Garrison Joe, SASS #60708

I use the technique of working the width of a leaf spring narrower. Hourglassing is what it is called, and it's much easier to control the strength of the spring. Taper both ends of the cut to make the narrow section. Take some off, test the spring, when down close to desired weight, polish all scratches or grooves to remove stress raisers where spring steel can break. good luck, GJ

You are hitting the puller too hard! I just finished reseating about 150 rounds that loaded 0.100" too long. That puller is 10 years old and has probably pulled thousands of rounds by now, including some mil surplus rifle rounds. good luck, GJ

To reseat over-length crimped rounds, I use a hammer bullet puller to nudge the bullet FORWARD enough to straighten out the crimp. Then I reseat to proper length and quick as that, the round is ready to fire. good luck, GJ

A malfunction is called for the GUN failing to work and you no longer continue to use it. I am pretty sure that leaving that round you attempted to fire and which FTFd in the cylinder is NOT a MISS nor an overloading of the gun. So, don't call malfunction and you should be fine. good luck, GJ

This situation shows why in the 1920s it was SO important to have a committee of the major gun makers agree to follow some standards with respect to how to make ammo and firearms work safely regardless of who made each of the "parts" I won't use ammo from a maker (like HSM) that fails to comply with SAAMI standards! Too much possible risk. The bottom line to me is - if you feel the need to shoot a very capable handgun rifle - then look for something designed to be more powerful than a .45 Colt! good luck, GJ

Sometimes a long round that is NOT fired (by mistake, or having to clear the gun) will not eject through a port. Jams the gun royally then. Use shorter ammo - do not reseat the slug on an already high-pressure load! good luck, GJ

If your loading cartridges problem will NOT get any easier when you press a blunt screwdriver tip on the front end of the loading gate inwards all the way to the left side of the frame walls, then most likely the loading gate tab (the part that is bent at a 90 degrees angle into the action) could be a little "fat", too long a tip. Try painting the very edge (tip) of the loading gate TAB with a sharpie that has a different color - like silver. If you rub that silver off when trying to push rounds, then the tab has too much metal and needs a little filing. Inside the action, the loading gate can collide with either the lifter arm or the inside of the frame. If pressing the loading gate fully DOES allow rounds to load nicely, then you may need to thin the arm of the gate so it does not have so much spring tension. Don't take much off at time. And it's safer (less chance of breakage) if you thin the width of the arm with a taper pattern, rather than thinning the thickness of the arm. Thinning the thickness makes a leaf spring weaker VERY quickly. Leave no file marks to act as stress risers (where a break can occur). Of course, hard LOADING of the mag tube is something that you can live with because you rarely load the mag tube "on the clock" while shooting. Glad to see you seem to have the new lifter working, though! GJ

I keep a spreadsheet (free one - no more Excel prices for me) with all my loads, both shot for groups in the past, and planned to load. Gives me things to do when I run out of doing real work at the range or the house. And another spreadsheet with details on each firearm. Has come in handy many times. good luck, GJ

No ejector on the toggle rifles (other than the top surface of the carrier). That top hook is the extractor. OP - you need to CLEARLY explain the remaining difficulty. You keep saying this is a "loading" problem, which to me means you can't easily load rounds through the loading gate into the mag tube. Then some folks are treating this like a levering/chambering problem. The round on the carrier not feeding well into the chamber and letting the lever close completely. Then OTHER folks are discussing an extraction and ejection problem. Getting the fired brass out of the chamber and ejected cleanly. Tell us specifically which of these you are bothered by. Before this post turns into 14 pages of guesses, and perhaps none help you solve the problem. good luck, GJ

He did mention caliber - .38 special ammo. In 7th post. Cartridge length not making for difficulty loading rounds into the gun. Either loading gate, carrier constriction or something hanging up in mag tube. good luck, GJ

The loading of cartridges shoves rounds through through the loading gate, into the channel of the carrier, then into the mag tube. And when levering the action, of course, the round to be fed to the chamber has to pop rearward into the channel then be pushed forward into the chamber by the bolt after the carrier rises. So, you definitely have to have sufficient clearance in the channel for a round to slide without binding or being tight. Can you slide rounds easily fore and back with the carrier out of the gun, held in your hands? If not, more filing will be needed to allow the rounds to travel freely. How about explaining if EVERY cartridge you load is sticking, or just the first or just the last. Very hard to load last cartridge - could be an over-length magazine tube spring (common from factory). If it's every cartridge - may be a narrow spot in the carrier or the frame. But since this problem sounds like it has started only with the new carrier, check that closely. Take a sharpie pen and color the inside of the block. Load some cartridges, unload them, then take block out and examine for marks in the fresh coating. Look for rub marks on the inside of the carrier channel and on the receiver (frame) where the mag tube meets the receiver. Look for a magazine follower that sticks either in the frame or the mag tube. Also check that the loading gate can be pushed open easily as you shove cartridges in. Uberti makes the spring arm of the loading gate very strong. A bent loading gate or too much arch on the spring arm can catch on the lifter arm or even toggle links. Having sticky LOADING of the magazine is an uncommon problem with a 73. And short rounds will not fix a hard magazine loading issue. And will, if short enough, cause levering rounds into the chamber to jam up with one and part of another round in the carrier. All of this tells me the gun needs to go back to LongHunter for some remedial work. Having to do a lot of adjustment to the carrier's channel is not what is usually needed with a carrier replacement. good luck, GJ

Extractor probably is weak and needs to be replaced. And the lever and lifter springs, if still the factory originals, ought to be replaced. Tighten the lifter spring side until the carrier is held even with bottom of frame. Problems with loading the magazine are "vertical alignment of carrier" problems. Some new carriers need the rear of the bolt travel channel filed a little to make a conical entry (centering relief) to better let the bolt find it's way forward. good luck, GJ

Already proven to be a good dual purpose powder, just not every pistol cartridge has some published data from Hodgdon. Like .45 Colt, but I run WST in the Colt all the time. good luck, GJ

Helps quite a bit - but not as much as blowing out .44-40 cases. As does a heavy powder charge and a heavy bullet. Both of which are bad for high speed gallery shooting. The discontinued Redding dual ring sizer die also helps quite a bit, and is the easiest to get started doing! good luck, GJ

Ditto that. Had to clear an annular split .38 spl case BROKEN AT THE CANNELURE from a 73 in a major match that cost wife-at-time a buckle. Now I carry case extractors. may it never happen to you! GJ