp too, not just for her cowboy ammo, but also for my considerable collection of S&W 38s.
Like I say, if you are going to be serious about shooting cowboy, you had better either start reloading, or find a pal who does.
