Bill Calfee
Gun Fool
Black Death
________________
CYA friends:
This web site is dedicated to the advancement of rimfire accuracy.
Therefore, I'm sure most folks interested in the advancement of rimfire accuracy might find the story of Black Death interesting, and maybe even educational.
___________________
I built Black Death about 10 years ago.
It uses an E Turbo action, well blueprinted, which started life as 12:00 ignition.
Death uses an .875" diameter Shilen ratchet, 23 1/2 inches long.
The stock is an old Lee Six, SPG.......
The bedding contains no pillars.
As a matter of fact, another Turbo action was used to mold the composite bedding.....not Death.
The MD is a standard HH/MD.
_______________________________
Death started out killing it....
Alan Bates, the original owner, won quite a lot of matches, including the St Louis PSL...
________________________
CYA friends, Black Death, in a way, is kind of a history book when it comes to some of the things that improve rimfire accuracy.
For instance:
Death has always killed it, even when he was 12:00.....
But, several years ago the ole Hawk and I purchased a new V-1 breech bolt apiece......of course 6:00 ignition.
So the thing laid around for some time, then Big Dog decided he would like for Death to have 6:00 ignition.
__________________
So one day Big Dog came to the shop and I fit this V-1 breech bolt to Death......I used the original E locking lugs of course, as they were blueprinted to the action.
CYA friends now keep in mind, that ratchet on Death is 10 years old.......
And keep in mind that Big Dog did some really good work with Death as a 12:00 ignition action...
But, look what Big Dog has done with Death since the change from 12:00 to 6:00 ignition.
He's won two of the three Triple Deuce events, and obviously the NC State 10-SHOT last Friday, by far the largest 10-SHOT event to date.
______________________
In other words, there's absolutely no question that Death is now a more accurate RFBR gun with 6:00 ignition than it was with 12:00 ignition.
And CYA friends it's hard to believe, but, there's still folks left today, that think there's no accuracy advantage to 6:00 ignition.
In my wildest dreams I can't imagine starting a new build today without 6:00 ignition....
______________________
Tuning........and MD's.
Black Death uses a standard HH/MD...............and that's it.
Obviously there are no ornaments on Death.
I feel sorry for new folks wanting to get involved with RFBR, and who turn to the internet for advice about barrel vibration control, and have to wade through all of the oddball "tuning" theories.
And I mean there are some double oddball theories out there.
___________________
A muzzle device is used to stop the muzzle of a gun barrel.
And once the muzzle is stopped, the muzzle device is never touched again.
Have any of you ever seen Big Dog twist the MD on Death at a match?
No, of course you haven't.
The only time the MD on Death may have ever been twisted, is if it got accidentally moved, so was set back to its original setting.
_____________________
I have to say this.....
One of the reasons that Black Death, and Mike Sherrill, have been so successful over the years, is because Mike doesn't screw with Death all the time.
Except for the addition of 6:00 ignition, which was most certainly an accuracy improvement, Black Death is today, exactly as I built him 10 years ago.
Your friend, Bill Calfee
__________________________________
The way you see Death in this picture below, is the way he looked 10 years ago when first constructed.
______________________________
One other point about how Death is outfitted now, as compared to originally.....
The only accuracy enhancement has been the addition of 6:00 ignition....
But, to assist in driving Death, Mike has changed to a Nightforce.....
Also, Death now uses an FF trigger......
Which by the way, Mike brought to the shop so I could make sure the transfer bar/cocking piece relationship remained the same after the FF was installed.......
CYA friends, trigger changes are not direct drop-ins.......
Since we use angled engagement surfaces, there's way to much variation for a trigger to just be "dropped in"....
Yes, every so often a different trigger will "drop in" just fine.....
But 90% of the time they do not, therefore must be correctly re-timed to match the original specs of the ignition..
_______________________
________________
CYA friends:
This web site is dedicated to the advancement of rimfire accuracy.
Therefore, I'm sure most folks interested in the advancement of rimfire accuracy might find the story of Black Death interesting, and maybe even educational.
___________________
I built Black Death about 10 years ago.
It uses an E Turbo action, well blueprinted, which started life as 12:00 ignition.
Death uses an .875" diameter Shilen ratchet, 23 1/2 inches long.
The stock is an old Lee Six, SPG.......
The bedding contains no pillars.
As a matter of fact, another Turbo action was used to mold the composite bedding.....not Death.
The MD is a standard HH/MD.
_______________________________
Death started out killing it....
Alan Bates, the original owner, won quite a lot of matches, including the St Louis PSL...
________________________
CYA friends, Black Death, in a way, is kind of a history book when it comes to some of the things that improve rimfire accuracy.
For instance:
Death has always killed it, even when he was 12:00.....
But, several years ago the ole Hawk and I purchased a new V-1 breech bolt apiece......of course 6:00 ignition.
So the thing laid around for some time, then Big Dog decided he would like for Death to have 6:00 ignition.
__________________
So one day Big Dog came to the shop and I fit this V-1 breech bolt to Death......I used the original E locking lugs of course, as they were blueprinted to the action.
CYA friends now keep in mind, that ratchet on Death is 10 years old.......
And keep in mind that Big Dog did some really good work with Death as a 12:00 ignition action...
But, look what Big Dog has done with Death since the change from 12:00 to 6:00 ignition.
He's won two of the three Triple Deuce events, and obviously the NC State 10-SHOT last Friday, by far the largest 10-SHOT event to date.
______________________
In other words, there's absolutely no question that Death is now a more accurate RFBR gun with 6:00 ignition than it was with 12:00 ignition.
And CYA friends it's hard to believe, but, there's still folks left today, that think there's no accuracy advantage to 6:00 ignition.
In my wildest dreams I can't imagine starting a new build today without 6:00 ignition....
______________________
Tuning........and MD's.
Black Death uses a standard HH/MD...............and that's it.
Obviously there are no ornaments on Death.
I feel sorry for new folks wanting to get involved with RFBR, and who turn to the internet for advice about barrel vibration control, and have to wade through all of the oddball "tuning" theories.
And I mean there are some double oddball theories out there.
___________________
A muzzle device is used to stop the muzzle of a gun barrel.
And once the muzzle is stopped, the muzzle device is never touched again.
Have any of you ever seen Big Dog twist the MD on Death at a match?
No, of course you haven't.
The only time the MD on Death may have ever been twisted, is if it got accidentally moved, so was set back to its original setting.
_____________________
I have to say this.....
One of the reasons that Black Death, and Mike Sherrill, have been so successful over the years, is because Mike doesn't screw with Death all the time.
Except for the addition of 6:00 ignition, which was most certainly an accuracy improvement, Black Death is today, exactly as I built him 10 years ago.
Your friend, Bill Calfee
__________________________________
The way you see Death in this picture below, is the way he looked 10 years ago when first constructed.
______________________________
One other point about how Death is outfitted now, as compared to originally.....
The only accuracy enhancement has been the addition of 6:00 ignition....
But, to assist in driving Death, Mike has changed to a Nightforce.....
Also, Death now uses an FF trigger......
Which by the way, Mike brought to the shop so I could make sure the transfer bar/cocking piece relationship remained the same after the FF was installed.......
CYA friends, trigger changes are not direct drop-ins.......
Since we use angled engagement surfaces, there's way to much variation for a trigger to just be "dropped in"....
Yes, every so often a different trigger will "drop in" just fine.....
But 90% of the time they do not, therefore must be correctly re-timed to match the original specs of the ignition..
_______________________
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