I've put together a primer on gun ownership for fellow Jewish-Americans who are new to it, in the wake of the October 7th pogrom. It's in the form on an article I'm hosting on my Google Drive.
Please share it to anyone who you think might find it useful.
Sometime around 1939 - 1940, the US Army adopted a shoulder holster as an option for carrying the M1911A1 pistol. A similar version was adopted during WW2 for the S&W Victory Model and Colt Commando revolvers. These holsters remained in service at least until the 1990s, AFAIK. After the 1911 was replaced with the Beretta M9, it was used for the new pistol.
Several years ago I picked up a copy of the USGI M3 shoulder holster for the S&W Victory Model from the now-defunct Pacific Canvas and Leather. I like it a lot for carrying my Model 15 or Ruger Police Service Six, but of course it's too small for an N-Frame.
I recently replaced the grips on my S&W Model 28-2 Highway Patrolman, which made the gun much easier to shoot with my small hands. It previously wore a set of Herrett's Shooting Stars. I replaced them with a set of Thai Magnas + a BK Grips adapter. With it now fitting me better I started thinking about packing it as a woods gun.
So back on 9/3 I placed and order with El Paso Saddlery for one of their “1942 Tanker” holster, which is their version of the USGI M3 shoulder holster. It arrived 9/15, much sooner than expected based on what the EPS website says.
If it looks backwards it's because I'm a southpaw.
It’s very nicely made with nice leather, stitching, and hardware. They also threw in a key fob.
Out of curiosity I put my Colt Shooting Master in it and except for the fact that it’s too short for a 6” barrel, the holster fits the gun well. So, if I ever pick up a 4” Colt New Service this holster is usable with it.
A S&W Heavy Duty would look right in this rig.
I'm looking forward to using it in the woods.
I also have a copy of the M3 for 1911s. I don't have a 1911 anymore but I do have an M9, so tonight I tried it in the holster.
It's very snug and takes quite a bit of force to insert. So, since the leather was dry I gave it a good coat of neatsfoot oil and plan to leave the Beretta in it for several days in the hopes it'll stretch out.
As-is, my Browning High Power and Beretta 81 Cheetah fit OK. The CZ P-09 won't fit at all.
I've recently run across variants of the Tanker holster cut like the leather ones but made from canvas. The Amazon link above has some. I've never tried them and they are a bit less expensive, but I've no experience with them. They might work well, might not.
I also ran across this blog post extolling the merits of the M7 shoulder holster. The M7 differs from the M3 in that it includes a chest strap to help keep it from flopping around. That post also lists a variety of pistols that will fit, which makes it close to being a universal holster.
As to why to use one, as noted above I find it comfortable. It also makes the gun available if you're sitting in a vehicle. The strap can be adjusted so you can wear it over your clothes or concealed under a coat. Also, if you can't normally carry a gun but want one that you can quickly throw on, it's an option.
Last night I got to shoot the Model 28-2 Highway Patrolman with the new grips. This setup is a keeper for me. I ran 130 rounds through it. The first 80 were 148 grain wadcutters on top of 3.8 grains of Autocomp, while the last 50 were 160 grain semiwadcutters cast from a Lee mold on top of 3.8 grains of HP-38.
This combination of Magnas and a grip adaptor allows me to get a better hold on the big N-Frame than the Herrett's Shooting Star stocks did.
S&W introduced the Highway Patrolman in the 1950s as a less expensive version of the .357 Magnum, AKA pre-Model 27. Instead of a high polish blue and checkered top strap and barrel rib, it had a more utilitarian blueing job and the top was bead blasted to reduce glare. However, the revolver's innards were the same as the more expensive .357 Magnums/Model 27s.
When S&W started assigning its revolvers model numbers in 1957 the Highway Patrolman became the Model 28, although they were still stamped "HIGHWAY PATROLMAN" on the right side of the barrel. They were offered with your choice of a 4" or 6" barrel. All were chambered for .357 Magnum.
