It's all witchcraft

[roger rabbit]

I had to have it even if the price was too high. Went to pick it up this week at a gunshop 200 miles away. Just to be sure, I took a forcing cone gauge and a sized cast bullet to be sure the basics were OK before making the last payment. I knew about those early 3rd Generation Colt quality issues. Lo and behold, the gun was completely covered inside and out in a thick coat of heavy dried 30-year old grease. Even the hammer fall was sluggish. There were no measurements to be made in this coat of goo and glop. I signed the papers anyway and hoped for the best. It took a complete disassembly and several hours to get it cleaned up. Things looked kinda grim as the forcing cone swallowed the gauge, the .431 bullets fell easily through the throats and the barrel had a detectable loose spot in the middle. Yet another overpriced mediocre shooter? Took it to the range yesterday and I nearly fell over when it shot well under an inch at 25 yards with 7 gr. of Unique and 429421's. And no barrel leading either. I had sold the shop a perfectly dimensioned USFA clone that rarely shot what could be called a group. If I had even dropped the forcing cone gauge into the barrel at the shop, this New Frontier would have gone right back on the shelf. There are unknown mysteries at work here.

[218bee]

Glad it seems to work for you. I enjoy "older" used firearms and really have not bought a new gun in years except for a Tikka in 6.5 Swede, and sometimes a gun you just know is going to be trouble shoots like a champ...go figure. On the other hand I've got some poor shooters too no matter how good they look. Glad ya got a good one...kinda warms your heart don't it

[August]

How was the lead splash on the front of the cylinder???

[roger rabbit]

Nothing that a few swipes with a toothbrush wouldn't remove.

[Patrick L]

You know, I think a lot of this IS witchcraft. For years I shot my Smith 25-2 revolver with .452 bullets, because "that's the diameter you're supposed to use in .45 ACP." And it shot about like this for six shots at 25 yards (I called that high flyer)
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/patrickl_01/Bullets/GunStuff053.jpg


Then just this year I bought a pin gauge set and found out my throats were .455-.456, so I guess I'd been doing it all wrong all these years. After all, you know that if your bullets are more than .001 under the throat diameter ther's just no way a gun will shoot.

[218bee]

Patrick, thats a nice 25-2, I've been searching for one, hope to find one to play with

[Patrick L]

218,

Thanks! It's really a pre 25-2. Smith went to model #s sometime around 1957 or so, but mine is just marked "1955 Target Model." Also, you can't see in this photo but if it were flipped over you'd see it was a 5 screw. I have also recently changed those grips in the photo for a set of reproduction "Cokes." It really looks cool now!

I got that one back in 1991 or 1992, I can't remember. I swapped an M1 Garand I thought I was tired of for it. At the time I'm sure the gunshop owner thought he really suckered me (and maybe for the time, he did.) Checking the prices of these older pre-1960 Smiths now, I think I did alright.