Here ya go. A dormant 150 year old gun gets a makeover.

[RWE]

An Allen Wheelock drop breech in 44 Henry. Aggressive 25 twist, 430 groove, 411ish bore. 3 lands and grooves.

205184

Converted the breech to centerfire from rimfire using Uncanny American Savvy.

Rechambered to 44 special. Case head the same (or "close enough") so no extravagant extractor work.

Used the 200gr FN bulllet mold I got here. Charged a case with FFFg less enough to seat the bullet, and voila.


https://youtu.be/14fZqnvgbTk

[3Gunnah]

That is sweet. Try a FF load!

[Moleman-]

That rifle is in great shape, congrats on being able to shoot it again. I'd have to use it for at least a deer hunt or two.

[RWE]

Without a doubt.

I'll shoot some groups this weekend perhaps if the wife permits. The inset pic is a internet photo, but the one I have is in that good of shape or better.

I had swore off doing gun projects until I caught up on the house work, but I seen this poor thing at the fun store, with very little hope of ever tasting the acrid flavor of burnt powder again. Shame seeing something so simplistically crafted way before any of us were taking air just standing in the corner.

I see SW Michigan for your location.

I miss Cass County...Lots of time in the woods near Marcellus.

[Moleman-]

I'm in Southern Kent County but hunt in in a nice quiet spot in Barry County. I've been overloaded with project lists and haven't done much firearms stuff out in the shop all summer. Haven't even made it to the range since may or june. One of the projects has been to wall up and insulate the barn/shop which should help with use ability during the winters when things are slow. Have about 36' of wall left to go before doing the ceiling.

[hendere]

Cool! Thanks for sharing.

[jrmartin1964]

Great to see an old timer rescued and returned to the land of the living! Thanks for sharing!

[RWE]

Since very few have seen this gun in operation, information on it is kinda lacking.

So, during repeated fire shooting, I was pleasantly surprised of this little quip of working the action....


https://youtu.be/WpZgBHN_9Og

[Jedman]

Cool rifle ! That is exactly what I would have done to shoot it again. Good Job !

Jedman

[missionary5155]

Greetings and well done ! Great to see this fine old lead spitter back in action !
Mike in Peru

[texassako]

Good job, I love seeing old guns put back into use. Especially unusual ones most people have not seen.

[RWE]

I got my Lee Loader for the 44, and took the 5 rounds I've test shot so far and did the magic voodoo on them. Made a custom powder measure out of a 7.5x55 piece of brass (because that was the 1st one I grabbed in my box of arcane scrap).

Bullet will sit on a full load with only mild compression and a playing card wad.

Bullets lubed with beeswax.

I need a new front sight, but I managed a 3" group at 40 yards. Hope to tighten it up with a nice flat blade instead of the odd point filed on the current one.

205726

And as an old 13F, I appreciate the way it sounds like a howitzer...

[4060MAY]

an easy way to fix the front sight, get some shrink tubing, make sure it has the adhesive in it
put it over the front sight, heat it to shrink it, us pliers and flatten the tubing while hot, cut to point of aim....works fine on my Vetterli 41 Swiss
this also gives a wider front sight so us older people can almost see it

[RWE]

an easy way to fix the front sight, get some shrink tubing, make sure it has the adhesive in it
put it over the front sight, heat it to shrink it, us pliers and flatten the tubing while hot, cut to point of aim....works fine on my Vetterli 41 Swiss
this also gives a wider front sight so us older people can almost see it

That's what I need, chief. Wider is better....

[marlin39a]

I love seeing those antique firearms made in my old city of Worcester, Ma. Sure wish I found it first.

[nekshot]

Sheeeeez, that is neat!! Congrats and thanks for showing it. Yup a few deer hunts will do that gun good!

[2ndAmendmentNut]

Very cool! I like the way it pokes the empty cases up. Perfect action for a hand loader.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Artful]

Great project done right - congratulations