The Highway Patrolman became popular with various law enforcement agencies and civilians, and remained in production until 1986.
Back in the 1990s when old Smith & Wesson revolvers were cheap, I traded into this 4" Model 28-2, made in the early 1970s. It's what is called a "pinned and recessed" S&W. You can see the pin going through the frame and barrel threads. The cylinder is recessed so that the cartridge rims are flush with the back face. Only rimfires and magnums were recessed. S&W discontinued pinning the barrels and recessing the rims in centerfires in 1981, to save production costs.
I think I have less than $300 into this Model 28 considering the value of my trade, an Astra A-75 9mm. It came fitted with some hideous aftermarket plastic grips with finger grooves. Luckily, my dad had a 6" Model 28 on which he'd installed a set of Hogue rubber grips in place of the Herrett's Shooting Stars his revolver came with. He gave the Herrett's to me and the plastic grips went into the trash. Here's what it's looked like up until yesterday:
The Herrett's are nice but a little big for my hands and the thumb rest on the left (a mirror of what's shown above) tended to dig into my palm when shooting. (I'm left handed.) So, about a week and a half ago I ordered a set of Magnas from World Wide Grips in Thailand. They are made from Thai rosewood. I also ordered a grip adapter from BK Grips. So, now it looks like this:
The new grips are well made and fit pretty well.
Incidentally, the reason that I didn't buy genuine S&W Magnas is that they have gone up in price as least as much as the guns. A set in excellent condition would go for well over $100. I paid $54.16 shipped from Thailand for these. If I was able to find actual S&W grips for a comparable price they'd be pretty ratty looking.
Tonight I ran 130 rounds of .38 Special handloads through it. The first 80 were 148 grain wadcutters on top of 3.8 grains of Winchester Autocomp. The last 50 were 160 grain semiwadcutters cast in a Lee TL358-158 mold. The wadcutter load is very mild while the SWC load should give about 800 - 850 FPS from the 4" barrel.
This setup is a keeper for me. I'll definitely be shooting it more. I'm able to better hold the gun and recoil control with these loads is fine. I need to run some .38 +Ps* through it but I am very pleased with the Magna/grip adapter combination.
*I find .357 Magnum recoil and muzzle blast to be obnoxious, even from an N-Frame. Anything that I might need to shoot with a handgun can be handled by .38 Specials loaded to +P or .38/44 levels. The Model 28 is ideal for these loads.
This past Saturday I attended the Gunmakers Fair at Kempton. This is the successor to the Dixons Gunmakers Fair, which was last held in 2019. If you are into black powder arms and history of the 17th through the19th Centuries, it's worth the visit.
I took some pictures.
Turning a powder horn base on a treadle lathe:
Two examples of 17th Century Armor:
From top to bottom, a flintlock, transitional flintlock, a paddle butt wheel lock carbine, and a couple of wheel lock pistols:
A closeup of the dagger from the previous picture. The guard incorporates a spanner for a wheel lock, while the handle is a flask for priming powder:
There was a vast amount of guns, knives, and other articles that I did not photograph.
After finishing up at the Fair, I hit Dixons Muzzleloading Shop on the way home. As expected it was busy. Aside from black powder guns they also carry items they pick up at garage sales or that people bring in. Over the years I've bought some neat old tools there. On this visit I grabbed a couple of nice old American-made pliers, which I'll put to use.
Aside from the tools, Dixons also had a large supply of empty cases and bullets that probably came from an estate. For $10, I found an unopened box of 100 .358 swaged lead semiwadcutter hollow point bullets by Alberts which date from the 1980s or 90s. We used to load Alberts bullets back then but they went out of business. I plan to load them in .38 Special to service load levels.
This is a nifty feature of Macs with Apple Silicon processors (i.e., M1 or M2 CPUs) that I wasn't aware of. You can run some iPhone and iPad apps on these Macs.
