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GUNS OF A CHAMPION Saluting Terry Nibarger and his two EOT-winning Ruger Old Armies
By Mike Beliveau "Gunfighter grips from Eagle Grips completed the package, and definitely enhanced the handling capabilities of the big Rugers."
I'm never going to win at End of Trail. That's a fact that's as certain as death and taxes. And just like death and taxes, I can accept that with good grace because I got into Cowboy Action Shooting for the fun of playing Cowboy. And that fun never fails to satisfy me even if I place last in a match. Even though I don't aspire to be a champion myself, I admire the men and women who have the dedication and the ability to win the top events. They display phenomenal skill with their firearms as well as a canny knack for reading a stage, and moving efficiently through it. My hat's off to them. One of the champions I admire is Terry Nibarger, AKA the Red River Drifter, who won the Frontiersman category at the 2001 End of Trail. Nibarger started shooting single-action revolvers when he was 11 years old. During his teen years he spent most of his money on bullets, wearing out two barrels on his Ruger Single Six in the process. When Nibarger began shooting with SASS in 1993 he was a duelist style shooter using smokeless ammo, but in 2000 he decided it was time for a change. "Maybe it was a mid-life crisis," Nibarger said. "I decided the flamethrowers were having more fun than I was, so I made the switch." Nibarger started shooting black powder with a set of borrowed Ruger Old Army cap and ball revolvers. It didn't take long to get him hooked on burning soot, and he approached Larry Crow, at Competitive Edge Gun Works, to build a set of custom Old Armies for competition. Larry Crow is a member of the American Guild of Pistol-smiths, and he's a wizard with Rugers. The guns he built for Nibarger are worthy of a champion. Larry started with a set of stainless-steel Old Armies. First he scrapped the 7.5-inch barrels, and replaced them with 5.5-inch Shillen barrels. He shortened the loading levers and reattached the loading lever catches with screws, so you can fully remove the base pins, even with the shorter barrels. Larry tuned both pistols so the actions are as light as possible, while still giving reliable cap and ball performance. The trigger pull on each pistol was 2-3/4 pounds, and they broke perfectly with no creep or over-travel. Even with the light springs I had no problem popping caps. Gunfighter grips from Eagle Grips completed the package, and definitely enhanced the handling capabilities of the big Rugers. These are the pistols Nibarger used as the "Red River Drifter" to win at End of Trail. I was able to borrow them for a week between matches so I could see what it's like to shoot the guns of a champion. "Gunfighter grips from Eagle Grips completed the package, and definitely enhanced the handling capabilities of the big Rugers."
Favorite Loads Nibarger loads his Old Armies with 30 grains of fffg Goex powder under an Ox Yoke Wonder Wad, followed by a .457 Hornaday swaged round ball. He uses German-made RWS caps to light off the load. I wanted to use Nibarger's load during my range tests, but I couldn't find RWS percussion caps locally. A phone call to Dixie Gunworks set that right. They can provide everything you need to go shooting with cap and ball sixguns. I had been a little concerned about seating the ball. In my experience, the rammers don't get the ball all the way down on a 30-grain powder charge in the deep chambers on a Ruger. Nibarger told me that he seats the .457 balls normally with the rammer, then he places a .36 caliber ball over the .457 ball, and seats it again, and then the .36 just drops out. That pushes the ball deep enough to compress the powder charge. It worked like a charm for me. Once they were loaded these Rugers performed flawlessly. I shot quite a few one-hole groups from 10 yards. From 15 yards I averaged two-inch groups offhand, which is a good as I can shoot. I'll bet these pistols are capable of even better. These are tools worthy of a champion.
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