Garrison Joe, SASS #60708

Owl heads are on the top break Iver Johnsons. Looking toward cylinder - black powder just about ready to explode in there. Better watch out! Away from cylinder - nothing to see, it's smokeless powder. No smoke, no flame, just a speedy slug. Owls not on this specimen because grips were replaced with a wood Charter Arms set of grips. The gutta percha composition of the IJ grips meant they were broken if dropped or used to club an opponent. Ouch. good luck, GJ

Lube congeals in cold weather. Clean the bolt/firing pin and rest of action. Use a cold-weather lube on reassembly (CLP). good luck, GJ

Norfleet - Been 20 years since I had both cataracts out. Before, I was near sighted and some astigmatism. I had close vision corrected lenses put in. Wasn't more than a week later that I wished they had been done as "distance plus astigmatism" corrected. But, I have always worn glasses and it was "same as before surgery" except it's now easier for the doc to keep me at 20/15 vision. So, I got a "good enough" result with the way I had it done. If I have to do a lot of close work, I can do without any glasses. get 'er done, you will appreciate good vision again. Wishing you best possible results. GJ

OK, with a J 26485 serial, that is a 2nd Model (Black Powder) Hammerless Large Frame IJ. Made in 1904. Per the Goforth listings. I stand corrected about the trigger guard serial number. Goforth does indeed say that the beginning Letter Mark (the production lot) is omitted from the trigger guard stamping, but included on the left side of frame. The bottom of the grip frame at one time would have had about 5 Patent dates on it, running from 1886 to 1896. But, if the grip frame was ground to match new grips (those Charter Arms), those rollmarks would be gone. Be very cautious of shooting any smokeless powder load, even "factory" 38 S&W cartridges. The top latch and the cylinder are both fairly weak. The usual damage occurs to the top latch, where it gets battered to where it does not make a strong lockup on the latch lock post coming up under the rear sight area. And avoid using Hoppe's bore solvent (or other cleaners with ammonia) on this gun, as the nickel plating on these guns is easily bubbled and flaked. Your plating looks just about 100% - NICE. Don't often see these in this nice a cosmetic condition. good luck, GJ

Serial number has been posted already. IJ put prefixes on the trigger guard number if the serial number had one....and it seems complete (not partially ground off). If the poster really wants more info, he should post a clear picture of the rib markings! good luck, GJ

Those leaf spring extractors can easily get bent or just flat out lose tension with no warning. I always keep a spare in my smithing/cleaning bag. good luck, GJ

Ditto what Randy wrote! Remington STS, or Rem Nitro 27 have brass head covers (real brass, not just brass plated), so they stick less than any steel head cover hulls. Win AA type hulls are almost as good. You already have the best shucking hulls. The European shotshells are not very likely to shuck well. You could get lucky, but probably not. I'll also suggest having the chambers honed JUST A SLIGHT BIT. By someone who will not hone the front of the chamber more than the back - it should if anything taper out wider next to the extractors. good luck, GJ

Not true. As I have posted here several times, the definitive reference to date and define an Iver Johnson pistol is the book by W E Goforth, Has a pretty complete serial number set in it. "Iver Johnson Arms & Cycle Works Firearms 1871-1993 " published by Gun Show Books of Hudson WI. ISBN-10 number is: 0-9787086-0-1 Like this listing on EBay from Gun Show Books themselves: https://www.ebay.com/itm/174200101382 But don't go pay THAT price! Usually pretty easy to find used at a lower price. I'll look up in my copy to see if the OP gave enough pictures to exactly identify the production year.. First thing right off the bat, it is a Black Powder era gun, due to the long cylinder locking slots (these are the easiest way to tell). I read the serial as 46495 (tell me if that is not correct). That could make it an 1894 Large Frame First Model. Or an 1895 Large Frame Second Model. To tell the difference between the two, I would need the exact wording roll stamped into the rib of the barrel. It will contain the company name and several patent dates (from the 1800s). Post up the roll mark and we can find out. Several other things are different between First and Second models, but spotting those differences involves looking at specific parts of the gun that a new owner may not really understand where to look. good luck, GJ

Poor barrel bedding/fit into stock would be the most common cause of vertical stringing. Not familiar with how the furniture fits to a trap door, but it should be snug around the action and may need to be snugged to hold barrel down to the forearm bedding spots. If the "barrel bands" on the stocks are not tight vertically, might try shimming the wood to tighten them up. Hint - I just tightened the barrel bed in a Springfield 1903A3 by making a thin brass-stock shim to place on the foremost 3 inches of the stock. Tightened 100 yard groups from 3" to 1", and let me shoot second in a 300 yard match (my two poor shots were ones I pulled off the steel targets). Lots of BP competitors use a blow tube to both cool barrel and let breath moisture keep the fouling soft. Some smokeless long range fellers use a battery-powered barrel fan between shot strings. I'm sure that you have cleaned any jacket copper out of the barrel from previous jacketed bullet shooting - ANY copper fouling has to be removed before switching to black power rounds, for best accuracy. True black powder burns out lead deposits - leading of barrel is not a problem. good luck, GJ

