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Re: Dummy Cartridge Source

Posted: 27 Jan 2014 14:18
by pricedo
Having advanced the case of authenticity in size and weight for dummy cartridges I must emphasize that dummy cartridges must immediately and with absolutely certainty be discernable from live cartridges for obvious reasons. :mrgreen:

Re: Dummy Cartridge Source

Posted: 27 Jan 2014 15:15
by akuser47
Agree 100%

Re: Dummy Cartridge Source

Posted: 27 Jan 2014 15:44
by craiginct
Two of the beauties of those wood dummies, besides the aesthetics, is the fact that they will never mar the gun and they will immediately show you where any burrs or sharp edges might nick a shell case.

Re: Dummy Cartridge Source

Posted: 27 Jan 2014 15:55
by craiginct
:mrgreen: Hooray! I picked up my M92 octagonal 24 incher today. Now to get the shipping grease off of it, R&R the magazine follower with Steve's SS follower, and then R&R the rear sight with a Marbles ghost ring, just like I did to the carbine. I love the quick acquisition that ghost ring affords!! Next step is set up visit with local smith to detail the edges and burrs, as well as the spring of the loading gate. Part of me wants to 'fiddle' with cleaning up both guns internally, but I'm not very patient right now, and I do not have a good place to lay out the mess, especially if curious grandkids are delivered by their parents. I think I "need" a real workshop... like, who doesn't?!

I'm getting a lot out of reading various postings in these RR forums! Thanks for all the honest and helpful thoughts, ideas, and comments... and that you all do it with such civility. Nice that there isn't the usual back biting, nasty comments, and arguments. I tip my sombrero to all of you!

Re: Dummy Cartridge Source

Posted: 01 Feb 2014 00:06
by craiginct
I received and cycled the DummyBullet.com 357 dummy rounds twice in both my Rossis today and they cycled well, other than the last round in the second cycle on the carbine, but that could have been due to hesitation on my part causing the temporary jam. Easing the action gently back and forth freed the round and elevator to pop the round up and feed correctly. ...but... I HAVE TO break the edges on those loading gate areas! Even pushing rounds in using the next in line to seat them in the magazine, those edges take their toll on my thumb... and that was only (12+8)x2cycles... I can't imagine how sore some of the thumbs are out there on folks who have shot a lot of rounds but not broken those gate edges.

Re: Dummy Cartridge Source

Posted: 17 Feb 2014 21:26
by craiginct
I took another leap of faith, today, and shortened the magazine springs on both my 16" and 24" R92s. On the 24"er I cut the spring back to just under 4-3/4" (just under 3 rounds), leaving that much slack/uncompressed extension length beyond the end of the uncapped magazine tube, which now gives me a 13 round capacity with all the different 357 ammo that I have, including Grizzly, DoubleTap, Hornady, Remington, etc. I cycled the guns repeatedly with the flat-nosed, copper slugged, brass dummy bullets that I had previously mentioned at the start of this forum, and they all fed well. It's tempting to cycle live ammo through it on "safety", but I don't want to mark the shootable brass if I"m not going to send it downrange. The 16"er was a bit trickier to shorten, as I wanted to squeeze that 9th round into the mag, but to do that I had to keep slowly removing several turns of the springs at a time to not overshoot just getting it in, but not totally losing the spring tension on the last few rounds. I ended up with a significantly shortened mag spring on the 16"er, @ just barely two rounds of slack extension beyond the end of the mag tube, but I got the 9th round in and the brass dummies are feeding very nicely. Most of the ammo that I have measures 3 rounds per 4-3/4 inches, though one came in at about 4-7/8 inches per 3 rounds. That latter one might not fit 9 rounds despite the shortening, but everything else should load just fine, as the rest match the measured configuration of my adjustments. I'm glad that's done! You can never have too much ammo IN the gun and ready to send out special delivery. Oh, yeah, I also broke the thumb-busting edge on the loading gate port. The inside loading ramped edge of the port seemed fairly smooth to the touch so I didn't fiddle with that. I emailed a gunsmith, today, to see if he has time to 'quickly' go through the guns to see if anything else might need special tweaking. I'm getting them closer to the range, little by little. One word of caution to anyone cutting the mag springs, be sure to check that your spring is seated inside the mag follower AND that the mag follower is seated in its correct position adjacent to the receiver area, AND gently hold that position while calculating, measuring, and positioning the spring, BEFORE you cut! Then and only then cut conservatively what you know you need to remove. Any doubt? cut less and retest the new length. It's like docking rams and bulls, once you snip, you can't put it back.

Re: Dummy Cartridge Source

Posted: 17 Feb 2014 21:32
by akuser47
great info +corn

Re: Dummy Cartridge Source

Posted: 17 Feb 2014 22:01
by craiginct
Thanks! it was well worth the effort to have done all that!! Now on to fix the sight issues.

Re: Dummy Cartridge Source

Posted: 18 Feb 2014 03:11
by Archer
I've been holding off on the mag springs.
I don't usually find loading tube fed levers to be much of a problem WRT the spring tension.
I've been thinking about filling it with dummies and letting it set for a week or two to allow the spring to take whatever set it will before doing any trimming.

The loading port on the .44 isn't too bad but the one on the .357 is a bit sharp. It hasn't been marking brass but it has split one of my thumbnails.

Re: Dummy Cartridge Source

Posted: 18 Feb 2014 11:27
by craiginct
I don't store my guns loaded, so I have no concern about prematurely fatiguing the spring by having shortened it. About 15-16 coils equal 1/4 to 1/3 inch of "solid" material, with my spring fully compressed. Spring material and temper probably varies among these guns, given the quirks and variations that we all have already noticed, besides the normal variations of manufacturing processes. I had read somewhere that one lever action owner simply removed his spring completely to squeeze in another couple of rounds. His loading technique consisted of keeping the muzzle raised while ejecting and cocking. He said it worked fine for him. I didn't try that technique, though I might on the carbine, as I have enough dummies for that. Still 9+1 and 13+1 are respectable loads, as they sit right now.

I took the lazy man's more efficient and less arduous route with regard to loading gate port edges. I did not break down my guns to smooth the load gate ports. I gently wedged open the gates with a small thin retrievable object, turned each gun gate down, rested the muzzle on soft, stable, padding on my desk and the side of the stock on my head, while I used very short, firmly held, one handed, reverse needle file strokes (using tip of file) to gently PULL outward across the sharp gate port edge that kept assaulting my thumb. The tip of the needle file can access and follow all the contours of the offending gate port. Go slowly and gently. Remember, this is a smoothing and burr removal operation, not a reconfiguration of the gate port contours.

I might touch up those smoothed edges with bluing, but for now my gates do NOT bite any more. Be sure that if you try my technique, do NOT allow any strokes to push filings into the gun, always PULL outward with your needle file, even if it is not the way the file is designed to be used. That is what I meant by reverse strokes. All debris must fall away from the gun, including during wipe-down.

Cleanup was simple, as most of that fine debris fell to the floor in front of me, and probably ended up on my sox. An inside-to-outside wipe with my pinky, followed by the same motion with my kerchief, then a little oil, and I was done. It was very simple.