Paco Kelly's Leverguns.com

65bee

Just got through reading Teddy Roosevelts' book on his 1913 Brazilian Expedition down the River of Doubt. He mentions in there about the local rubber gatherers all carrying Winchester .44 carbines for protection from Jaguars and hostile natives. Could the mark be a property ownership trademark of a ...

65bee

Don't know what catalogs you have, but I dug out my 1955 and 1956 Winchester factory catalogs and the model 71 is shown in both. Also looked in the 1955 Shooters Bible and it is there too.

65bee

You can also see this trend in the antique/classic car market. The Ford Model A's are a prime example. The guys that grew up in the 30s and 40s, drove the mania for collecting and restoring these cars in the period from the 1950s-80s. I have followed this market pretty close for the last 40 years an...

65bee

I bought one new back in the '70s. Great little rifle. Ultra-accurate and was devastating on woodchucks. Remington screwed over us owners by discontinuing the ammo after only a few years. I was told many years ago it was an unwritten rule that any time a new cartridge was introduced the factory woul...

65bee

I too like the old-style straight tube 2.5x or 3x scopes. Weaver makes an outstanding V-3 scope. Its a 1 to 3 variable. Small and compact. I simply keep it at 2.5 or 3 power all the time. Have had it mounted on my Remington 600 carbine in .350 Mag. for about 10 years now. Price is reasonable, I beli...

65bee

I believe OldWin is right. The .32 Special was 1-16". This was one of the reasons why the .32 Spec. will lose its fine accuracy if the bore isn't the best, whereas the old .30-30 with its sharper twist would still group them pretty good even if the bore wasn't perfect.

65bee

You may want to re-check on the availability of factory .218 ammo. I suspect it has been discontinued. I see they are paying over $100. a box on GunBroker and brass has gone sky-high. Glad I socked a bunch away over the years. Also, through years of trial and error I settled on W-W 296 as the best f...

65bee

Anyone that advocates head-shots on big game doesn't deserve to be called a 'sportsman'! I thought at first his response was tongue-in-cheek, but now realize it made in seriousness. Unbelieveable! I also have seen the pathetic sight of a deer with its jaw shot off by some bone-head trying to prove h...

65bee

Have to disagree with Tedh. Moose can take an amazing pounding and stay upright. I once drove three 250 grain Speers from my .350 Rem. Mag. into the boiler room of a big bull. At each shot he just shuddered somewhat, then took off at a run and piled up about 100 yards away. A friend shot another big...

65bee

Ditto to the Doc. I carried a Rem. 722 in .257 in my truck every day for over 20 years as a Conservation Officer. I shot everything with it including moose and 300 lb. black bear, and lots and lots of deer-running dogs. It never once failed to do what I asked of it. I had a cheapo United 4X scope mo...

65bee

Yeah, exposure to lead certainly can shorten your life-span. My Dad was a life-long bullet caster and reloader. Can remember him casting bullets on winter evenings in our basement with no ventilation and the air so thick you could cut it with a knife. He passed away last year at the age of only 100!...

65bee

Marlin is on life-support! They will not last much longer. As 'sixgun' says, junk is junk! I also came of age in the 1960s, and the Winchesters made during that period, particularly the model 94s were unadulterated stuff. Stamped parts, hollow pins, birch stocks, sintered-metal receivers. Say what y...

65bee

Regarding ballistics in extreme cold, a good friend who was a civilian gov't. employee in the early 1960s and involved in testing the M-16 .223 for the Ordnance Corps informed me about testing they did in Alaska in extreme cold (-20 and below). He said that the air becomes so dense at those temperat...

65bee

In my career as a Conservation Officer of over 20 years the two calibers that stood out as 'game wounders' (deer & bear) according to conversations with hundreds of hunters, were the .243 and the .270. In the hands of capable hunters both are capable of doing the job, but the average nimrod is b...

65bee

I don't know where that B.S. about the Winchester bolt peep sights shooting loose started, but in over 50 years of owning and examining many, many 71s, I have NEVER seen one with a loose bolt peep. I sooner believe that there may have been issues with them being damaged easily, as they do sit up the...

65bee

Winchester started drilling & tapping the 71 for receiver sights around 1947-1948, and about the same time dropped the bolt peep sight. However, I once owned a 1947 vintage standard model that had the bolt peep and also was factory d&t for a receiver sight. About this same time, they changed...

