Pistolitus

B

Bill Calfee

Gun Fool
Pistolitus

CYA friends:

Had a long talk today with an old pistol shooter, Jerry Halcomb...............

JH has pistolitus...................

Actually, so do I............

Pistolitus is incurable.........................

Once you contract it, it's forever...........

________________________


OH, OH, by the way, the best way to keep form getting the pistolitus disease, is, never touch one of those pistols...........

In Jerry's case, he touched one, and now he's infected..........

___________________________


I'm going to re-barrel my #4 pistol with a Dan Muller, corrugated 8 groove, MI.............

Jerry is going to do the same using a Shilen ratchet.........

But, we're going to barrel these pistols using a unique method of attaching the barrel...........a lock ring.......

( if you say, "Bill, attaching a barrel with a lock ring is not new"......)

That is correct............except, the way I, and Jerry, are going to do it.

____________________________

I told Jerry today, that, as I proceed with my #4, I will post pictures, and movies..........

__________________________


CYA friends:

CYA is about advancing rimfire accuracy...........nothing else..............

Your friend, Bill Calfee
 
I've got it

Let me tell a story on how I was infected. I used to shoot every chance I got down at Ray and Donna Brown's Crosswinds Range. Bill had built a pistol that Tom Bradford shot as a rifle. Tom would always be at the top at any shoot he entered. I admired the rifle and how Tom would buy any lot of Lapua and kick your butt with that XP!
Then Donna got her pistol from Bill and she said shoot it if you want! I did and I was hooked. Now I have two and have my eye on another! Well, as I told Bill today, Lisa hasn't said NO!
Jerry
 
Friend Jerry Halcomb

Jerry Halcomb said:
Let me tell a story on how I was infected. I used to shoot every chance I got down at Ray and Donna Brown's Crosswinds Range. Bill had built a pistol that Tom Bradford shot as a rifle. Tom would always be at the top at any shoot he entered. I admired the rifle and how Tom would buy any lot of Lapua and kick your butt with that XP!
Then Donna got her pistol from Bill and she said shoot it if you want! I did and I was hooked. Now I have two and have my eye on another! Well, as I told Bill today, Lisa hasn't said NO!
Jerry
Click to expand...


Friend Jerry Halcomb:

Here's a picture of Donna Brown shooting her pistol..............the one you got to shoot....

It's most sad, as Donna's eyesight will not allow here to shoot any longer............

This picture was taken around the time of the ARA National, maybe at the National, and that year she won one of the targets with it.......about 140 shooters that year...

( by the way, if you look closely, you can see the little .775" diameter barrel I had just fit to Donna's pistol..............barrel diameter don't have much to do with rimfire accuracy)

So, she could shoot it, for sure.............and still could, but her eye sight won't allow it.............what a shame..

__________________________


Jerry, like I said when we talked, if I had ten XP's built, tested and ready for sale, they'd be gone by the end of the week.

They are, without question, the easiest RFBR guns to sell.......................all one has to do is shoot one.........then you got to have it.

Also, like I said today, I've been offered a price for my #4 that would scare you to death.......as a matter of fact, I'm probably foolish for not letting the fellow have it...............

But, I don't want to sell it..............cause I love playing with it..............

They are no hassle to shoot..........no rests needed............I can put it behind the seat of my truck, run down to the range in the evening, screw on the bi-pod, and have a ball shooting groups or running a card or two.............( and give Eley another C note too, at the same time)

When done, clean it, stick it behind the seat and come home...............

__________________________


The 6 groove Lilja, that's on my #4, will simply kill it in the calm.............but, it will not buck the wind like these modern trick rifled barrels do.

Oh, the Lilja will kill it in the wind too, if, I knew how to point it.....................

But, that's the problem with it not being trick......................these trick rifled barrels are so much more forgiving in the wind..........

Steve Tuner knew how to point it in the wind.............but I don't.

So, I want the trick barrel wind cushion..........so I can look good in the wind too.........

_________________________


Now, about the way we're going to fit these new barrels:

All we really have to have perfect, is the face of the action to be perfectly perpendicular with the breech bolt raceway...........

Oh, of course having a custom spec thread would be nice................but, these are factory actions, so they are warped as all factory actions are.

