Howdy Ya'll!

[LeverGunner]

I didn't find a new member introduction section, so forgive me if this is in the wrong spot.

I figured I'd say howdy. I've been reading off and on here for years. Last couple of years I've tried to join but the new members area was turned off it seems. I'm glad to be here, so I reckoned I'd introduce myself.

My name's John. I'm active over on castboolits as Bazoo, and on several other forums, either as Bazoo or LeverGunner.

The most important thing to me is my relationship with Jesus Christ. I have a wife and 4 year old, with a baby girl on the way. My boy is my fishing buddy and loves to watch me shoot clays, leverguns, and pellet rifle. He enjoy asking me which guns are big enough for which critters.

I am a sixgun and levergun nut. Right now my favorite rifle is a Winchester 1892 takedown Deluxe in 44 Magnum, Turnbull finished. It was a gift from a friend and is a testament to God's blessing on my life. My favorite handgun is a Ruger Blackhawk in 44 Special. I love working up new loads and messing with them in general.

I pretty much love reloading and casting as much as, if not more than guns. I would restrict myself to 357 Magnum probably if I didn't reload. It sure would be boring.

I have a website that I'm building: https://bulletmatch.com/. Cast bullets and reloading have been my passions for a long time and I found myself needing to extrapolate data for bullets that didn't have any published data, so I began collecting sample bullets from which to take measurements for my own needs. When I started learning programming I decided to make a website that would show all the useful info that I had been collecting and share it for free with the whole reloading community. Of course I'm still working on it, and I have hundreds of bullet samples to enter. I hope that when I get it rounded out it'll be a huge blessing to the gun community.

It sort of stemmed from my passion for cartridges. I've always been a cartridge collector and love Frank Barnes. I always thought it'd be cool if there was a reference of cartridges that showed which bullets worked for them, so I've been working on cross-referencing cartridges and bullets. Been working on some 50-110 stuff lately since my friend is getting one.

I have a serious bass fishing addiction, and just recently caught a 4 pounder that is probably my PB. Got him on a Zoom Fat Albert grub, texas rigged. I enjoy learning and reading, especially gun stuff. I like playing chess (I play on Chess.com if anyone wants to play). I do a bit of photography too.

Here's a few pics.

My Winchester 1892 in 44 Magnum.


My Blackhawk in 44 Special.




Me and old iron jaws.

[JimT]

Welcome. Pull up to the fire, grab a cup of coffee and sit a spell! Just be careful because some of the oldtimers here can tell the biggest whoppers!

[GunnyMack]

Welcome!
I looked at your site earlier, looks good. Of course I need to spend a little more time snooping around there.
We've a few fishermen here as well. Im lucky to be close to the ocean and prefer saltwater but I do spend time with a flyrod chasing trout but I much prefer Pike!
Glad you were finally able to get on here.

[Old No7]

Welcome! Glad you're here -- you will fit right in with us.

...Right now my favorite rifle is a Winchester 1892 takedown Deluxe in 44 Magnum, Turnbull finished. It was a gift from a friend and is a testament to God's blessing on my life.

Bless you, and I have to ask -- does your friend need any NEW friends?!

Nice pix! Enjoy!

Old No7

[Old Savage]

Welcome, have some of the same stuff.

[Paladin]

Welcome, good post.

[JBowen]

Welcome aboard. I was just reading your post about your website and your spreadsheet. Lot of good info there.

JBowen

[Bronco]

Welcome

Great introduction!

[OldWin]

Welcome to the fire! Pull up a stump and grab a coffee.
Nice looking hardware. I had a .45 Blackhawk that looked just like that many years ago.

[Bill in Oregon]

Oh, you'll fit in here just dandy, John. Wow, that's a handsome 92, and is there a finer choice in a Blackhawk than .44 Special? Not in my world.

[GunnyMack]

You are wrong Bill- my 44 special Single Six is a better packin pistol!!

[COSteve]

Welcome from Colorado! Right nice levergun you've got there.

[High Desert Hunter]

Welcome! Heck of a nice combination there! Wish I would have jumped on a Bisley Flattop 44 Special when they were available.

Dave

[LeverGunner]

Thanks everyone for the howdies.

[LeverGunner]

Welcome! Glad you're here -- you will fit right in with us.

...Right now my favorite rifle is a Winchester 1892 takedown Deluxe in 44 Magnum, Turnbull finished. It was a gift from a friend and is a testament to God's blessing on my life.

Bless you, and I have to ask -- does your friend need any NEW friends?!

Nice pix! Enjoy!

Old No7

It took a while for it to sink in, and I'm not sure it has 100% yet. Winchester 94s, Marlins, and Rugers have always been more my speed.

[AJMD429]

.
Welcome.

Most of us here don’t do Facebook’, but we do ‘Gunbook’ as in this site.

[Ysabel Kid]

Welcome to the fire!

Watch out though - we are all a bunch of enablers here (as in we'll always encourage you to buy more leverguns!).

[LeverGunner]

.
Welcome.

Most of us here don’t do Facebook’, but we do ‘Gunbook’ as in this site.

Yeah... I have a facebook, but I don't use it. Once they canceled church and we didn't know because the way they put it out was on facebook. I said... man I don't check facebook first thing! Heck, I don't check it every day most of the time.

[LeverGunner]

Is it okay for me to link bulletmatch in my signature because it's a free resource for everyone? I figured I'd ask before doing it.

[LeverGunner]

Welcome to the fire!

Watch out though - we are all a bunch of enablers here (as in we'll always encourage you to buy more leverguns!).

It doesn't take much persuading for me.

