Garrison Joe, SASS #60708
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Posts posted by Garrison Joe, SASS #60708
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Happened to me in a match - fairly new (to me) TTN as well. 20 years ago. 1 piece of 7.5 shot kept it from locking up. Learned to make tighter crimps from that, not just settle for sunken and coned up petals. Good crimps are really important for high reliability shotshells. good luck, GJ
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Ditto! Easy to work on. If you find info on working on a Stoeger, Baikal, or SKB or Browning BSS - all those are SO similar in what needs done.
Really good tips on Marauder's tuning pages, like this for Baikal doubles -
https://marauder.homestead.com/files/TuneBaik.html
Takedown instructions for a Browning BSS shotgun will serve you well, too. Both Daly 500 and BSS guns were made by Miroku in Japan.
good luck, GJ
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Depends on what smithing task you need to have done, but for cowboy gun work -
Do you know Squibber at The Dusty Bunch shop in Casa Grande?
How about Pleasant Valley Kid in Apache Jctn area? Think he might still be a working smith...
Even Johnny Meadows out of Tuscon? May have to convince him to return to work, if I read the cards right
Or one of the best ever - Jim Bowie in Mojave Valley?
And, of course, Shotgun Boogie, but may be quite a wait to get work done.
I would trust (and have trusted with my guns in most cases) any of those I called out.
good luck, GJ
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Sear looks fair, hammer full cock notch looks real bad (because it has a "negative engagement angle" - the root of the notch is ahead of the tip of the notch, so the sear is being "accelerated" to release the hammer. Makes for a dangerous gun. Needs "trigger work" badly.
Send/drive it to Lassiter in New Lebanon - you will be amazed! good luck, GJ
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My current C45S load is 4.2 grains of Bullseye with a 175 grain slug, tight roll crimp. Have used 4.2 of WST also. Clays and Clay Dot also can run at about the same charge weight as do BE and WST. good luck, GJ
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I see more badly-angled sear-to-hammer fitments than I have ever seen with too-light a main spring. Usually the hammer is held back even with the mainspring too light to fire a round.
Have a cowboy gun smith properly set the sear and hammer shelf geometry.
good luck, GJ
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Bullets have to be sized just 1 to 2 thousandths larger than groove diameter, which almost always means you want bullets sized 0.452" diameter.
18 Brinnell hardness bullets are WAY too hard for Wild Bunch or Cowboy shooting, and they "gas cut" the base and lay down lead streaks. 12 Brinnell are also harder than needed. I shoot 9-10 Brinnell hardness with plain old (soft, lithium grease and beeswax, homemade even) bullet lube and get ZERO leading. I NEVER use bevel based bullets in any of my guns! Not many commercial casters make softer bullets like those, since they damage easily when shipped.
Desperado Bullets make a nice soft-ER lead slug, if you don't make them yourself. If you do make your own, cast with an alloy that is 2/3 wheel weights and 1/3 dead soft lead. Should just be able to scratch a slug with the edge of your thumbnail. Or, if you buy "6-2" commercial casting alloy, cut that 1 to 1 with soft lead.
Wild Bunch type loads only make about 800 FPS, and have low chamber pressure (about 12,000 psi). That needs a soft bullet to expand when fired well enough to seal the grooves up. There's lead in the grooves BECAUSE the slugs do not seal in the grooves, the hot gas melts just the base area of the slug, and lead gets ironed into the grooves, usually right in front of the chamber.
If you insist on shooting the harder slugs, then use a Lewis Lead Remover cleaner, which has a brass mesh that scrubs the lead out of the barrel easily.
good luck, GJ
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Not seen many folks use Sport Pistol, but not quite sure why. Perhaps because there are zero loads in Alliant's cowboy action loading data section on-line using Sport Pistol. I do see a 9 mm (Luger) load or two using Sport Pistol, at typically much higher velocities (and pressures too , I would guess). Would be kinda hard to extrapolate that down to .38 special use.
If you have to buy more in the near future, it has a good chance of being unavailable, like most other Alliant powders due to the makers being contracted to government demands. Your local supplier may be a real treasure for you.
Being a minimal number of just cowboy loads are what you want, I'd suggest you may not want to do the load development work to figure this out when other Clays replacements (ahem, TiteGroup powder) are widely available.
good luck, garrisonjoe
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Also like running the Whisper Springs. But, little difference as far as I can tell. GJ
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That's a fairly light load for .44 spl. I'd try 4.5 grains as a minimum. Clays works well in .45 Colt above about 4.8 grains for me. Clays usually shoots very clean even with light loads.
good luck, GJ
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Had not seen that. May just be your ticket!
