H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619

I was thinking I'd use it for the mini-match. Got the ins BTW

I got a used 66 in .44-40. It had clearly been worked on by someone. The hammer spring had been so lightened that you could see the hammer falling noticeably slower than on a stock Henry I have in the same caliber. Also, it had had it's lever safety removed. (The very early 66's imported by Navy Arms had a 73 style lever safety on them for some reason. Anyway, I took the gun to Happy Trails of The Smith Shop and asked him if he could return it to more or less factory specs. He was able to reinstall the lever safety, and the hammer now falls much faster and never fails to make the gun go bang. Based on how HEAVY a stock 66 hammer spring was when I got an unmodified one a few years later, I'll say that some changes are likely in order. If/when you want to get an action job done, just don't go "too far" with it. Buy the same token, you mentioned that yours is a .45. I will say that you get some blowback in that caliber, and once I went too long without cleaning, and it caused failure to fire like you described in my Lightning. After a good cleaning, and flushing out the firing pin with Gunscrubber solved that problem. So all I say in that regard is, with a .45, keep your rifle clean.

While I have never really been a SxS guy, per se, I have to admit that over the years, a lot of people made a lot of interesting ones, from very simple to very fancy. On the "collector" side of things, and I use the term in the sense of just acquiring things that you find interesting, not for investment, there are a lot of fascinating things out there. I have come to learn that there are just as many variations on the basic theme of double barreled shotgun as there are on lever action rifle. If not more. And what is even more enjoyable is that even things that were "high grade" guns back in the day can be obtained for a reasonable price if they are not all that pretty anymore, but still in shootable condition.

Well, I had a buncha gift cards for Cabela's that I got as bonuses from work. So, today, I got this for "free." It's an Ithaca 16 gauge. Now, why this particular gun? Well, I already have a modern Winchester Ranger in 16, but didn't really think it was worth tooling up to reload for. But... I had more than enough gift cards to buy this, so this gives me an excuse to get the things I need to load for 16 gauge. And, I can get Cody letter for it. It's it pretty good shape, and I am looking forward to shooting it. It's not as nice as a Parker, but what is? Interesting thing is that the safety does not engage when you open the gun. In fact, the safety is really stiff. I can't even thumb it on. Not that I'll worry about it.

Dang it.... Top is my custom Big Iron. Bottom is my 12" Buntline. Sometimes I pair the Buntline with the other nickel gun below. I just have fun.

The main reason I wanted my American to be in .44 Special was because my Buntline is in that caliber. I have a great desire to someday go shooting in Tombstone and be all "Wyatt Earpy" with my guns. I guess I'll just go with different calibers.

Colt. You can never go wrong with a Colt. If you can't afford a (pair of) Colt(s) there some excellent near clones on the new and used market. Caliber? Well, what do you wanna do? .38's are the least expensive, but there's a "magic" to shooting .44's and .45's. The BEST guns for you to get are ones that you like, shoot well, and above all else, have fun with. I've got a lot of different SASS legal pistols in my collection, mostly Colts or copies thereof, but I've also got S&W's, Remingtons, Conversions, and other stuff. I enjoy shooting all of them from time to time, but when all is said and done, my two favorite pistols are my Dad's 4-3/4" Colt, and my "Big Iron" that I custom made. I don't worry about trying to win cuz I know I never will, I just try for a clean match and concentrate on having fun.

Well gosh all fish hooks! (Been reading Barks again...) When these things first came out, I REALLY wanted one in .44 Special for various reasons. But, I could not find one in that caliber and had to settle for .45 Colt. I am jealous! But, here's the ironic thing... I have the reproduction American and Schofield in .45. I have real New Model 3's in .44-40 and .38-44. I don't have a Russian. But, you can get the reproduction in .45 Colt, as well as the Beretta Laramie in that caliber as well. I never intended to do it, but I have a very faint itch to get all four repro's in that same caliber.

No such thing. Read the law in question. The term really is silencer. Being pedantically silly here.

A few years ago, the ATF decided that pre 1934 short barrel Winchesters, Marlins, and a few other guns I don't remember, did not have to be regulated by NFA 34 anymore, if the short barrel was proven to be factory original. Anyone that owned such a gun could ask the ATF to take it off the NFA list, and they would do so. But only if asked. If you didn't ask, it remained regulated. But if you asked, they'd give you a letter saying the gun was not regulated by the law. If you happened to have one that was not properly registered, but could prove that the short barrel was factory original, I believe they would also send you a letter saying it was not under NFA 34. I am also not sure if you have to ask for such a letter or not. I think you do. But we are getting into speculation now, and I don't wanna speculate. It's too dangerous!

The Details: Winchester 1892. .32-20 Made in 1915 Short Rifle Button Magazine. Octagon 14" barrel. $2500.00 Sounds like a great price. Looks like a fine gun. BUT... Every example of these short barrel Winchesters I've read about, or seen picture of, are carbines, not short rifles. And all of them have round barrels. No factory letter to prove it's factory short. No ATF clearance letter. Personally, I wouldn't touch this one with a ten foot pole. Too bad, cuz it sure looks nifty. If it is factory short, it's gotta be a rarity, but my gut tells me that it'll letter as a much longer barrel. If it is a chop job, it was done decades ago, but that doesn't matter. I don't wanna play possibilities with an NFA 34 violation.