See: https://support.apple.com/guide/app-store/iphone-ipad-apps-mac-apple-silicon-fird2c7092da/mac
The screenshot is of the Storm Radar app that I normally use on my iPhone, but running on my M1 MacBook Air.
Yesterday I was able to get some range time in with my Colt Police Positive and Beretta 71 Jaguar.
The loads I shot in the Colt were mixed .32 S&W Long brass, a Speer 98 grain HBWC, Winchester small pistol primers, and 1.7 grains of Bullseye measured out using the #00 rotor in my RCBS Little Dandy measure. I was able to reliably ding an 8" gong from around 15 yards. One thing I've noticed with the small Colt is that it's much easier for me to see the sights when shooting outside than when indoors under florescent lighting.
The Beretta 71 further cemented my opinion of it as probably the finest compact .22 autoloading pistol ever built. Since I bought it several years ago it's proven to be exceptionally reliable. Yesterday I shot CCI Stingers in it for the first time, along with 100 Remington 36 grain Golden Bullet hollow points. The only malfunctions I had were with a particular magazine that sometimes doesn't present the bullet at the correct angle to feed. This is a magazine and operator issue, not a gun issue. If I'm careful loading the mag it works properly. Otherwise it ran perfectly. None of the rounds failed to fire or eject.
I also intend to try it with a box of Remington Vipers and another of Federal Punch defensive ammo. If I were to toss it in my pocket for a walk I'd load it with Stingers for now.
I'd love to see Beretta bring it back with a few improvements:
Last night I took the PSA Rock to an indoor range along with 100 rounds of ammunition, one box each of American Eagle 40 grain FMJ and AAC 40 grain VMAX.
Out of deference to range rules each magazine was loaded to only 10 rounds. The cartridges loaded easily into the magazines without the use of a loader. Loading them to full capacity may be easier with one, however.
It's worth noting that the magazines are of the double-stack, double-feed type, like AR15 magazines. To load you simply press the rounds straight down into the mag.
I shot the American Eagle ammunition first, and experienced no malfunctions. The AAC ammo was loaded noticeably hotter with a bit more muzzle flash.
Speaking of which, the gun was not as loud as I was expecting. Certainly, it has more blast and flash than a .22 or the .32 S&W Long ammo I shot in my Colt Police Positive afterwards, but it wasn't objectionable. I found it less obnoxious on the indoor range than some .40 S&W and .45 ACP I've been exposed to.
As expected, recoil was extremely light even with the hotter AAC ammunition.
There were two malfunctions with the AAC ammunition. In both cases the slide locked back prematurely with one round left in the magazine. It's possible that this was shooter-induced. I need to shoot it some more and pay more attention to which magazine I was using when the malfunctions occurred.
All cases ejected vigorously to about 4 or 5 o'clock.
I was shooting at 7 yards and kept my rounds within a few inches. The gun's heavy trigger pull makes shooting tight groups challenging. I am hoping that with another couple hundred rounds it will improve somewhat but it may need a trigger job.
I won't make a final judgement on the pistol until I have 500 rounds through it, but my initial impression remains favorable.
After doing a lot of research, last Sunday I ordered a Palmetto State Armory Rock 5.7 pistol, and I was able to pick it up from my local FFL on Wednesday.
A picture with my Beretta M9 for scale:
(The Beretta has slimline grip panels from LOK Grips, which I can't recommend highly enough. They really improved the feel of the gun for me.)
5.7x28 is a bit controversial among shooters but I decided to try it for a few reasons:
This picture shows a CCI Blazer Brass 9mm 115 grain FMJ round next to an AAC 40 grain VMAX 5.7x28 round:
Here are the specs of the package I bought:
The cost was $599 + tax and shipping. My FFL charged $30 for the transfer.
This will be my first foray in 5.7x28-land. At some point I'll probably add a Holosun 407K but first I want to try it with irons.
