Guns & Gun Related Stuff

[OLDE CUTLER]

Farther back in this thread I pictured a Ruger Wrangler Birdshead 22 single action. One thing I like about it is it is black, the thing I dont like about it is it all black. I had some ironwood that I used to handle this Green River knife, so I made a new set of grips for the Wrangler.

[Boji]

Farther back in this thread I pictured a Ruger Wrangler Birdshead 22 single action. One thing I like about it is it is black, the thing I dont like about it is it all black. I had some ironwood that I used to handle this Green River knife, so I made a new set of grips for the Wrangler.

IMG_5083.JPG

Nice!! Really dresses up the Ruger.

[treefarmer]

Farther back in this thread I pictured a Ruger Wrangler Birdshead 22 single action. One thing I like about it is it is black, the thing I dont like about it is it all black. I had some ironwood that I used to handle this Green River knife, so I made a new set of grips for the Wrangler.

IMG_5083.JPG

Nice!! Really dresses up the Ruger.

Yes Ma'am! That really set that Olde Cutler's Ruger off!
Treefarmer

[doglegg]

OC,you did an excellent job on those handles. Beautiful.

[ken98k]

Farther back in this thread I pictured a Ruger Wrangler Birdshead 22 single action. One thing I like about it is it is black, the thing I dont like about it is it all black. I had some ironwood that I used to handle this Green River knife, so I made a new set of grips for the Wrangler.

IMG_5083.JPG

Very nice workmanship! Those handles really make a difference.

[Dan In MI]

Terrific job on the new grips! I bet it's a lot of fun to shoot, too.

[Colonel26]

Very nice OC!

[Colonel26]

I installed a couple of Skinner receiver sights on a couple of old 30-30 lever actions.

On a 1978 Marlin 336 Texan (straight stock/square lever) I put a stainless Skinner Alaskan that I fished out of the bay.

Then on this 1964 Westernfield I put a standard skinner in their Skinner Gold color. Oh my, it purty! The Westernfield was the store brand for Montgomery Wards. It’s the same basic layout as the Sears JC Higgins model 45 (Marlin 336): 20” barrel, end cap and no rear barrel band, front sight dovetailed into the barrel. The Higgins and Weaternfields have a reputation for being a touch more accurate than the standard 336.

But Montgomery Wards went above and beyond. They ordered them with factory recoil pads and the early ones like this one, had real walnut instead of the birch on the Sears.

Ain’t it something that back in the day you could walk into Montgomery Wards and buy their brand and it was nicer than the one stamped Marlin right next to it.

[garddogg56]

Those skinners look great on them levers

[OLDE CUTLER]

Terrific job on the new grips! I bet it's a lot of fun to shoot, too.

It's a blast to shoot, in fact I have one for each hand. The 3 5/8 " birdshead shown and a standard grip 4 5/8".

[MadeinUSA]

Farther back in this thread I pictured a Ruger Wrangler Birdshead 22 single action. One thing I like about it is it is black, the thing I dont like about it is it all black. I had some ironwood that I used to handle this Green River knife, so I made a new set of grips for the Wrangler.

IMG_5083.JPG

Looks great! Well done!

[Dan In MI]

I have one for each hand.

I don't recall if this was for my pistol marksmanship award or a watch-standing qualification, but during my time in the Navy, I had to fire a Beretta 92F with my weak hand, unsupported. I'd have had difficulty hitting the broad side of a barn at five feet. Can you shoot with your weak hand?

[robpa]

I really like those grips, awesome!
Ive had a few revolvers w birds head grips and I didnt care for shooting them. The wifes Bearcat w birdsheads was just OK, she didn like it either so traded it.. Had 1 in .44 magnum. shot it 6 times and it became a display model. I rehandled several Rugers but if they were shooters, the grips were for sure smooth..

[OLDE CUTLER]

I have one for each hand.

I don't recall if this was for my pistol marksmanship award or a watch-standing qualification, but during my time in the Navy, I had to fire a Beretta 92F with my weak hand, unsupported. I'd have had difficulty hitting the broad side of a barn at five feet. Can you shoot with your weak hand?

Back in the day when I was doing some SASS Cowboy shooting, all matches required 2 pistols, and occasionally the match would require firing alternating shots with strong and weak hands. But anymore with serious arthritis in both hands I have given up the center fire pistols and settled in at shooting rimfires. I still practice by shooting alternating shots with two rimfire pistols once in a while.

