Garrison Joe, SASS #60708

I try hard to avoid a stuck case in rifles! That works for me, though I do carry .38 and .45 broken case extractors to matches. (And I don't even shoot .38 special or .357) So - 1 - never use a case with a cannelure in a rifle load. (A cannelure is a knurled or grooved ring around the case often used back when few folks reloaded. Sometimes a cannelure was intended to assist a firm crimp to keep the bullet from collapsing down into the case. Mostly, it was a way for identifying a particular type factory load after cartridges were removed from the box.) 2 - never use nickel plated rounds in a rifle load. Nickel often cracks with fewer reloads compared to brass when fired. 3 - inspect all cases before loading and after seating the bullet for cracks, especially at the neck 4 - when cases start looking ratty (lots of scratches, dings, rounded rim edges, etc) - recycle the brass and get new ones 5 - for a big match where you have plans on being a podium occupier - always shoot new cases. Starline being my choice for new cases. 6 - make sure your extractor has a good hook shape and spring tension. Replace every 5000 rounds or couple of years. The extractor is the weak link when you have a split case to extract. good luck, GJ

This minor modification, which can be done in an hour, allows taking a shell out of the shell plate at the powder drop station. Makes it trivial to check the powder weight that is being measured out. And reduces the amount of shell plate rotation by hand to "back out" the shells to fix any problem. There is complete capability to take a shell out of the machine at any point - I can clear the whole shell plate of 8 shells in progress in about a minute by either rotating the plate forward (CCW) or backward (CW). The auto advance pawl (which your Pacific 366 will not have, because it is used for the auto rotation after a handle stroke) makes unloading the shell plate slightly more time consuming, because it has to be swung back out of engagement with the shell plate before rotating backward. This modification does not allow the shells to bounce or squirm out of the shell plate, as a few folks might imagine. I have two 366s and I love running them. They do need to be operated by someone with a bit of organization and mechanical skill (but less than needed to rebuild a carburetor or install brake pads on disk brakes, for example). I load for sporting clays, Cowboy, Wild Bunch and even make a few slug and buckshot loads on them. Like all shotshell loaders, having a shot and powder collection pan mounted under the press to catch an occasional spill is a real time saver. good luck, GJ

Support the bolt with a good block behind the ears at the rear end of the bolt. A scrap of oak or birch block might be carved out to support that area, but make sure to include a hole in the block to accept the rear link pin as you drive it out. Dousing/overnight soaking the area with some Kroil or PB Blaster solvents might make the job a little easier. Especially if you have been shooting frontier cartridge powders. good luck, GJ

Well, better if you show us pics of a few rounds that did NOT fire due to light hits. The ones you show are success stories. But, they do show an intact firing pin tip. Which is one thing that needs to be checked when FTF occurs. good luck, GJ

If the links are holding the action closed when firing, they are probably "long enough" to be giving you good lockup. This does not seem to match up with your comment just now that: I must be confused. These are two different rifles? Let's stick with the problem rifle in this discussion. THAT (problem) rifle IS kicking some rounds out unfired, correct? good luck, GJ

Your links look good enough to fire ammo at speed. You already know they are good enough to fire ammo when shot slowly. So, get past the "link checks" for now. Check the Firing Pin Extension (the large diameter rod that the hammer strikes). A bunch of lightened performance type FPE's have been made and installed when "performance tuning" 73s over the last 10 years. They can break chunks off the front end (which is fragile) and let those chunks bounce around in the firing pin area, giving light strikes OCCASIONALLY. I had one made by Pioneer Gunworks do that 8 months ago, after about 2 years in heavy service! Another pard last week found that was his reason for failure to fire / light hits on primers in his 73. Some pictures of the indents in the primers would help, but here's some other common causes: dirty firing pin channel weak hammer spring - yeah, I know you checked it, but... also look for anything slowing down the hammer fall - like a thumb riding on hammer, burrs in the frame, a lever safety not fitted well enough to keep you from tripping the trigger with just slightly out of battery - which acts as if you have excess headspace as the cartridge is not pinned down in the chamber by the bolt extractor nose jamming into the rear barrel face when extractor nose catches the lip of the cutout for the nose a broken firing pin, but parts remain in the bolt and bounce around, sometimes fitting together, sometimes not failure to seat primers flush with case head, or even 0.005" deeper Since you have problems at speed, but not when running slowly, it really says the problem has at least a little to do with your timing of trigger operation. Been there, done that, and I had to learn to concentrate as I progressed to running faster - to keep in mind the mantra "close lever, then trip trigger." Six months of doing that in practice AND matches fixed my light primer hits. good luck, GJ

