Extractor modification

[Noz]

Has anyone attempted to modify the ejection on 60s, 66, and 73s by tapering the extractor to allow it to hold onto one side of the round a bit longer than the other thus throwing the empty off to one side a little rather than back in your face or other body parts?

[Mako]

Has anyone attempted to modify the ejection on 60s, 66, and 73s by tapering the extractor to allow it to hold onto one side of the round a bit longer than the other thus throwing the empty off to one side a little rather than back in your face or other body parts?

Yep, I did.  I had a spare because I used a .38 spl one when I was shooting .44 Colt with the smaller diameter rims in my .44spl 66s.  It's too narrow to make any difference.  The chamfer you put on the Port Side is really so small it doesn't shift the centerline enough.

What it needs is to have the elevator ("carrier") modified or even an ejector on the Port side to hit the rear of the shell between 7 and 8 o'clock.  I've thought about it as an aftermarket modification, but I didn't know if there would be any demand.

Do you think there would be enough interest?

Regards,
Mako

[Haggis MacGurk]

I actually like my '66 the way it is. It throws the brass straight up onto the brim of my hat, where most of it is held there by the pencil curl. When I restage my rifle, all the brass usually falls off into one small area, making it easier to find and retrieve.
Not something I did intentionally, just works out that way. Only downside is that the top of my hat brim has numerous small powder burns.

[Mako]

I actually like my '66 the way it is. It throws the brass straight up onto the brim of my hat, where most of it is held there by the pencil curl. When I restage my rifle, all the brass usually falls off into one small area, making it easier to find and retrieve.
Not something I did intentionally, just works out that way. Only downside is that the top of my hat brim has numerous small powder burns.

Haggis,
I too have a deep pencil curl on one hat and I get a lot of brass there as well.  The problem is that it works until it doesn't.  Try shooting a stage which has you shoot down out of a window, or up a bit.  That changes your position on the rifle and you may find the brass hitting the underside of your brim and then careening into the middle of your face. Ouch, and quite surprising!

I once had nine rounds still on my brim when the rifle was the last firearm used, I have a friend who often shows me how much he still has on his hat and is trying for the "magic" ten.  His brim has a deep "finger"curl instead of a pencil roll.

My summer straw has a deeper dip on the front and I lose a lot of brass because it lands on the brim them shoots off the front out beyond where the pickers are allowed to go and in some cases out a window or off of a precipice.  For those I wish the brass would eject to the Starboard Side.

~Mako

[Noz]

It seems to be mildly to moderately irritating to several people, me included. I have a bad eye so it's non use is not a problem. I had a 44-40 case land between my eyelid and glasses. First shot so it wasn't as hot as it could have been. Tried to get style points for it because I finished the stage with the case stuck. Tough posse, no points.

[Mako]

Noz,
Is there a market?  If there is I will work on solution.  I can think of a couple of ways to do it.
Regards,
Mako

[fourfingersofdeath]

I shoot a 38 Rossi when my rifles are giving me trouble (which seems to be always, teh Rossi is the cheapest thng I own and the most reliable). It insists in throwing all shells forward and well away from me. I just write em off now, given up about worrying about them.

[Noz]

Noz,
Is there a market?  If there is I will work on solution.  I can think of a couple of ways to do it.
Regards,
Mako

I have no clue. I think if I were doing it I would approach it as an intellectual exercise. Work the bugs out to my satisfaction and then offer it to the public. If it sells, good. If not you have the satisfaction of doing something new and well.
An example: My family, at one time, ran 350 cow-calf pairs. I invented a "calf puller" to assist a cow in giving birth. It is of the utmost simplicity and I offered it to a large number of manufacturers. None were interested because the price of the device would be so low there would be no profit possible. A few local people have them and use them regularly and swear by them, but they are all home-made at the cost of a couple of dollars.

[Griff]

I shoot a 38 Rossi when my rifles are giving me trouble (which seems to be always, teh Rossi is the cheapest thng I own and the most reliable). It insists in throwing all shells forward and well away from me. I just write em off now, given up about worrying about them.

That's an easy enough fix.  Take a couple of coils off the ejector spring.  Both my .38 Rossi's dump their empties right next to the shooter.

For the '73/'66/Henry shooter... just learn to sight and shoot with the rifle cocked at about 10-15º to starboard.   

[Mako]

Noz,
It wouldn't just be an intellectual excercise for me, I know two ways I could do it right now, but both would involve new parts on the order of the Carrier that Jack and Happy Trails came up with for .45 Cowboy Special and .44 Russian, or modifying exsting parts to the point that most people would probably prefer just buying a new one.

The reason I asked is that if I did it I would want to offset at least my R&D with a few sales.  I've sold a lot of small parts for firearms in my lifetime, this would be more for the fun of it as anything else. 

As far as a calf puller goes I have one hanging on the the rack in my truck .  It's the traditional one...I'm sure yours works better.

Later,
Mako

[fourfingersofdeath]

That's an easy enough fix.  Take a couple of coils off the ejector spring.  Both my .38 Rossi's dump their empties right next to the shooter.

I'll have to try that. Trouble is that I never actually plan to use this gun and it often gets called into service at short notice. I never clean it (I think I gave it a good clean a year or so ago)  but generally I just pull it out at the last minute, squirt oil over everything that moves, nip the screws up ( ask me how I learnt to do that ) and go shooting. After being the cheapest and most reliable gun I have ever owned I suppose it deserves a bit of attention.