A chapter from my Smallbore Levergun journey

The above gun is one of the most homely, price point pieces of steel ever produced.  One of those guns that languishes in the used gun rack for months if not years.  An ugly duckling so to speak.  I would expect that none of you could name the manufacturer.  Bold statement because there are some pretty experienced and old shooters that could have received one as their first gun back in the '40-'50’s.  The picture came from Gun Broker.  The auction had a zero start and has been bid up to the astronomical amount of $77.  So why in the world am I talking about this rifle you ask?  Because I inherited one!

Going back to my Texas days, I flew BOS to DFW with a single gun case stuffed with two rifles, a Winchester model 74 and a Winchester model 52B.  Two rifles my Dad had in his youth.  The 52B I learned was a keeper and deserves its own write up.  But the lowly model 74 seemed to be an accident.  Absolutely no knowledge of it and it never came out for me to use as a kid.  Living outside of Boston, I had to live with my Crossman 760 which I still have.    

Fast forward to 2003.  I had been playing at Silhouette starting in 2000 and was hooked.  Bought my first NRA Scorebook in 2001.  The Texas gang was always looking for new frontiers to conquer.  I would learn Smallbore Cowboy was a recently added discipline.  After starting off shooting 1/2 scale animals with a scoped 22LR, now they started to work at shooting 1/2 scale animals with iron sights.  How could that be possible?  Madness I thought.  All of a sudden there was a new game and and it was all the rage.  1/2 scale animals but with a lever gun and iron sights.  One day as I was asking more stupid questions, a veteran asked me to list all the guns in my safe.  It was a short list.  He quickly pointed out the Model 74 was within the rules and was a “legal” gun.  Tube fed, no bolt action.  Excited, I busted out the Model 74 and brought it to the next “Smallbore Lever Action Rifle" match.

The yellow scores above were all shot in Texas with my homely Winchester Model 74!  A Grand Slam is when you shoot and hit all 10 animals in a row.  When you complete this for all 4 animals, you get a numbered pin and a bragging rights.  Yup, 10 in a row with a simple post and buckhorn sight.  Took me a few attempts to find the right sight picture for Turkeys but I figured it out and actually shot 14 that day.  I was too green to realize the accomplishment.  Now, 20 years later, I wonder if I should bring her out and see if it was young eyes or sheer luck.  

There you have it.  A sub $100 rifle shooting Winchester Dynapoints earned me three quarters of my NRA Grand Slam.  I convinced myself I needed a 39A like everyone else to get Rams. Read this link to learn more about that effort.   Later I had some feeding issues but it was a known issue. This youtube video fixed that. 

Moral of the story?  Don’t get hung up as I did on needing special equipment.  Sure, it would be nice to have a Rolex to tell time.  But a $20 Casio G-Shock will tell better time.  If you think you can shoot, bring what you own to a match, you might just find the bug bites. 

As always, send me an email if you want to learn more about local silhouette competition or just to get your name added to North East Silhouette Gazette newsletter which covers silhouette related activity at all clubs.