After I I ordered the pistol I also ordered 300 rounds of AAC's 40 grain VMAX load (they were out of stock of their FMJ loads) and one box of American Eagle 40 grain FMJ. When I picked up the gun I also bought one box of FN SS197SR 40 grain VMAX loads.
Yesterday I got a restock notice from PSA and ordered 250 rounds of their AAC FMJ loads.
Fiocchi is now selling 150-count bulk packs of 40 grain FMJ rounds. At some point I'll get some of those because they end up being the least expensive practice rounds.
My initial thoughts without having fired it yet:
I will shoot it first with iron sights but plan to mount a dot in the near future. I should get to shoot it this weekend and will post a range report.
We've been having some unpleasant weather here in SE PA recently. Hot, humid, and rainy with thunderstorms. However, yesterday I managed to sneak out for a couple hours to Boulder Valley Sportsmen's Association and shoot some targets on the woods walk course.
I took the Slotter-style plains rifle (which has become my favorite rifle) and aside from a capper full of CCI No.11s, a also brought along 6 of the homemade percussion caps from last month, in a 3D-printed star capper.
When shooting a caplock rifle it's always good to make sure the flash channel is clear before loading. This is most commonly done by popping a cap while holding the muzzle near a blade of grass or a leaf. If it moves you know the channel is clear.
Note that if I'm loading the rifle prior to a hunt, rather that popping a cap I'll use some rubbing alcohol and compressed air to ensure the channel is clear, especially since I may be loading (but not priming) the rifle at home. This is not a bad idea nowadays anyway, since No. 11 caps are hard to buy.
I did that with one of the homemade caps and it moved a blade of grass. However, when I loaded the rifle I found that the homebrew caps would not ignite the main charge unless I primed the nipple with 4Fg black powder first. That slowed the lock time down so that it was comparable with a flintlock.
(I keep a nipple primer in my shooting pouch in case I encounter ignition problems. This was the first time I actually needed it.)
Having tried them and found them wanting for use in sidelock rifles, I plan to make up another batch but add more priming compound.
A few years ago I picked up a High Standard Sentinel R-101 snubbie with a 3" barrel. It came with a square butt grip, which is very comfortable. However, HS also made round butt grips for these guns, which would make it a little easier to carry in a coat pocket. I was able to buy one from Numrich awhile ago but didn't get around to changing it out until today.
As the gun came:
One might wonder at the point of a .22 snub. These guns were sold for use as plinkers or tackle box guns, but they are usable for defense even if they aren't ideal due to the caliber. It has a 9-shot cylinder so capacity is on par with a lot of autoloaders.
Because of the heavy double action pull I wouldn't recommend any rimfire revolver for defense if you have weak hands, but if you have hand issues that prevent being able to deal with the recoil of a .38 Special or other better caliber, it beats harsh language or a pointed stick.
The High Standard has been perfectly reliable for me so far. The hammer hits the cartridge rims with authority and as far as I can recall, I've yet to experience a misfire. I tried some Remington Yellow Jacket hypervelocity ammo and got sticky extraction, but that's the only issue I've had with it. I intend to try CCI Stingers and Federal Punch in it. (I have a box of the Punch that I'd bought for use in my Ruger LCP II Lite Rack, but it had a lot of malfunctions with it.)
Last week while I was on a staycation I prepared a batch of homemade No.11 percussion caps, using the tool from 22lrreloader.com and their Prime-All priming compound. I tried them out a couple days later.
I left out the tan/off-white component, which is either dextrin or gelatin intended to be a binder. By most accounts it works poorly as suck. Instead, I took a 1 oz. plastic bottle with a needle oiler tip, put a few millimeters of Duco cement in the bottom, then filled the rest with acetone to make a saturated solution.
Using a CCI Large pistol primer tray as a loading block I filled about 20 caps at a time with the mixed Prime-All compound and then put a drop or two of the Duco/acetone solution in it. Using a small piece of bamboo cut from a chop stick I gently tamped down the wet mixture.
