H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619

Winchester doesn't letter guns any more. They sent all of their records to Cody. Modern Winchesters made by Browning would be lettered by Browning.

Sorry for being rather stupid on the following... With regard to the FOIA stuff, what form are we supposed to fill out, where are we supposed to send it, and what exactly are we supposed to ask?

Smith and Wesson: They do letters, and I think they provide the best ones out there. Price and turnaround are very good. As you can see, they give a lot more info. Specs on the specific gun, general information about the model, and if there happens to be extra data about it, they tell you and don't charge extra. About a third of the letters I got from them had 2 pages of information, and even though two of them were the same model, the "general" part was not the same. One letter even came with a copy of the original factory invoice of the people who bought it. The rest were only one page. It is interesting to learn that this pistol was originally owned by someone from Boston, since I am from the suburbs of that city, and that he was a champion shooter. Also, there was no reason why they had to send that article from American Rifleman, but they did. The only thing they did not know about was the was the frame is stamped R.F. ENEWOLD under the grips. But even that is interesting. I learned he was famous gunsmith out in Reno. Oh, if this gun could talk! One other general note. S&W also offers a "Deep Dive" letter on certain specific models made a certain times that they may or may not have much more detailed records for. None of these letters I got are Deep Dives, but I have requested them for the ones that are eligible. If anyone out there has a Deep Dive letter, what's it like? Cost: For a factory letter, $100. $90 if you are a member of the S&W Historical Foundation OR the S&W Collector's Association. $75 if you belong to both. For a Deep Dive letter, cost depends on what they find. Turnaround: Very reasonable. About 6 weeks or less. Website for S&W Letter: https://swhistoricalfoundation.com/letters/ Springfield Armory (US Government): This one is a little complicated. They don't do letters, nor will they look up a serial number for you, but data for when the guns were built does exist, and is collected on the Springfield Armory's website. You can, for example, look production information for just about every model of rifle made there, and see where the serial number on your gun fits into the numbers they have. For example, one of my Trapdoors was made between July and September of 1884. Some models you can get down to the month and year, others just the year, others a 2 to 4 year range. But at least you can learn the dates. If you purchase one, today from the CMP, you get a certificate of authenticity that confirms it's a former service rifle, and when you purchased it, but not when it was made. There is also the Springfield Research Service, but I have not yet used them. They are on my list to see if they still do letters. Their website has not been updated in years. Website says letters are for members only, but there is an option to get a letter for non members. Springfield Armory Website with serial number data: https://www.nps.gov/spar/learn/historyculture/firearm-serial-numbers.htm Springfield Research Service Website: https://usmartialarmscollector.com/ Cost: $35 to join SRS. Letter cost advertised as $50 to $175 in one spot, $50 to $110 in another. Springfield Armory (Commercial): They don't do letters, but will confirm a serial number over the phone, if they have a record of it. Website: https://www.springfield-armory.com/ Stevens: This one is also kind of complicated. The last time I checked with Cody, they told me that the Stevens records seemed to have gotten lost when Savage sent them out. They were hopeful, but didn't know if they'd ever have anything. When I was double checking things for this post, I saw that they now do claim to have some records for Stevens firearms. As of this writing, Cody says they have records for the Stevens 520 shotgun, but that's