Garrison Joe, SASS #60708

Been running an RCBS vibratory bowl heavily for about 8 years now. The trick on that one (and most others) - at least each year, take the darn thing apart, clean and lube the bronze bushings with a good lube (Royal Purple gun oil is what I have used), blow out all the media dust, then reassemble all the stinking little screws and bolts. When it slows a little, it's time for the clean and lube. Put that off, and the bearing and then motor will burn up. Good luck, GJ

Don't leave brass in any of the solutions mentioned above for more than the time it takes to dissolve the carbonates and sulfates that are the residue in the cases. The fasting acting corrosion cleaner I have found (by experiment with solutions plumbers use for cutting scale off plumbing fixtures) is: Quart water 2 tablespoons vinegar 1 tablespoon crystalline sulfamic acid (a grout cleaner from Home Depot or Lowes or tile stores) Warm this to as hot as you can stand to handle. Use thin latex or nitrile gloves. Place corroded brass in solution JUST long enough to stop bubbling - that is the carbonate being dissolved. This works on corroded brass, it works on brown patina (copper oxides) brass. It won't take more than a couple of minutes. Drain and rinse in water. If you have dissolved a lot of copper carbonate, or softened lots of brown patina, you will have some re-plated copper on the case surfaces that will be bright pink. I scrub that off easily with a greenie scrubbing pad. I've shot tons of pistol brass saved from a few months laying on the range - no more cracking on those cases than on non-corroded cases. BUT - If you have severe pitting on the brass surface - it's history with any treatment technique. You will only eat into the copper and zinc of the case walls if you leave it in acidic solutions for a long time. The trick is to drain off the acid just as soon as the residues are dissolved! Good luck, GJ

Full wadcutter ammo is not used in CAS for a couple of reasons . If bullet is BELOW flush with end of case, it's illegal by rule. Won't feed well through lever or pump guns. Made to be shot in target revolvers. Good luck, GJ (Exact measurement correction applied)

'Bout the best Christmas Blessings ever! Life is full of wondrous Gifts! Amen, GJ

Rye Whiskey - Knob Creek Rye is not hard to choke down. Prefer Russell's Reserve 6 year old, though. Ditto the remarks on the CR Rye - way too mild mannered - no character. For Scotch - Talisker. No question.

And another document of the same place and time. Headquarters 101st Airborne Division Office of the Division Commander 24 December 1944 What's Merry about all this, you ask? We're fighting - it's cold - we aren't home. All true but what has the proud Eagle Division accomplished with its worthy comrades of the 10th Armored Division, the 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion and all the rest? Just this: We have stopped cold everything that has been thrown at us from the North, East, South and West. We have identifications from four German Panzer Divisions, two German Infantry Divisions and one German Parachute Division. These units, spearheading the last desperate German lunge, were headed straight west for key points when the Eagle Division was hurriedly ordered to stem the advance. How effectively this was done will be written in history; not alone in our Division's glorious history but in World history. The Germans actually did surround us. their radios blared our doom. Their Commander demanded our surrender in the following impudent arrogance. The German Commander received the following reply: Allied Troops are counterattacking in force. We continue to hold Bastogne. By holding Bastogne we assure the success of the Allied Armies. We know that our Division Commander, General Taylor, will say: Well Done! We are giving our country and our loved ones at home a worthy Christmas present and being privileged to take part in this gallant feat of arms are truly making for ourselves a Merry Christmas. A. C. McAuliffe

Hey, Johnny! Merry Christmas pard! Yep, ED has been very helpful on this transaction. GJ

Nope, it's a linseed oil base. See the Birchwood Casey web site. Another similar finish is Linspeed Oil. Another linseed oil with a dryer agent added. Both very nice. Just be careful about storing any rags that have the oil on them. They can get hot enough to spontaneously ignite and burn down your work area! Good luck, GJ

You'll pay hobbs before you get a 25# bag for $25 when commodity lead price is close to a buck a pound, like it is now. That $25 a sack came from 35 to 50 cent lead.

I'm still getting virgin shot for $38 a bag from local supplier down the street. Guess things could be worse.

ED - I'd like that 28" Daly. I'll PM you for address, arrange funds, etc. Figure your shipping costs to my FFL holder in Albuquerque NM, please. Thanks! GJ

A search of the forums would have found this topic, same question as yours: http://www.sassnet.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=254756&hl=%2B45+%2Bspecial+%2Bbrass The address and phone to contact American Cowboy Ammo is in the topic discussion. Scroll down. You will find it is slightly expensive, but they have the exclusive rights to have Starline manufacture the brass. Good luck, GJ

Prayers up for "the old man". Ted is a great pard to shoot with and swap lies with as well. May the medicos work efficiently and skillfully, and may recovery be a breeze. God Bless, GJ

Sounds exactly like the way that at least West Fargo (bless him!) did short strokes on Vaqs. The transfer bar usually comes out for lots of reasons, to increase reliability and reduce cocking force, as well as letting the stroke be shortened by moving the full-cock notch. When the transfer bar is out, then you need to extend the face of hammer to be able to hit the firing pin. Light springs are not REQUIRED, but no one wants a short-stroke that is still running heavy springs. And, the geometry of how the pawl is driven off the hammer stroke has to be modified to get complete rotation up to the next bolt lock slot. And the loading gate interlocking is usually simplified to only open on the half cock notch (if gate is opened before pulling back that short-stroke hammer, the hammer rests on firing pin and pushes it forward, possibly locking up gun via FP tip in the fired primer or catching on next cartridge rim). And a half-cock notch is added to catch hammer during a slip of the hammer during cocking. By that time, you've got four clicks (essentially simplifying the Ruger lockwork back to a Colt design). But, yep, there's a fair amount of work on the hammer, or a completely new hammer replaces the old one. At the least. What of the mods are you planning not to do (have done)? Good luck, GJ

