Paco Kelly's Leverguns.com

Winnetou

Good-bye and Godspeed, my special long-distance friend. I’ll miss our discussions of the Winchester Model 1873, and the .44WCF and other black powder cartridges, though your superb historical and technical research will remain to benefit all of us. Most of all, I will forever treasure the extraordin...

Winnetou

Many thanks for letting us know of this positive progress, John! I’m thinking of you and praying for you every day. I know what it is like for illness to keep one from shooting, and hope that you will soon be able to take your rifles out for some black powder—or even, dare I say it, nitro—therapy. I...

Winnetou

I’ve been pulling for you daily, John, since I first heard. I hope that, if you’re up to it, you’ll let us know how you are doing and feeling.

Winnetou

Well, of course copper or brass cases and black powder would be ideal for large calibre rim-fire cartridges. Yet copper, which is the principal constituent of cartridge brass, has become costly, which is one reason that ammunition has become so expensive. Thus, the idea of employing far less costly ...

Winnetou

The fact remains that long-obsolete rifles in long-obsolete calibres have been successfully brought back to the market. At the very least, short-frame Henry and 1866 rifles, chambered for the .44 Henry centre-fire, would likely find as welcoming a market as the Spencer and 1876 replicas. At that poi...

Winnetou

There are some exceptions to this rule. When Uberti and Chaparral reintroduced the Winchester 1876, all four of its calibres were long obsolete. Armi Sport offer the Spencer rifle and carbine in a centre fire .56-50 chambering that never existed before. These rifles may not sell in the quantities of...

Winnetou

It looks like a Frank Wesson. The forward “trigger”, which is visible in the photograph, unlocks the tip-up action. The actual trigger, which is behind and below it, is hidden by the fold in the blanket.

Winnetou

I don’t shoot in cowboy action events, but as far as I know, you can not use an 1876 as a main match rifle, which must be limited to “pistol” type cartridges such as .44-40 and .45 Colt. Some events have side matches for long range rifles, and you could use the 1876 for that. The most popular main m...

Winnetou

The Winchester product number 534200137 does seem to pertain to a Model 1873 short rifle in .38/.357 calibre. A number of gun sale web-sites list this rifle, but “out of stock”. I found only one site, Zanders Sporting Goods, with a photograph: http://shop2.gzanders.com/win-1873-short-rifle-38-357-20...

Winnetou

Cyanoacrylate glue, commonly called “super glue”, works extremely well on tyre rubber. Several years ago, a vandal punctured the side walls of all four tyres of one of my vehicles, when it was parked in the street. The instrument must have been an awl or ice-pick. The tyres were flat. Using a relati...

Winnetou

What follows is a simplified explanation. The prevalence of digital multi-meters, like that Fluke, has led to many misunderstandings about leakage current. This is because meters of this kind have an extremely high input impedance when measuring A.C. voltage. A good meter like the Fluke will typical...

Winnetou

Thanks! I don’t know how I missed that one; perhaps I was expecting to see a 200-grain number. The slightly higher weight is actually desirable, and makes something of a compromise between the 200-grain nominal .44WCF and 216-grain .44 Henry or 217-grain Colt’s New Lightning Magazine Rifle cartridges.

Winnetou

That group is really quite extraordinary, John—a superb accomplishment!

I don’t see the mould design on the Accurate web-site. Is it still available? Is it in iron, brass, or aluminium?

Winnetou

Back in the day, most shooters left the rear barrel sight in place when mounting a tang sight. One reason was to preserve functionality in case of damage to the tang sight. This applies to sporting rifles in particular, but even target rifles could have the rear barrel sight for sporting use, often ...

Winnetou

Like the originals, the Uberti Henry and 1866 rifles lack a lever-actuated trigger block. This means that it is possible to fire them with the lever not quite fully up. It is not necessarily as dangerous as it may seem, for when the lever is nearly up, despite the fact that the toggles are unlocked,...

Winnetou

That rifle at Collectors Firearms is unusual. It has a carbine butt, and a blued receiver. It seems rather like some of the guns made for the European market. There is one more difference between the Uberti Burgess rifles and the originals that I neglected to mention. The Uberti lacks a trap in the ...

