Garrison Joe, SASS #60708

Tension I use is about 8 pounds on a trigger pull gauge pulling up on the tip of the extractor while mounted in the bolt, using a small loop of wire to connect the gauge hook and the tip of extractor. With bolt open far enough that the nose (tip) will clear the barrel relief cut for the nose of extractor. Now, that's the precise way. What works good enough for me is to open the bolt so your finger tip can pull up from under the tip, putting pressure right into your finger tip. If the extractor lifts up higher than the top of the bolt and it does not really hurt your finger tip, you don't have enough tension any more. But, as said above, the most common problem is the fouling that builds up under the leg of the extractor, and the tip can not lower itself far enough to fully seat over the rim. Check that visually with a dummy round or fired round. If fouling is light, it can usually be flushed out with a spray can of gun solvent and the "straw" that came with the can, while you pull up the extractor up to open the gap. If heavy, then you have to knock out the extractor holding pin and clean out the groove the extract sits in. (Requires removing bolt from action - major disassembly). Some folks need a "bolt holding block" to hold the bolt for punching out that 1/16" diameter pin (as well as a good steel 1/16" punch. I can do it just putting the bolt in a brass jaw vise. It is a fiddly bit of work replacing and fitting (lightening) a replacement, so you may want to seek out your gunsmith to do this job. I find on my main match guns I replace the extractor after about 3 years of hard use. GJ

Nope. The H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) does break down WAY sooner than the alcohol evaporates. I just make a new batch. Make maybe a cup of solution at a time. Lasts fine in a spray bottle at least a couple of weeks! I get dry skin in the winter, and even with working man's hand lotion used often, I get cracked fingertips. What do I treat those cuts with? Hydrogen peroxide to boil out the cut until it doesn't hurt. Then super glue to coat over the cut to let is heal without getting deeper. Maybe I just ought to use PAM for a hand lotion...😆 GJ

Work inside a bead-blasting box or a large cardboard box that will help catch flying loose parts you can't afford to lose! GJ

When you get good enough to do this quality of TIG ing, let me know and I'll send you some work. GJ

Cannelures have been applied by the factory during the loading process. They do NOT cannelure brass that is sold unloaded, and many times the factory only applies cannelures to specific loads they make. Sometimes factories claim the cannelure helps hold the bullet in place. Other times, especially where they applied more than one, they say they applied the cannelures as an identification between different loads they make. I have had a few .38 special cases split around the cannelure ring, breaking off the front end of the case in the chamber. Lots of these were nickeled brass cases, which have the property of cracking faster than brass cases. So, in .38 spl, I would not use them in rifle loads. Could cost you several rounds not fired. Pistol - meh, I'll use them for local matches or practice. In .45 Colt, the cannelures (Winchester cases, often made particularly deep and sharp) have never been seen by me to cause a crack. Case walls in .45 Colt are lots stronger. good luck, GJ

Just as I wrote earlier 🙂 Ballistol works, I just don't care for the cost or the smell. good luck, GJ

I like PAM solution for cleaning BP residue, it's cheap and wife won't complain about the smell. PAM is equal parts of * hydrogen peroxide (drug store) * rubbing alcohol (same) * Murphy's oil soap (ditto, or a store with household cleaning products) Make small batches, store in the empty peroxide bottle with a label "PAM's magic" - that will make the wife wonder. Nothing there to harm a gun. Cleans better than soapy water, and leaves a vegetable oil residue behind prevents rust and is kind to wood stocks, too. Barrels with BP fouling need a 5 minute wetting down before running a patch through the barrel. (I keep a small spray bottle with PAM in it, even take that to the range for a mid-shoot cleanup if desired). A couple of 1/4 pieces of paper towel push any moistened fouling out the muzzle, and one wetted towel finishes the barrel cleaning. Easier than smokeless! PAM also cleans greasy stove tops and counters better than most anything else! As for load, about 40 grains of BP is plenty, and 1 or 1 1/8 ounce of shot - stretch that expensive powder as far as you can. good luck, GJ

Titegroup is fine as a shotgun powder....several folks here used it for light 12 gauge loads years before Hodgdon finally qualified it as a shotgun powder and ALSO labeled some of it as High Gun, likely because they were concerned all the nay saying they had done over the years would hurt trying to sell TG as a shotgun powder now... good luck, GJ

Just put a new copper plated #4 steel shot pellet in my main match gun! Last one went to Mars. GJ

Yeah, that Redding would be great if you want to keep the seating and crimping steps separate and do a roll crimp. I use an RCBS .45 Automatic combination seater/crimp die myself, taper crimp. Have used a roll crimp at one time, but find with a fast smokeless powder in the C45Spl, I do fine with a strong taper crimp. Several pards have cut off an old .45 Colt roll crimp die - easiest with a small lathe, but with some work hand tools will "cut it". good luck, GJ

Uberti 73 clones can run for 20+ years of hard shooting when they get a tuneup before you start using them. They can also have a VERY sweet trigger, but that is something few folks in cowboy shooting even worry too much about, since they are slapping the trigger real quick. I have one I bought in 2005 and it still runs GREAT. Probably 40K cowboy rounds through it now. I maintain it carefully and replace a FEW parts over the years, I would not shoot anything else for cowboy matches. Almost ALL of the guns used in cowboy shooting are machined and assembled with very little tuning and fitting. They are kit guns, really - machined and assembled with minimum trained labor. So, our cowboy guns at the store ALL feel rough and hard to run. Let Lassiter work one over for you and you will think he substituted another firearm for yours - that much difference in speed, feel, and longevity. The factory puts heavy springs in and does very little fitting and polishing. A good tuneup replaces most of those springs and fits and polishes the rough and tight spots. good luck, GJ

