Lead Friend, SASS #53635

I’ve got a trapdoor Springfield dated 1878. Never shot it. Yet.

Still sounds easier than getting parts for my CZ coach gun and I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another if I had reason too. I’ve heard more positive stories about parts for Miroku 73s than negative ones. I ain’t skeered.

Indeed, Sir.

I’ve been a fat stubby shooter and now I’m a skinny stubby shooter. Even when I was robust and there was more real estate up there my gun belt was too crowded up front with a slide. My weekends got dramatically better when I got a shotgun belt.

I guess I don’t get it. Buckle in front or buckle in back it’s the same belt, ain’t it, regardless of orientation? Just get one with loops all the way around and put the buckle there you like. For the record I prefer canvas.

That would be a great alias.

Any and all of the above terms posted in a cursive font. I blow right past those posts and will not even attempt to read them.

Just the simple fact of storing customer’s guns that long is no way to run a business and neither is such poor communication. The time that he quoted you, plus a small grace period, is the appropriate length of time for him to take. Anything beyond that should come with good communication to explain why and a clearly revised timeline. In my personal business experience (I’m not a gunsmith) I’ve learned that the best way to deal with bad news is to stay on top of it by being forthcoming about it. Not only is honesty the best policy in general it’s the best policy in business. It all comes back to setting expectations (and occasionally resetting them) and ultimately delivering on them, two actions that the vendor is in complete control of.

Borrow a belt. I’d loan you mine.

Well and succinctly said.

I hoarded brass for over ten years before I started reloading. When I did I searched here on The Wire (or maybe there was a thread going on at the time, don’t quite recall) regarding which headstamps were considered good and which were not. I made a list of positive and negative references to individual headstamps. I culled out all the “nots” and then sorted, cleaned and bagged the “goods” by headstamp, and I load , box and label by headstamp. I like to think this benefits me in some way but if it does I haven’t yet detected it. It does however appeal to my sense of order so there is that. I haven’t detected any behavior issues by headstamp yet, they all seem to miss the targets pretty consistently.

BINGO! Thank you GW Wade and Red Cent for the suggestions and Garrison Joe for the clarification; the missing piece of the puzzle was the pin on the hangar forward of the end cap. Although the pin was mentioned by Driftwood and others in earlier posts for some reason I imagined it under the forend and didn't see it in front of my nose. Once I got that out the mag tube came out with relative ease and by relative I mean that I had to fight the eighty grit rust on the tube under the forend. Based on advice above I already have on hand Kroil to soak the end cap from the inside and Flitz Gun Wax for the inside and outside of the tube. I'm off to get copper anti-seize and bronze wool right now. Thank you all for your help! I am grateful!

GW Wade, thank you but there is no pin in that block. It is dovetailed into the barrel and wiggles but there is no pun and no way to remove it without having the mag tube out. Red Cent, thank you but the block mentioned above is maybe a sixteenth at most from the front of the forend leaving it no room to come forward and off. Still stumped.

OK Boys, I could use some help. I have repeatedly read this thread and yet find myself stuck. I'm cleaning a 73 with a 30" barrel I recently bought. I have taken 73s apart in the past although infrequently and consequently I always watch a YouTube video ahead of time just to get the order right in my head, however I can't seem to get the mag tube off. I got the forend cap off fine but the forened itself won't come off because the block that receives the cap screws is in the way so I can't pull it forward and the forend is inletted around the mag tube so I can't pull it down and off. So I am trying gently to pull the mag tube plug off while the tube is on the rifle although predictably it is not moving. I am heeding the words of Garrison Joe and Driftwood Johnson and doing my best to not spin the mag tube but it rotates a few degrees with each attempt and I gently rotate it back. I have tried heat and tapping on the plug and gently grabbing it in Vise Grips with a leather shim but I am making no progress and don't want to lean too hard on it. I suspect this process would be vastly easier if I could get the mag tube off the rifle but thus far I can't figure out the puzzle. This process is complicated by the fact that the rifle has spent the vast proportion of its life in a humid environment and it has had an extraordinary amount of rounds put through it since it's last cleaning. Any advice as to how I might remedy this situation is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Buy in volume and Chey-Cast will ship Priority Mail for free. You can stuff a lot of lead into one of those flat rate boxes.