Single ACTION Shooting Society - it just takes action to shoot with us, not necessarily any guns when you start. The only pards missing out on "savoring," are the pards not coming out. Good luck, GJ

You won't get much lower cost loading your own shells than the pricing of factory shotshells. BUT, you can get lower recoil and the satisfaction of loading your own from cranking out shotshells. Look for the lowest price you can on shot. That is the price driver. If you have a local trap/skeet/clays club, check with them for deals on shot. Even reclaimed shot works great for SASS. By far the easiest, widely available powder to make a low-recoil 1 ounce load is Hodgdon Clays (or Clay Dot from Alliant). Both are now starting to be available again at most vendors. Combine that with a one ounce wad and your favorite hull, and you are well on your way. Good luck, GJ Similar posts: http://www.sassnet.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=256331&hl=%2Blow+%2Brecoil+%2Bshotshell#entry3330430 http://www.sassnet.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=227680&hl=%2B12+%2Bgauge+%2Blow+%2Brecoil#entry3263018

One can usually get away with bending (reprofiling) the existing hammers. Changing out a hammer, assuming you can find on that will work and has a general shape like guns of the Old West, will probably never be questioned. Knocking off sharp "birds beaks" on hammers to make them safe to run - has been allowed forever. Internal mods like working over or replacing springs - perfectly acceptable per rules. If your gut tells you you're close to the edge of the rules, you can submit a request to the Rules Committee for a ruling on the external mods you are thinking about. That's the only sure way to get the answer that will stand up "in SASS court" Good luck, GJ

Winchester's primer pockets are often just slightly tighter than other US made brass. I've seen the same on .45 Colt and .38 special. The second time, you are paying a lot more attention to seating that primer firmly. That time, it goes in. Good luck, GJ

The OP may WANT a highly customized gun. He may not be able to get that from ANYONE that we know about. He may not even be able to GET it at all. When a feller asks for advice on this wire, and the advice is given, and it's not necessarily what he wants to hear, but it may be what he needs to hear, there's not a real good reason to complain about it. Folks are not saying it CAN'T be done, we are saying we don't know smiths willing to take on the task. Most of the smiths we know, do "simple modifications to cowboy guns for men who want to shoot fast." (To paraphrase Nick in It's a Wonderful Life). Take the free advice given, and move on from there. If he wants to check with Lonnie at Run-N-Iron in Nebraska, they do a lot of "high end customization and restoration" for lever guns. As does Turnbull's in Connecticut. Those will be long shots with little chance of getting satisfaction, but there might be a small chance. Good luck, GJ

Yep, that can work too. Prepare 50 bins. But it also means you have to track the loaded cartridges with a label, too. The bookkeeping may make you depressed. Have some Christmas Cheer! I'd buy you one if I were in Illowa! GJ But then, I am an Illdianatucky native myself. Winter depression seemed the norm when I was back there.

^ | | IMHO, Some of the worst advice for loading ammo that I have seen on this wire. (If you take this advice literally) Loading C45S to the same loading data and pressures as standard .45 auto loads - will be above the pressure rating for SAA clones! And you will have way too much recoil. Drop down to light .45 auto rim load data and you will be more likely to get the light recoil that C45S was designed to provide! For example, a light .45 auto load I make for Wild Bunch, uses a 200 grain bullet and let's say, 5 grains of "an appropriate" pistol powder. What I load with that same powder in C45S cases is a 175 grain bullet and about 4.4 grains of powder. Now, this is a slightly modified example of what I do, but if I were to load "like my ACPs" I would be making some real hot loads. A C45S load for most single-action revolvers should be quite a bit milder than what you would shoot in a .45 auto pistol. (Original design Ruger Vaqueros, though, will be able to handle it. I even have a .45 AUTO CYLINDER for my old Ruger Blackhawk) Good luck and keep all your fingers and your TO's eyeballs! GJ

But, Miroku makes, in Japan, a VERY fine '73 at the same prices as Uberti. A US manufacturer could do it too if they were willing and able to front the machine and tooling and engineering costs. So, don't really buy that cost of labor argument. Good luck, GJ

Ditto. At any price. There just are not parts made to support what you want, so stuff has to be carved out of stock. Beaucoup expensive anymore. There's just not enough interest amongst gun owners to have a highly customized Henry Big Boy for a smith to get good at working on them. That much work on a gun that is relatively cheap to begin with, starts to look like a potential loss-of-good-will for most smiths. They just can't see charging 2-3 times what the gun's value is, then possibly have the customer come back later and complain that they can't recoup the price of the custom work. Not saying you would, but how's a gunsmith going to know that? "Like making a silk purse out of a sow's ear" would probably be their reaction. Good luck, GJ

Ditto. My powder selections in C45S have been 700-X, RedDot and Win WST. Of those, WST burns most clean and meters accurately. If you want a load with any of those, let me know. Good luck, GJ

The most successful brass trackers seem to rely on a physical mark on the case rim to record the count of uses. Like a notch filed with a jewelers triangular file each time you load it. Hard part is finding those marked cases every time they come in to be loaded. Perhaps some brass blacking on the head, or a stripe up the case? Good luck, GJ