all. I plan to call them to see if they have anything else that has not been sorted through yet. Cost: I could not find a listed price for a Stevens letter on the Cody Website Website for Stevens seems to be same as for Savage: https://centerofthewest.org/explore/firearms/firearms-records/savage/ Tula Arms Plant: Russian/Soviet Arsenal. Makers of, among many other things, Nagant Revolvers. I can't find an active Website, but there is a Wikipedia page. Uberti: Does not seem to offer letters or dates of manufacture themselves, or through their importers. Websites are as follows... Uberti: https://www.uberti-usa.com/ Cimmaron: https://www.cimarron-firearms.com/ Navy Arms: https://navyarms.com/ Taylors: https://www.taylorsfirearms.com/ W. Richards: SxS Hammered Shotgun maker from way back. Could find no information. Webley: British maker of revolvers, auto pistols and really expensive shotguns. They do letters. Note that these come on A4 sized paper, not 8-1/2x11, so you'll need appropriate sleeves for them if you plan to put them in a binder. In addition to the Letter, you get the green data sheet, and possibly invoices or serial number lists that detail info about the purchaser, if any exists. Cost: 25 British Pounds for database details, plus 6 Pounds if outside the UK. 29 British Pounds for invoice details, plus 6 Pounds if outside the UK. If memory serves, I got a small discount for ordering 4 at once. I recommend paying with credit card and not by "cheque" to make sure you get the best exchange rate. Website: Arms Research https://www.armsresearch.co.uk/ They have info for guns made by Webley & Scott, Wilkerson Firearms and even Wilkerson Sword. The sword records do not include info on bayonets. Turnaround was very quick from what I remember. Winchester: Cody has records for historical Winchester, including stuff made by US Repeating Arms at the original Winchester plant. This includes records for Winchester made M1's, Carbines and M1917 rifles. So this would be a way to get a letter for a US Service rifle, if they made it. Browning has records for things made since 1993. There is a small gap in the records that neither Cody nor Browning has. There are also random gaps in the existing records for pre and post 64 Winchester stuff at Cody. For example, no one has any records for the 9422. Websites are as follows... Cody Winchester Records: https://centerofthewest.org/explore/firearms/firearms-records/winchester/ Browning Winchester Records: https://www.browning.com/support/faq/firearm-historical-information.html Cost: Cody Letters go for $40 to $77 depending on what records they have. Letters for the Winchester 21 go for $92 to $122 depending. There are the usual discounts for being a member. In case I have not made it clear, the discount for being a member is rather substantial. Browning Winchester letters go for (I assume) $39.95. I don't have anything made by them, so I can't confirm. Other resources that may be helpful are as follows. This page is an online serial number lookup. All it gives is the year. Not everything will come back. https://winchestercollector.org/dates/ This page has a link to a PDF file that lists dates of manufacture, including things that Cody has no records of. https://www.winchesterguns.com/support/faq/date-your-firearm.html Between these two, you can at least find the year of manufacture if Cody or Browning has no records. Zasttava oruzje: Makers of post WWII K98 Mausers in Yugoslavia, imported by Mitchell's Mausers. Mitchell gave a certificate of authenticity, but I could find no factory info of any kind. Mitchell's Mausers website seems to be gone. And that's all I have. I hope you found all of this to be of value. Oops! Almost forgot one. North American Arms: Makers of really small .22 revolvers. No Letters but they will confirm date of manufacture over the phone. Contact Info: https://www.northamericanarms.com/ If anyone knows of anyplace where date data or complete records for factory letters may be found by anyone else, please let us know. I already appreciate the info that people have posted about 1911's. Let the commentary begin!