After the caps were visibly dry I put another drop or two of the solution in the caps and let them dry in the open air overnight. I wanted to ensure that enough Duco cement was deposited in them to keep the priming compound in place. Duco is a nitrocellulose based glue so it's flammable even when dry.
For safety's sake make sure that you crush any lumps in the components before mixing them. Crushing lumps after the components are mixed can cause detonation.
Note that I did not have luck punching caps out of beverage cans, even doubled. I keep punching right through the material. Rather, I used 0.005" thick copper foil which is a more durable material.
I tried them in my Pietta 1860 Sheriff which has Slixshot nipples installed.
The caps on shots with 25 grains of BP held together but flowed a little back into the safety notch in the hammer nose.
The caps on the Triple 7 loads all perforated but the skirts held together.
None of the caps fragmented and I had no jams. Some came off easily while others had to be pried off either with my fingers or pocketknife. All 27 caps I dropped the hammer on ignited properly.
Since the Prime-All fouling is corrosive I cleaned the gun with water and MPro 7 after getting home, and oiled everything with FP-10. I left it disassembled overnight to confirm I'm not going to get any rust and everything looks fine.
Overall, I consider the home made caps using the Prime-All compound a success for use in percussion revolvers and I'm sure they'd work fine in an underhammer. I need to test them in a sidelock rifle or pistol.
It's been awhile since I posted anything political but, a few days ago this article was brought to my attention and I've been digesting it ever since. It clearly articulates much of what I've been thinking in the past few years, reinforced by my long term employment at a Fortune 50 company. The article's arguments and conclusions are spot on, IMNSHO.
At a casual glance, the recent cascades of American disasters might seem unrelated. In a span of fewer than six months in 2017, three U.S. Naval warships experienced three separate collisions resulting in 17 deaths. A year later, powerlines owned by PG&E started a wildfire that killed 85 people. The pipeline carrying almost half of the East Coast’s gasoline shut down due to a ransomware attack. Almost half a million intermodal containers sat on cargo ships unable to dock at Los Angeles ports. A train carrying thousands of tons of hazardous and flammable chemicals derailed near East Palestine, Ohio. Air Traffic Control cleared a FedEx plane to land on a runway occupied by a Southwest plane preparing to take off. Eye drops contaminated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria killed four and blinded fourteen.
While disasters like these are often front-page news, the broader connection between the disasters barely elicits any mention. America must be understood as a system of interwoven systems; the healthcare system sends a bill to a patient using the postal system, and that patient uses the mobile phone system to pay the bill with a credit card issued by the banking system. All these systems must be assumed to work for anyone to make even simple decisions. But the failure of one system has cascading consequences for all of the adjacent systems. As a consequence of escalating rates of failure, America’s complex systems are slowly collapsing.
The core issue is that changing political mores have established the systematic promotion of the unqualified and sidelining of the competent. This has continually weakened our society’s ability to manage modern systems. At its inception, it represented a break from the trend of the 1920s to the 1960s, when the direct meritocratic evaluation of competence became the norm across vast swaths of American society.
...
The path of least resistance will be the devolution of complex systems and the reduction in the quality of life that entails. For the typical resident in a second-tier city in Mexico, Brazil, or South Africa, power outages are not uncommon, tap water is probably not safe to drink, and hospital-associated infections are common and often fatal. Absent a step change in the quality of American governance and a renewed culture of excellence, they prefigure the country’s future.
Emphasis added by me.
The full article is here and worth your time, IMHO: https://www.palladiummag.com/2023/06/01/complex-systems-wont-survive-the-competence-crisis/
DEI is a major force behind this trend but it's not the only thing. For example, I've seen repeatedly where senior level, highly knowledgeable employees are let go as a short term cost-cutting measure. Not only were these senior folks repositories of painfully acquired tribal knowledge, they were mentors to junior engineers. Senior leadership considers it a bonus when they can point to one less old white guy on staff, replaced by one or more diverse candidates.
