![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
I went shooting last Saturday with Duff L Bagg and Rihmfire at the new Strickland range near Daytona. Not knowing the facilities and wanting to reduce my cleaning time when finished, I just brought an HK 300 in 22 Mag and a 6" Diamondback in 22 L-R. Oddly enough, both rimfires.
Duff L Bagg and Rihmfire just about needed a frontloader to get their casual shootin' iron from the parking lot to the range. They had a fantastic number of levers and revolvers of various types. They had a lot of handloaded ammo as well. These guys were fantastic levergunners and let me touch off a few of their loads in their favorite rifles ... it was a great experience.
At this point, I think they became wary of my lurking on the Leverguns forum having shown up without a levergun. In fact, the only levers I have are 71's. I consider the 71 just about the pinnacle of the lever but I also have an eye toward 86's and 92's and their other offspring. I told the guys I would post photos of one of my favorite 71's. I still need to regulate the sights on this thing and Duff L Bagg says he will help me shoot and file when the time comes ... which is when it cools down a bit here.
Be forewarned ... I'm not the best photographer in the world. I tried different lighting and backgrounds to help show the gun but these pictures are far from perfect.
This particular 71 is a 1957 vintage standard and, of course, short tang. It had the Lyman side peep and was in pristine original condition. It spent over a decade in my safe and I never fired it ... nor did it look like it was ever fired still having a good bit of a reddish grease in the action and no marks on the loading gate or any of the wood. Here's the part where the collectors will want to have me taken out and shot ...
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
I sent it off and had it upgraded a tad. I plan on taking it out for Alaskan Brown Bear and Western Elk in the next couple of years. The following are pictures (best effort) of my Winchester 71 takedown in 348 Win and 450 Alaskan.
This shot is an angled photo of the left side of the recevier in an attempt to show the engraving. Showing the engraving on a case colored gun is apparently harder than one would think. The pattern is a modified Winchester No. 6 with a gold wire border. I hate the Ulrich bear in the Highly Finished Arms book so I asked for a more realistic bear scene ... versus the cartoonish Winchester version. Sorry, but this isn't meant to be historically correct ... ergo the word 'modified'. I wanted it to reflect my tastes as I will be using it and caring for it. The bear represents the target of the 450 Alaskan barrel. By the way ... can you find the two screws that should be on this side?
This same shot at a different angle shows the case colors. Also note the light engraving and gold wire on the hammer, lever, and takedown ring.
The right side of the receiver is broken into two photos to, again, try and show the engraving and scenes. This one shows off the back half of the receiver. I purposely didn't show the engraving scene just above the loading gate because that barrel hasn't been done yet. You may be able to make it out and determine what the third barrel will be.
This shot shows the Elk's head ... representing the target of the 348 barrel.
It's a bit dark, but this shot shows the two barrels. The 450 Alaskan is on the gun and is a 1/2 octagon - 1/2 round, no taper, at 20 inches. The 348 is the original 24 inch barrel. Both are rust blued.
The top of the recevier ... light, simple engraving. The bolt is charcoal blued.
Yes, I paid for the best of traditional walnut that I could get my hands on.
This is the left of the 450 forend. The wood checkering is style E from the Highly Finished Arms catalog. I prefer it to style F but it's not as ornate as the carved styles of A through D. The carved stuff is nice but over the top for me. Yes, that's a two leaf express sight ... the 450 barrel is for that close-in critical work with the big bears where coming on target in a hurry may be a necessity. The sight is from NECG. I'll probably regulate it for 50, 100, and 150 yards. Duff L Bagg will be filing on that thing. The engraving script that you can't quite make out on the 10 o'clock flat says "Cartridge by Harold Johnson, Cooper Landing, Alaska" ... I figured I should give credit where credit it due.
A bit blurry, but you get the idea. The sight is the short, unmarked 1886 carbine style. This is a Smith but I don't thing they make this short version any more. I need to regulate this sight as well and send it back to be engraved and inlayed.
Both forend caps are color cased and lightly engraved and rounded out in gold wire. Obviously it's a takedown magazine tube, also rust blued.
A shot of the color cased, lightly engraved skeleton grip cap. Don't you just love fine craftsmanship executed by hand versus the stuff turned out by machines? I wonder if a machine could have timed those screws?
Oh, I almost forgot ... the butt plate is an inletted skeleton job that's color cased and lightly engraved as well. Sorry about the glare. The inletting on that wood is tight as a gnat's butt.
So there you have it ... the favorite of my 71's. These are the only 12 photos that turned out anywhere near decent out of about 130 I shot. I downsized them to 800 by 600 but I'm not sure that's the proper size for the board as this is the first time I've done this. Perhaps I should have gone down to 640 by 480 but I won't really know until I press this 'preview' button. I hope everyone enjoyed the tour. Sorry about the download time if I overshot the mark on the pictures.
Any guesses on the third barrel I'm planning? Anyone wondering how long you have to give your rifle up to have something like this done?
Thanks. And thanks again to Duff L Bagg and Rihmfire for the shootin'.
Bill B.