Three Foot Johnson

I had ten 4 5/8" stainless .44 Special Vaqueros, and sold two to another pard on here. So currently - Eight Vaqueros Two ASM'S Two USFA's A Bond derringer barrel Two 1866's About ten years ago, I had an 1873 round barrel carbine in .44 Spl too, but sold it to Wolfy - don't remember why...? People contact me about the Vaqueros every so often, but they've got it in their mind that a Vaquero is a Vaquero, and the .32-20/.32 H&R convertibles, .38-40/.40 S&W convertibles, and these .44 Specials are bringing double or more what they're willing to part with. I've also got three Uberti 1871 #3 Russians - the earlier shorter cylinder .44 Russians, NOT .44 Special. Top it off with a Rossi '92 .44 magnum and a pair of 8 3/8" Virginian Dragoon .44 mags, and I think that's it for straight-wall .44's.

I took an extended trip across the US in 2005, and camped at the reservoir six miles west of town to spend a few hours at the museum... I toured the exhibits for two full days and part of another before I moved on. As mentioned above, after several hours touring the firearms wing, you come to a sign directing you down to a second level with more guns, cannons, wagons and coaches.

This is my last one, I'm done. I started it a couple times this year, but didn't ride it anywhere.

I occasionally use a single shot - it's quite a challenge to reload in time on aerial targets. I've got a couple with 36" barrels that are great for Cowboy Trap/Cowboy Clays side matches. This one was modified somewhere along the years to launch... something...? Folks have told me it was a line gun, grenade launcher, or even a homemade tennis ball or dummy launcher for dog training. Who knows. Sometimes they let me slip by with it and sometimes they don't. The bell is permanently attached, and gives the barrel a legal length of just over 18". Ya gotta hold high, because if you sight over the muzzle, you're going to shoot under the target.

When we were younger, we started with smaller RV's, and the goal seemed to be to eventually have the biggest camper in the group. After working our way up to 30+ footers, we started the other direction. I'm down to using a 14.4' Jayco most of the time, and my cousin & his wife beat me out with a Dodge Ram Promaster (?). They've been coast to coast and border to border with it, plus into Canada several times, and say they've got no need to ever have anything bigger anymore. @Navy Davey has something similar from Ford, I believe. My little Jayco. It's got a small bathroom with a tiny shower/tub and a toilet, two burner stove, furnace, a/c, 3-way refrigerator, and a small closet. I converted the table to a semi-permanent bed by leaving it folded down and putting a 10" memory foam mattress on it, and added a dual propane bottle rack. My 32'er gets out maybe twice a year anymore - this is just so much handier to prep, hook up, tow, and park. The biggest guy on the range has the smallest trailer. You don't really get into this thing at night so much as put it on.

I'm getting kind of hooked on this single shot .22 stuff. The original Contender rifle stocks are kind of pricy, but I found one that was damaged from some yahoo trying to fit something to it that didn't fit - maybe an Encore. He routed out the mounting stud channel in the pistol grip, then whatever he had was too wide to fit between the ears, so... he sawed the left one off. I coated the mounting stud with release agent, mixed up some Bondo, poured it into the routed out mounting hole, stuck the stud in, aligned it, and hoped for the best - it worked great! Then I cut an oval slice of walnut, routed a shelf on the grip to glue & pin it to, blended the edge with carpenter's glue mixed with walnut sawdust, then finished the repair with several coats of Tru-oil. It looks a little odd, but it's solid, and didn't cost $200+. The negative pitch on these original stocks looks pretty extreme, but with the extra drop built into them, it doesn't feel awkward at all. Thompson Center Contender frame from 1980 my dad originally bought as a .35 Remington Super 14. I've also got pistol barrels in .256 Winchester magnum, .221 Fireball, and .30 Herrett.

Anyone remember the name of the guy here a couple years ago or more who was buying them and parting them out?

I've used a vintage LBT tester for forty years or more, but anymore all I test is lead for long range BPCR. Playing cowboy at twenty feet, it just doesn't matter.

Good Lord, the gavel just fell on the 5 1/2"er on Gunbroker @ $3205.00, shipped. #1006412072

Yeah, I've got a couple few o' dem. Top right is a .32-20 with some timing issues - anyone want to buy a project gun? The middle one of the 5 is a Victory model .38 S&W, and the other 4 are .38 Specials.

He decided to join the Navy on December 7th, so likely joined shortly after making that decision. After volunteering for 4 months of gunnery school in '42, he was then assigned to the Alabama as a Chief Petty Officer (E7). If he didn't go to gunnery school until the very end of 1942, graduating in say April of '43, it seems he still managed to make Chief in less than 16 months.

I have a pair of original Thunderer grip frames, but compatability is doubtful...

Not particularly hard to find, you just need a wheelbarrow of cash, expecially for a stainless version. There's a stainless fixed sight on GB right now, unfired/NIB, but listed as used, currently at $1100 with 4+ days to go.* An unfired NIB fixed sight blued model recently went for $1100. Both were/are listed as used. (Pretty sure Ruger never made a production 5 1/2"er with adjustable sights.) I've read only about 12,600 fixed sight models were ever made (both barrel lengths), so all of them are getting relatively scarce. *Now at $1505, shipped, with 3 1/2 days to go. I had a pair of blue 5 1/2"ers fifteen years ago, and really didn't care for the shorter barrel - I sold them within three months.

Aren't all online transactions self checkout?

