Forrest Asmus

I live within a 2-hour drive of Forsyth, Montana where the first of these type matches was held back in 1991 as proposed by Al Lee of the Forsyth Rifle and Pistol Club. Al called his match the Quigley Down Under Long Range Buffalo Rifle Match and organized it according to his own preferences. Since that time things have changed somewhat but the match itself and the many others that have arisen around these parts since then are in the same spirit and use essentially the same rules for shooting that Al set forth at the beginning.

Since the matches are a great deal of fun to shoot in there has been a continual increase in the size of the Quigley match and other clubs around my four state area have started their own Buffalo Rifle matches as well. The need for some insight or recommendations about how a Rifleman might prepare for going to one of these gatherings for the first time is appropriate.

Al always says the first and only rule at Quigley is to "Have Fun!" All other information is for organizational purposes only. I've always liked that and I will use this "Information" as a guideline for introducing Buffalo Rifles to those shooters who are interested but inexperienced along those lines.

Equipment is first. For this type match you may use any traditional single shot or tubular magazine lever operated rifle. The key word here is "any": With the exception of single shot bolt guns you can shoot anything from the H&R "Handirifle" right on up to one-off custom single shots. You may shoot Millers, Rugers, modern reproductions of all kinds and ancient but shootable originals. Muzzle loading "slug guns" are permitted as well! If it is of .375 nominal bore size or greater and safe, you are welcome to use it.

Along with the rifle goes choice of sights. This portion of the "information" is pretty easy to understand but winds up being a very critical not only for the type of sight but how much money you have to invest in supposedly "simple" iron sights. The information reads: "Any" two piece metallic sight, (no tube sights). The simplest solution I've seen for the sighting requirement is the old as-issued "ladder" sights on Trap-Door Springfield rifles.

What a fellow really needs for a rear sight, and this is pretty much a minimum requirement, is some sort of tall, rugged tang mounted sight capable of about 2½ to 3 inches of elevation over the centerline of the bore, depending on the height of the front sight itself. In addition to the elevation necessary such a sight must also be capable of at least ¼ of a degree (15 MOA) adjustment left and right of center for windage. One of the adjustable aperture peep disks is a very good addition to the rig. The ability to adjust for ambient lighting conditions as they change right on the firing line is a fine thing to have.

For the front sight it is pretty much required to have a spirit-level globe type front sight capable of adjustment for windage. These sights come with an assortment of inserts, allowing the shooter to select various designs for their front sight. The manufacturer normally supplies apertures of various sizes, posts of various widths and "pinheads" for those so inclined. Some of the options I have seen remain quite mysterious! But no doubt someone finds them useful.

The part of the "information" I like best is where "Any safe powder charge" is permissible, using "Any lead bullet". Swaged or cast bullets are OK. Plain base, paper patched or gas checked bullets are OK. Black Powder or smokeless powders are OK, to include duplex loads of smokeless and black. All things, it seems, are permitted so far as loads are concerned and this allows shooters to pick the combination they believe to be the best, load it up and go shooting with no questions asked.

In practice down on the firing line there are more shooters using smokeless loads than black but there is no contention between the competitors about which is "best". The question has little importance, palling to insignificance as compared say to how much wind is blowing at a given moment.

For me the very heart of this type of shooting is the casting, loading and shooting of bullets that are made for the game. I was advised when I began to load and shoot at long range to “shoot the heaviest bullet you can”. This advise was well intended since long, heavy bullets resist wind drift better than light bullets do and it is valid up to a point but I soon found a shooter can have too much of a good thing as I looked at paper targets made at 500 meters showing badly out-of-round bullet holes made with 410 grain bullets in my 40/65 Ballard: The bullets were inadequately stabilized in the 18 inch twist of my barrel.

I won’t go on and on about bullet stability and barrel twist. The subject is well traveled by many others elsewhere. I only want to say, and say firmly, emphatically, that a barrel must have a twist fast enough to keep your bullet point-on over the whole distance. The minimum twist needed for any 375 or 40 caliber rifle I might undertake would be 14. I like the 16 inch twist in 44 and 45 caliber even though some very good shooting is done with 18 inch twists in 45/70. For the 50 caliber I like a 20 inch twist even though others say 24 or even 26 is fast enough. In short, I prefer to err on the fast side of “good enough”.

I shoot mainly smokeless powder in my rifles and I have found certain combinations to be successful not only in my rifles but in several others as well. I might even venture far enough to say that the big straight cases used in Buffalo Rifle shooting and the rifles they are chambered in seem to accept certain standard loading combinations more readily than the typical high power rifles using bottle neck cases.

This subject of loading smokeless powder into the rather spacious cartridge cases intended for shooting black power in rifles mainly designed in the black power era is an area requiring a certain discretion or disclaimer of responsibility since safety enters into the area of consideration right away.

I will write about smokeless loads that have worked for myself and others for many, many tens of thousands of shots in our buffalo rifles with never a problem but always keep in mind that I do not recommend them for use in your rifle. That must always be your choice and your choice alone.