Henry Repeating Arms: We know this company. As I was going through everything, I realized I had never checked for info for my brother's US Survival Rifle. I could find nothing specific on their website for letters or manufacture date, but I did make an inquiry. As soon as I hear back, I'll update the information one way or the other. Contact info: henryusa.com Hopkins & Allen Arms Co. Another old timer I could not find information on. Inland Manufacturing: Division of General Motors that made M1 Carbines during WWII. I could find no data. Interarms: Virgina based company that made single action revolvers. As near as I can tell, they are gone. Best I was able to do was do a lot of searching and get a date range of 1976-1984 for my "Dragoon," kind of an extra beefy cross between a Colt New Frontier and a Ruger. I could locate no specific data for different models. Israel Arms International: All I was able to find was that my M1 Carbine was made sometime between 1996 and 2003. I couldn't find anything else. Ithaca: You can get an Ithaca letter from Cody. This seems to be a pretty typical Cody letter for all of the things they can provide. Similar to the Colt letter with a no frills. Cost: $92.00. (Again, with large discount if you are a member of the museum. Website for Ithaca letters: https://centerofthewest.org/explore/firearms/firearms-records/ithaca/ Iver Johnson: I really thought that Cody, or someone, would have records for this company, but it seems that no one does. There are general website like Wikipedia that can give you date ranges for certain models, but no specifics. The modern IJ has no historical records. Llama: Spanish company that made its own version of the 1911, and who knows what else. I could find no data. Marlin: You can get a Marlin letter from Cody, as long as it was made between 1881, and 1906, as well as some special "Presentation" Model 39's made in the 1960s. So if you've got a Marlin 60 from 1985, they can't help you. Also, data for some Marlins made between 1969 an 1971 when they were part of LC Smith is also available. Worthog Arms is who I bought it from. Cost: $77.00 without regard to if the records are Marlin records or LC Smith ones. Membership discounts apply. Turnaround, the same same less than two months for all their other letters. Cody Website for Marlin: https://centerofthewest.org/explore/firearms/firearms-records/marlin/ Mauser: I was operating under the assumption that all of Mauser's records were destroyed by the Allies at the end of WWII. While this is true for rifles, records for Mauser PISTOLS do survive. So it if you've got a Luger, Broomhandle or some other Mauser pistol, you can get a very interesting letter from the Paul Mauser Archive. In addition to the serial number, they ask you to provide pictures of the gun itself, and of any and all markings. They then put it all together in a nice .PDF file that you can print at your own convenience. I found all of this quite interesting. Yes, the last couple of pages are generic and not specific to my gun, but the general information about mine is there, and that's what I wanted. I think it's worth it. Cost: I don't recall what I paid, it was a reasonable amount of Euros, but if you got more than one, the cost went down per letter. If I remember correctly, the cost of 4 letters together was less than 3 individual ones. Paul Mauser Archive Website: http://www.lugerlp08.com/Mauser%20pistol%20Certification%20Service.htm Turnaround: Reasonable. Did not take all that long once I sent them the info. Merwin & Hulbert: I could not find specific data for these fascinating firearms. Mitchell Arms: I could not find any date for the Lugers sold by them, other than the fact that they were made in Texas by a company named Aimco. Mossberg: Does not seem to offer letters or any data to confirm date of manufacture. Even if they did, it wouldn't do me much good. All I'll ever know about my one rifle is that it was made before 1968 because it has no serial number. Navy Arms has no dates for it's Uberti imports and does not do letters. Norinco: I could find no data. Pacific West Arms: Company that made AR style rifles. I believe they are defunct and I could find no data. Parker: They do letters. I really like the format. The presentation is not so bland as a Colt letter, and they do provide some general information about other things. Cost: $100. $40 if you are a member of the PGCA. Website for PGCA https://parkerguns.org/ Turnaround: A reasonalble timeframe. Don't remember how long, but it was pretty quick, as I recall. Primary Weapons Systems: Another AR maker that is defunct that I could not find much about other than narrowing down the year that this rifle was made. Pietta does not do letters Remington does not do letters or confirm date of manufacture. Which is too bad because a little digging online will tell you that the records do exist. That being said, there are online resources that will allow you to track down some general information. But it's hit or miss as to what you'll find. RG was a maker of inexpensive pistols. They also made a fairly nice replica of the Remington Derringer. I could find no specific data, only a general wide range of when they were made. (1970-1986) For a company that has, admittedly a well earned reputation for making low quality products, their derringer replica was actually pretty good. Rossi does not do letters nor confirm manufacture dates, as far as I can tell. Website: https://rossiusa.com/ Ruger does letters. As you can see, their letters are pretty basic. But, they are dirt cheap. Cost: $10.00 Order Form: https://ruger.com/pdf/letterOfAuthenticity.pdf At only ten bucks, they are the cheapest letters out there. I do not know if they will letter new Marlins made by them. Savage: You can get a letter though Cody. See the Website for details on what they have available; it's not everything. Cost: $77.00 Website for Savage Letters: https://centerofthewest.org/explore/firearms/firearms-records/savage/ Sig Saur: Does not do letters, but will confirm date of manufacture Website: https://www.sigsauer.com/ More to come.

