Cypress Sam, SASS #10915

You may not have to do anything. But if the case rim hangs up on the carrier when the bolt is being closed, bevel the part of the carrier that is catching the rim. Just a little, doesn’t take much. And make sure the lifter spring has enough tension on it.

Here is a concept (not a design): Take a spare cylinder, say 357 size and turn off part of the chamber end, leaving the ratchet. Fabricate a ring that would fit on the cylinder similar to the way a Kirst Conversion cylinder works, but with pockets “chambered” for 209 caps or pistol primers. The adaptor ring would have “plugs” sized to fit into each cylinder just enough to keep it lined up properly and to compress the B P charge slightly. To load you would drop a coated ball into the six chambers (ball sized to be stopped by the cylinder throat). Then place the capped adaptor ring on the cylinder and hand compress the charge. To speed load carry additional pre-capped adaptor rings and a powder measure with six spouts like they used to have with the early cased Colt Pattersons. Like I said this is just a concept, but the more I think about it, it might even work!

I like the Umerex “Colts”. I made a speed loader for my BB pistols that saved a lot of hassle with the reloading.

Looks like a couple of things you might try after you knock the sharp edges of the loading gate port. Reduce the length of the magazine sprint to the point that about 4” stick out of the magazine and reduce the tension of the loading gate spring. Steve’s Gunz May not be able to ship gun parts to Australia, but maybe you can get a copy of his video on tuning the 92. It’s a worthwhile investment.

Shoot the rifle as is. If it needs a little “slicking up” do that as you see the need. The fine tuning and go-fast stuff can be added later as you see the need. Shooting the stock rifle is fine and will give you the chance to get some experience under your belt before you jump in with both feet. The one improvement that you will really need, other than competition springs, is a coil spring for the lever safety. The stock lever safety spring makes the gun almost unworkable in competition. It’s best if you learn to do a lot of the work yourself rather than having a “race gun” built for you. Regardless, there will be a multitude of glitches that are better worked out by you in the field than sending it back to the gunsmith.

I haven’t seen him for several years, but used to shoot with him in the Eustis/Leesburg area several years ago. He was a good shooter, but I couldn’t be specific about exactly what he won. I know he won the pocket pistol side match at the SE Regionals at Mule Camp in Georgia several years ago, because he beat me out at the last minute using a pocket pistol he borrowed from me!

The first part of the lever stroke begins to move the bolt back and the firing pin extension begins to cock the hammer. The lifter doesn’t begin to rise until the bolt is far enough back to clear the lifter. Try cycling the gun with the hammer cocked and see if you still have the resistance. You can also cycle the gun with various parts removed to isolate where you have binding or resistance. One caution though: Using sandpaper is not a good idea. It can leave ripples in the metal. What you need for a good smooth feel is for the metal surfaces to be perfectly fair (flat, no ripples). For that, you need good quality stones of progressively finer grit, like those Brownells sells. It is also possible, or even probable, that the rifle is poorly timed, especially if it has been worked on by a previous owner. It would probably be a good idea to get it evaluated by someone knowledgeable about ‘73’s.

Be sure to get the bolt spring in the right way too.

https://www.masecraftsupply.com/Alternative-Ivory-col849TM_c_268.html I made these grips from imitation ivory I bought from Macecraft.

Try lubing the cases the easy cheap way: Put a few hundred cases in a cardboard box about 8”x14” and about 6” deep. Pour the brass into another cardboard box while spraying Hornady spray lube into the stream of brass. Five seconds and you’re done. This makes the handle easier to pull and works well with all pistol caliber brass (not so much with high pressure rifle brass).

It might be nice, but it’s a Mini-14, not all that heavy even with the 100 round drums!

What ten round limit?

This is a pair of ASM 32-20’s that I shot for my first several years in SASS. They were pretty much worn out and loose as a goose. I sent them to Bob Coogan with Accurate Arms and Plating and had them hard-chromed for wall hangers. The hard chrome tightened them up to the point that they seem almost new. The finish is so hard you can’t cut it with a file.

I use 3.0 gr Titegroup with a 115 gr bullet. Gives about 750 to 800 FPS from pistols and about 1,000fps from 20” rifle.

Here is a test I did on my 73 to demonstrate that a primer can be fired without the hammer falling. The rifle had a factory firing pin spring.