[Colonel26]

Those skinners look great on them levers

Thanks! These are my first Skinners, and I haven’t shot them yet, but they sure do look right on the rifles.

My boys don’t like the Alaskan, they like the regular one better. I haven’t decided if it’ll stay or get sent down the road.

[treefarmer]

I like that Western Field levergun Wade, nice find and purchase. No flys on the Remington either. OH

Thanks OH!

A dirty little secrete that a lot of folks who aren’t Marlin junkies don’t know is that these store brands have a reputation for being a tad more consistently accurate than the run of the mill 336. Not having that rear barrel band makes a difference.

Oh, and for the first time I saw a real live Winchester 71 in .348! It was well used but NICE. Way out of my economics, but it was nice just to see one.

Bro. Wade, I was reading through the "Guns" topics again and noticed you had mentioned a Winchester Model 71. That brought back one of many painful memories of firearms I should have kept!

There was an older guy in our community, he was from New York, he had married a Florida girl, moved back there and they had recently moved back to the Panhandle from NY. He wanted to start fishing, my dad and I had identical fishing boats, just different outboards and trailers. The man, Eddie was his name, wanted to trade his #71 for my boat. I figured my boat was worth quite a bit more than the rifle back in those days, 1975. I asked him about my dad's boat, he was good with either one. My boat had a larger motor and Pop's boat had a better trailer. Explained it to Pop and told him when he/we had time to fish we always used my boat, so let me trade your boat for the rifle and you take my boat when you go fishing with your friends. So we switched trailers and everybody was happy. Eddie was good with that, so I became the proud owner of the Win. 71 .348.

The rifle was made in 1941 and was in pretty good shape, had a dinged-up screw head on the barrel band, as I remember. Ammo for the .348 wasn't stocked on the shelves of the local West Florida hardware stores. I shot up the piece of a box of shells that came with the rifle and then put it aside.

A year or so later, I got to wanting a Muzzle Loader. Talking to a local businessman, who owned a gas station and had a back-room gun store, about M/L rifles. He showed me a M/L rifle in a catalog that came as a kit. That interested me and I noticed there in the same wholesale catalog, a complete Lyman reloading outfit. (I had been a 1/3 owner of a reloading outfit prior to moving to the Panhandle.) The wholesale values of the Lyman Plains .50 cal. Rifle kit and the Lyman Reloading outfit came to what I knew at that time the .348 to be worth. We made a deal, I was back into reloading and was also finishing up my 1st M/L and would soon to be learning how to load and clean the beast.

A couple of years later I began to realize, maybe that wasn't such a good deal after all. I noticed the 71's had started to climb in value and even though I was reloading for my 30-06 and had killed a deer with the Lyman Plains Kit Rifle, I no longer owned a Winchester 71 .348. Like several other old Winchesters I had let go because they were easy to come by and I didn't have a clue about collecting back then. If I still had the 71 it would be a real prize!
Treefarmer

[Unk]

But Montgomery Wards went above and beyond. They ordered them with factory recoil pads and the early ones like this one, had real walnut instead of the birch on the Sears.

Ain’t it something that back in the day you could walk into Montgomery Wards and buy their brand and it was nicer than the one stamped Marlin right next to it.

EA6232FB-6CD2-4E05-B2A5-5238368B0A60.jpegBC9CA964-A69A-4706-879A-A2D95869EEDF.jpegE74BD581-8A34-4D3A-B875-4B02F4980005.jpeg01B17812-A463-4748-A057-DCFDD10B93EC.jpeg

Col, Montgomery Ward pretty much paid for my college education. I worked there from 84 to 89 while I was going to college, and even for a year afterward. I was in commission sales and worked in several departments over the years - Lawn & Garden, Electronics, Appliances, then Furniture. They paid us a flat rate of 6% of what we sold, and sometimes they added a "spiff" of $5 or $10 on certain items they wanted to move. I made good money for a college kid working part-time, but I sure was glad to get out of retail sales. My wife worked there as well for a few years.

[Colonel26]

I like that Western Field levergun Wade, nice find and purchase. No flys on the Remington either. OH

Thanks OH!

A dirty little secrete that a lot of folks who aren’t Marlin junkies don’t know is that these store brands have a reputation for being a tad more consistently accurate than the run of the mill 336. Not having that rear barrel band makes a difference.