Okay, let me get this started. Before I get into the actual letters, let me start out by saying that I am trying to "Fully Document" my collection. That includes collecting any and all paperwork I may have for each gun, be it a sales receipt from where it was purchased, state registration forms, gunsmith receipts for repair or customization work, and of course, a factory letter where I can get one. I do not always have all of this. We, that is to say, me, my father, brother and nephews have not always carefully saved everything. I kinda wish we always had, but such is life. Anyway, with that data, without regard to if I can get a factory letter or not, I created a kind of a "cover sheet" for everything in the collection. Here's a sample of what I came up with. I simply list the highlights as best as I was able to determine them, with or without a letter as well as a few other details. I printed these on nice cardstock. They are purely for my own reference, and if I were to ever sell anything in the collection, they would not go with the gun, but be disposed of. Unless maybe I become super famous and my heirs decide to sell off the collection for money and these could be used as proof that I owned it once. But I doubt that'll ever happen. Anyway, this cover sheet does happen to be for a gun I have a letter for, so here it is. Clayton was my father, by the way. Everyone I got letters from were willing to put the name and address of my relative, even though they sent it to me. I got this letter back when Savage was still doing its own letters. They don't anymore, having sent their old records to the Cody Firearms Museum. (Hereafter referred to as "Cody") I'll talk more about them later. As I recall, getting this letter was not very expensive, and it arrived in a timely fashion. It also has, in my opinion, a good presentation of the facts along with some general info about the gun. As far as I know, Mr. Callahan retired, and that's why Savage stopped doing its own letters. To bad, as I think that they were good ones and would have rated them highly. As it is, this is included as a "historical example" of what used to be available. If you happen to have a Fox Shotgun, you can get a letter from Cody. I am not sure about guns still in production by Savage. I will discuss that later. Cody Firearms Website: For AH Fox Guns https://centerofthewest.org/explore/firearms/firearms-records/savage/ Cost: $77.00 (Note: There are substantial discounts if you are a member of the Museum.) Turnaround time: Reasonable. Within a couple of months at the most. I will list companies I could not get letters for. Either they are defunct, or do not offer them. Some of the ones that are still in business will at least confirm date of manufacture, and for them I included contact info. Note: If I say that I could find no data/information that means that I could not find any way to contact them or date the firearms they made. General info via things like Wikipedia or other websites may exist, but are not listed as they are not what this is all about. American Arms, Inc. This was a company that once made inexpensive but reliable pistols. My brother had one that looks a lot like a Walther PPK in .22R, a model PX22. I could find no information about them online or data for their guns. American Western Arms (AWA) We all know who these folks were. But I can find no data. Arme Cugir This is the company that made Tokarev pistols in Romania. Still around, but no contact data. Armi San Marco: Another company we are familiar with. I could not find any data online for the stuff they made. Auto-Ordinance. They do not offer letters. However, if you call them on the phone, they will be able to tell you when your gun was made. Contact info: https://www.auto-ordnance.com/ You have to hunt around, but in addition to themselves, they list resources for various model Thompsons made by others. Beretta. They don't do letters. I could also find no way to confirm date of manufacture from them. There is a serial number lookup online, but it does not work, so I won't link to it. Contact Info: https://www.beretta.com/en-us Browning does letters. Browning Letter I like Browning's letter. It is reasonably priced, but take several months to arrive. They don't have records for the High Powers made in Canada during WWII. They also have records for Winchesters made by them after 1993. Cost: $39.99 Contact info: https://www.browning.com/support/faq/firearm-historical-information.html Turnaround: Slow. Six months or longer. An interesting note is they they send you the letters in a three ring binder plastic sleeve. A nice touch. Burgess. This was the company that made the pump in the grip repeating shotgun. I could find no historical records for them. Burnside Rifle Company. Makers of the model 1865 