Things are slowly coming together.  Received the brass adaptor rings for the .64 smoothbore (will be fitted to 20 gauge Magtech brass hulls), some more for my .40-60 and .40-70 Maynards, and some for the .35-30's.  Also received the Ideal #36275 160 grain bullet mould for the .35-30.  Just need the 17 and 18 gauge Circle Fly wads for the .64 SB hulls and some time to put all of this stuff to use!  (We have family out visiting from Manitoba that are staying with us and they don't leave until the 19th.)
Our weather out here has been terrible this year with a couple of dumps of very non-typical Victoria snow which thank goodness has now melted off in town, but we still have a foot or more of snow on the ground up at our local range.  I'm hoping by the time our visitors fly back home the conditions will have improved enough to finally get these Maynards up to the range and fire some test loads.

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I keep coming back for another look!
The wood that was used in this buttstock is particularly nice.

By the way....I've noted that some 1873s have stocks with a comb raised above the upper tang and others have no raised comb like this example. I wonder why, and what was the reasoning behind that....? I don't have a no-comb version to compare drop dimensions between the two.

The ones with no comb used left over military carbine stocks. In about May 1875 the stock with the comb was introduced. It was merely the carbine stock shortened about an inch on the front and reshaped. This can be seen easily as the screw holes from when they were carbine stocks are still present.

When they made the change in the stocks the upper tang was straightened more or less parallel with the lower tang. The difference in the stocks is striking enough that it is hard to believe that's what they did but the extra holes are the tell tale truth.

The pistol grip stocks were new made and they are interesting in themselves as the lower tang  goes entirely through the pistol grip. This was accomplished by gluing an insert in place that is the width of the tang and shaping it with the stock. Many times this is hard to distinguish as the workmasnship was so good.

Reverend Al wrote on Feb 9^th, 2019 at 4:15pm:


That bug bit me hard.  I was at an auction (to buy a Ballard, Vall) and had a little of my budget left over.  I bought a #9 configuration Maynard 1873 in 40-40 caliber.  Then I picked up an orphan 64 smoothbore barrel at the same auction.  BTW, mine has the other sporter style stock.

I went to a Spring Nationals of the North-South Skirmish Association to meet Larry Romano  for a couple of small parts I needed and saw how much fun those guys in gray and blue outfits were having... and that cost me a pile of money when I joined in on that game.  I also met Deadeye Bly there and got rings so I could convert 30-40 brass to  shoot it.  I also got Barry Darr to cut me bullet moulds for the two bullets the catalog shows for the 40s.

Unwilling to leave well enough alone I talked Deadeye Bly into making me rings to convert Brazilian brass 20 ga shells to fit the 64 cal barrel... that project is still waiting for some time on my workbench.  Finally I swapped another member here out of a 22 rf barrel that Deadeye (again!  ) had built to fit directly on an 1873 with no mods, so now I have a 3 barrel set.   

"Oh what tangled webs we weave..." 

Froggie 

RIP Al your knowledge of single shots will be missed

I was passing this on to the ASSRA forum as I can not find a memorial column on this forum . On (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links) forum there is a memorial column and Reverend Al passed on 
June 7/2020 wealth of knowledge, fine collector, and lover of single shots

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