Three Foot Johnson
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Posts posted by Three Foot Johnson
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All ya need is a time machine back to the '60's.
I'm putting together a display of old Hercules powder cans for my office, and found this one still had the original price stickers on it - regular $2.25/8ounces, on sale for $1.50.
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California approved steam powered airliner.
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Top spiral notebook
Date Caliber Powder Weight/volume Bullet & weight Primer Box Quantity Comments Running quantity
I'm way behind this year - normally I reload 8-10,000+ rounds per year, but I'm barely going to top 5000 for 2021.
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Last year, it was well below zero and 14+ inches of snow at my house by the end of November. This year, it's been in the 60's, and may have hit 70 a day or two back. Today is the end of it though - high tomorrow is predicted to be 33, then 32 Monday, and down to 28 mid-week. No snow in the long range forecast yet.
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I had a bucket of 20g reloads, and figured that was a good reason to buy another gun, so I found a single trigger 20g Baikal Bounter Hunter II on Gunbroker last year, picked it up, and worked it over. Then... well, ya gotta have a backup, right? I bought a NIB 26" Stoeger Uplander in 2018 just because it was cheap - $225 - and it's been languishing in the back of the safe ever since. I gave it a chop job, installed a new bead, reduced the top snap spring pressure, polished the chambers, broke the sharp edges, etc., and now have a 20g backup.
There are no published 20g loads that will come close to 12g Featherlites, but you can experiment and reduce the recoil considerably. I know they exist, but I've never seen the 20g Featherlites for sale in a brick & mortar store.
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A purchaser must be 18 to buy a long gun, and 21 to buy a handgun, but ownership/possession is another story. In a lot of cases, it's just a matter of wording making the difference between a legal private transfer and a felony straw purchase. The nuances are so confusing and contradictory, the judge dropped the charge so it wouldn't take up another day of explaining gun law to the jury and distract them from the bigger picture. I think Kyle admitted he gave the money to Dominick to buy the rifle, because he wasn't old enough yet to buy it himself. OK, that would make it illegal, but if Kyle had given Dominick $XXX.xx and said, "You're my best friend, and I want to give you this as a gift", then Dominick bought the rifle and later gave it to Kyle, saying, "You're my best friend, and I want to give you this as a gift", perfectly legal. Surely you don't really think it's a felony straw purchase when Uncle Buck buys a Ruger 10/22 for his minor nephew for his birthday or Christmas? If I were behind the counter, and Uncle Buck came in with Minor Buck and said, "I'm going to buy you this rifle to give to you for your 17th birthday next month", there's nothing wrong with that under federal law. But if Uncle Buck says, "I'm getting you this rifle for your birthday next month, but you have to mow my lawn the rest of the summer", then it's technically a straw purchase, as there is an implied exchange of services in order for Minor Buck to get the rifle.
(edit) I quoted a post about Rittenhouse acquiring his rifle via a straw purchase, and... what happened? Does the quoted passage go away if someone deletes their post?? Did I post in the wrong thread?
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Lumpy uses 17.0 - 17.5 grains Unique and 3/4 - 1 oz shot.
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It's been very confusing trying to figure out the history of Great Western Arms. Here's what I've gleaned from dozens of sources over the past month -
All Great Western revolvers were assembled in Los Angeles, and all were made by Great Western... kind of (see "Ferrocast" below). The company was formed in 1954, starting full production in 1955, but some parts were eventually contracted elsewhere. For instance, the base pin in mine is characteristic of what J. P. Sauer started producing in the latter '50's. Stoeger and Henry, or Heywood, Hunter (Good Lord, even his name is in question), aka Hy Hunter, were the main distributors, outside of Great Western. Over the decade of the company's history, Herter's, Hawes, J. P. Sauer, Hy Hunter, Stoeger, Ferrocast, and Great Western companies were all somewhat intertwined. About 1955, Bill Ruger introduced the Blackawk revolver, and in 1956, Colt decided to resume production of the Single Action Army, then Aldo Uberti started making reproductions in 1959, starting with percussion revolvers, sounding the death knell for GWA. By Great Western's demise in 1964, they had ceased producing complete revolvers, and were just cleaning out inventory for kit guns. Customer assembled kit guns have serial numbers starting with 0, while Great Western produced guns have a GW prefix, then a company called Ferrocast got some financing into the game from 1957 - 1960, dropping the GW prefix, but continuing the numerical order. In 1961, Great Western was once again in charge and resumed the GW prefix. Quality varied greatly from year to year. Production of complete, assembled, revolvers lasted barely eight years. Some sources claim GW was marketing revolvers as early as 1953, which seems impossible, although limited numbers may have been assembled in '54. Total production, including kit guns, was ~22,000, making any Great Western somewhat rare - by comparison, Ruger produced 53,000 Blackhawks in 1979 and 50,000 in 1980, the Blackhawk's best two years according to their Web site.
Some sources claim the .357 Atomic was slightly longer than the .357 magnum, but it's almost universally agreed it was just a hot .357 load, consisting of 16.0 grains of 2400 and a 158 grain bullet. No ammo or cases are known to exist with ".357 Atomic" head stamps. It was the beginning of the nuclear age, and founder William Wilson wanted something catchy that would sell guns and sound even more awe-inspiring than "magnum", and so the "Atomic" was born. The designation caused confusion when buyers discovered they couldn't buy .357 Atomic ammo, and the name had an adverse affect on sales, so the roll mark was changed back to ".357 Magnum" in '58/'59.