Spencer. I could find no records. CBC. Maker of inexpensive shotguns sold under store brand names like K-Mart, clone of the Remington Nylon 66 and other things Fairly decent quality, but I could find no information. Chiappa. A company well connected to our game, making quality reproductions of various out of print Winchesters. Sadly, they do no offer letters, nor could I find a way to get even date of manufacture information. Contact information: https://www.chiappafirearms.com/ Chicago Arms Company. One of a plethora of makers of inexpensive pocket pistols in the later 1800's/early 1900's. I could find almost no information about this company. Colt. Well, we know who these people are. Letters are very expensive, and take a very long time to arrive. Records are mostly complete going back to at least the Civil War era. Contact Information: https://www.colt.com/archive-services/ Cost: $80 to $305 depending on model. Note that if your gun has special features like factory engraving, or their records indicate it was once owned by someone famous, they will add $50 to $200 to the price! Discounts are available for buying in bulk. Turnaround time: Very slow. Over six months. To be honest, I think that Colt letters are way over priced when compared to the more detailed information you get from other gun makers, and the bare bones format of the data they provide. And the extra charges and more expensive price depending on model is just plain annoying. They also don't include any info about work done on the guns at the factory. For example, my 1911 that I had a factory ambi safety installed on does not list this. Nor do three guns I have returned to them for service have that indicated on the letters. Also, note this site: https://www.colt.com/serial-lookup/ If you put your serial number in here, there is a 90% it will give you the date of manufacture. Before I sent in a list of guns with serial numbers, I input them all here to confirm exactly which model they were. Some of the Detective Special/Police Positive and similar revolvers are not clearly marked, but the serial number look up will tell you what yours is. Corona. Typwriter company that made 1903-A3 rifles during WWII. They don't seem to have data, but the serial number ranges are covered on the Springfield Armory website. More on that later. Crossman. Makers of BB guns and air rifles. They don't do letters, but can confirm date of manufacture if you call them on the phone. Contact info: https://www.crosman.com/ Daisy. Like Crossman, they don't do letters, but will confirm on the phone when their airguns were made. Contact info: https://www.daisy.com/ Diana Makers if high end air guns. No letters, but they did confirm date of manufacture for me. Contact Info: http://www.diana-airguns-us.com/ Deutsche Werke German maker of decent pocket pistols. I was able to find rough manufacture dates for my .25 Auto pistol via Wikipedia, but not much else. EMF, Adler Jager imports. EMF does not do letters, but they were able to give me a rough date of manufacture for the guns they imported from Alder in the late 1980s. Contact Info: https://www.emf-company.com/ Enfield: British military rifles and pistols for both civilian and military use. Info about the now defunct company is easy to obtain, but I could not find anyone with their records. Most of the things they made do have a date code stamped on them though, especially military stuff. Euroarms of America. Importer of a replica of the Rogers and Spencer cap and ball revolver, and I assume other things. I could find no significant production data about them online. Fabrica Militar de Armas Portables (FMAP): Makers of a 1911A1 copy, under license, in Argentina. I did find manufacture dates online, but that is all. Sadly, I can't recall where I found the data, but here is the company website, which I only found when putting this post together. It does not seem to have data for their pistols. https://www.fm.gob.ar/ I have inquired to them about historical data. If I learn anything more, I will post it. FN Herstal. European military rifle maker. I could find no data online for their guns. Glock. No letters, but they will confirm date of manufacture on the phone. Contact info: https://us.glock.com/en Great Western Firearms. Defunct company that made the original SAA Clone back in the 50's. I found general information online to date my pistol, but obviously, no way to get a letter. They do have a website: https://www.greatwesternfirearms.com/ W.W. Greener. Makers of all kinds of nice shotguns. They used to do letters but don't anymore. Their website does have data listed online to give you dates of manufacture. Website: https://www.wwgreener.com/repairs.html At the bottom of the page is a link to a document with dates of manufacture. More to come.