Generically, I can understand this feeling. There have been times when I have passed on a specific gun because it's not in a caliber I am already set up to reload for. Or for some other "reason" that will be an added expense to having that gun in the collection. But, I recently came to the "understanding" that If I am willing to spend, and this is a random number, $2345.67 for some really cool "collectable" gun, then what's a few extra hundred dollars to tool up to reload for it? Not much in the grand scheme of things. For example, I don't have anything in 10 Gauge. But if I ever get a Winchester 1901, then the cost to get a few shells from RMC and their reloading kit in a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of the gun itself. And the shells will never wear out, so it's a wise investment. Conversely, I have a modern Winchester pump gun in 16 gauge. It's the only 16 I have, I hardly ever shoot it, so the occasional; box of factory ammo is all I need. But, if I ever bight the bullet and see a nice Parker, or some other old timer in good shootable condition, well, the cost of lettering the gun and getting the Magtech brass and CH4D dies is worth the extra investment. At least. I think it is. But what do I know? I'm goofy enough to get letters for every last thing in my collection, as long as they are available from whoever made it/has the records.

1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 3 4

With regard to never needed to resize your Magtech all brass shells, that may or may not be true. Originally, I was using the RCBS die with no problem. But the only gun I was running these shells in was my 97 and a Parker. Then I shot a match using a real Winchester 87. Nothing fired out of it would fit in any other shotgun. That's when I got the CH4D's. So, it all depends on how widely you wanna use these things.

Loading all brass shells is fun, and contrary to popular opinion, you can load them with smokeless if you want to. I have the RCBS died, but they don't resize. So, I use the CH4D for both 12 and 20 gauge. I may add 16 in the near future. Expensive, yes, but it's a one time investment. And if you have older shotguns with short chambers, it's actually easier than trying to trim plastic to the proper length. (But not impossible. I do that as well.) I say go for it.

Now, you see, there is one of the main reasons for ideas like this! More guns used in more ways equals more shooting equals more fun. And it's only 10 shots. And not at all long range. So it won't take all that long. The more combinations you can come up with for side matches, the more fun with more stuff you can have.

Not too long ago, I suggested that a cool side match would be as follows... 2 shots from a single shot pistol, any caliber from .22 Short to .50-70. 2 shots from a single shot .22 rifle. 2 shots from a single shot rifle in a main match pistol caliber cartridge. 2 shots from a single shot rifle in a "rifle caliber" cartridge. 2 shots from a single shot shotgun. Pistol could be optional, or done in "categories" with and without the pistol. Would not it be cool to show up with these to shoot it? From top to bottom.... 12 Gauge .45-70 .32 S&W .22 RF .22 LR The pistol was my Dad's.

LOL! Well, that's my bad. For some reason, I misunderstood the line to mean 11.5mm. Silly me.

Looking at it more.... On the top, I can see what you think might be a 5. Don't see how it could be a three. But I am not sure it's anything other than a pit. It's in the wrong place the be a 4th number, and it's much fainter. On the lower, I still can't see anything that might be a 4th number. As it if the third is a 5 or a 6.... I think it's a 5. I really must thank everyone. This has been helpful

Well I'll be a son of a gun! I had not even seen the top numbers! Third number on the bottom I thought might be a 5, 6 or a rust pit, but now after seeing what is clearly a 5 on the top, I think the lower is also a 5. As to after the 3rd number, top and bottom, they still look like pits to me. Wow, it's good to ask for help. People see things you didn't.

Interesting. I'd've thought they had M2 Brownings. Musta been a French retrofit? What was this gun?

One of the most annoying things on old guns is that when you try to look at the hidden markings under the stock, or inside of a latch or what have you, that there is all to often some pitting right in the spot where the marking is, making it hard to read. So... What do people thing THIS is? The 7 is clear, but after that, I dunno. My initial reaction after looking at it with the naked eye is that everything else was just random putting blobs. But when I took this photo, and looked at it on my computer screen, especially without zooming out, I am convinced that it is 7 1 something. That something might be a 5 or a 6, or a pitting blob. So, I thought I'd ask if anyone else has any opinions. This by the way is from my new to me .45-70 Rolling Block that I think may or may not actually be a Remington. These are the ONLY markings anywhere on the entire gun. (Okay, I have not looked on the bottom of the barrel yet, but the stock is stuck pretty tight to the barrel and I don't wanna damage it.) The bore is flawless, and neither the seller nor I think it's original to the gun, but it's been on there a long time. Wanna get the stock off to see if there are any marks or not. What is interesting is that number may or may not be the serial number. I am no expert, but what information I have been able to track down says that Remington did not serialize these things in the early days, as there was no requirement to do so. They only had "lot numbers" which means several guns may have the same number. On the other other hand, I have also read that plain receivers like this one were made by Remington, left blank, and sold to the armies of other countries. They were left blank so the government that purchased them could put their own numbers and markings on them as they saw fit. So this might be serial number 7 1 whatever given to it by whomever over in Europe. Given the shape of the 1, with the top hook but no base, which is a very European wan of making numeral 1's, this is a distinct possibility. (I will try to do more research.) Anyway.... What do people think that number is?

I know. I put an ambi safety on my Colt reproduction 1911 when they first started making them again. But the trouble is that while back then I was able to find an ambi that looked like original equipment, those don't seem to exist any more. Every one on the market is extended or otherwise strange looking. And, the idea of getting one that is GI surplus and has an ambi put on it by the government is an idea that really appeals to me.

If anyone has purchased one of the so called "Range Grade" 1911's from the CMP, the ones that they say are shooters, not collectors, and probably modified in various ways, and you have determined that you actually don't want it after all, I might be interested in purchasing it from you. The only proviso is that I want one with an ambi safety, which the description said is a possibility. Doesn't matter all that much who made it. Other mods don't matter either. PM me if we might be able to do business.

You know, if/.when it finally does hit the shelves, there will prolly be a huge run on it and it'll vanish again