FOR THE RECORD - Starline made a mistake typing up the web page. I have even scolded them about it in the past, and they did not take up the opportunity to correct their web pages. Here's to Adirondak Jack! GJ

Several PETE bottles have threads that fit a MEC measure assembly. 1 liter soda bottles work well, I hear. The bottle has to be put on and taken off with measure assy tipped back. It would be worth buying a new MEC bottle JUST to use with black powder (or sub) so as to make possible switching from black to smokeless quick and easy. Without having to wash out the BP salts. Then you could save the baffle-attached bottle for smokeless. good luck, GJ

BP is larger grain size than smokeless, and tends to resist packing. Besides, a shotshell has pretty stable ballistics even with varying amounts of powder in the shell. A baffle will just be a hindrance, even IF you can get the powder to run through it easily. I've never used one loading BP shotshells. GJ

Yep, I find I need about 0.008" (8 thousandths) barrel to cylinder face gap for running 6 stages without having to hose down the cylinder face. The 3 thou that Ruger likes to have on Vaqueros, for example, is just too tight for BP loads. And, opening the gap did not have any major downsides in accuracy for smokeless loads. good luck, GJ

Your loads did not substitute enough of either filler to make much difference in the recoil. Drop down to 15 grains of Black and you will feel some difference. That then will take maybe 12 grains of filler to eliminate any air space. Good charcoal is what is ALREADY IN black powder. Unless you used some very poor quality charcoal, there is no way the use of charcoal as a filler will cause extra fouling problems. I shoot .44-40 and .45 Colt cases with about half BP and half activated charcoal, layered, and get no extra fouling. Now, if you ground up cheap BBQ briquettes, that stuff has a bunch of sand and other garbage in it. I'd betcha it's not the filler that is locking your cylinder, but the barrel/cylinder gap is too small. And also pay special attention to using a GOOD BP lube, and plenty of it. I too am a fan of Cowboy 45 Special cases. I cut old .45 Colt cases down and they last a LONG time. I'm sure you can solve this if you try some of the simple stuff. GJ

So, that tells you something besides links that are not "long" enough is causing your problem. As you push the bolt forward, look down at the extractor tip and the cartridge support tab tip. See if one of those is jamming into a part of the action or barrel which stops the forward motion. In order for the bolt to make full travel, the bolt face has to come within about 8 thousandths of an inch (0.008") (or closer) from the rear of the barrel (the breech) back of a cartridge case. Without the bolt having full travel forward, the extractor may not hook over the rim, and the fired case (or an unfired round) will not be extracted. As well, the firing pin may not be hitting the primer hard enough to set it off. About time to get the gun to a smith for a close examination. This could be caused by a number of root causes, and with what I can read of your level of experience with the 73 action, you may hunt for a long time. good luck, GJ

Never seat primers intentionally HIGH, or any deeper than flush or a couple of thousandths of an inch below the top edge of the primer pocket. Then you don't have to worry about feeding/chambering high primer cases, or crushing the priming pellet in the primer, or about a good Firing Pin not being able to set it off. So, NO, high or deep seating are never a good idea. Fix the gun to work with flush-seated primers! Your gun can be fit with a slightly longer firing pin by a good gunsmith, or even can be DIY if you know how to file to the proper FP protrusion and shape, IF that is what is needed. But check your hammer(main) spring tension first - it's just an adjustment. good luck, GJ

I have an Ithaca NID - it's not a cowboy match suitable double. IMO. It's well made, for a gun made in the 1930s. Doll's head projects between barrels (so a little slower to load), heavy, stiff action, and where's any spare parts? Parts will have to be made, and few smiths will want to do that. good luck, GJ

You should coordinate with the service rep at Stoeger to contact you BEFORE they ship the gun back to you! Give them your phone # and have them call. That way you can get very close to knowing you will be home rather than traveling. But if you are still working days, you need a receiver who will be around for a day-time receipt of the gun. UPS normally sends an email when a package is coming to you. Sometimes they don't. Ask Stoeger for tracking info on the gun when they ship back! good luck, GJ

Shotgun clean. For whatever reason that a shotgun is down before the shotgun string is begun, the standard response is to "shoot where it was." A pistol error (miss) does not make for any sort of shotgun error - they are separate strings. good luck, GJ

If you want brass head covers that spring back down to normal size after firing, you want either Winchester AA or Remington STS or Nitro 27 target type loads. GJ

Hmmm, shame on Sarco. They have gone to non-standard HTML extensions on their web pages. Most pages will open partially in Firefox browser (latest version) but hang up down-loading a gallery of several pictures, never to complete. In Chrome browser, it works. That's like refusing to serve a customer because they are not wearing the latest fashions of clothes in a style that matches shop owner's tastes. Their web contractor should know better than to use non-standard extensions. Also, Sarco has a long reputation for ranking conditions of firearms better than NRA standards for guns. For example, take the Model 12 receiver WGD777 item number. A deeply pitted rust bucket with no original finish noted. This is ranked as Good condition. NRA says this about a modern gun if it is to meet NRA GOOD: In safe working condition, minor wear on working surfaces, no broken parts, no corrosion or pitting that will interfere with proper functioning. Hmmm, buyer beware. GJ

To me, it looks like travel stopped about 15 thousandths short of the crimp. Commercial RNFP ammo rarely has a "proud crimp", especially 3 different brands. good luck, GJ

Then I pay only with credit card. GJ