Got lucky with my .45 Colt

[Muddly]

Slugged her last night and she has a bore diameter of .446 and a groove of .452 on the dot. The force required to move the slug through the barrel seemed quite consistent. The barrel latch shows a nice bright burnish mark across the width of the lug.Excepting the bottom of the barrel flanking both sides of the extractor ( LOVE extractors), the barrel shows alittle light between it and the breechface. Cases look great and primers are flush. It grabs a piece of paper very tightly ( .004). The only issue is the crescent buttplate isnt quite deep enough to keep the carbine from sliding down on the shoulder during recoil. This leads to vertical stringing. Gonna see about an old style straight comb buttstock. The fake case hardening colors are very thin and given how much I plan on using her, wont last very long. I'm thinking about either " Frenchin" it( frosted white) or blueing it, but I'm not sure. The splined pins make me alittle nervous about taking her to pieces. She's an HX prefix, and a Gardner addresss. Is she a post Marlin take over, or a Remington? There's a R in a circle in the inside of the frame. I'm thinking about a .357 and a .30-30 barrel...

[Dinny]

The answers to your questions may be found in the FAQs. There's a list of all the serial number prefixes so you can track down the date of manufacture to a single year. While reading, take a look at the trigger modifications, they show how to disassemble the receiver. I was a bit nervous about taking one apart until I did it. It's easy and many here do their own triggers and repairs. If you have questions about it, let us know. One bit of advice I got was to order a new hammer just in case. I learned the hard way that you want to follow the instructions and go slow and test it often for pull weight.

With that being said, the 45LC Handi is one of my most favorite Handis. It's destined to be one of yours too.

Thanks, Dinny

[S.E.Ak]

A leather lace on pad does wonders. In truth it will french grey itself as the CC wear of and in a hundred years of regular use the barrels will brown themselfs

[gcrank1]

Colors are thin, but mine are still holding.......I wipe down after any handling with everything from simple 'Ed's Red, to Balistol, to WD-40. etc.
Lockup with a case in is more important than without, accuracy is the ultimate arbiter.
The crescent buttplate isnt supposed to be on your shoulder, but between the shoulder and bicep muscles with the arm pretty well out, though not all of us can do it so. I put TDC wood on my 38-55TM and UH lams on the SS-UH with scope and the change in recoil impulse was noticeable (to the good).