The past few years, I've been seeing a 250 yard long range single shot rimfire side match being offered at a couple annual shoots here. (hammer, no bolt actions) I bought a Chiappa Little Sharps .22, fitted it with an MVA #130 tang sight, and have done pretty well with it. A couple weeks ago, I was perusing Gunbroker and found an 1885 Low Wall described thusly: " A fine example of a solid 22 LR 1885 model Cimarron with Vermeer sight, excellent shooter, no scuffs, scratches, or dings. Fantastic condition and and a great addition to your collection ! " That's it, no further mention of it being Uberti or Winchester/Miroku, barrel length, single set or standard trigger, the sight manufacturer, etc. Starting bid was $600 with a BIN price of $1200. I got ahold of the seller and he said he was listing it as part of a private collection. Turns out it was a Miroku Winchester, standard trigger, MVA sights - #130 rear, #116 front globe, and it had "some other barrel installed, but I can include the original barrel for an additional $100". "Ok, what's on it now?" "It doesn't say, but I'll contact my client and find out." ... later... "The seller says a nearly new 26" half octagon BRC choked match barrel." (Borchardt Rifle Company) "Ok, tell ya what, include the original Miroku barrel in the deal, and I'll hit the $1200 BIN button right now." "Let me check with my client." ... later... "My client says that's acceptable." Geez, the current price on the barrel and sights alone is $753, plus shipping and installation. He fibbed a bit about the "no scuffs, scratches, or dings" part - the worst ding is visible in the pic on the right side of the butt stock, and there are a few other tiny flaws, but overall it's pretty dang clean. The only match ammo I have on hand is Eley Club, Eley Target, and Eley Semi-auto Benchrest Precision, and it will easily shoot sub-2" hundred yard five shot groups with any of them, with my best being 7/8" with Target - kind of a fluke, as they were running more toward an inch and a half. I'll have to shop around for some Eley Tenex, SK, Lapua Center-X, and whatever else might turn up. Who knows, maybe CCI Green Tag or even SV might work.

Tuesday, my Fitbit Charge 2 finally died, so I looked up the price of a new Inspire 3 tracker on Walmart's site - 79.98, and available for curbside pickup in an hour or so. I drove into town, walked back to the electronics department, and found it was 99.95. I pointed out it was 79.98 on the Web site, and he said, "Yes sir, if you order it online, that's the price". "But, it's right there, you don't even have to order it or anything..." "Yes sir, but that's how the system works." "So, if I buy it inside, it's 99.95, but if I stand here, pull out my phone, and order that Fitbit right there (pointing at it), it's twenty bucks cheaper and in 60 minutes or so, someone will walk out the side door to my car and hand deliver it to me??" "Yes, sir." So I pulled out my phone, ordered it, went to the in-store Subway for lunch, read the paper, got a text that my order was ready, went and got my car, parked in the curbside pickup parking lot next to the store, texted them I was there, and someone brought it out and handed it to me.

With the perceived problem getting or making parts, if you buy one and something breaks, you've got a goldmine in parts to sell! I have three 12g Bounty Hunter II's, and a Remington Spartan SP210 single trigger 20g which has the hourglass style extractor - the Remington Spartans were made by Baikal and imported by Remington.

In a modern Schofield, absolutely.

Different brands and granulations of black powder and black powder substitutes vary substantially between grains volume and grains weight. Hodgdon's recommends 100% load density with T7 - no airspace, no compression. If you calculate 100% density, then add an over powder wad, you have to take that into account and back off a little so the powder column isn't being compressed. A 4cc Lee Dipper, pushed laterally into the powder, and struck off with a business card: Swiss 1.5f - 63.5 grains Goex 3f - 58.1 grains Kik 3f - 55.1 grains BMZ - 51.7 grains Triple 7 3f - 44.9 grains All are the same 4cc volume, but Swiss 1.5 weighs a whopping 41.5% more than 3f T7.

I had to look that one up - interesting device, but at $88 shipped (from secondary sellers ten years ago), I can well live without it.

About fifteen years ago, I spoke directly to a CCI factory rep about this, and she told me their standard small rifle primer, #400, is the exact same primer as their small pistol magnum, #550, just in different packaging. I said, "What about the others; Remington, Winchester, Federal, etc.?" She couldn't advise me on other manufacturer's products, of course, due to "liability concerns". I experimented with CCI400 primers in four Single Six .32's with 15 pound Wolff springs earlier this year and had no problems.

I've used 12.5 Unique, 3/4 oz of shot in 28g for several years.

A few years ago, I was shooting what we call a "Schuetzen" side match. A nicely painted and finished wooden plaque of the SASS cowboy about a foot and a half tall is set downrange about 45 yards, and everybody takes a shot at it with their main match revolver - $2.00 a shot, shoot as many times as you want, but once you hit it, you're done. Everybody who hits it signs their bullet hole and whoever hits closest to the marshall's star takes the plaque home. I was shooting black powder .45's, had already cleaned my guns, and didn't have any smokeless .45's with me. Now, I could have borrowed a smokeless .45 cartridge from any number of people, but that would be like cheating or giving up, so... I dug around my stuff and found a single .44 mag Cowboy round, (Clays, 165 grain bullet) loaded it in my .45 revolver, and ended up taking the plaque home.

I seldom chrono a particular load, but rather aim for a feel that is "not too light, not too heavy". I doubt any are under 600 fps, and probably not over 750 or so. Full house black powder cartridge loads in a 7 1/2" barrel are probably more. Few folks load a standard full weight bullet, such as a 255 grain .45 Colt bullet, or a 158 grain .38 bullet, and very few folks push the limit of 1000/1400 fps. We're shooting fifteen feet to maybe as far as thirty feet with rifle - no need to beat yourself or the targets up.

Rechambered/rebarreled? 1870 is almost thirty years before the .38 Special was introduced...