I have 4 in inventory currently, Winchester 92 44 mag, Winchester 86 in 45-70 (new one), Winchester 94 30-30, Marlin 1894 357.

I've had a Marlin 39 previously and I think another will be next. I have always loved plinking with rimfire.

[oldebear1950]

i too am a born again believer, and born again lever gun fan,
Right now I have 3 of them, a Henry Golden Boy 22, and two ROSSI R 92s, one a stainless 16 inch barrel 38/357 mag, and the other a 20 inch barrel , stainless 45 colt/454 casull.
And will have more, as soon as I can talk my wife into it.
I am retired from the US COAST GUARD, and was stationed in Alaska, twice, and I too enjoy fishing, but mostly fresh water, even though I live on the gulf coast.

I reload for 38 special, 357 mag, 45 acp, 9mm, 32 H & Rmag, 45 colt, and as soon as I get the set up 454 casull.

[LeverGunner]

i too am a born again believer, and born again lever gun fan,
Right now I have 3 of them, a Henry Golden Boy 22, and two ROSSI R 92s, one a stainless 16 inch barrel 38/357 mag, and the other a 20 inch barrel , stainless 45 colt/454 casull.
And will have more, as soon as I can talk my wife into it.
I am retired from the US COAST GUARD, and was stationed in Alaska, twice, and I too enjoy fishing, but mostly fresh water, even though I live on the gulf coast.

I reload for 38 special, 357 mag, 45 acp, 9mm, 32 H & Rmag, 45 colt, and as soon as I get the set up 454 casull.

Awesome! Glad to hear it.

I've been looking at the Rossi's, I'd love to find one of the scarce ones in 480 Ruger. I'll settle for a 357 when I find the right one.

Thank you for your service. I've always wanted to go to Alaska, though I want to go less now than I did. I'm starting to really dislike the cold.

I currently load for 44 Special, 44 Magnum, 38 Special, 357 Magnum, 30-30 and I'm just beginning in 45-70 and 380 automatic. I have loaded for 45 auto and 30-06 also.

[oldebear1950]

My three brothers and I grew up on hearing about hunting and fishing Alaska. But I was the only one that got to there, and I deer hunted and tried to get a bear tag, but never did.
One time a group of us went deer hunting for the weekend, and when camping at night, heard a scream and about 5 gun shots. Never did find out what that was about.
Next morning , while hiking over a mountain , looked down at a lake, and saw a momma brown bear, trying to teach her two cubs how to salmon fish. That was in the 1980s before cell phones, and no one brought a camera.
The next year was deer hunting, and looked upstream and there was a young brown bear, he turned toward us and had to fire a couple of shots at his feet to turn him away.

[LeverGunner]

You are wrong Bill- my 44 special Single Six is a better packin pistol!!

I just noticed this comment... I didn't know they could stuff a 44 Special into a Single Six frame. I know they can stuff 38 Special into it... and 41 Special. Do you have a thread on it or pictures?

[GunnyMack]

This is a 1 of 1 , I attended Trinidad St Jr College Gunsmith program, 91-94. John Gallagher was a classmate of mine. The end of our 2nd year John started reworking BH & SBH into 5 shot in a proprietary cartridge, a 348 cut down using .458 bullets.
During our 3rd year he and I talked about a 44 special but smaller than what had been done before. So I ordered a Single Six. 32 . I could only find a box of 32 longs( it had to be shot before I reworked it.
While I was doing the lathe work on the cylinder and barrel John was figuring and refiguring. We came up with 3 cylinders with different wall thicknesses, first one was WAY too thin, second we decided was still a bit too thin. 3rd was spot on. At that point I had to fit the frame to the cylinder, opening the floor as well as the top strap.
I dont shoot it much but with a 4.5" barrel and 5 rounds it was great to stuff in my fishing vest .

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Shown with my mod 66 for scale.
The grips are Lacewood I made.

[LeverGunner]

That's a fine piece of iron right there, thank you for sharing. It appears that there is a hole in the loading gate due to machining? Any chance I could get a picture of what that looks like? Be interesting to see the guns from the outside looking in.

[GunnyMack]

Yes, the loading area had to be opened up enough for a 44 rim and I'll see about getting a few more pic for you... If I remember this afternoon when I get home.
With the material removed from the floor and top strap I'm sure it is still safe for warm loads but I don't chance it with hot stuff.

[Drawdown]

Howdy back from KY also, I missed this at first! God Bless!

[GunnyMack]

Hey! I remembered to take a few more pictures!!
Here you'll see how I opened the loading gate, see the transfer bar in the window.

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Both the floor and top strap were opened for cylinder clearance, the front grip fame screw is now visible as well as the rear site screw.

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[GunnyMack]

I think if I were able to go back to 93 and do it again, it would have been a 41 special, a little less removal work !

[Grizz]

I think if I were able to go back to 93 and do it again, it would have been a 41 special, a little less removal work !

KUDOS for that project, that's a super-power for sure, the skill and the gun both.

[LeverGunner]

Thanks for sharing those extra pics. Man that's something. I'd like to have one in 41 special, or a a Blackhawk conversion. I guess I find the cartridge more intriguing. Certainly some awesome skill involved, pretty cool.

[GunnyMack]

Like I said I lost contact with John Gallagher, when he passed a few years ago it hit hard as I often thought about sending him this Special and have him go through it. We were in our infancy as far as our work is concerned. As far as I know his son( last I saw him he was in diapers )has taken over and has continued John's work. What I saw on John's website after his passing was he had made smaller frame guns but not in 44 special.
Happy to share this as its a real one of a kind.