Okay. I'll try to get the project started today. To try to be as complete as possible, I'll even include info for gun makers who don't offer letters, but who will confirm a manufacture date over the phone for you. Over the course of doing all of this, I have "discovered" a lot of interesting facts and resources that can help you date your firearms, even if you can't "document" them. I will share all of this as best I can. It's all quite fascinating. I think I'll go in alphabetical order, just to keep it simple, and provide links to website and so on. I'll probably also break it up over several posts to keep it manageable. Finally, I only ask that if anyone knows of any way to get information for a gun made my someone that I could find, please, let us know!

I few months ago, I shared how I was gonna start getting letters for everything in my collection, including the guns of my late father and brother and my nephews. I still have more than a few things to letter, mostly stuff belonging to them, I need them to give me the data, but I believe I have a letter from everyone I can get one from already. Would people be interested in my assessment of the letter process, perhaps with some (edited) pictures?

My own lube practice for cartridges that require it... Lube Deprime/resize Tumble clean Prime Charge Seat bullet Crimp

The gun is not a "Mass Compliant" pistol. The only legal way around that is take the gun apart, buy the parts, and do a frame transfer to Massachusetts. One of the provisions is no more frame transfers. Not sure of the particulars, but I think that a frame is no longer a frame, it's a firearm. The way the dealers were talking to me, they are saying ALL semi-auto's are banned, and that now all long guns have the same kind of rules as handguns and have to be on "the list" to be sold. Of course, there is no list yet, so essentially you can't buy any kind of a rifle or shotgun in the state once this thing goes into effect in early August. Several dealers have told me they are just planning to close up shop. Looks like the Armory in Littleton's days are numbered... I can't see many rifle or shotgun makers sending in 5 guns to the Commonwealth for destructive testing. And the CMP is gonna have Krags later this month.

Just to bring this story to its conclusion. The 5" American is now safely home with me. I am very happy. And it looks like with the latest changes to Mass gun laws, I got it just in time. Anyway, here it is sitting next to it's new best friend... As we all know, legend ascribes the use of a Buntline Special to Wyatt Earp. As reality tells us, he used a S&W American at the Gunfight at the OK Corral. I am now happy to say that I have a Buntline and an American in the same caliber!. Now all I have to go is go back to Tombstone, visit the OK Corral again, and participate in a cowboy shoot in that town, using these guns. It is a strange dream, but one that will be a lot of fun.

The powder I used was new. No. No spray lube. I must have double charged at least 2 cases. So, that left with about 2000 to break down. My own carelessness, and nothing more. Others may have wonderful success with the powder, but I am not going to try. Too scared of myself. Can't wait for Trailboss to come back. Or even Red Dot. That's pretty bulky too.

HP-38 in a .45... ' .45 is similar to .44-40. To easy to double charge. Nobody's fault by my own. But I'll not risk using it again in the big calibers.

I'll make sure it is well cared for. And if/when I get out to Tombstone for a shoot, I'll pair it with my Colt Buntline and be all Wyatt Earpy as I visit the OK Corral.

If I recall correctly, flammable and inflammable have separate derivations. Inflammable has it's roots in the word inflame, meaning to set on fire, so inflammable means capable of being inflamed. It's also the older word. Flammable come from flame, which means fire. Which means flammable means capable of being set on fire. Technically inflammable and flammable therefore have a slightly different meaning, but it's such a subtle difference that it's not worth worrying about. Although, I have also read that flammable came about by people dropping the the in off of flammable to create a word that meant the opposite in inflammable, just as vulnerable and invulnerable have opposite meanings, but it didn't work. English is a fascinatingly weird language.

Ah, but quiet and quieter are adjectives. Silence is a verb, and silencer is a noun. So it doesn't work. Kinda like how the palindrome of Bolton woulda been Notlob. Hmmm... Kinda shoulda been on the list. Coulda should've been as well. Interesting... Coulda, woulda and shoulda did not come out as misspelled words, but kinda sorta did. Argh... Sorta didn't.

The following is an attempt at humor. What is an “irrational” word? Some would say it is word that is not standard in its derivation. Or that perhaps it is a word the means something different from what people think it does, or one that has changed its meaning over time. Or perhaps it is a word that just doesn’t “make sense” for some odd reason. There is truth to all of those definitions, but that’s not what I am talking about. Consider the following words… Ain’t Alright Dunno Gonna Irregardless Silencer Transpire (When used to mean to take place, not to leak out) These are words that, even though you hear them a lot, and everyone knows what they mean, the so called “grammar Nazis” have apoplectic fits of rage when they hear them being used. They will say they are the wrong word, are not a word, (and I’ve never understood THAT argument) or that there is a “better” word to use. In other words, they have an “irrational” hatred of these specific words. There may be more, but I think you get my point; these are perfectly cromulent words that embiggen the mind. Have a nice day.