That being said I will say that I have found the large cases such as 45/70 or 44/63 or 40/65 will always perform better when the smokeless powder is loaded with some sort of inert material filling the extra volume in these big cases.

Some of these combinations are things like 27 grains of MP5744, or 21 grains SR4759 in the 45/70, filled with about one eighth to one forth sheet of normal toilet paper, packed or tamped uniformly on top of the powder, toped with a card wad of 0.050 thickness and the typical 500 to 540 grain bullet over it all. Charmin is best (really!) since it has the most volume of them all. Other shooters use polyester type fillers. Things like Dacron or kapok are also commonly used to fill the big cases. The function of these fillers is mainly to position the power uniformly within the case. They provide only marginal gas sealing properties but are better than nothing at all.

Other inert fillers are in use as well. I have found that some granulated cereals such as corn meal or Cream-of-Wheat or hominy grits will do a fine job of filling the unused spaces of big cases and they provide excellent gas sealing properties too: Never a problem with leading when shooting cereal fillers! Cereals in straight wall cases work quite well. They have noticeable weight of course and such weight will show up in loading combinations as additional projectile weight; you have to add it to whatever your bullet weighs in considering the amount of power selected for the load.

When working up a load that you intend to shoot over the extended distances used in buffalo rifle shooting the criteria should be slanted not perhaps for ultimate accuracy at 100 or even 200 yards but for the maximum range you intend to shoot over. This, as we have mentioned, is somewhere between 750 to 850 yards. A load that shoots well at close range may very well fall apart at extended distances. Since many (or most) shooters do not have rifle ranges available that extend that far it is very important to work not only for accuracy but also for the very smallest Standard Deviation of velocity you can manage for a given loading combination. One of the main characteristics of black power is that it may be loaded to combinations that provide SD’s in the single digits. Things like 4 or 6 ft/sec SD are much more easily accomplished in black power shooting than they are in smokeless and this is one of the outstanding reasons shooters continue to have such excellent success with it.

An "ideal" load would be one that shoots right around 1250 ft/sec with a SD of 10 or less giving at least 2 minute accuracy as far out as you have range to prove it.

Once such a combination is identified shoot it over the course of several months to see how various changes in conditions affect its performance. A good load should shoot well right through the range of temperatures that you yourself find acceptable for your sport. For example I shoot the same loads in my rifles as from as cool as 35 degrees right on up to 100+, which is all too common out on the Montana prairie in the summertime!

As these things indicate, buffalo rifle shooting is not a sport where you are endlessly playing with different loading combinations. Pick a good one and use it all year. Shoot as much as you possibly can over long range to acquire and improve your ability to judge "condition" for that is the area of most critical importance!

When comes the time to attend your first Buffalo rifle match you should remember that these matches are meant to be fun. There is no classification system of shooters, just show up and lay your money down, usually no more than $20 and you're done.

Once on the ground you will see lots of folks running around with rifles, spotting scopes, ammunition, cross sticks and usually something to sit on.

What you settle on for your own use should be considered along the lines of how much material you need to pack up and down the firing line.

The "typical" Buffalo Rifle match is run across a fair amount of prairie. The targets, usually 6 to 8 steel silhouettes, will be arranged along a line on the order of about ½ mile long or more. The targets are usually set up on one side of a hill or one side of a valley and the firing positions are set up on a two-track dirt road facing them at intervals of 2 or 300 yards.

Taking myself as an example of a shooter that travels relatively light I recommend that some sort of cart be used to haul all the stuff needed along with you. I use a modified dolly to hold my rifle, spotting scope, tripod, ammunition and a lawn chair. This way I can roll along the two-track road to the various firing points with everything I need with relative ease. Some shooters make or buy large shooting carts that hold as much as a light pickup truck. Others make do by hand carrying only the bare minimum of equipment along with them, its your choice.

Distances to the targets are always non-standard. Things like 781 yards to the Quigley buffalo or 376 yards to the "small diamond" are the norm. You will never find even distances such as 200, 300 or 500 yards. At various matches the target shapes are unique. Geometrical shapes dominate at Quigley, at others animal shapes such as antelope, bears or deer are seen. At yet others somewhat irregular shapes reminding a man of doors off armored cars, or the state of Illinois come into sight. All of these odd shapes are sometimes difficult to acquire and maintain consistent sight pictures on as compared to typical bullseye targets.

The matches are run by dividing the shooters into groups, which are then assigned their targets. These shooters are then divided into squads of 4 to 6 who will fire in rotation at the target. The shooters that are not actively shooting at a given time always provide their services to the firing line by guessing "condition" and spotting hits or misses for the fellows doing the shooting at the time.

Matches are scored by hits. Any hit that rings the steel is good for score, including ricochets. Ties are broken by the greatest number of hits on the most difficult targets. Offhand being the toughest, then the longest distance and so forth.

The sport is run in an open friendly way, there is light interest in dressing "period" but it isn't required. Many shooters come to meet and renew friendships and to learn more. At the big matches there are always vendors selling various items deemed nice or necessary. Small towns of campers, trailers and tents appear on the prairie during the mach shooting all full of the kind of people you'd like to be with all the time.