.38 Special
Member
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2006
- Messages
- 7,231
I am bored and assume that you are too, so...
This is a .45, factory engraved. The bore measures .4509" and I find that sizing bullets to .450 allows loading with just the weight of the ramrod alone. I use a Buffalo Arms mold which drops a 535 grain bullet at about .4505" with 1-40 tin-lead. The sizing die just barely cleans it up, while applying the SPG.
The original sights were actually quite good and if I'd had more sense than money I would have kept them. The sights on the gun now are Lee Shaver. I ordered the rear sight first, without knowing that I would have to drill and tap the existing holes for it. After a bit of consideration I went ahead and did it. At the range I found that I could not depress the sight nearly enough for 200 yard shooting. I was told that I had to have the Shaver front sight as well, and after ordering it, found that it barely helped. Then I learned that I needed to have ordered a pedestal for the new front sight as well. It all eventually came together, but does not work any better than it did in the first place. A fool and his money...
The engraving is actually quite nice, for the cost. It is full coverage on the sideplate, hammer, and tang, and also includes highlights on the buttplate and trigger guard. The checkering is laughably bad, among the worst I have seen. I can only hope that it was the work of a happily drunk Italian, rather than some poor old man having a stroke.
The loading procedure: pop a cap. Insert the drop tube into the bore. Pour in a premeasured charge of 100 grains Swiss 1.5 Fg. Introduce a bullet into the muzzle, then let the rod seat it under its own weight. Cap, fire, then swab the bore with two passes of a patch saturated with distilled water. Pop another cap, and start from the beginning.
The gun can be counted upon for about 3 MOA out to 600 yards, and is probably capable of more in the hands of a competent rifleman. As I do not compete, I am perfectly content with this and happily bust rocks and desert detritus from prone and seated out to ridiculous distances. At least until my shoulder gives out!
This is a .45, factory engraved. The bore measures .4509" and I find that sizing bullets to .450 allows loading with just the weight of the ramrod alone. I use a Buffalo Arms mold which drops a 535 grain bullet at about .4505" with 1-40 tin-lead. The sizing die just barely cleans it up, while applying the SPG.
The original sights were actually quite good and if I'd had more sense than money I would have kept them. The sights on the gun now are Lee Shaver. I ordered the rear sight first, without knowing that I would have to drill and tap the existing holes for it. After a bit of consideration I went ahead and did it. At the range I found that I could not depress the sight nearly enough for 200 yard shooting. I was told that I had to have the Shaver front sight as well, and after ordering it, found that it barely helped. Then I learned that I needed to have ordered a pedestal for the new front sight as well. It all eventually came together, but does not work any better than it did in the first place. A fool and his money...
The engraving is actually quite nice, for the cost. It is full coverage on the sideplate, hammer, and tang, and also includes highlights on the buttplate and trigger guard. The checkering is laughably bad, among the worst I have seen. I can only hope that it was the work of a happily drunk Italian, rather than some poor old man having a stroke.
The loading procedure: pop a cap. Insert the drop tube into the bore. Pour in a premeasured charge of 100 grains Swiss 1.5 Fg. Introduce a bullet into the muzzle, then let the rod seat it under its own weight. Cap, fire, then swab the bore with two passes of a patch saturated with distilled water. Pop another cap, and start from the beginning.
The gun can be counted upon for about 3 MOA out to 600 yards, and is probably capable of more in the hands of a competent rifleman. As I do not compete, I am perfectly content with this and happily bust rocks and desert detritus from prone and seated out to ridiculous distances. At least until my shoulder gives out!
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