Winnetou

The Baby Carbine, or Light Carbine, version of the Colt Burgess can be seen on this GunBroker listing: http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=203163968 The features described by KWK can be seen very clearly. Alas, manufacturers of replicas of 19th century repeating rifles don’t offer Ba...

Winnetou

I have one of these chronographs, but haven’t tried it out yet. It is a singularly attractive package! This model was announced by RCBS for years before finally becoming available at the start of 2010. On one gun forum, it was opined that these chronographs would not sell well, because the design wa...

Winnetou

This is an interesting topic. The barrel-mounted aperture sight is an excellent concept. A hundred years ago, and more, they appeared in several varieties. They were briefly revived in some .22LR rifles in the post-war era. But to-day, there are few choices. I like the Marbles Bullseye sight. It is ...

Winnetou

.45 Colt, my Burgess rifle has an octagonal barrel. The Uberti web-site shows a round barrel version, but I have not seen any of these for sale anywhere. Note that the pictures there— http://www.uberti.com/firearms/1883_lever_action_burgess.php —have been digitally manipulated: both the rifle and th...

Winnetou

Please note that I provided the adjustment for the devaluation of the dollar. The $100 price for a Henry rifle in 1955 would be $800 to-day. $800 for an original Henry, to-day, would be a great bargain—considering that an example in typical condition would normally fetch $15,000 or more! And the $10...

Winnetou

During the peak era of the Western, the 1950s, original firearms were not very expensive. A Henry rifle might sell from $75 to $100. Adjusting for inflation and the consequent devaluation of the dollar, that is about $600 to $800 to-day, and actually less than replicas. At that time , the reason rim...

Winnetou

I purchased an Uberti Burgess (Taylor’s) full-length sporting rifle in .44-40 a few weeks ago. They are hard to find in this calibre, but can be so ordered—though there may be a three month wait. I was able to find a dealer who had one. The rifle is of superb quality. Fit and finish are excellent, a...

Winnetou

Yes, it is well known that the 1877 Sharps operation was sold to Shiloh. But if the information I posted above, from the ASSRA forum, is accurate, then Carmen Axtell still making the Riflesmith line of sights—in which case, a web-site for that business would be almost de rigeur these days. To advert...

Winnetou

Well, I consider that if replica firearms are very faithful to the original design and construction, and made to the same level of quality, then they are, for all practical purposes, a continuation of production—regardless of where that production takes place. Even original manufacturers who still m...

Winnetou

Jeff’s Outfitters is a good resource, but the Winchester tang sight they carry is one particular style, and even that may not conform exactly to any of the original sights. The Riflesmith line had thick and thin base versions to fit all early Winchester models, and sights with and without the elevat...

Winnetou

I own an Uberti (Cimarron) 1876 in .50-95. The options in the poll did not quite fit, for although I have so far shot only commercially loaded ammunition (Ten-X BPC [Triple-Seven, I understand] and Buffalo Arms black powder), I have everything needed to reload for the calibre, but have not had the o...

Winnetou

Actually, Old Time Hunter’s theory goes further than my speculation of a wrongly stamped barrel: he suggests that the barrel was chambered for .32 Special but bored and rifled for .30-30. Now that the bore dimensions have been given, this appears to be a possible explanation.

Winnetou

I don’t suppose it is possible that the barrel is actually chambered in .32 Winchester Special, and was incorrectly stamped?

Winnetou

Although the knob or slider on a lamp dimmer controls a potentiometer (variable resistor with terminals at both ends), this resistance does not directly control the power to the lamp. Mains electricity is alternating current, of an essentially sinusoidal waveform. Thus, the voltage rises from zero t...

Winnetou

The receiver is aluminium. But that brings up other possibilities, such as colour anodising, which also makes the surface harder. If this receiver were anodised dark blue, I suspect it would look like nitre/fire blue on steel. On the other hand, if anodised in brass colour, it would look like an ori...

Winnetou

One naturally considers the possibility of a high primer in cases like this, but can that really lead to discharge in a magazine tube loaded with flat-nose bullets? A primer is designed to fire when the central portion of the cup is deformed into the anvil, crushing the priming pellet. This is why f...

Winnetou

That looks like a Swiss Model 1878/81 or 1881. The Swiss Vetterli should be of interest to aficionados of lever-action rifles, since it was based in part on the Henry rifle and Winchester Model 1866. It has the tubular magazine and vertically rising cartridge elevator of the Henry and Winchester des...

