Cypress Sam, SASS #10915

My personal preference is for NO age-based categories. But if we must have them, limit the number to two or three (excluding the youth categories). Do we really need five age based categories above 60? ”Senior/Lady Senior: Age 60 and up. - Silver Senior/Lady Silver Senior: Age 65 and up. - Elder Statesman/Grand Dame: Age 70 and up. - Cattle Baron/Cattle Baroness: Age 75 and up. - El Patron/La Patrona: Age 80 and up.” Are our little egos so fragile they we need a special category for each of us “Old Farts”? (For the record I’m 83 and shoot Gunfighter, not Senior Gunfighter.)

Better equipment will probably make you faster in terms of your match times. In that sense better equipment makes you a better competitor. Equipment won’t make you a “better shooter though. Only proper training and practice will do that. If you’ve only ever had fully tuned and modified “race guns”, it would be difficult to pick up stock guns and shoot comfortably. But someone who has become proficient with stock guns and transitioned to “race guns” would likely feel quite comfortable, and faster. Who would be the better shooter? Depends on quality and quantity of practice and training. It would also depend on your definition of “better shooter”.

What Abiline said. When shooting duelist, it is easy to start to cock the hammer fast, then slow a little while the cylinder continues to rotate by inertia. By the time the bolt drops in the cycle, the cylinder has already rotated too far and the FP misses the primer. Friction and the hand spring is the only thing that slows rotation of a Colt type cylinder. So the solution is to go more smoothly when you cock, or put in a little stronger hand spring.

Probably won’t help but aI have an original Winchester ‘73 in 32-20 that had excessive headspace when I got it. I found that the pins In the frame that hold the links were bent. I replaced them with drill rod and that solved the problem. As I’m sure you know, original Winchester’s links were not supposed to have the pressure bear on the pins. The links were supposed to be machined to bear on the mating machined surfaces on the frame and bolt respectively. After I replaced the pin in the frame, the links appeared to bear on the frame (rather than the pins) like they were supposed too. I don’t know how replacing the bent pin resulted in a perfectly fitting link, but that’s what happened. (I bought a lottery ticket the same day and didn’t win. So it wasn’t luck.)

That was a video of me shooting a stage In a match in Ruskin, Florida about 15 or 20 years ago. Filming by Wyatt who must have been trying to spy on my “gunfighter pistols” technique! As to why “he threw the gun down”, in my mind at the time, I didn’t throw it down; I carefully placing it on the table swiftly. But the same forces took over that fired the round: Newtons Second Law of Motion. (A body in motion tends to stay in motion until acted upon by some outside force.) The lower video demonstrates how a primer can be fired using the inertia of the firing pin + extension when closing the bolt on a cartridge not fully chambered because of an obstruction of some sort. In the demonstration, the obstruction was simulated by installing a pin to prevent fully chambering the round. In the first video, the case had a severely bulged case. I’d also like to point out that this is the very same reason that you shouldn’t drop the slide on a 1911 pistol onto a chambered round. The inertia of the firing pin may fire the round. All rounds fired in a 1911 are fired by inertia since the firing pin is not long enough to protrude from the bolt face if the hammer is all the way down, resting on the firing pin. (Of course, you already knew that.)

Great idea! But I ain’t driving from sunny Florida to fridgid Minnesota to do it.

For right handlers hold the gun firmly into your shoulder with your left hand. The crescent butplate will automatically find the right place, and it won’t slip. If you are using modern type stance with the butt more over on your collarbone, you probably need more of a shotgun or carbine type butplate that can be checkered.

Without the BS it is pretty clear that you had an overcharge. Particularly since you had inconsistent loads prior. You should check your powder measure by weighing a number of loads on a scale, maybe 10 to 20 rounds. Also run all of the powder through a sieve to make sure that there are no lumps or foreign matter in the powder. And clean the powder measure. You’ve definitely got a serious problem and need to find out what it is before someone gets hurt.

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.