Since VERY few 1911s of the pre-WW I design (the time frame of the Wild Bunch movie and several others of the Mexican revolutionary period) even exist, and AFAIK, none are currently manufactured, an EXACT period correct pistol would be effectively UNAVAILABLE to any new shooters wanting to try the game. I think you miss the point of a competitive game - that the organizing body (in this case the Wild Bunch arm of SASS) gets to set the rules and if needed to modify the rules. Which is still being done. With current emphasis on making the game MORE available to shooters, restricting to a very specific historical exactly-period-correct pistol for the Traditional category(-ies) would be a disaster to attracting new folks. May I suggest we stop rocking a boat which (I believe), in most participants view, does not need to be upset. Good luck, GJ

Magazines for WB 1911s cannot use an "extended" (padded) base plate that projects from the frame by more than 1/4". Legal added pads must be made of leather. There IS no "modern" 1911 single stack magazine that I know of (other than the base plate addition). So, as long as a 1911 magazine meets the base plate restriction, and is not extremely heavy, it's good to go. Tripp standard 1911 magazines are quite legal for Wild Bunch - I have quite a collection of them. good luck, GJ

Not a legal Traditional category pistol AT ALL! Sounds like (to me) the OP wants a Trad type gun. good luck, GJ

Palo Verde is a great fellow to work with! The Norinco 1911s were very close to a Colt, and folks were upset when an import embargo on anything Norinco-made was imposed back in the (what?) 1990s. good luck, GJ

For me, it's a wildcat until an ammo maker and gun maker both agree on "what it is", and they submit the chambering to SAAMi with some chamber specs and pressure limits. And it gets accepted. Then, tested published loading data for it is just icing on the cake. A single-action revolver specifically sized for it is fully "wishing to die and go to Heaven." good luck, GJ

Best invention (wildcat) ever for cowboys shooting a gun made in an OG chambering. good luck, GJ

I'd say "There you go hoping again." Tons of experience among shooters who need better bullet location security within a case to prevent recoil collapsing in tubular magazines and to increase chamber pressure and get more complete powder combustion have found a tight rolled crimp is one of the best ways to achieve this. Even though there are some commercial cannelure rollers available to handloaders - no one that I have read here has posted that they take that approach. And certainly trying to count on a factory-applied cannelure to hold a cowboy action bullet, usually shorter and lighter than what the factory originally loaded, would not securely fix a bullet in place at all. good luck, GJ

Back in the 1920s and 30s, yeah. Not since WW II ended has any factory counted on a deep cannelure for bullet retention. GJ

.45 Colt cases tend to split lengthwise only. Even though Winchester has long put cannelures on some loadings, and other companies have had intermittent production with cannelures applied. - .45 Colt never seems to break at the cannelure. And, yeah, both Uberti and Marlin production rifles made in .45 Colt have maximum chamber sizes (and a few even larger), and often split old tattered cases. good luck, GJ

Well, guess if you have no curiosity to try to find the cause, you will just have to endure a few ruptured cases. Or figure out when you have to discard cases after several firings. Best be carrying a broken shell extractor for .38s. GJ

Wow, that is not something I've seen before. First, is your chamber in good shape? Examine with a good flashlight and look at chamber walls closely. Almost seems like your chamber is oversized - has it been heavily honed for some reason? I'd "chamber cast" that chamber with CerroSafe alloy and see if it is over-diameter. You can get that alloy from Midway or Brownells, and it melts over boiling water. Follow instructions to make the casting and then wait correct time after solidification to measure the diameters. A .38 special chamber should not be any larger than 0.385" diameter near the base of the cartridge. Down to 0.381" would be the minimum chamber diameter (but you are not having problems at that end of chamber size, where chamber is tighter than normal). The base end of the case is of course fairly thick, the walls are thin and can expand into an oversize chamber. Looks like your sizing die is reducing most of the case down to normal diameter, and the bottom of sizer die stops where that line and slight bulge shows on the cases in your pic. About three or four cycles of major expansions (during firing) then reducing diameter (when sizing) could be work hardening your brass and leading to an early separation right at the transition from head of case to thin wall. good luck, GJ

I've seen and helped remove three circumferential case separations in .38 special (firing) rifles. Where a ring breaks off and sticks in the chamber. 2 were nickle plated cases, one brass. All three occurred at a cannelure. I've seen many more longitudinal case splits, though, that seem to happen with nickle and brass cases in a mix that is similar to the cases that the shooter has loaded. If a case separation is a game killer for you, don't use nickle or cannelured cases in your rifle. Shoot 'em up in revolvers. If you clean fired BP cases within a day and get all fouling and corrosion off the OUTSIDE of the case, there is no reason you need to be using nickle cases! good luck, GJ

Perhaps restricting the posting of any images or video should be the privilege of an active member only, leaving reading our sites and even posting text free to vetted public "users." good luck, GJ

Said I lament it. You are certainly free to have your own opinions. But no need to "suggest" to me that I ought to feel that way. GJ

All are losses to our game that I lament. COWBOY shooting of the era involved guns capable of knocking down horses, dispatching cattle and some game for the pot. GJ

How is that a black powder game (BP CR) if using commercial .22 rimfire ammo? Sounds more like just a single-shot rifle game. ACTION sports are usually not shot with a .22 due to the frequent use of knockdown and other reactive targets. Hard to calibrate those to go down with hits from .22s. And, as already mentioned several times, match directors are free to open a special "open" .22 category for SASS matches, if they can figure out how to deal with quiet muzzle report, difficult reloading of most 22 guns on the clock, and other problems with rimfire shot on anything but paper or very frangible targets. GJ