As the one meme goes, "I know it's bad, but it's going to get a lot worse." The more independent you are, the higher your standard of living will be in the coming years.
I forgot to post this here after I made it last week. If you like the video, please hit that like button and subscribe.
Yesterday I got an email from Maine Powder House stating the following:
Yes, in case you have not heard, GOEX production date was pushed back again.
GOEX dealers were informed the new projected production date is end of June. If they are able to make this happen, this means they will not start shipping product out to dealers until earliest August. GOEX has also informed us prices will be going up, but they have yet to give us a new price list.
Schuetzen and Swiss containers are here in the US, however their prices have gone up 17% and 22% respectively. This price increase was a surprise to all of us...including the distributor. Current prices listed as of the date of this email DO NOT reflect the 17% & 22% increases.
Maine Powder House current inventory on black powder is very low. I will be working with the Schuetzen/Swiss distributor on a new order, however it will be a limited order due to the anticipation of GOEX getting back in business sometime this fall.
Check the website for details as I will keep that up-to-date for everyone.
Sigh.
Today I had an weird experience with a stuck ball in my plains rifle.
I went to one of my clubs to shoot their woods walk course. I used my normal target load: 55 grains of Goex FFFg black powder, .490 round balls wrapped in .020" patches lubed with Mr. Flintlock, and a CCI No.11 cap. Normally this would allow me to shoot at least 25 rounds with no bore swabbing.
But after about 12 - 15 shots I went to reload and could not get the ball to go more than about 8" down the bore no matter how hard I tried. It simply would not go any further down.
If I didn't have the correct tools to pull the ball that would've been the end of my day. However, I had a ball screw and a T-handle that screws into the other end of my ramrod.
I recommend the collared ball pullers sold by Track of the Wolf. They are sharp and will easily screw into the soft lead of the projectiles used in muzzleloaders. The brass collar around the screw keeps it centered in the bore. See here: https://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/574/1
The other accessory that makes it possible to more easily pull a ball by yourself is a T-handle that screws into the other end of your ramrod. Of course, this requires your ramrod to have threaded fittings on both ends.
Once again, Track has what you need: https://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/586/1
I keep one of the aluminum T-handles in the back part of my shooting pouch.
To pull the ball today I attached the screw and handle, screwed into the ball, then inverted the rifle and held the T-handle down with my feet. I then gave the rifle a tug upwards and it popped the ball free.
If the bore is really crusty you may want to swab it before trying to pull the ball. Also, if it is really stuck, pouring some oil down on top of it may ease extracting it.
This is another reason to make sure that the threaded ferrules on the end of your ramrod are pinned in place. Without a cross pin there's a high likelihood you'll pull it right off the rod.
Anyway, I got back to shooting after I ran a couple cleaning patches wet with Mr. Flintlock down the barrel, followed by a dry patch. Since swabbing can force wet fouling into the flash channel, I popped a cap before loading, to ensure it was clear.
This afternoon I went out to the shop and made a couple drifts from some square brass stock, for use with Colt-style percussion revolvers and also rifles on which the barrel is held on with a key or keys.
Naturally, I could have made these with a file but a milling machine, even a small one like my Grizzly G8689 makes it a lot easier. Don't ever let anyone tell you the table top machines are useless.
Last night I took a new Pietta 1860 Army Sheriff's Model percussion revolver to the range. Overall, I am quite pleased with the gun. Timing and lockup are tight, wood-to-metal fit is excellent, and overall it's a fine looking and shooting piece.
The session was not without it's difficulties, however. A couple years ago I'd made up 50 paper cartridges loaded with a Hornady .454 ball on top of 25 grains of 3Fg Hodgdon Triple 7 black powder substitute, and had half of them left. The T7 came from a bottle that I bought several years ago. I've read that once you break the seal it begins to deteriorate, but up until now I haven't noticed any problems with it.
