I finally finished my Winchester Model 43 in 218 Bee. I have been working on it for almost 3 year as it was a trial to get all of the missing parts replaced.
The first item replaced was a magazine. I found one in North Dakota (I think) from a very nice woman who sold me the last magazine that she had.
The next item was to find some ammo. This took a long time scrounging at various gun shows as well as cruising the net. I went to a gun show in Bradenton and I headed to any table that had ammo. I checked every table twice but there was none to be had. After wandering for a couple hours my buddy decided to pick up some .223 and while he was engaged with the only non English speaking vendor I noticed that there was a fat cardboard ammo box that I had not seen before. I snuck up to the box and found it was the only box of 218 Bee left in the entire United States. I got in line and then I realized I was in the front a line holding the holy grail ammo and I was short. That 50 round box was $70 and I only had $50 left but my buddy stepped in and covered me for the overrun.
Now it was time to go to the range and see what this rifle would do at the 100 yard range. We unpacked and I setup for the Model 43 on a home made adjustable barrel support. The range went hot and it was time to kill some paper. I put my eye to the scope and was amazed by the clarity of the scope. I chambered a round, a sort of stubby rimmed kind but it was my round to finally I eased my finger on the trigger I found out that the rifle has a very nice trigger. There was pretty much no recoil but it is fairly loud.
I looked down range through the scope and I noticed that the scope cross hairs sort of disconnected from the scope. I looked again but the cross hairs were still broken. Of course my buddy got great amusement from my now bowtie crosshairs. I did get my buddy back by bringing out my 16 inch barreled FAL that is the loudest gun I have ever owned.
I did try to use the iron sights but the bullets could have gone to the next county as far as I could tell. My eye sight is not the best these
I’ve been trying to keep this rifle accoutered as it would be in 1950 so I decided to find another scope like a Weaver K4 60B. No problem. Well I thought it would be to easy to find one but that wasn’t working out very well. I don’t remember where I got the scope but it was again sold to me from another nice lady in North/South Dakota. My new Weaver K4 60B which turned into be a very nice piece.
I then decided to swap the old scope with the new old scope. Changing a scope is usually an easy task but I ran into road block that I have ever seen. The scope is mounted on an quick disconnect, not a standard scope mount. This mount was designed to install a scope that only has one turret, not two. Do a search for an Echo quick release scope mount. This was a pain for sure but about this time my buddy showed up and we decided that we could remove the turrets, slip the tube through solid mounts, and then reinstall the turrets.
The scope scopeoctomy was a success and now I was ready to hit the range and try out the new scope. I was amazed how close that the scope needed to zero it in. After 2 sighting shots I put four rounds into the black. It was a good day all around until I picked up the rifle by the sling and the leather just fell apart. I was devastated so I packed up and went home.
I kept thinking about where to find a sling that would have a period look. One day a Cheaper Than Dirt catalog and I noticed that they had 1907 slings for sale. I like to buy my own Christmas presents so I ordered some stuff including a 1907 sling. After waiting till late on the 26th I ran to Wally World and I found out that I have 1 inch rings but the rings I needed inch and a quarter. A quick shop to the LGS and I was ready install the sling, or thought I would. I had no instructions to go by so I went to the internets for ultimate knowledge. I found out there must be fifty ways to install this thing. I tried the old guy way, I almost choked myself put it in a wrong loop. Then I tried the superfast talker method, I almost smashed my screen. This went on over and over till I got one set of instructions that made sense and I got it on the rifle although I think the Mode 43 is a little short but I can live with this.
In the mean time I picked up 200 rounds of brass, a set of dies, shell holder and a killer deal on a trimmer.
Now I need to pick up a pound of Lil Gun and 200 45 grain bullets. My factory ammo is getting low.
http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=157027&stc=1&d=1326750646
http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=157028&stc=1&d=1326750701
The first item replaced was a magazine. I found one in North Dakota (I think) from a very nice woman who sold me the last magazine that she had.
The next item was to find some ammo. This took a long time scrounging at various gun shows as well as cruising the net. I went to a gun show in Bradenton and I headed to any table that had ammo. I checked every table twice but there was none to be had. After wandering for a couple hours my buddy decided to pick up some .223 and while he was engaged with the only non English speaking vendor I noticed that there was a fat cardboard ammo box that I had not seen before. I snuck up to the box and found it was the only box of 218 Bee left in the entire United States. I got in line and then I realized I was in the front a line holding the holy grail ammo and I was short. That 50 round box was $70 and I only had $50 left but my buddy stepped in and covered me for the overrun.
Now it was time to go to the range and see what this rifle would do at the 100 yard range. We unpacked and I setup for the Model 43 on a home made adjustable barrel support. The range went hot and it was time to kill some paper. I put my eye to the scope and was amazed by the clarity of the scope. I chambered a round, a sort of stubby rimmed kind but it was my round to finally I eased my finger on the trigger I found out that the rifle has a very nice trigger. There was pretty much no recoil but it is fairly loud.
I looked down range through the scope and I noticed that the scope cross hairs sort of disconnected from the scope. I looked again but the cross hairs were still broken. Of course my buddy got great amusement from my now bowtie crosshairs. I did get my buddy back by bringing out my 16 inch barreled FAL that is the loudest gun I have ever owned.
I did try to use the iron sights but the bullets could have gone to the next county as far as I could tell. My eye sight is not the best these
I’ve been trying to keep this rifle accoutered as it would be in 1950 so I decided to find another scope like a Weaver K4 60B. No problem. Well I thought it would be to easy to find one but that wasn’t working out very well. I don’t remember where I got the scope but it was again sold to me from another nice lady in North/South Dakota. My new Weaver K4 60B which turned into be a very nice piece.
I then decided to swap the old scope with the new old scope. Changing a scope is usually an easy task but I ran into road block that I have ever seen. The scope is mounted on an quick disconnect, not a standard scope mount. This mount was designed to install a scope that only has one turret, not two. Do a search for an Echo quick release scope mount. This was a pain for sure but about this time my buddy showed up and we decided that we could remove the turrets, slip the tube through solid mounts, and then reinstall the turrets.
The scope scopeoctomy was a success and now I was ready to hit the range and try out the new scope. I was amazed how close that the scope needed to zero it in. After 2 sighting shots I put four rounds into the black. It was a good day all around until I picked up the rifle by the sling and the leather just fell apart. I was devastated so I packed up and went home.
I kept thinking about where to find a sling that would have a period look. One day a Cheaper Than Dirt catalog and I noticed that they had 1907 slings for sale. I like to buy my own Christmas presents so I ordered some stuff including a 1907 sling. After waiting till late on the 26th I ran to Wally World and I found out that I have 1 inch rings but the rings I needed inch and a quarter. A quick shop to the LGS and I was ready install the sling, or thought I would. I had no instructions to go by so I went to the internets for ultimate knowledge. I found out there must be fifty ways to install this thing. I tried the old guy way, I almost choked myself put it in a wrong loop. Then I tried the superfast talker method, I almost smashed my screen. This went on over and over till I got one set of instructions that made sense and I got it on the rifle although I think the Mode 43 is a little short but I can live with this.
In the mean time I picked up 200 rounds of brass, a set of dies, shell holder and a killer deal on a trimmer.
Now I need to pick up a pound of Lil Gun and 200 45 grain bullets. My factory ammo is getting low.
http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=157027&stc=1&d=1326750646
http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=157028&stc=1&d=1326750701