The bushing will simply float.............and the recoil lug will be centered by part of the bushing protruding past the action face.......

Then the lock ring will simply clamp things together..........

_________________________


One other thing............me dreaming again here:

I would love to be able to talk 10-X into doing a run of their triple lugs with a .900" x 16 TPI barrel tenon..........

9 x 24's are so popular today............

Then I'd fit the .900 with a lock ring..........which is the absolute best way, ever devised, to fit an accuracy barrel...

There are so many benefits to fitting an accuracy barrel this way..............( this is one of those last crumbs off of the accuracy table that we're going to get some day)

Your friend, Bill Calfee














AMMOTESTINGATTHENATIONALS2004.jpg
 
Last edited:
Friend JH

Jerry Halcomb said:
That's the one that reeled me in.
Click to expand...


Friend JH:

If you notice, I had to add a 2 ounce ring weight to the HH/MD for that little .775" diameter barrel.

The "exact center" of the Parallel Node is so far back from the muzzle on that flexible little barrel, that it actually required more MD weight to move it to the exit of the crown.

Back in the 90's, I turned a barrel down to a straight .600" diameter at 22 inches long for one of my pistols.....

I shot it in Indianapolis one time.......didn't win but ran in the top three....about 25 shooters.

I then put it on a sporter for Stanley Drake and he took it, about 10 years ago, to the NBRSA, Rimfire Group Nationals, in Louisiana, and simply killed the field with it.....

After I had profiled it down to .600" I re-lapped the bore.......

Point is, barrel diameter really doesn't have a lot to do with rimfire accuracy.

Your friend, Bill Calfee
 
Bill Calfee said:
Pistolitus

CYA friends:

Had a long talk today with an old pistol shooter, Jerry Halcomb...............

JH has pistolitus...................

Actually, so do I............

Pistolitus is incurable.........................

Once you contract it, it's forever...........


Your friend, Bill Calfee[/COLOR][/SIZE]
Click to expand...



Friend Bill,

Man, you got that right! I've had the disease for 28 years now, with no cure in sight.

I saw my first ones in 1985, at a silhouette match in Indy. This was long before any of them were made for benchrest. I resisted the urge to touch one for a couple of years, then Jim Dailey let me shoot his. First match with his XP, I only missed one turkey. The disease took hold, but it was a mild case. I was sure I could be cured of it, especially since my funds at the time wouldn't allow it. I shot my first rimfire 40x40 using his gun that year. Then Jim Lovejoy let me borrow his for the summer of 1988. The disease was terminal.

Next year, I finally got my own, ole #33. Absolutely the best gun I've ever had. Years later, in 2002, I was lucky to be able to buy number 8 from a PA shooter. Lucky because Ed Ledbetter told me about it and didn't buy it for himself. After I scoped it and installed it in a custom maple thumbhole stock, I used it for regular silhouette and the Runts. It still hasn't missed a target, and that has been 13 years of competition.

During all the BR-50 years, I never got one of those benchrest versions. Of course I always wanted one, and thought I would eventually get one, but having 3 good BR-50 rifles seemed to make an XP version somewhat unnecessary. Finally, I found one 2 years ago, ole #82, and man, it is a dream to shoot. It is so easy to set up and shoot.

Yes, I have the disease bad.


Friend, Dean
 
Old # 12

Man Bill I've got it bad too! I'm gonna show up at wabash at the end of the month (hint hint) hopefully big dog is also(hint hint)and I can rent #12 to shoot the state tournament.
 
Friend hot sticks

hot sticks said:
Man Bill I've got it bad too! I'm gonna show up at wabash at the end of the month (hint hint) hopefully big dog is also(hint hint)and I can rent #12 to shoot the state tournament.
Click to expand...

Friend hot sticks:

I suspect you'll get to shoot it one day..............I'd love to see Big Dog shoot it himself....

Be forewarned, if you do ever get a chance to shoot it in competition, don't freeze......what I mean is, when they call "Commence Fire", sometimes a shooter can all of a sudden do what I call, "turn serious".

Simply act like you did when you were practicing with it at Livonia.

With that #12 pistol, when they call "Commence Fire", simply turn it loose and let it eat.

Your friend, Bill Calfee
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom