Joe West

My prayers for his family. He was a great friend. A real master gunsmith, Bill helped me a lot. I'll miss him.

What he said . If they flip out the top they're too short. If you have to jiggle the lever to get them in they're too long. Joe

Prayers up for a great pard and his better half. Get well soon.

I don't have a picture of that. I was always last off the range so often missed it. His wife made me promise to make sure nobody busted his teeth.

I used the pietta C&Bs of the 1980's and belgian centennials of the 1960's until the ruger old army fixed sight models came out. Still using those first 5 1/2 " ruger models I bought but have slicked up new piettas for customers . I have one very early pietta, one from the 80's, and one 21st century one and the differences are there. The new ones are great. The ones I've seen from Taylors are so good I have one for my backup match gun. But I've never had to use a backup match C&B in my life, so far. Once you rework the old models they are fine but the amount of work on the new ones is greatly reduced. And the quality of the parts is a lot better. As a gunsmith you mostly just see the problem stuff. Colt, Uberti, Pietta, S&W and yes even Ruger have all let crap go out the doors over the years and now I'm seeing every modern brands' issues. Quality control vs price point is always going to be the defining factor. And I'm seeing real improvement in pietta. Better materials, better machining, and better quality control. Amazing in a product with such a low price point.

SAA type point of aim is done first by windage as that affects sight height as well. Because you're turning the barrel. The stripped frame is put in an action wrench, the proper blocks and procedure secure the barrel in a barrel vise and small changes are made and tested at the range. After awhile you get a good feel for this and it's quicker than it sounds to get it perfect. A good mid power consistent load is also the best place to start. If this is done correctly with right equipment no scratches or marks or warping of frame will occur. DO NOT JUST PUT a piece of wood in the frame to tighten or loosen the barrel. The frame warps pretty easy. If it needs to be tightened to move the poi where you want and if the barrel is real tight, remove the barrel first and use a fixture that cuts back the barrel before the threads to give slightly more clearance. If the barrel is too loose and you have to go back around you'll have to trim the ejector housing a little, a small lathe is good for that. If elevation is still an issue filing or building up the front sight may be needed if you can't achieve poi by load adjustment. I'm not doing a video of this The end result will consistently split playing cards edgewise if you're steady. It's a bit more than current SASS needs. IMHO If you bend your sights they'll usually fall off pretty soon.

This is a ,1998 I believe, pic as we throw Coyote Calhoun into a very splintery wagon. There were several takes. Joe West

Fergie's funeral will be Saturday 3/14/20 at the Rosehaven Funeral Home. 8640 Rose Ave Douglasville, Ga 30134. They have a website that gives all the information as well. The visitation starts at noon, service at 2pm, and the wake at 3pm.

My mentor , my friend, owner of Fergie's Custom Guns, and one of the best original supporters for the spread of SASS in the SE USA passed on last night . He was SASS#4358 and Cherokee Cowboy#10. Fergie's funeral will be Saturday 3/14/20 at the Rosehaven Funeral Home. 8640 Rose Ave Douglasville, Ga 30134. They have a website that gives all the information as well. The visitation starts at noon, service at 2pm, and the wake at 3pm. My prayers for the comfort of his wife Carol and all their family. I'll see you on the trail pard. Joe west

If it works perfectly until you go full out it's unlikely put together wrong. I do different work than other smiths on 92's, I work the individual firearm until I achieve the results desired by the customer. But I'll share my free advice for what it's worth: don't shim up the cartridge guides too tight, that'll make your problem worse. You need some clearance for the round to slide back on the lifter. With proper spacing in a 92 :generally if rounds come out the top they're too short, too light or both, if you have to juggle the lever to get them in, they're likely too long. The amount of change to overall length needed could be tiny. Sometimes changing the speed that the round is moved back on the lifter is critical but requires machine work. Strive for smooth operation vs jerky movements. The chiappa , rossi, original winchester, and current japanese winchester and the different eras of manufacture within those brands are often different in some ways so don't worry if your perfect load is different from other folks as long as it is safe. Generally the 92 can be made less ammo sensitive with varying degrees of work. I mention smooth operation by the shooter as critical. I believe the 92 type of operation is more sensitive to jerky operation than the 73 or 66 as their carrier captures the round not just heave it upwards where it must slide back in time to be captured by the back of the guides. So before you change anything why not take the free route and examine your operation at speed. I love the 1892. I shoot a 66 or a 92 they are my favourites.

