leroy

What Greg said. Try some 158 grain swcs at full 357 velocities (...this one should work...). It sounds like you are using either 110 or 125 grain ammo. If you want to use the other ammo, i would recommend having one of your gunsmith buddies do the sight changeout. Dont skin up your revolver. Regards, Leroy

What a truth brother!! The first thing i always did to the Super Blackhawks was to go and buy a set of Pachmayr grips that filled the space behind the "dragoon" backstrap. The original grips always smacked my knuckles with the real loads. I've since quit shooting the heavy loads in 'em (...slowly turning to a wuss...). About 800 to 900 fps is all i care to shoot now; what a shame!! Try about 7 grains of 231 or 8.5 grains of unique with the usual 240 to 250 hardcast semi wadcutters for the "wuss" loads. It's easy on you and the gun too. Keep up the good work! leroy

Rupertus:________ Heavy loads will do that. I like the 900 to 1000 fps stuff myself in a 44 mag. It cuts down on the hand hammering. The problem is that ya need to reload to make any up. I heartily recommend reloading for all gun guys. It gives an excuse to shoot more. Let us know what ya see in the cylinders. Regards, Leroy

I like it!! Here's da man!! Keep up the good work! Leroy

Plus 1 to what VERO1 said here. It's a pretty common occurence with the hard kickers. I would tighten up everything like it's supposed to be and put some locktite (...blue; don't use RED!!!...) on the offending screw. Be careful not to tighten the screw too tight. It will bind the cylinder crane. Adjust the screw so the cylinder swings freely without any binding (...probably will occur when the screw is just flush with the revolver frame...). Make sure you use a screwdriver that fits; you dont want to scar your tools up!! Hope this helps leroy

Lester has most likely hit the nail on the head here. I've had 'em stick too; 99 times out of a hundred, its dirty cylinders; especially on the hard kickers like the magnums using magnum ammo. My fix was always to take a good powder solvent (...like hoppes...) and clean the charge holes in the cylinder (...using a bore brush...) all the way thru; paying close attention to the shoulder near the cylinder throat (...the throat is the very front end area of the cylinder...). Clean it very well, making shure you brush it well, then use a bunch of swabs and wipe each charge hole clean. Look at each charge hole very closely in bright light to make sure it's squeeky clean. Dry it down with several clean swabs and then re-clean each charge hole with denatured alcohol (...methanol, like you get at lowes in the paint department...). Swab 'em down again and you should be good to go. The methanol will degrease any solvent that is left from the initial cleaning. My guess on the case split is that it was a bad case. I wouldn't worry about it, unless it happens again in the same cylinder hole. Sometimes you can have a bulged cylinder hole; but that's pretty far fetched. I've shot a bunch of hard kicking smiths and never seen one; but there are those who say they have. By the way, the cases do expand when they are fired. 44 mag loads (...along with the 357 and 41 mags...) are pretty hot, probably in the 36,000 psi range. To give a bit of a perspecitve, the old 45 acp is about 19,000 psi. Some of the old black powder loads were in the 14,000 psi range. Hope this helps. Leroy

Me too! We have several of his holsters at our house. His work is great. Leroy

I like it!! Need to start saving my pennies for one. My guess is that this is Ruger's answer to the Steyr Scout Rifle (...another real good idea; but expensive....). Check this out: The Steyr Scout Rifle Page. Anyway, they are both a great thing. It's a sure bet that the Ruger will be less expensive and do about the same thing Thanks for posting this great news. Leroy

Shame on you (....and me too..). HEHEHE... Keep up the good work. Leroy

Break them up. We used to shoot lots of revolvers and semiauto pistols. After a hundred or so rounds; your eyes get tired. My hands tend to get tired as well. Hope this helps. Leroy

Mike:___________ I thought the whole thing was very interesting. The guys that came up with these tests were the sons of the men from the Indian Wars. There were tales of cooling the old plack powder guns down with cold water from heavy shooting. I'm like you; the shock on the old barrel materials was probably a great test of the metallurgy. I love the practicality of the whole test. Leroy

I be afraid she would spank me and the shoot me. I'm old and gimped up; probably couldnt get away. Gimpy (...wimpy...) Leroy

Thanks for posting the great quotes. Folks (...especially non gun owners...) would do well to think deeply about them. My favorite is the quote attributed to Thomas Jefferson: "...Those who beat their weapons into plowshares will plow for those who dont...". Keep up the good work. Leroy

All:______________ Take the time to read this; all the way back in 1910: link here: The M1911 Trials, Government Model Colt Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45 Interesting aint it? My short assessment: They are all durable. This is 1910 machining and metallurgy. We have made quantum leaps in machining and metallurgy technology since 1910. Bottom line, the least of 'em are great. Dont worry about durability. Leroy

Amen brother!!! Great post. Keep up the good work! Leroy

Contratulations man!! I could tell you were an engineering student because of the spellling of "....egineering..."! Serously, congratulations, you have (...and are...) doung well. All this from an old retired egineer!! Kind regards, Leroy