I loaded the first cylinder with the paper cartridges and I could only get two to go off, even with recapping. So, I pulled the cylinder out, removed the cones on the unfired chambers, and put about three grains of black powder in each using the flintlock pan primer I keep in my BP revolver shooting box in case I dry ball.
Previously, none of the paper cartridges I've made have had ignition problems, no matter if they were loaded with Triple 7 or black powder.
After reassembling the gun and recapping the chambers, all of them went off.
I have 19 of those cartridges left along with a flask full of the remaining Triple 7. The next time I shoot the gun I'll try them with a black powder initiator charge in the bottom of the chambers. I hate to waste powder.
After I switched over to loose ball and Scheutzen 3Fg black powder and a felt wad lubed with pure neatsfoot oil, the gun gave me no more issues. I fired 5 or 6 cylinders full, with all my shots going into one hole at 7 yards. Elevation was dead on but I was shooting a little to the right, which was probably me pushing the trigger a little.
The cylinder arbor was lubed with Lucas white lithium grease. I've found this to be an excellent lubricant for that purpose. After 30 to 36 shots the cylinder was still turning freely.
The other accessory worth mentioning was a slip-on handle for the loading lever that I made from a short section of PVC pipe a little longer than the lever. The short levers on the "sherriff's model" percussion revolvers make seating the required oversized ball somewhat difficult. The short section of PVC made it a lot easier.
Like my 1851 Navy Sheriff, the 1860 Army Sheriff is a fantasy gun. Colt never made such a piece although it's possible that guns could have been so modified by users or gunsmiths. Porter Rockwell, the Mormon Avenger was known to carry a Colt cut down to snubbie length with the loading lever removed and a new front sight fitted.
Regardless of whether short percussion revolvers are historically correct, they are fun to shoot and easier to carry afield than their full length cousins.
Several years ago I bought a Pietta 1851 Navy Sheriff's Model .44 caliber percussion revolver. It's strictly a fantasy gun in that Colt never made an 1851 Navy with this short a barrel, nor did they make them in .44. All real Colt Navy revolvers are .36s, with the exception of a very few experimental .40 caliber guns. Regardless, it's a fun little gun but severely handicapped by the factory front sight, which is a miniscule brass cone that's both hard to see and too short, resulting in the gun shooting very high at pistol ranges.
So today, I fixed that by cutting a dovetail in the barrel and installing a taller blade front sight that I'll be able to actually see and also can file to zero the piece.
Here's what the factory front sight looked like, along with the rifle front sight I modified to use:
I have a Grizzly G8689 mini mill. I first used it with a 1/8" end mill to cut the old sight flush with the barrel. Then I cut a slot a bit less than the width of the top of the front sight base. I cut the slot 0.07" deep to match the thickness of the front sight. (The mill has digital readouts fitted to allow me to make precise cuts.)
Then I used a 3/8" dovetail end mill to turn it into a dovetail. You can see the factory hole for the original front sight in the dovetail.
Using a couple files and trial and error, I fit the new sight to the barrel.
I left it extra tall so that I can use a file to raise the point of impact to the point of aim. I'll probably zero it with a load of a .454 ball on top of 30 grains of 3Fg black powder. After it's zeroed I will shape the front of the blade and cold blue it.
Aside from the front sight I plan to slightly enlarge the rear sight notch in the hammer nose, and replace the factory nipples with Tresos that have small flash holes for less blow back and cap fragmenting. An accessory I plan to make is an extension to slip over the loading rod for better leverage. That's not needed on the full length guns but this will benefit from that. Those without machine tools can purchase one from Slix Shot.
Here's a video update on the availability of percussion caps, from the NRA convention.
Key points:
My $0.02 is that I recommended stocking up after they become available this summer.
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