Course, a little cheaper to get the Outdoor Outfitter/Smith Shop extractor and pick up a coil spring from the hardware store for 20 cents or so. good luck, GJ
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9 minutes ago, Trenchgun831 said:
I’ll have to get the coil spring extractor today,
You won't find one. Folks usually modify a broken or welded standard shape extractor by cutting the tail back to where you don't have to count on the "leaf spring" function of the tail. That is why the gunsmiths were recommended. Unless you really like fitting up a couple yourself. good luck, GJ
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All that is done is to drill a pocket under a shortened tail of the extractor and put in a coil spring. Any "cowboy" gunsmith who works on 97s can do that. With you being in TX, you might start with
Texas - Lefty Wheeler, George Kucinich, Wheeler Gun Works, Willow Park, TX (817) 264-6463
Texas - Boomstick Jay, Jason Widmer, Boomstick Arms Co LLC, Leonard, TX 254-368-4540
Texas - Nate Kiowa Jones, Steve Young, Steve's Gunz, Lampasas, TX (512) 564-1015
Texas - Long Hunter, Brad Finch, Long Hunter Shooting Supply, Amarillo, TX (806) 342-0000 (believe Brad took over for his Dad, Jim)
Texas - Ten-Ring Precision, Inc., 1449 Blue Crest, San Antonio, Texas 78232, 1-210-494-3063
good luck, GJ
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The lockup is important, and on ALL the 97s (US made or Chinese), the lockup was hand-fitted. Since the gun cycles with the Chinese bolt, the lockup fit has (by definition) at least some slop in it. I would have it checked before shooting it again, but, really, I would get a replacement left hand extractor for the Winchester gun. Even step up to a coil spring modification to the extractor to take away the likelihood of having to repair it another time.
A great replacement LHE is still available from:
Outdoor Outfitters (Extractor)
Put the Chinese bolt with it's metric threads back into the IAC gun where it was built to fit and function. If that gun were to be sold or gifted, it would represent you badly with the new owner, if you leave that Chinese bolt in the Winchester gun. good luck, GJ
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Springs are easier to grind to a repeatable strength if you hourglass the width rather than try to do any thinning of the thickness. And, you take no chances of putting scratches across the width that can act as stress risers (breakage spots)
I have hourglassed several and they all are set to fire even CCI primers, even if I only use Federal primers.
good luck, GJ
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On 8/29/2025 at 10:58 AM, Stump Water said:
Federal Estate target loads .... The base is aluminum
Nah, those head covers are steel with a cadmium plating. Stick a magnet on the head cover and it will grab hold.
If they shuck for you, great. They often don't from a factory (unhoned) SxS, like most other steel head cover hulls. good luck, GJ
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The lead bullets we use are much safer to be slightly over the groove diameter of the barrel than jacketed bullets commonly covered in loading manuals. And best accuracy often comes from the lead bullet being sized to groove diameter + 1 or 2 thousandths of in inch. My bullets for a 0.458" rifle barrel get sized to 0.459" and shoot well. GJ
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Lassiter for sure. Kinda sounds like a broken half-cock notch or trigger tip. And old part may have to be welded
and recut, since Hawes parts may be hard to find.
Lassiter, Tom's Single Action Shop New Lebanon, OH 45345 937-687-1039
Have no personal experience with this fellow:
Coyote Moon Gun Works 10749 E. Green Hill Road Otterbein, Indiana 47970 765-427-2201 text or leave a message
good luck, GJ
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If that is McLean County, Illinois, try Sgt Eli, Mark Cribelar, Victory Gun Works, Fairfield, Illinois, (618) 204-9972
But just about any real gunsmith can epoxy and/or pin a shotgun buttstock. Avoid a black gun part swapper, though. good luck, GJ
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Bandana, yes. Handkerchief - not so much, nor usually enough to tie a knot in - unless you have a pencil neck. 😄 GJ
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I'd put money on contamination inside the hull by some foreign object causing very little of the primer flash getting to the powder, or even more so, a very light powder charge. A light powder charge could easily be forward in the hull, against the wad, and the primer did not ignite it well. Then, when gun gets tipped backward to shuck the hull, the powder shifted back to the primer and a hot particle ignited the balance of the powder. Very possible with our lighter-than-minimum-handbook charge weights!
Good safety glasses prevent a lot of possible damage to eyes! Wear them! I let no shooter (or spectator) on the cowboy bays unless they have their glasses on.
good luck, GJ
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A zero (setting the tare of the pan) is not enough for any scale. You have to check the heavy end of the scale, as the OP has found out by practical experience that beam balance allowing too-heavy a load to be thrown at a "normal" scaled weight. GJ
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Make sure to cover the scale with it's factory plastic cover to keep dust and dirt off the scale when not using it. ALWAYS use a check weight or two that cover the range of weights you will throw. Tare at zero, check weigh the heavy side weight, check weigh the light side, then check that tare is still zero. I don't want anything on the agate pivot sockets - that attracts dust. I blow clean with a compressed air can.
No drafts in the room, fans, etc., unless you PROVE to yourself that it is not affecting your check weight results. Level solid surface where you set the scale, vibration free. All this should help you "make weight." Good luck, GJ
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Sounds like you need just a little more metal removed from the tip of the wire spring. Look for any drag marks where the tip rides - then clearance the spring (not any of the carrier parts). Bending that spring should not be needed (unless it has been damaged by work and use so far). Compare the clearances around your original spring, and this new wire spring. Make them the same. good luck, GJ
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Uberti 1873 hammer won't stay cocked
in SASS Wire
Posted
I've case-hardened several trigger assemblies with chemical/heated quench hardening compounds. Like Cherry Red. Helps hold the fine surfaces after stoning to true fit. good luck, GJ