Winnetou

I just measured the rim diameter of Starline .56-50 Spencer brass at .630-inch. I believe that the original rim-fire cartridge had a rim of .645-inch. The .50-70 has a rim diameter of .660. The replica Spencer carbines have the Lane extractor, which is in principle more forgiving of an undersized ri...

Winnetou

Those are lovely boxes. Too bad we don’t get anything like them now, despite what would likely be a considerable market welcome—and for the cartridges, too. Those prices are amazing. ........pause........ I just had a look at the Ward’s Collectibles web-site. What a list, of .22RF boxes alone! https...

Winnetou

Now that is a wonderful post, w30wcf! More superb information for my files........ It is pleasant indeed to see mystery and misinformation fall away to the sunlight of reality. I think it quite bold to experiment with the smokeless/black powder mixture, at twenty per cent of the former. Perhaps it i...

Winnetou

Thanks for the additional data, w30wcf. I have always assumed that the semi-smokeless powders were a mixture of black and smokeless powders—a sort of simplification of the duplex loadings that were so popular at the time. I am delighted to see this essentially confirmed. Some years ago, in a book by...

Winnetou

Barrel-mounted aperture sights have been discussed here a number of times. Here is the most recent thread, in which the Skinner sight is mentioned: http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=22391&sid=c83482f9e4ae703d6cb29020479242ab Another recent thread that may be of interest: ...

Winnetou

Winnetou greets his friend and blood-brother, Old Shatterhand! I have done the reverse—I mounted a splendid old Weaver G4 on a Winchester Deluxe Legacy 9422, one of the last guns made in the New Haven factory before it so regrettably closed in 2006. I don’t care for scopes other than the Malcolm sty...

Winnetou

W30wcf, I found my box of Winchester black powder .22RF blanks. It looks identical to the one you have pictured on the right, and is almost full. Midway do not show stock arriving until April of next year, and those predictions are often optimistic. I think I will order some of those bullets from NAA.

Winnetou

The canister pictures are delightful. I have often wondered why duPont have not reintroduced their original bulk smokeless powders (intended to be loaded bulk-for-bulk of black powder loadings), now that black powder cartridges are again extremely popular. There have been attempts to re-invent this ...

Winnetou

An aperture sight is used differently than an open rear barrel sight. One must simply look through the aperture, and focus on the front sight and target. It is not necessary to be able to distinctly see the outline of the aperture sight, and one need not attempt to “centre” the front bead in the ape...

Winnetou

I know that I have a box of these Winchester black powder blanks here, somewhere. I’ll have to have a look. I don’t believe that the .22 calibre bullets provided by NAA are heeled. But they should work readily for “Shützen-style” loading, and possibly even for the “glue on” concept (which may or may...

Winnetou

w30wcf, the Shooter’s Forum thread, to which you kindly provided a link, is indeed excellent. I have saved the entire thing to my files. Thank you! I look forward to shooting the Stevens rifle. This rifle was sound when I acquired it; the work I am doing is almost entirely cosmetic in nature. It wou...

Winnetou

This is superb information. I am currently restoring a heavy barrel Stevens Tip-Up rifle with original Stevens tang and Beech sights, in .32 centre-fire. I have a box of Winchester .32 Short Colt, to try it out when it is done. But the regular load will be the .32 Long Colt, with black powder. A Mar...

Winnetou

Thanks for the welcome, w30wcf. Another way to obtain black powder .22 cartridges occurs to me. Winchester have long made .22 Short Blanks loaded with black powder : http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=484287 Note that these are not star crimped, but are closed with a card wad and a ...

Winnetou

Many thanks for posting this. I have hoped in vain that cartridge manufacturers would again offer black powder .22RF cartridges, or components for reloading. Many years ago, I carefully disassembled .22 cartridges, replaced the powder, and re-seated the original bullets. They shot well, and I have l...

Winnetou

Many superb Westerns have been mentioned. But it seems to me that the beautiful 1978 mini-series “Centennial” is about as “epic” as a Western can be. At about 21 hours in length, it certainly fits the “time wise” criterion. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076993/ It is available on DVD. The 6-DVD set i...

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