Oh, and for the first time I saw a real live Winchester 71 in .348! It was well used but NICE. Way out of my economics, but it was nice just to see one.

Bro. Wade, I was reading through the "Guns" topics again and noticed you had mentioned a Winchester Model 71. That brought back one of many painful memories of firearms I should have kept!

There was an older guy in our community, he was from New York, he had married a Florida girl, moved back there and they had recently moved back to the Panhandle from NY. He wanted to start fishing, my dad and I had identical fishing boats, just different outboards and trailers. The man, Eddie was his name, wanted to trade his #71 for my boat. I figured my boat was worth quite a bit more than the rifle back in those days, 1975. I asked him about my dad's boat, he was good with either one. My boat had a larger motor and Pop's boat had a better trailer. Explained it to Pop and told him when he/we had time to fish we always used my boat, so let me trade your boat for the rifle and you take my boat when you go fishing with your friends. So we switched trailers and everybody was happy. Eddie was good with that, so I became the proud owner of the Win. 71 .348.

The rifle was made in 1941 and was in pretty good shape, had a dinged-up screw head on the barrel band, as I remember. Ammo for the .348 wasn't stocked on the shelves of the local West Florida hardware stores. I shot up the piece of a box of shells that came with the rifle and then put it aside.

A year or so later, I got to wanting a Muzzle Loader. Talking to a local businessman, who owned a gas station and had a back-room gun store, about M/L rifles. He showed me a M/L rifle in a catalog that came as a kit. That interested me and I noticed there in the same wholesale catalog, a complete Lyman reloading outfit. (I had been a 1/3 owner of a reloading outfit prior to moving to the Panhandle.) The wholesale values of the Lyman Plains .50 cal. Rifle kit and the Lyman Reloading outfit came to what I knew at that time the .348 to be worth. We made a deal, I was back into reloading and was also finishing up my 1st M/L and would soon to be learning how to load and clean the beast.

A couple of years later I began to realize, maybe that wasn't such a good deal after all. I noticed the 71's had started to climb in value and even though I was reloading for my 30-06 and had killed a deer with the Lyman Plains Kit Rifle, I no longer owned a Winchester 71 .348. Like several other old Winchesters I had let go because they were easy to come by and I didn't have a clue about collecting back then. If I still had the 71 it would be a real prize!
Treefarmer

I feel your pain. Right often one of my boys will mention and old gun they’d like to have and usually my response is, “I used to have one.” Then the howling and moaning starts. “Why did you get rid of it…” lol

And usually, like you, back then it was just a neat old gun and I was poorer. If I wanted to try something else, I had to trade or sell one. But at least I have the memories!

[Colonel26]

But Montgomery Wards went above and beyond. They ordered them with factory recoil pads and the early ones like this one, had real walnut instead of the birch on the Sears.

Ain’t it something that back in the day you could walk into Montgomery Wards and buy their brand and it was nicer than the one stamped Marlin right next to it.

EA6232FB-6CD2-4E05-B2A5-5238368B0A60.jpegBC9CA964-A69A-4706-879A-A2D95869EEDF.jpegE74BD581-8A34-4D3A-B875-4B02F4980005.jpeg01B17812-A463-4748-A057-DCFDD10B93EC.jpeg

Col, Montgomery Ward pretty much paid for my college education. I worked there from 84 to 89 while I was going to college, and even for a year afterward. I was in commission sales and worked in several departments over the years - Lawn & Garden, Electronics, Appliances, then Furniture. They paid us a flat rate of 6% of what we sold, and sometimes they added a "spiff" of $5 or $10 on certain items they wanted to move. I made good money for a college kid working part-time, but I sure was glad to get out of retail sales. My wife worked there as well for a few years.

As far as I know, I never was in a Montgomery Wards store. But I sure do appreciate the pocket knives and guns they used to carry.

[treefarmer]

But Montgomery Wards went above and beyond. They ordered them with factory recoil pads and the early ones like this one, had real walnut instead of the birch on the Sears.

Ain’t it something that back in the day you could walk into Montgomery Wards and buy their brand and it was nicer than the one stamped Marlin right next to it.