I've seen several ruined barrels when customers try to drill or drive multiple squibs . Multiple squibs in a barrel present the hardest removals, most often because the barrel bulges and the obstruction swells into the bulge . I don't use the drill method. Unless you have a mill and experience don't try the drill method. Do no drill it without a guide as the lead runs the bit into the barrel. If it's a hard one, and the barrel is undamaged, I pull the barrel, heat it only to a degree that wouldn't alter the metal treatment and press or drive it from the barrel in a barrel vise with the aforementioned brass rod. If the barrel is bulged get and fit a new barrel, be careful of your frame. Use an action wrench and barrel vise, do not use the piece of wood in the frame to turn it method I've seen mentioned in some publications. Revolver frames spring easy and some of the barrels are in tight. Be patient , good luck. Joe

Meeting and becoming friends with new people was our best quality. We didn't put cas matches together to give away money prizes, we came from other shooting sports, racing, or whatever seeking something different. Our gatherings were like a big reunion with new family members each time. The best matches still are. That attitude carries over to most folks that post. But any group with Isom Dart in it automatically goes up a notch. When Kid Concho , Isom ,and me were shooting together that was as good as it gets.

Like Fireball I use hard cast bullets. My cartridges are loaded full case triple 7 2f , no wad standard lube, heavy bullet for caliber. Antique firearms would need a little more gentle load but modern mfg firearms, hard is better. Less leading equals less pressure build up as you shoot and easier cleaning. Less deformation of bullet gives better accuracy. It needs to fit the chamber mouths go smoothly into the forcing cone and obdurate into the rifling and it'll hit where your barrel ends up pointed.

I've shot the lever revolution 44 mag in a Winchester 94. Those are good shooting rounds. The polymer tip really provides a superior ballistic bullet to safely use in tube mag guns. There's no need to guess when a company puts it resources and expertise into providing a quality product. I know from running ranges people are going to do whatever suits them and justify their actions anyway they can regardless of rules, manufacturers recommendations, and often in spite of common sense. It's human nature, most of what little knowledge I've retained is from my screw ups. In the end it's simple, I prefer everyone leave the range in as good a state of health as they had on arrival.

Only witnessed it once, Remington factory round nose lead round nose .38 spl. yellow box in 1866 carbine Uberti. CAS match in Dalton, GA. 2nd shot ignited 3 rounds blew side plate off & deformed and blew out mag tube. No injuries as no one close to the side plate. Val Folgett found us a side plate, unfinished rough cast, as it was an early 1xx serial number Navy Arms gun and I was able to salvage the gun. It's still in use today with the caveat not to use round nose bullets. One of my pards blew his hand up a bit with a 1860 Uberti Henry with rnfp 44-40 bullets when the follower slipped. So a round nose bullet shouldn't be that much of a stretch to see you don't want to be that guy. I've been shooting and officiating in all kinds of matches for many decades. I've seen every kind of firearm in those matches suffer a failure. The majority were ammunition based, some of those were factory rounds. The round nose flat point bullets designed for the specific caliber ie: 30-30 are made to be safe in that loading. The fmj pointed round nose .308 bullets for loading rounds into the chamber from a box magazine obviously shouldn't be in a tube mag and the manufacturers and the loading manuals point that out. We've had this argument among shooters since I can remember reloading starting in 1973 and i guess we'll have it forever. Please just tell me if you're using sharply rounded bullets so I can stand back a bit more while timing you. Anyone who has ever watched me run a timer notices I stay pretty clear just as I never stand in front of a door while knocking on it anymore.