We will keep you and your family in our prayers. Leroy

The 308 will shoot a long way (...600+ yards or farther...) with lots less wind drift and great accuracy. The downside is that they are heavy and expensive. The best 308 setup (...in my opinion, anyway...) is a bolt gun. I've kept 'em for years. They will shoot as far as you can see. hope this helps Leroy

Me too!! It's great! Leroy

Jamie's post above pretty well says it all. It is an excellent assessment of the current state of affairs and as sensible and sobering look at what "the law" really does as i have seen. Excellent post!! I'm a bit older than Jamie (...im 64...), but my experience pretty much mirrors his. I grew up in the countryside where lots of people were armed all the time. What he describes here was pretty much the way things were for a long time: The fact is that there pretty much was no trouble. As Jamie says so well: Folks would do well to think deeply on these things. Our system of justice is just fine; but the punishment apparatus is broken. If you want to keep yourself relatively safe (...along with others...), you need to arm yourself, learn how to shoot and shoot straight, and have the mindset to do so when you need to. The law simply cannot keep you safe (...and never could...). The sad fact is, there is no deterrent to the real hoodlum and killer today other than the fear of an armed citizen. Leroy

Fernatt and others:____________ RE: This question (...an excellent one at that...): My answer is the "Original Intent" or Libertarian one. The Second Amendment says the "....right to bear arms shall not be infringed...". That is exactly what it means. Any other interpetation is restrictive. Remember this; the genesis of the gun control laws for "public (....more aptly, collective, as the soviets would say....) good" and the "regulating of the wearing of arms with an eye toward order..." (...or whatever the TCA statute says...) is nothing but a naked move to take arms away from targeted classes of people (...who, by the way, for the most part were political enemies of those making the laws...) and punish any discenters. The Founding Fathers never envisioned a time when a bunch of bureaucrats would have the power to regulate the "wearing of arms" anymore than they envisioned limits on free association or free speech. Dont be dragged off in the woods by the baloney that says that some "expert" needs to teach you how to handle a firearm, sign a paper saying he has, and some bureaucrat needs to give you a "permission slip" to carry a firearm (...for a fee, of course...). You, as a citizen, already had that right. That's what the original Bill of Rights was all about. It simply got "hijacked" by thugs, polititians, and (...here in Tennessee...) Union symphathizing carpetbaggers. If you do a bit of looking, you will find that the real genesis of gun control statutes originated in big cities (...Think Chicago, New York, Cleveland, here...) where sheriffs and chiefs of police were bought and sold like cattle for a price by thugs seeking to disarm eachother (...and, of course, you the law abiding citizen--it made things safer for the thugs...). Further, there is an excellent discussion somewhere in the archives here discussing the origins of the Tennessee statutes. They originated right after the Civil War (...interesting, dont you think?...). Some folks believe (...me among them...) that the original statute was to disarm the losing side and/or to disarm the newly freed slaves. Summary: As blessed as we are here in Tennessee to have a "right to carry law" in place; it simply is not what the Founding Fathers intended; as it limits the original intent of the Second Amendment. No state should have the right to "regulate the wearing or arms"; but the Federal Courts have upheld it for a long time. I think that is where Haslam is comming from, and I think he (...or his advisors on this issue...) is right. All that being said, remember this one thing; he is a polititian and todays "for it" can be tomorrow's "against it". I, for one, am thankful he appears to be for it for the time being. Hope this gives ya a few things to think about. Leroy

I love these guys. Thanks for posting them!! Leroy

Thanks Trigem for adding the great explanation above. I spent a bit of time in the welding, metal working, machining, heat treating industry on big parts; and i heartily concur with his excellent assessment. All parts can have problems (...read that "defects"....); no matter the mode of manufacture. If you (...or the manufacturer, assembler, or custom gunsmith...) have a "bad" part; you will soon see it. Just visually inspect it, then replace. For what it's worth; i wouldnt worry too much about the mim, forged, and stamped thing. If the parts (...no mater whether mim, cast, forged, stamped, or bar stock...) make it thru the machining / grinding process to get them to their final geometry; they will probably work just fine for a very long time as sears, hammers, etc if they look ok. That being said; if you are worried about service and longivety; Ed Brown (...and others...) make some very good machined parts. Today's steels are good stuff. There has been a literal revolution in the last thirty years in the steelmaking industry and not many people noticed it. Parts today are a good as have ever been made. The great thing about the 1911 is that it is the AR15 of the handgun family --- every imaginable part (...and some that are not imaginable...) is available for them. Rugers are full of mim parts. Ruger frames are investment cast (...as I remember; Ruger; AKA Pine Tree Castings is one of the largest investment casters of small parts in the usa...). Their revolvers are the king of strong. Leroy

Thanks for telling us about them (...and doing the lovely piecutes...). They are great 1911's. I love the old time look and the dovetail sights. Regards. Leroy

Bow:______________ Just thought of something else. Look thru here and see if your Winchester is close to any of these: Collectors Firearms These guys are a big outfit in Texas. They handle losts of Winchesters (...and everything else...). Merry Christmas Leroy