EA6232FB-6CD2-4E05-B2A5-5238368B0A60.jpegBC9CA964-A69A-4706-879A-A2D95869EEDF.jpegE74BD581-8A34-4D3A-B875-4B02F4980005.jpeg01B17812-A463-4748-A057-DCFDD10B93EC.jpeg

Col, Montgomery Ward pretty much paid for my college education. I worked there from 84 to 89 while I was going to college, and even for a year afterward. I was in commission sales and worked in several departments over the years - Lawn & Garden, Electronics, Appliances, then Furniture. They paid us a flat rate of 6% of what we sold, and sometimes they added a "spiff" of $5 or $10 on certain items they wanted to move. I made good money for a college kid working part-time, but I sure was glad to get out of retail sales. My wife worked there as well for a few years.

As far as I know, I never was in a Montgomery Wards store. But I sure do appreciate the pocket knives and guns they used to carry.

Colonel, my old Colt Trooper 4".357 was bought in 1965 at a Montgomery Ward store in Orlando. My wife bought it for me for Christmas the year before we were married. Folks used to refer to that store as "Monkey Wards".
Treefarmer

[Oledadsknives]

Col, Montgomery Ward pretty much paid for my college education. I worked there from 84 to 89 while I was going to college, and even for a year afterward. I was in commission sales and worked in several departments over the years - Lawn & Garden, Electronics, Appliances, then Furniture. They paid us a flat rate of 6% of what we sold, and sometimes they added a "spiff" of $5 or $10 on certain items they wanted to move. I made good money for a college kid working part-time, but I sure was glad to get out of retail sales. My wife worked there as well for a few years.

As far as I know, I never was in a Montgomery Wards store. But I sure do appreciate the pocket knives and guns they used to carry.

Colonel, my old Colt Trooper 4".357 was bought in 1965 at a Montgomery Ward store in Orlando. My wife bought it for me for Christmas the year before we were married. Folks used to refer to that store as "Monkey Wards".
Treefarmer

I’ve got a western field 12 gauge pump my dad bought me when I was 15 years old. Still use it to this day mostly to shoot clays. Hate to say that makes that gun at least 55 years old and it was used when dad bought it!

[MadeinUSA]

This has shipped from Bear Creek Arsenal…. And should be here any day

- side charging upper in 7.62x39
- 10 rd mag
- 3x9 scope

Will be trying it on a lower i built (which currently has a side charging BCA upper in 5,56 on it)

If this new upper feeds and operates well, I’ll try at least one higher capacity mag as well… this 10 round has good reviews and is supposed to eliminate (reduce?) feeding problems common in an AR platform chambered in 7,62x39.

The BCA 7.62x39 uppers now come with an “improved” firing pin in the bolt carrier… supposedly to eliminate (reduce?) light strikes on hard primer commie ammo

I have an AK, an SKS, a CZ527 and a mini30… so I shoot a lot of 7,62x39. This will be my first attempt with this caliber in an AR platform.

[robpa]

I bet ya like that CZ 527. I had a couple, this is my only Center Fire rifle now. in .22 Hornet, absolut tack driver with the proper bullets & powder. Had to quit shooting anything larger due to eye problems and recoil. Damn!

[MadeinUSA]

I bet ya like that CZ 527. I had a couple, this is my only Center Fire rifle now. in .22 Hornet, absolut tack driver with the proper bullets & powder. Had to quit shooting anything larger due to eye problems and recoil. Damn!

That is a good looking rifle! I’ve never shot anything chambered in .22 Hornet… what FPS do they travel?

Here’s the CZ 527 in 7.62x39. Has a set trigger and I put an extended bolt on it. (Top left)

The others are a Mini30, AK and Yugo SKS (with aftermarket stock)

[robpa]

The best load so far, for accuracy @ 100 yds, has been with 75 gr hornady BTHP over 23 gr Varget @ 2720 fps. Also pretty good job on chucks up to 100 yds. Ive got other loads but the info is in the reloading room over at the kids garage. I only run a 2x7 power scope on it usually. Ill probably do some more load work this summer. Ive loaded some faster but they didnt have the great accuracy. Its a real fun gun.Probably one of the most accurate Ive had beating my sakos.

This little 457 in.22 is the most accurate rifle Ive ever owned beating my sako finnfire and the Anschutz fired off a machined rest. Notice that gob of rubber on the barrel, that resonater really fine tunes the barrel. Moving fore or aft from the sweet spot makes quite a difference...I run a 6x24 Vortec on it. 5 shots @ 100 yds in a dime and better. Not a lot larger @ 150 yds, This year gonna work it @ 200 yds with some SK long range rimfire.