After I got burned out in the Carr Fire back in 2018, Pet Loads was the very first reloading manual I replaced. It is a treasure trove of reloading information.
Another card-carrying old coot here, will be turning 75 later this year. Been here since 2007 after drifting over from the old Leverguns site. I've learned a lot here and I've posted a lot of threads that I hope others found informative or at least entertaining. As a lefty, I really like Winchester ...
Gunny, I would stay away from 70+ gr. cast lead bullets. They just don't stabilize well in older rifles. Take a look at the 257420 Lyman, a 60 gr. gas check bullet that shoots well. Of course the gas check nearly doubles the cost of the bullet, but they are at least stable and accurate. If you want ...
I have a number of Winchesters equipped with Marble's tang sights, and none of them have the slotted screw hole. If I were you I would switch to the un-slotted base just because it looks better!
This forum holds a very special place in my heart. I have been a member for a very long time, and although I don't post very often I do visit several times a day. In 2018 I lost just about everything I owned in the devastating Carr Fire here in Shasta County, California. I did manage to save most of...
I had a similar situation with my Miroku 1895 in .405. I ran a solid brass rod down the barrel and rapped on it with a hammer while simultaneously holding firm pressure to open the lever. It worked well, the action popped open and I retrieved a case that had a blown primer. The rifle was completely ...
Just found out today that John's wife Ruth passed less than 24 hours after John. She had been in a comatose state so did not know of his passing. John must have needed her with him. The Lord works in mysterious ways indeed!
Sad news indeed. He lived here in Redding, California and I was privileged to know him personally and call him friend. He and Charlie Marx were two of the more famous members of the Shasta Arms Collectors club. God Speed John!
Bringing a fabulous classic thread back to the top. 8) was a cool thread - and nice seeing it again ! @Shasta - do you still have this one? Yep, I still have it and shoot it fairly often. :D I just put an MVA vernier rear sight on it and a Lyman 17A globe front sight so I can see how it does at lon...
I have 12 of the old style Lube-A-Matic sizers, one of which is an old Lachmiller. It looks and functions just like the RCBS brand, using the same sizers and top punches. Used sizers and top punches can be had on Ebay for less than retail prices. White Label offers several varieties of stick lube. I...
I ordered an Accurate 4 cavity aluminum mold with two 150 gr. and two identically shaped 250 gr. bullets for my .38-55. It is a real pain to keep the two sizes sorted, so I have taken to casting with just one or the other bullet to keep it simple. The mold pictured in the original post would be a ni...
I have had several of the current production Winchester lever actions with the dreaded tang safety and rebounding hammer. And I have a Winchester 1894-1994 hundred year commemorative that had that awful looking cross-bolt safety. They all invariably had a heavy trigger pull and suffered misfires. He...
I will second Ray's endorsement of White Label lube products. I use their black powder lube and for smokeless loads I like either their BAC or their Blue Carnauba. They have great products and are very reasonably priced. You can even get a free sample if you just want to try try a certain lube. Shasta
I use my leverguns primarily for silhouette shooting and all have a tang sight, either MVA or Marble's. I try to get the sights as low as possible to the barrel so as to maximize available elevation adjustment. This requires removing the rear barrel sight, and I always use a filler in the dovetail. ...
Griff, last time I shot sillywet, I shot from the Creedmoor. It is not particularly comfortable, as you say. I tried the "dead frog" position as well. This was all long before the four back surgeries . I just tried the Creedmoor and it hurt to be in it, and to get out of it, so maybe I'm ...
We at Hat Creek Rifle & Pistol Club in Burney, CA shoot NRA Hunter's Pistol and Smallbore Hunter's Pistol silhouette alongside our lever action matches. Both disciplines are shot standing at 40,50,75, and 100 yards.
I have two military rifles that I use for Vintage Military Silhouette matches. For the scope sight discipline I have a rebuilt .30-06 Remington 03-A3 with a Malcolm 8x scope: https://i.imgur.com/YTsqvD8.jpg For the iron sight discipline I have a 1902 vintage 1898 Springfield with a replacement Crite...