A good read on GWA, one of many, actually -
https://gundigest.com/more/classic-guns/the-first-colt-clone
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I'm late to the party on this one -
I acquired a .357 Atomic a month back, but it was missing the entire firing pin & bushing assembly, and wouldn't lock up. I found the bushing, bushing cap, and firing pin spring online easy enough, but had to turn a firing pin out of a piece of drill rod. It also needed a new bolt stop and trigger spring, but Colt parts are compatible, the bolt/trigger spring is a pretty universal part, and I had both parts on hand. A pretty rare duck - only marked ".357 Atomic" for a couple years in the mid-50's, probably '57 and '58, from what I can find.
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Ya know, I've thought about this some more, and there is one that I'd like to keep in the family, but I don't know who I'd hand it down to in order to preserve it and the history I've researched and compiled about it.
This 1849 Colt was plowed up in a field on my grandfather's homestead around 1940 about 3 miles from where I presently live. He was pulling weeds out of a plugged up rod weeder, and this came out with the weeds. Digging around a bit more with his hands, he also found the broken off backstrap. The gun is still loaded and has a completely intact cap on one nipple, as well as the remains on two others. It hung on the wall of the house for many years and one day someone noticed it had something scratched into the butt. Under magnification, it reads, "C Smith April 29 1861". With the advent of computer data bases, I have been able to locate three pieces of correspondence at the University of Utah's manuscript library from a C Smith to his boss, Nat Stein, all dated 1865. The signature on the letters is a spot on match to the scribing on the gun butt, and it is absolutely certain it is the same man. Nat Stein was a vice president of Overland Express, and it appears C Smith was a traveling agent in charge of at least three stage stations in present day southwest Montana; Horse Prairie Station, Red Rock Station, and Junction Station, all three of which I have located on Google Earth. The gun was likely lost on the trail to or from Fort Benton, and was found a couple hundred yards off a known route to the fort from points south and west.
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Never heered o' no Mattaponi Sundowners hereabouts.
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Good folks. I had a discount coupon a couple years back, and... I forget the full details, but it was something like it expired on the 30th of the month, but the month had 31 days and the 31st was on a Friday, or somesuch, so I had "Friday" and/or "end of the month" in my mind. Anyway, I placed my order a day late, thinking it expired that day - Friday, the 31st, when it actually expired about 12 hours prior. The site wouldn't accept the expired coupon code, so I called, and they explained to my dumb a** that it expired yesterday, but they honored it anyway.
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Yea... I'm not buying into the "we've added extra lines and are turning out ammo 24/7, more than we've ever made before" line.
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9 hours ago, Marshal Chance Morgun said:
How many times did Matt Dillon get shot in Gunsmoke? According to Trimble, Dodge City’s federal marshal was shot no less than 56 times...
And a couple more in Italy, before he ever became the marshal!
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Two daughters, six granddaughters. One daughter would simply take whatever guns I pass down to her to the nearest pawn shop and sell them. The other spent a few years shooting CAS with me, and might keep "her" guns, but the rest will just go to new owners.
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The nearest monthly match to me is about 45 miles, but, for a variety of reasons, I've been going to other monthlies 65, 95, and 115 miles away. The next closest after that is 150 miles and up. Even though I've been doing this most weekends since '92, I've never been to anything bigger than a few state matches in the western US.
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The VA doc sent me to a cardiology specialist due to an arrhythmia they discovered, and the specialist scheduled me for an electrical cardioversion a month from now. They put you out, zap your heart with some sort of defibrillator, you wake up 30 minutes later, and your heart is back in rhythm for the long term. Anybody here undergone the procedure?
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Ten seconds on Google indicates the answer is a hollow prism doesn't do anything -
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I had an Interarms Virginian Dragoon .44 mag, holster, belt, & 25 rounds of ammo stolen from my car one weekend at work in East Helena around 1984. About six weeks later, it was recovered in Denver where some derelict and his girlfriend were trying to pawn it. Denver police eventually shipped it all back to the local PD here, sans ammo of course, and they wouldn't release it to me until I reimbursed them a few bucks postage on it, lol. I'm pretty sure I know who stole it, and it wasn't the two busted pawning it, but that's another story. I still have it.
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The oldest gun I've shot in this game dates to 1870-1872, a 10 gauge "American Arms Fox Patent Side Swing" double barrel. Black powder only, of course, and toward the light end. The Colt dates to 1876 - I shot it gently in one match, just to say I did it.
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Alice Palmer trying out my repro .56-50. I get it out to a match a couple times every year. Reliable and very accurate. Horrible trigger. I load the last three through the action. Seventy to eighty seconds is a pretty decent stage - under a minute, like Injun Ryder, is bordering on phenomenal! Of course, with a .44 Russian, you can put 9 in the magazine instead of 7.
I don't think reloading from a tube is legal...?
I have a Rapine 375FN mold, an RCBS 50-350-CM, and a modified Lee 515-500-F cut down to a gamer weight of 320 grains - the Lee works best for me.
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The farther, the better, unless you're left-handed. In that case, try yellow or orange instead.
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Try it - if it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesnt.
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My dad and one of his best friends went into the Army Medical Services Corps in 1954. My dad got out and came home in 1956. His ol' buddy, James Duffy, also left the regular army that year, came back to Montana and was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant in the Montana Army National Guard. He worked his way up, and retired as a Major General in '89. Dad died in 1988 at 59, and Jim will be turning 92 in three months.
My granddad served in the Swedish military, then came to the US around 1915, and served in the US Army during WWI.
Me - USN, Aviation Electrician's Mate, 1974 - 1980, never even saw a ship, let alone served on one.
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'66 Loading Gate
in SASS Wire
Posted
The top one broke clear off, so I made a piece with a large foot and silver soldered it on. That was at least fifteen years ago, and it still works fine. The other one was reinforced with a tab silver soldered on, then filled with JB Weld.