This was never my intention... When it comes to the Model 3 variants, I have the following in my collection. 1. S&W New Model 3 Target in .38/44 2. S&W New Model 3 in .44-40 3. S&W Model 3 DA in .44-40 4. S&W 3rd Model Schofield in .45 S&W. 5. Uberti Schofield in .45 Colt. 6. Uberti American in .45 Colt. Notice that both of my Italian replicas are in .45. I have learned that the Russian replica is also available in .45. And of course the Beretta Laramie, a kind of a hybrid between the standard and target New Model 3, is available in .45. I find myself contemplating getting these last two repros in this caliber so as to have all 4 replicas in the same cartridge.

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.

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.

I think it's the guy in blue to the right of the gal from Boston.

My .45 is an AWA, but I've not tried Schofields in it. But this makes me wonder about giving it a whirl. I find it curious that the shorter shell gives no blowback. Of course, I don't HAVE any Schofield ammo, and no revolvers chambered for it so, it may be a while.

Just out of curiosity, is there a magazine spacer/plug that limits capacity? I have an AWA in .44-40 that it was very difficult to load round 9 and 10. After I removed the plug, they went in fine and magazine capacity increased to 14.

I mentioned above how I got my first AWA Lightning in .45 Colt. Just to be clear, not only is it my favorite main match rifle, it caused me to get "Lightning Fever," and I have steadily obtained more of the things. Lightning #1 is of course my AWA .45. It has become my primary main match rifle. After using it for several years, some small internal part did break. Gave it to Lassiter who fixed it, and it now again runs as good as it ever did. Lightning #2 is another AWA in .44-40. I enjoyed the .45 so much that I said if I ever found one in .44-40 that I'd buy it. When I did, I did. In all honesty, the chamber was very tight. Sometimes rounds would not chamber or come out after firing. I had the chamber polished and the problem went away. It also had a "spacer" in the magazine tube that limited capacity to ten rounds, and made the last couple very difficult to load. Took that out and that problem went away too. Lightning #3 is a real Colt in .32-20. This one was advertised as being beautifully restored with an expert action job, and was thus priced rather affordably. .32-20 is a well liked caliber for me, so I grabbed it. No problems with this one either. Lightning #4 another Colt in .22 Long. A very sweet shooter. Lightning #5 is another Colt in .44-40, and is one of the very rare ones sold to the army of Costa Rica back in the late 1800's. I really wanna find the bayonet for it. I have not fired this one yet, but snap caps and dummy rounds go through it just fine. Lightning #6 is an AWA Lightning Bolt Pistol in .45 Colt. Think pump action Mares Leg. A fun little pistol, even if it's not SASS legal. Yep, I've got Lightning fever bad. And it all started with an AWA in .45 Colt. So, unless you really wanna contract this ailment. don't go there. (Yes, all my AWA's are AWA-USA) Oh, and there will be a Lightning #7 someday. It will be a large frame Colt in .45-85-265, which is the same case as .45-70. I am saving my change and money left at the end of the week and any other unexpected extra money to save for one. It's gonna take a while, but the fever will not be denied.

Factory loads should be find for deer or smaller. In a 92 or, you could "hot rod" the round to much higher performance if you want too for use on larger game. I'd use it for deer, but nothing more than that.

Reminds me of a local story. The elementary school I attended is called Lt. Job Lane Elementary. Named after a local Revolutionary War hero. His grave is in the Old Burying Ground, and his house, not far from the school, is still standing and is a local museum. When I was in Jr. High, (That should tell you how old I am...) a few kids going to Lane Elementary decided to learn more about the man for whom their school was named. Turned out that he wasn't a Lieutenant at all. Or even an officer. He was private who got shot in the butt at the Old North Bridge in Concord on the very first day of the war, and never saw service again after that. Since then, I never take anybody's word for anything.