Friday, December 03, 2004

I love shooting. In that love of shooting I've accumulated some firearms. Those firearms have one thing in common with every other firearm I own, they are in some way dis-similiar from every other firearm. They mostly differ by action OR by chambering. The one exception is the .30-30 of which I have "3". A Winchester M94, a Marlin 336 and a TC Contender. Still, these 3 .30-30s have dis-similar actions. What I want is examples of every firearm type which interests me and of the different cartridges. In as much as I can, I try to meet both goals at once in every firearm I buy. Lately, my passion has been for leverguns! My latest such goal is to buy a Winchester M92 in .45 Colt.

I don't have either a M92 or a .45 Colt. I thought I'd get both in an M92 clone in .45 Colt. I plan to have Steve's Gunz order a gun for me and work his well-known magic on it. That way, I'm assured of getting a working example that will meet my specifications.

Problem is, what should those specifications be? I've thought about rifles, carbines, "trappers", full and half mags, different buttstocks, sights, finish, etc. Seems to me that I'd like something that is a bit less than 38" LOA. I've thought about having a carbine converted to a round barrel half-mag trapper but am concerned that the abbreviated barrel won't be legal in every community and that the half-mag will unnecessarily reduce capacity (for what I don't know, how many shots does one take at big game anyway?). I thought about a 24" round barreled rifle with full-magazine and my concern then was that the rifle wouldn't fit under the seat of my truck. So, I'm now leaning towards a standard carbine.

However, I'd like to get something different. Color case would be nice, walnut would be nice and a must have is an aperture sight. The color case would probably limit me to a good tang sight. I can't imagine putting a Williams Foolproof on a carbine set up to look old. Just wouldn't look right. Fortunately, Steve has a tang peep that is fully adjustable. That's a must as I expect I'll be doing some load development work.

The only other thing is that it CANNOT have a tacked on safety. The abomination that Rossi puts on the bolt is disgusting, more disgusting than even the Miroku tang safety. That alone limits me to one of several brands made by Rossi.

So, let's see, a Winchester M92 SRC carbine clone in .45 Colt with color case receiver, no add-on safety, walnut stock, and an installed, adjustable, tang peep.

Of course Steve will slick this up. I want sureness of functioning over slickness but I think he'll do a great job based on what I've heard and what little of his work I've seen. The only problem is cost... That means I've got to wait for it while I save up!

Of course, as with almost every gun I get, this means reloading dies, brass, a variety of bullets (until I run down the best loads), and a lot of range time. It all adds up.

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