65bee

t-man is correct, however, both the standard and deluxe were available with the bolt peep. A little known fact, is that in the model 71 there were more deluxes made than standards; by almost a 2 to 1 ratio. In the carbine version, there were four times as many deluxes as standards, according to Bert...

65bee

Do hope you got that 55 at a good price! Looks like its had a tough life. Appears as though the buttstock has been replaced at some point, as it has a much later m94 stock. Original stock had the nice fluted comb and early-style shotgun butt. It should make a decent 'shooter' if the bores okay, but ...

65bee

The Model 55 was Winchesters' attempt to consolidate the 1894 rifle line. It was listed from about 1924 to 1932 and only around 20K or so were ever made. The last few years of production, only the take-down model was listed. Supposedly, a larger percentage of take-downs were made in this model than ...

65bee

Have had many of both in the last 50 years, and liked them all. Probably had more of an affinity for the 1886 Ex.Lt.Wt. .45-70, though. But last year I lucked into an original 71 carbine with 20" barrel, and this was head-and-shoulders over any of the rest! This gun carries and comes to the sho...

65bee

Very strange the way Winchester phased in the feature of drilling & tapping their guns for a receiver sight. Even though the M94 was not until the early 1950s, the M64 (same basic action) was D&T'd beginning back in the 1930s on ALL versions, standard and deluxe. The M71 was not D&T unti...

65bee

Having owned a half-dozen for so of the 64 Zippers over the years, I can tell you they are a great and fun gun - and very scarce to find, especially in unaltered condition. I would hazard an educated guess that at least half of them were drilled & tapped for a scope mount at some point in time. ...

65bee

Congratulations on your acquisition of what appears to be a very nice long tang 71 with bolt peep! Having owned and loaded for perhaps a dozen or so 71s over the years, I can tell you that the .348 is not finicky to reload. Most any of the medium to slow burners seem to work well. I have had good lu...

65bee

This subject has been debated by the military since WW1. Read some of the old American Rifleman magazines from the 1030s-40s-50s, and there are numerous articles discussing this subject, most written by high-ranking combat officers. Hard to believe, but one fact that was determined is that the avera...

65bee

Happened to be looking at a 1966 Guns & Ammo magazine the other day and was surprised to find an article detailing how Hathcock was the 1965 Wimbledon champion. Knew about his Vietnam exploits, but never heard that he had been a national competition winner also.

65bee

Sounds like it would make either a nice boat anchor or a fence post. Unless you ABSOLUTELY got to have a .33 RIGHT NOW, I would certainly pass it up. From your description, it has very, very little collector value, and probably if the bore is as bad as the exterior, it is worthless as a shooter - so...

65bee

Young fella on the left looks to have an 1886 Winchester. I think it has the dual locking lugs at the rear of the receiver. Other guys all appear to have Savage 1899s.

65bee

Don't think its 1893. My money would be on a Marlin 1894. Appears to be the shorter action.

65bee

Dave, Sure would be interested in that model 65. I have some nice Marlins if you wanted to do a partial trade/cash deal. I have a first year .444, a 1972 first year 1895 with B-prefix, a 1894 TALO .45 Colt trapper w/16" bll., a 1894 Classic .218 Bee.

65bee

Don't waste your time writing for a factory letter, as there is no information available on the Model 71s. They can only give you a 'best-guess' estimate as to year of manufacture. Yours is definately a pre-war gun and most likely has the early long tang. I never saw a Model 71 with the bolt peep th...

65bee

I been collecting and trading vintage Winchesters for over 50 years. Started when I was in high school and was buying 1886 extra-light .45-70s for $75. I have had literally hundreds pass thru my hands during those years. I will say this - only through actual hands-on experience will you be be able t...

65bee

Been in this shooting game for 50+ years now, and my Dad (who just turned 100 this month) was in it from the late 1920s. He was one of the first to scope a hunting rifle in these parts in the 1930s, and how the locals chastized him. He purchased a then-new Winchester Model 70 in .257 Roberts in 1938...

65bee

It looks like a Remington Rider (Ryder), not sure of the spelling.

65bee

Thanks for the tips. Yeah, after giving it some thought, maybe I will just hang onto them. Over the years I have acquired moulds for most all of my shooting and hunting guns, anticipating just what we are experiencing now. As long as I have primers I will be able to shoot. Maybe the wheel-weights wi...