Most likely the problem is excessive atmosphere moisture, and some got into the smokeless jugs. Normally, that does not happen. Lids may have not been tight. First, I would find a dry storage shed or other very warm (90-100 F) place and dry out the powder for a week. High temps up to 140 F (or more) will certainly not hurt most powders. But soaking up lots of moisture in a humid summer sure can make the powder slow or impossible to ignite. A dehumidifier running in that area would certainly help the drying process! Smokeless powder is not usually harmed by water contact. Alliant is said to have a jar of water-covered Bullseye powder (made in early 1900s) from which they take a small sample of wet powder, dry it out, then perform a burn test on it every few years. That testing has continued to show no degradation in the power and burn rate of the old powder. So, now you know you should screw the lids of factory powder bottles on tighter. But, I'll bet just that simple step will return the powder to full functionality! GJ

Accurate Molds certainly has a lot of grooveless molds. Since they add to their catalog almost any of the customer submitted "custom" designs, and over the last year or two, more folks want to poly coat bullets, they have a bunch in catalog. For example: https://accuratemolds.com/catalog.php?page=8#catalog-anchor They do make VERY fine molds! Night Owl Enterprises have a few designs that are grooveless or just a crimp groove. But, Al Nelson just announced his retirement and (apparently) business closing coming up soon, but he does have a site-wide clearance sale right now. https://noebulletmolds.com good luck, GJ

Since I have several White Label lubes on hand, I'd probably use either a light hand-applied coat (and into the lube grooves) of either XLOX or BAC. Both are soft enough to apply by hand and sticky enough to not be wiped off easily. White Label will send you a stick sample of each of their lubes, if I remember right, just for the price of shipping. White Label Lubes Otherwise, any NRA 50-50 bullet formula would probably be as good at your velocities. But, as I wrote earlier, I just run my Lyman lubrisizer with BAC and apply lube in the grooves of a "naked" lead alloy bullet with the 0.459" sizer die. good luck, GJ

True Black Powder is well known to remove leading from barrels. That is why only your smokeless loads produce leading, but the BP loads do not. Selecting your bullets to have one-thousandths of an inch over groove diameter, and bullet hardness suited to the chamber pressure (commonly done by matching the bullet hardness to the velocity you shoot), will correct leading in your smokeless loads. If you have to, you can add some good bullet lube to the coated bullets - sometimes that polymer coat is not enough of a lube. good luck, GJ

Yes, all conventional loading dies are a standard thread size (7/8 x 14) so that any brand of loading dies work in any press having threaded die position(s). So, regular RCBS dies will work fine in your Lee Turret press. good luck, GJ

Examine your bore with a good light at the muzzle end, looking through chamber. Use a mirror (or a borescope) if your eyes don't see well enough to see the sharp edges of the rifling lands. You will see lead deposits someplace in the bore after a shooting session, since your cleaning removes flakes of lead. Find out where the leading occurs. 1 - how far between the chamber and the muzzle do you find leading? 2 - is leading on all locations AROUND the barrel where the leading is found (grooves, lands, edges of lands) or just on one of those locations? Now, some speculation: You are probably using commercial cast bullets. Vendors usually cast those at about 15-16 Brinnell hardness number (what they may call a 6-2 alloy). Which is great for a 2000 FPS major rifle load, but way too hard for best shooting at "BP type velocities" - maybe 1400 FPS max. You need to find some .459" sized slugs, made to about 10 or 12 Brinnell hardness maximum, that's my general guide even before you do a good barrel examination. For one vendor who casts softer slugs suitable for your slow velocities, I'd recommend Desperado Cowboy Bullets at: https://www.desperadocowboybullets.com Other vendors may be around that make softer (12 Brinnell) bullets, or you may have to start casting bullets yourself. I do my own casting, and that's the best way I have found to just about totally eliminate leaded barrels from lead bullet shooting. I shoot 45-70 light loads at about 1200 FPS with Brinnell 12 alloy lubed with White Label XLOX lube and sized 0.459", and never see leading. good luck, GJ

