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Hello Pilgrim – welcome back to the Campfire! Get yourself a plate of grub and pour some coffee and we’ll chat a spell about some of those great cowboy action items you can find in Brownell’s Cowboy Catalog #3. Hope your shooting season is going great guns – mine is and hard to believe the year is almost half over!
One product lots of you sidekicks are excited over is the Barrel Shims for the Winchester 1897 that we offer from Gun-Slicker (#100-000-629). A whole herd of you folks are shooting these original pump guns and this is just the item you need to tighten the loose ‘barrel to receiver fit’ that is common on older model 97’s. These shims remove barrel wobble for a stronger, more secure lockup. You get two .005” brass shims and I think many of you will find these mighty handy.
Another accessory for that ’97 is Brownells new and improved Winchester 1897 Forend Wrench (#080-548-012). You pards know how stubborn that forend screw cap can be to remove and this hombre has been ‘beefed up’ so you can put a wrangler’s grip to the cap. This unit is for the .12 ga. only and small enough to fit in the pocket of your trousers and just the right size for your gun cart, too.
A real popular item has been our Cowboy Gun Takedown Guides (#100-002-268 & others). We carry guides for the Colt SAA, Marlin 1894/95, Ruger Blackhawk, Ruger Vaquero, Win 1892, Win. 1894, and Win. 1897. These guides are spiral bound to make them easy to lay out as you work on your firearm and have easy to follow instructions with large black and white photos to guide you. Sugar Creek Sal and me usually take a guide or two along to major shoots and you competitors really like seeing them.
Wild West Guns makes a nice product for all you Marlin shooters and it’s something really appreciated at the unloading table – their aluminum magazine follower in red color (#981-000-009). It is offered for the Model 1894 in either the .44 or .38/.357; one for the 444/336/1895M, and, one for the 1895 in .45/70. Regardless of the cowboy event you are sanctioned with, they all practice ‘safety first’. This is just one of those little things that makes everyone’s job a bit easier.
Another item from Wild West Guns for the Marlin crowd is their Bear-Proof Ejector (#981-000-003). The standard ejector is one of the most common parts to fail due to the stress caused by all the rounds we cycle through our rifles, and, it is one of the easiest items to replace. Those of us who clean our bores from the muzzle end – as most of us do – have this part out with every cleaning anyway. Just a simple drop-in of the new part and your level gun is ready for action with a part far more durable than the factory original. These are precision EDM cut and are one-piece versus the two-piece factory part. Ejection of the empty cases is improved and this fits the Model 336, 1895, and 444 rifles.
While on the subject of Marlins, let’s talk a bit about the Wolff Marlin Lever Action Spring Kits . (#969-000-114) contains two springs: 1 straight body reduced power hammer spring and one reduced power finger lever plunger spring. (#969-000-108) is the part number for their ‘barrel body’ reduced power hammer spring – this replicates the design of the spring that came in my Marlin. Ol Badlands here dropped a set in his Model 1894 and what a difference! The rifle was much sweeter handling with the addition of the new reduced power hammer spring and lighter, lever latch spring. Cycling is faster and follow-up shots easier with these two simple changes. This is a very easy swap-out and if you are still shooting the original factory springs, the improvement will be a pleasant change.
Let’s look over the photos here and you will see how easy this change is. In the first photo (#1), I removed the single screw holding the stock in place.
Photo #1 |
Photo #2 |
With the screw removed, gently pull the stock free of the tang area. Photo #2 shows the stock hammer spring below the new reduced power spring – notice the longer length of the new spring. You will be the one to determine if you want to remove coils to achieve the final spring power, but this cowboy did, as you can now see in photo #3.
Photo #3
If you have never reduced a spring length before, you may be tempted to grab a side-cutter and ‘have at it’. Badlands sure don’t recommend that! First, you likely will not have the power from that hand tool to cut through the rascal. Too, you could ruin your side cutter in the process. Even if you did put the ‘jaw of death’ to the varmint and succeeded, the two spring parts will launch like a meteor when cut through and you will still be left with a rough end to contend with. Everyone has their favorite way and I like either a grinding wheel or belt sander. Both are very effective and each require you to take ‘lots of time’ – you don’t want to heat the spring up and ruin the temper in the metal. In getting my new spring down to the same length as the factory model, it took maybe 5-7 minutes. I would hold the spring to the belt no longer than 3-5 seconds at a time and never ‘shoved’ the spring into the surface of the belt. Go slow and keep an eye on the color of the metal remaining – if you begin changing color of the metal you are creating too much heat and need to slow down.
Photo #4
Photo #4 shows the finger lever plunger, spring, and pin removed. This is where that Brownells Bench Block (#928-100-000) comes in mighty handy. The nylon surface protects the metal finish and the corresponding block holes keep the pin captive as it falls free when driven out. I didn’t make any modification to the plunger spring – just swapped the original one for the new reduced power one. Reassembly of this part is equally easy using the block and a Brass Hammer (#818-600-100) as shown in photo #5.
Photo #5
That’s all for this Campfire pardner but sure hope to see ya back here again next month. Till then, keep your aim straight and your belly full!
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