M1895 Winchester Musket

[Culpeper]

The good news is the rifle is ready for pick up at Turnbull Mfg. They had asked me if I wanted the new barrel aged some to match the receiver and I replied no. I want the next owner to know that it is a rebarreled rifle. It might look not pretty but it will be a shooter.

Monsieur Steinmayer, Camp Perry may be a go this year though that is still up in the air.

Picture to follow next week.

[psteinmayer]

That is excellent news Mr. Pepper-de Cul! I sure do hope you can swing it... just keep me posted and I'll keep a seat warm for you at dinner... and a space next to us in squadding!

[Culpeper]

I was loading up my krag ammo (220gr sierra, 40 grain 4350, WLR) and also rebuilt my dummy rounds with 45 grains so the bullets would not telescope on me. I discovered this when I load them in to the 1895. The problem I found in all of this is when I was cycling the dummy round through the 95. Three dummies in the rifle and they point to the chamber and feed well. Number four and number five the points are not lifted high enough to correctly chamber.

Just another bump in the road to Perry. :P

[Culpeper]

Well it looks like the M1895 is a no-go for Camp Perry this year. The wholsome and pure rifle I thought I owned turns out to be monster of the good Dr. Frankinstein.

I used the pea sized marbles I call my brains and figured out the best educated guess to the problem.

The issue as stated before is the fourth and fifth rounds are not being lifted high enough to enter the chamber while the first to the third are in perfect alignment.

Loading a round into the magazine pushes the carrier cradle down onto the carrier cam lever and the carrier. The carrier cam lever is what holds the cradle in the upward position. The other end of the cam lever bears against the carrier stop pin. Here be demons.

I discovered I could take a thin punch and push down on the end of the cam lever and raise the cradle when the magazine is empty. According to a patent drawing and not a little bit of logic I should not be able to do this since it should already be at its greatest extention.

Well the rest of the story is I removed the magazine from the rifle and got to the carrier. The first thing I noticed is the carrier has a "B" stamped on it. Then I went to Numrich to see if they had replacement parts. Yep. Carrier with a B equals .30-06. Carrier with "A" = .30-40. Cam lever and cradle need to be A also. And they do not have any carriers. grrrrrrrr So that IS the problem!

So I will have to add material to the lever at the point where it touches the stop pin. It should get me to the point I need for the fourth and fifth round and can be reversable.

Aside from that put 26 rounds through it three at a time at fifty yards today. I will need to get a two hundred range to really get a feel of where it is shooting.

Until the next report. See ya'

[Dick Hosmer]

Numrich is NOT the only game in town, and, .30-40 was one of the most popular chanberings so the "A" parts should be available somehow, whereas your "B" parts might even have some premium value.

S&S? Winchester Collectors Association, etc.

Apparently Bubba installed your "B"s? It sure did not come from Winchester that way.

Or, maybe your rifle was rebarreled? Might want to check the records at Cody? Since the '06 is known to have given some trouble (not all justified, of course) such a rebarreling could have made great sense to a former owner.

Hang in there!

[Culpeper]

The rifle was rebarreled by me. The original barrel has the KSM inspector initials on it which is congruent with rest of the major parts.

WCA? Hmmmm. I did not think of them. Thank you for the tip.

[reincarnated]

I was under the impression that this was a Turnbull restoration. If so, I think you need to call Turnbull. Also, dummy cartridges made in the days of the Krag had a wooden dowel spacer jammed between the inside of the case head and the base of the bullet.

[Culpeper]

It was always a barrel replacement job. I presumed that everything else was correct and the main problem was a ringed chamber.

Wooden plug huh? Dang. Now you tell me. Well that small amount of powder will not be missed

[reincarnated]

The Brits used coal dust to fill their dummy cases. Crushed charcoal would probably work, but the wood dowel seems the ultimate in practicality. I have here in my desk a 6 mm Lee Navy armorer's dummy, by WRACo. I can see the dowel through the holes drilled in the case.

[Culpeper]

TA DA! Yeah I know. You can't see the new barrel because the stock is in the way.