Lead Monger

An easy way to tighten up cylinder end shake on a Colt pattern revolver is to put shims under the cylinder bushing. Small shim washers are available from Brownells for this purpose.

I’ve used as low as 2.5g of red dot with a 125g bullet. Gives around 650fps and very reliable in all weather. 3 grains with the same bullet is a little over 700 fps and a very good load.

I can sweep the triggers of my doubles so fast they go off before I’m on target.

I have shoot many a match with a pair of Uberti 36 cal 1861 navy’s. They love GOEX with round balls or conical. I have a pair of Howel conversion cylinders chambered for 38 Colt/38 special that drop right in ether revolver and function perfectly without any fitting required. The cylinders have .375 throats and allow the Areas Gone healed Colt bullet in a short Colt case to function. Better still is a 38 special case with a 148 grain hallow base wadcutter. Many hours of entertainment sitting on the patio shooting cans, paper and steel burning 2.4 grains of Red Dot with each pop of the 1861. Deadly accurate and I don’t have to clean the guns right away. Throw the percussion cylinders back in and their ready for Frontiersman.

I use Remington and Federal small pistol primers interchangeably in my light sprung pistols and rifles without incident. They always go bang. Dump a box of Remington SPP into a primer tray and it’s easy to see that some are taller than others. I squish them all the same. I have also noticed some of the cups are more domed than others. Seat them to the bottom of the pocket and don’t worry about it. They all look the same after seating.

Picked up a brick of Federal LP primers at Sportsman’s Wearhouse for less than $90.00. Looking at the stock of powder in the case and noting prices I see 30 to 45 bucks for most of what they have. Then i see a 1# bottle of 3031 for 69.99 and I’m just baffled.

I like the round brass bead from pioneer gun works. It catches light very well and works well with a buck horn rear.

I have a new production Comanchero (last year) that runs smooth without trouble. It swallows 125g tc 38 specials without complaint and it is not a cut/weld modified rifle. The lever is not modified. Everything inside that rubs or moves has been polished. The links are a standard looking short stroke set and all the springs have been lightened. The carrier has been lightened and the action is in perfect time. I changed the front sight so I can see it better. No complaints here.

The broken bolt would drive me crazy. I would have to replace it.

With some tuning the CZ Sharptail is a very nice gun. Smooth and trouble free so far.

When a batch of brass has finished tumbling I use the Lyman hand cracked squirrel cage to separate the brass from pins and rinse with clean water. Then dump them out on a couple layers of paper towels covering small table. They are dry the next morning.

I use a little Cascade powder and haven’t had any weird staining like that. I also use the pins and if the brass is tarnished a squirt all lime away gets added.

I would never load smokeless powders into an original Trapdoor rifle. I have seen more than one cracked receiver. My favorite plinking load for my 1888 Trapdoor rifle is the Lee 405 hollow base bullet lubed with SPG over 65 grains of GOEX FF with a Fed 215 primer in Starline brass.

I bet the firing pin has been replaced at some point in the past. The retaining pin was probably too long and it was pounded into the hammer “flush” rather than just enough to hold it in place. That is why it is bent. This would also lock the firing pin in place preventing it from lining up with the hole in the recoil shield so it bent the firing pin. I picked up a Cattleman at a gun show that had the same messed up parts and damage to the hole in the recoil shield.

Wolff also produces a nice reduced power flat spring for the bolt/trigger. It is a good alternative to their wire spring that is often too light for comfort.