Here in California's land of forest fires, many homeowners insurance policies are being outright cancelled with no agency willing to insure because of the high fire danger. The state has actually set up something called the California Fair Plan that offers (very expensive) fire insurance to those re...
Binoculars play a very important role for me as I regularly shoot Lever Action Silhouette matches that require careful spotting for my shooting partner. When I was still a deer hunter, I treated myself to a very expensive pair of Leica 8x42 that have proven to be top quality for hunting and perfect ...
I've been wet tumbling for some time using water, a good squirt of Dawn dish soap, a pinch of Lemi Shine, and stainless steel pins. You absolutely cannot get brass any cleaner or shinier inside and out and you get spotless primer pockets too. It is important to rinse the pins and tumbler drum thorou...
What you need is a Lyman 56MB, an all steel receiver sight available in the 50's with either a coin-slot knob adjustment or the much better knurled target sight adjustment knob. They are spendy at around $200 but do show up on Fleabay fairly often.
I bought a Miroku made limited edition deluxe takedown 1886 that is an outstandingly beautiful rifle, but it did suffer about a 20% misfire rate due to light hammer strikes. I use it for NRA Lever Action Silhouette shooting, so misfires were unacceptable. I cured the problem by installing a Browning...
Bill, I never heard of Varner tang sights before, so I Googled them. they look to be well made, but the Midway reviews did not offer much encouragement as it seems you need a wrench to adjust windage. The Marble's sights are also genuine USA made, and windage is adjustable with the turn of a windage...
As a lifelong fan of Marty Robbins songs, his version of "Ghost Riders In The Sky" was always one of my favorites. I recently ran across this parody of that song that I just have to share here. It is absolutely hilarious!:
I just found out that Huntington's Die Specialties in Oroville, CA is going out of business. Their store is located right next door to the RCBS manufacturing facility and they carried a full line of RCBS inventory. They were the go-to guys for oddball dies, brass, and hard-to-find reloading supplies...
If you have a rotary tumbler, or even a vibratory tumbler, dump them in without using any media (not too many at once) and they should clean up a lot. I do this with buckshot cast from two cavity Lyman moulds and they come out without any sign of a sprue.
I have a Browning Model 1895 in 30-40 Krag. I installed a Providence Tool copy of the Lyman Model 21 receiver sight to be able to shoot longer distances. It was my primary deer rifle before my poor health and the loss of my hunting partner forced me to quit hunting. I killed four Blacktail bucks wit...
According to my book "Old Gunsights" by Nick Stroebel, your sight is indeed a Lyman 48-third variation long slide. The windage adjustment screw is broken, but a replacement screw is available from gun Parts Corp.:
It's been typically hot here in the far north of California with daily temperatures well over 100 degrees. The weatherman is calling for 114 degrees this coming weekend! Thankfully we had a very wet winter that filled up all our drought-stricken lakes so there's plenty of water to go around and no e...
As a patriot, I proudly fly my American flag on the 4th. Unfortunately ours is the only house of 20 on our street displaying the flag. I took a quick tour around our subdivision of over 300 houses, and there were only about a dozen that had a flag out front. What happened to patriotism? :shock: Shasta
I am a lefty and long ago found that top eject Winchester lever action rifles worked best for me. I shoot a lot of lever action rifle silhouette and my Winchesters make it easy for me to catch my brass in my off hand so that it doesn't end up scattered on the ground. I do use a pair of early Marlin ...
I have one I use for Long Range Smallbore Rifle Silhouette competition. It has been re-barreled with a 27" bull barrel and has a trigger job to lighten the pull. It weighs 11 lbs. with the MVA scope.
I have both a Lyman that cost me over $200 and a Teslong Model NTG100H 26" rigid that cost me well under $100. The Teslong is much much better than the Lyman. It has a longer probe rod and gives a better image too.
I happen to have one of those 3rd models with a shoulder stock and folding barrel sight: It also has another unique feature, a 16" barrel! It was made in Italy by Armi San Marco. Shasta Have you chronographed that long barrel? Dredging up an old thread here because I finally got around to shoo...