Have shot a Miroku 500 in SASS matches, it's almost a Browning BSS (a top end side by side) in how it shoots and handles. It's heavy but reliable. Stock, it has an auto safety that can be disengaged easily. Barrel length - make it what you want. Trimming barrels is not a big deal. But, like Bison Bud, I use a Baikal double trigger just so it can take all the beatings that SASS matches give a gun, rather than dinging up the Miroku. good luck, GJ

Sub-gauges usually don't have enough plastic to make an 8 pt fold. That's one reason that .410 and 28 gauge use 6 pt folds. It's kind of standard for hunting loads and buck shot to use 6 pt folds, regardless of gauge. Functionally, not much difference to the shooter. good luck, GJ

Admonish and train TO. TO doing that is not sticking with the shooter on the final gun(s) of stage. Shooter does not get a chance to verify that the penalty situation has occurred. TO could easily have called shooter back to clear the rifle before continuing. TO must not have been counting rounds as rules require him to do, as well. Several major malfunctions by the TO in this situation. Issue a reshoot, if shooter wants one. Since the penalty would have been avoided (live round in rifle, likely also insufficient rounds were fired) had the TO been on his toes, I would remove the round-in-rifle penalty and let shooter restart "clean". good luck, GJ

Here's a Uberti 73 factory lever tracing (around the lever with a pencil). So, the original lever is smaller all the way around by half a pencil diameter. I traced this to be able to check for bends in the lever, which does not need an exact size of the lever. To use this, either open this jpg file on your computer screen (a graphics editing program which would let you adjust scale of the image would be best), or print it to the proper scale on your printer. You want the inch ruler in the jpg image to match the scale on an American (inch) ruler placed on it. Then place your lever on the image - IF your lever is a "current production" size, you should see the outline just outside all the steel of your lever, evenly spaced all around. If you don't have either of these capabilities, you can always use a "general eyeball comparison" to see if the geometry is the same on the size of the lever opening, and on the length from the lever pivot hole to the toggle link pin hole as your older gun. By the time Uberti chambered .35 7 magnum in these guns, I seem to recall they had already converted to the full length frame to handle a 1.600" cartridge maximum OAL that SAAMI specs require for .357. You INDEED need to know if you have a 1.500" length carrier block rifle, or the modern 1.600" length rifle before you order most parts. Easy to check this with a ruler, a dial or digital caliper or even a 2" micrometer. Measure the large rectangular shaft where the carrier rises, from back to front. If close to 1.500", it's the old style frame. If 1.600" more or less, its the modern frame. I would check with Cowboys and Indian store (Jim Bowie's shop) to see if they still have any tool steel levers they were making. They are lots tougher and resist an Out of Battery discharge usually without bending the lever. Arizona - Jim Bowie, Cowboy and Indians Store, Mojave Valley, AZ (714) 210-2720 good luck, GJ

A blast of air once you finish with your solvent of choice, yeah. Get the final droplets out of there. But before cleaning? No useful purpose that I know of - BP residue is not going to just blow out of a gun. good luck, GJ

When you order a slide hook, also find a high-strength tool steel slide hook screw. If the factory screw breaks below the threads, it often requires drilling the action from the outside, blind, to get to the tip of the screw and remove it before you can get past the slide hook part of the disassembly. Here's a great one, and I use them in all my 97s https://the-online-outpost-licensing-corporation.myshopify.com/collections/shotgun/products/copy-of-1897-winchester-norinco-iac-shotgun-action-slide-hook-screw-by-the-smith-shop-97 good luck, GJ

