Cosmoline
Member
I've reported before about my long and painful saga with an old model Puma 44 who's magazine tube would NOT stay put. I took it to various local smiths and emailed around, but apart from a surprisingly expensive rebuild involving dovetailing the barrel itself there wasn't much they could offer. The tube was going to do what it was going to do, and that made the rifle essentially worthless.
But since this is breakup season in the north country I've had time on my hands. ALWAYS a dangerous thing for someone with a hacksaw and some mild forms of dementia. I put on my Bubba hat and, in a last ditch effort to make this thing WORK, I decided to turn it into a half magazine model. This would allow me to secure the tube beyond all possible slippage and would halve the weight pushing forward with whiplash recoil to begin with. It would also improve the balance when fully loaded. Frankly I didn't need eleven rounds packed in the thing. It's primarily a trail gun and by the time I'm past five I'll either be alive or dead.
Anyway here is the beta version. In time I'll likely put a nose cap on it and redo the foreend stock to make it look like a proper half-mag Winchester. Though it will upset purists I've got the wild west light mount on there to provide critical illumination. It gets darker than a black steer's tukus on a moonless prarie night out there sometimes and believe me it's nice to have. The sight system is my own creation and works great even if it is a little bruised.
But since this is breakup season in the north country I've had time on my hands. ALWAYS a dangerous thing for someone with a hacksaw and some mild forms of dementia. I put on my Bubba hat and, in a last ditch effort to make this thing WORK, I decided to turn it into a half magazine model. This would allow me to secure the tube beyond all possible slippage and would halve the weight pushing forward with whiplash recoil to begin with. It would also improve the balance when fully loaded. Frankly I didn't need eleven rounds packed in the thing. It's primarily a trail gun and by the time I'm past five I'll either be alive or dead.
Anyway here is the beta version. In time I'll likely put a nose cap on it and redo the foreend stock to make it look like a proper half-mag Winchester. Though it will upset purists I've got the wild west light mount on there to provide critical illumination. It gets darker than a black steer's tukus on a moonless prarie night out there sometimes and believe me it's nice to have. The sight system is my own creation and works great even if it is a little bruised.
