First, I love the 38-55 Winchester. It is really fun to shoot. Enough kick that lets you know it can do its business, but not punishing like the 45-70. On the negative side, Black Hills uses flimsy, crumbly styrofoam in their rather artistically period boxes and you spend time picking the white crap off the rounds if you do not want it getting in your chamber.
The rifle is nicely balanced and, once I made the typical H&R structural modification, very accurate. The structural mod involved placing a rubber washer around the the bolt that holds the forestock to the barrel. This serves to float the barrel and improves accuracy by 75% or better. Nearly everyone that has an H&R or NEF rifle does this and I wonder why the company does not make this cheap and simple modification.
The Lyman front sight is just like those that I have on my match .22's and it was easy to get into its use. The Williams rear sight was a different matter. It took me a bit to discover that I needed to unscrew the eyepiece to get to the screws that must be loosened and retightened in order to make windage and elevation adjustment. Since I have been spoiled by the Parker-Hale, Redfield, and other targets sights, all I can say for the Williams sight is that while they suck, they do work. I think that I may look into a tang-mounted target sight.
After 1/2 of a box of ammo for tinkering and adjusting, I had the old gal putting 10 out of 10 in the 10 ring with at least half in the X-ring at 100 yards. One round impacted perfectly dead center.
For $285 from Wally World, it is a fun gun with a lot of potential.
"Where are the pictures?", you ask. I loaned the camera to my daughter for a quick work project. It hasn't been to quick to return home. Pix when it returns to its rightful roost.
aj
<p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p089.ezboard.com/bmilsurpafterho ... ajcarey</A>
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