11
The Darksider's Den / Re: Which rifle for BP?
« Last post by Abilene on Today at 09:04:00 AM »Deacon, I am going to weigh in on your rifle choice, as I had a similar choice once. My 1st CAS rifle was a Winchester '94 Trapper in .45. What a horrible gun for this game. Maybe better than a Big Boy? But at the time, it was the worst. Due to the design and the 9 round limit. So my next gun was a Navy Arms stainless '92 in .45. Stainless because I wanted to start shooting BP and thought you needed stainless (right now, I own zero stainless guns). It was a huge step up from the '94, even though the action wasn't real smooth even after some work. I did shoot BP in that one for a year or so, but then I got my 1st toggle rifle, a 44 Spcl 1866. That was a straight wall case also, really no better for BP than the .45, but the action made it so much nicer to shoot that I never shot the '92 anymore and sold it whenever I got a '73 in .45. Yes, the '66 needed more cleaning after shooting BP than a dash caliber, but it always made it through the matches, just needing a spritz of moose-milk or plain water when the carrier would get sticky. This would usually be right after I finished a stage, never in the middle of a stage. That '66 never had a short stroke, but I did the "poor man's" action job on it and it is quite smooth. My concerns back then were not the functioning of the rifle, but that the bullets would have enough lube since I was relubing smokeless bullets with their tiny lube groove. Sometimes I would need to give the bore a swab mid-match. BP subs would eliminate that, though.
So, I'm going to say go with the '66 in your choice, simply because it is more pleasant to shoot than a '92 IMO. The fact that it will get dirty and need cleaning is just part of the game. Most of my BP main match shooting now is .38's in a '73, even though I do have a '92 in 32-20 which needs less cleaning.
So, I'm going to say go with the '66 in your choice, simply because it is more pleasant to shoot than a '92 IMO. The fact that it will get dirty and need cleaning is just part of the game. Most of my BP main match shooting now is .38's in a '73, even though I do have a '92 in 32-20 which needs less cleaning.