Yep, I put one of those light firing pin extensions in my WB rifle. It lasted 2 years, then the front end of the FPE broke apart during a match, about 8 months ago. Symptoms - one or two light strikes per 10 rounds. A small steel chunk about the size of a BB shot broke off and bounced around between the remaining part of the FPE and the large end of the firing pin or, when it did not fire, the broken piece slammed against the bolt. You can spot a hollow FPE due to it's weight is half normal, and one end has been bored out for most of the length, and a press fitting slug of steel has been presssed in and profiled to the rest of the pin surface. So, a slight ring shows in the end that has been bored out. No, I don't have it still to show you all a picture, but I will NEVER use a hollowed out FPE again. good luck, GJ

There are many ways to clean BP residue which work. So, I doubt there was really a need to My favorite is a 1-1-1 mix of hydrogen Peroxide. rubbing Alcohol, and Murphy's oil soap (abbreviated PAM). It also cleans greasy kitchen appliances. Some folks do NOT like the smell of Ballistol - had an ex or two in that camp. PAM - they liked the smell. It's a lot cheaper to make than a 1-1 mix of Ballistol cleaning solution. Works without warming it up as well. good luck, GJ

I also know by experience that once a leaf spring weakens, it usually continues to weaken with use. So, I don't tighten strain screws except for a quick fix at a match - instead I replace with a new spring. good luck, GJ

Almost sounds like the previous owner may have tried to reassemble the gun and gotten something wrong. Could be why it was sold after only a few number of rounds fired. Shame on the seller (a gun shop?) for selling the gun when it won't cycle, if that is how this situation turns out. Nate Kiowa Jones is a good cowboy gun smith who may be close to you in East Texas. I've been very pleased with his work, but do ask about how long before he can get to it. Nate Kiowa Jones, Steve Young, Steve's Gunz, Lampasas, TX (512) 564-1015 Boomstick Jay is also a very great hand with cowboy guns - Well, don't need this again, Nate Kiowa Jones, Steve Young, Steve's Gunz, Lampasas, TX (512) 564-1015 How about: Boomstick Jay, Jason Widmer, Boomstick Arms Co LLC, Leonard, TX 254-368-4540 good luck, GJ

Yep, I have had that bolt screw back out, but it only stopped forward motion of the bolt. Put a drop of blue locktite on the threads to retain it. That is a medium strength retaining fluid and can be disassembled with normal tools when needed. OP - Realize that all the screws in this gun are special - metric sizes and many are small and have odd shapes - such that buying something to fill a missing screw hole and work properly - is a real PAIN. good luck, GJ

My response was, in part: What part of the IF at the beginning of my statement did not come through the wire? As is always true on any "help forum" - the responses depend upon exactly how much and how accurately you can tell someone a thousand miles away who does not see and hear you running the gun, enough info to spot your problem. And often, you are telling folks only what you already know, not about the things you don't realize you are doing or are going on in the gun or ammo. Run a test - take 20 or 40 rounds, and intentionally run them slowly through your gun. If you get no light strikes - then running at your normal match speed really is contributing to your light strikes - it's about you. If you get one or two light strikes, it's about the gun - something in there slows down the firing pin strike. Often it's hammer spring (mainspring), but it can ALSO often be due to: * a dirty firing pin channel, * a broken firing pin, * a broken firing pin extension, * the commonly mentioned weak mainspring, * dirty gun, * hammer dragging on the frame or even your thumb, * primers not fully seated (at this point in this list, everything I have mentioned I have had happen in my 73 rifles), or even a bad lot of primers. And there's many more potential root causes. So, although a weak mainspring is a very common "jump to" conclusion - I find it really does not happen very often unless you have had a gunsmith modify a spring to lighten it up beyond reasonable limits. So, I don't trust just jumping to the conclusion you seem to be betting on. Maybe it is right, maybe it's not - and you will buy a part you don't need to replace (at this time). I run '73 mainsprings for about 10 years (with 5,000 rounds fired a year) before I ever start to worry about them getting weak. All I can really tell right now - you probably have not done enough diagnosis to really find the problem. good luck, GJ

Ummm, if you are intentionally trying to go faster recently, you could now be pulling trigger while the action is not quite closed. Try running with this in your mind: "Lever closed, then trigger pull!" I got to that point and had to work much harder to avoid what looked like light strikes, but they were just standard strikes while the action was finishing chambering the round, at that point, the FP cannot reach the primer solidly, so you get the minor dents on the primer. good luck, GJ