65bee

Have been hoeing out the barn and garage of 40 years accumulation for potential move. I have two five-gallon pails of wheel-weights in a shed which I had stored away in future anticipation of needing for bullet casting. Must be close to 400-500 pounds. Meanwhile, I had hundreds of pounds of linotype...

65bee

The .22 Hornet is an extremely finicky cartridge to load for. My Dad, who was a avid shooter in the 1930s and owned some of the first Hornet rifles made, and shot hundreds of woodchucks with them, told me 50 years ago that finding a non-tempramental Hornet is very difficult. He said some Hornets cha...

65bee

I recently received my first issue of F&S in many years. It contained the article being referred to. I was blown away by the absolutely worthless content of this magazine. For openers, it is only about half the size it used to be. One of the main articles was a ridiculous piece on 1,000 yard 'sn...

65bee

KirkD: You say you grew up in Manitoba? I am currently reading a great book written by Joe Robertson titled 'From Prairie to Tundra'. It is an autobiography of his life from a teenage wilderness trapper in the 1920s, to Game Warden, and then head of the Manitoba Fish & Wildlife Service. In the b...

65bee

The .350 Rem. Mag. is my all-time favorite big game cartridge, bar-none. I bought my first one in 1975, a Model 700 BDL. I have since owned many 600, 660, 700 classics in the caliber. I never had one that wasn't an accurate shooter and ALWAYS performed admirably on deer,moose and bear here in northe...

65bee

Win71: Regarding 1942 production, it is entirely possible that those numbers are correct. I am not sure when the War Production Board ordered the factories to stop civilian production. I do know that there were some 1942 model automobiles built for public sale, of course those might have been manufa...

65bee

I quote from a notice in the 1943 Shooters Bible: "...the manufacture of all firearms and ammunition for civilian use has been completely stopped by order of the War Production Board. As a result, none of the arms or ammunition factories are in a position to make deliveries for the duration.&qu...

65bee

First of all - Winchester made NO sporting rifles in 1943. It was a violation of Federal law for them to do so. ALL production was for the war effort. Any sporting rifles said to be so, are offered by owners who don't know better. Those guns out there that have pre-war parts are most likely very ear...

65bee

Have no qualms about entrusting your gun to JES. I sent him a 1930 vintage '94 carbine in .30 WCF with a bad bore, and had him do a rebore to .38-55. It was less than a two-week turn-around and the job was perfect! It shoots cast bullets like a good .38-55 should. His prices are more than reasonable...

65bee

Well, only upside to this is the fact that those of us who have been picking up and socking away nice Conn.-made Marlins will see them start increasing in value. These earlier Marlins are still available out there and at bargain prices, but won't be for long.

65bee

Joe, My carbine is not a SRC. It was made in 1930, right about the time that Winchester decided to make the saddle-rings an option. Not many 1894s after that had rings. Also, my carbine has the original type curved steel buttplate and pinned front sight. Both of these features were soon dropped from...

65bee

My brother-in-law works in a large local sporting goods store and he keeps me posted on what comes into the shop. He told me that a couple of older 94's had been traded in so I stopped by to check them out. I almost fell over when I picked up the pre-war carbine from the rack, it was the best one I ...

65bee

After consideration of all the options, I am beginning to lean toward the .38-55 rebore. I have two Lyman moulds and RCBS dies for that caliber. I also have a partial box of ammo and shoved one of the .38-55s into the magazine of the 1894 and it levered up perfectly through the action. My last .38-5...

65bee · Re: .35/30-30 Reboring Do you have contact info. for Mr. Ocumpaugh?

Do you have contact info. for Mr. Ocumpaugh?

65bee

Thanks for the feedback. The carbine has the old-style pinned front sight. I did give some thought to having it cut back to 16.25" and made into a 'trapper', but am not sure how much of a problem re-attaching the front sight set-up would be? I am sure somebody like Doug Turnbull could do the wo...

65bee

Howdy all! Recently picked up a near mint pre-war Win. 94 carbine in .30 WCF. It is 100 % original and untouched, made in 1930. Only fly-in-the-ointment is the fact the bore has a section of severe rust damage about 1" or so from the muzzle. My guess is as good as yours as to what might have ca...

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