Shooting my original 1884

[johnt671]

I've owned this for 42 years, and decided it's time to shoot it. I had it checked out and the gunsmith said it good to shoot. Now I need spring. I have a couple of questions before I do.

1. Someone gave a box of Remington rounds that are jacketed. They are marked safe for all rifles, but I've read that these are hard on the softer metal bore on these rifles. Would it do damage by shooting 20 of these? I also bought a box of Black Hills rounds instead of more jacketed rounds and plan to stay with these once the Remington rounds are done.

2. The trigger has a lot off play when the hammer is down on the breech. It tightens up some when the hammer is pulled into the firing position but it still has a lot of slack. The trigger functions fine otherwise. Is this normal? Thanks.

[Dick Hosmer]

(1) One box of jacketed won't hurt a bit, but you may not like the accuracy. TD bores vary and to get the finest shooting of which they are capable you need to use relatively soft (1-20, 1-30) bullets which are properly sized for YOUR gun. Other issues such as lube and powder charge can then be played with until you are satisfied.

(2) Your trigger play situation is neither uncommon nor dangerous. What WOULD be an issue is if the gun pulled off full-cock with very light pressure; that would indicate that there were some mismatched or broken parts, or that someone had dicked with the sear/tumbler engagement. Trigger pull should be about 6-8 pounds and (AS A TEST, EMPTY) the gun should be easily vertically liftable (slowly - don't jerk it), cocked, with a 5-pound weight on the trigger. Hammer should not fall.

[johnt671]

Thanks for the information. I'll double check the trigger today.

[johnt671]

I think I may have screwed up trying to order Black Hills cowboy 45.70 rounds. I went on Midway's site, searched for those rounds and ordered a box. When they arrived the box states they are smokeless. Safe to shoot in my 1884 or not? Thanks.

[JimF]

I think I may have screwed up trying to order Black Hills cowboy 45.70 rounds. I went on Midway's site, searched for those rounds and ordered a box. When they arrived the box states they are smokeless. Safe to shoot in my 1884 or not? Thanks.

Yup . . . .safe for your TD.

As Richard said . . . .accuracy with either Remington or Black Hills PROBABLY will be lousy!

Your barrel grove diameter is PROBABLY much larger than either of those commercial cartridges with their .459” bullets. I suggest you slug your barrel.

My shooting buddy’s M’73 has a groove diameter of .461” . . .as does my M’88 . . . and shooting Black Hills ammo resulted in KEYHOLING at 100 yds.

I handloaded his empty brass with my .461” dia. bullets and all was “hunky dory!”

[Major Tom]

You should reload your brass. Get one of those reloading kits from Lee where you use a hammer to resize and prime. they are inexpensive. You can reload smokeless powder and lead bullets.