Here’s one for you Big Bore fans…32 caliber Sheridan!
picked this one up awhile back
it was the first of a very small number of Sheridan pumpers converted by Perotti to .32
modded the valve some per Perotti’s suggestions
pulls mid 800 FPS range on .310 round balls!
Looks kinda stock at first glance except for the valve screws
Hmmm…cocking knob on a Sheridan?
.310 ball resting in breech forward on the custom bolt…note the splattered round ball sitting on the box
neat rig, too bad someone doesn’t get with the program and start offerring a custom .308 on the Sheridan platform
has the potential to be nearly as effective as the Corsair in a self contained platform.
need to do a bunch more mork to this one but considering it was a test platform it is surprisingly powerful
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HA!
Why wouldn’t you? 😆
Haha I was just reading about the Perotti to .32 the other day!!!!!!
and I have several .308 AGs already
Shit, I bent the front end of a 70 Torino back to straight, you can deal with a soldered barrel! Or, a little heat might help…
I say don’t change the barrel as the .32-20 and a .308 are so close that slugs that drop from a “.308” mold are usually just right or require less sizing to work in a .32-20 than they do to go into a .308.
.308 barrels are not all the same and ledes are usually different, so you probably have different slugs for different barrels anyhow. You might not get any more standardization back for the barrel change than you have right now! I suspect you probably have the best projectile for that gun already though. I’d tweak the barrel and try to stay with the .310 ball…sounds like the best work to fun ratio to me!
yeah I thought some of you characters would enjoy this one
story behind it is Perotti traded it to B&A who had it at one of the AG shows where a fellow later purchased it and took it to the Yellow forum where Perotti chimed in and claimed the beast mentioning the barrel install defect.
the new owner was not so pleased then and slammed it up on the classifieds at a big loss for I think like $80.00 shipped
I lucked out as there were a bunch beating the keys to get it…
Steroids?
HA!
Jerry…barrels are hard soldered to the compression tube
and I have several .308 AGs already 😉
RS,
Thanks for the info. Maybe I’ve confused groove and land dimensions as I thought TOW was one of the .32s I was actually familiar with! Now that I think about it, I seem to recall sending someone .310 sized 80gr slugs for their TOW .32-20…. Don’t know if I ever got any feedback from that…
Have you considered working a jig and appying some “persuasion” to get rid of the warpage induced error? It sounds like a simple case of the sights or scope not pointing in the same direction as the barrel and thus there is only one range at which a given windage is true. You might be able to bend the gun back into alignment with the sights provided you go slow and are willing to spend time on testing, bending, testing etc… I don’t see how you’d be any better off with a .308 barrel.
Thanks Jim, yes I now remember the Benji tootsie roll .32 🙂
man that would be a cool shooter.
Walter….
Jerry:
yes the balls engrave quite well
my understanding is Perotti was using .32-20 barrel liners on his conversions
shoots Great, problem ccording to Perotti was when he soldered up the TOW liner to the tube it developed a very slight warp causing accuracy problems.
to be honest I have not really noticed a grave issue but it is there
thinking on bringing it to a good friend that retubes dbl bbl shotguns and have it refitted as a .308 with a proper barrel
how does it shoot?
takes some pumping but she does let off quite the bang
sight are currently set for the range from my deck to my dumpster back at my cabin and do about a 1/2 inch hole at about 40 yards
any further or closer tho and the warp comes into play…sigh
Powerwise its quite a cannon on a Dozen or more pumps
Perotti did a few conversions Walt
theres this one, his first that uses a 2 piece valve
there is also a later C type he did with a one piece valve and a early Benji that I know of
heard there was as many as 5 or 6 done total
What is the actual caliber? I’m sure there are many versions but I’m not faliliar with any .32s that are actually less than .310 lands… Does a .310 ball actually engrave? I couldn’t tell from the splat… Looks like a neat gun.
Thanks for the pics Jim.
IRIC James Perrotti only made one of these pumpers.
might be wrong on that but is how I recall it.
How does it shoot?
Walter….
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Jerry:
tweaked it some with a press and a laser bore sighter…its not bad now but not near acceptable to my anal retentive id on certain things
too get it better would mean flowing the soldered joints and at that point I am better off changing out the barrel with a far better one that’s threaded at the front end, for…well you get the idea 😉
I agree, not much difference cracked out of the mold prior to being hit by the sizer
give you an extreme example
years back Klein’s of Chicago used to rechamber the .310 Martini Cadet to .32 Winchester Special. Padre had one that beat my shoulder black and blue but it was damned accurate. Similarly there were/are adapters to allow one to run .32 ACP thru .30 bores
add to that as you noted there can be a great deal of variance in pre, {actually even post} SAMMI specs
gets real crazy on 19th century shit where you actually need to slug the barrel and size to groove
learned that many years back building and shooting Trapdoor Springfields before I was even 14 years old.
Understand I tend to go off on tangents, it’s my nature
I have had a love affair with Big Bore AGs since the early to mid 70s
yeah many many years, years before even Dennis took an interest in them
much of what is now offered is really half assed in my not too humble opinion, actually much of what was available to the discriminating Noble of the 18th and more particularly the early to mid 19th century was in many ways far superior to todays Big Bore AGs
still own a small number of high grade english Big Bore AGs as well as a few projects including a frozen Girondoni action that came out of a barn in Queerbec back around 77′
not a nose picking new comer to this by any means
in fact there are a few items in the Beeman collection that originally passed through my greasy palms 😉
my parents basement still maintains the results of my first exploit with a new to me .40 air cane
a concrete block with a neat hole through one side of it…
Heck I even still own an orginal Casselman I saved and saved to buy back in the day when he advertised in the back of Soldier of Fortune
must have been like 1980 give or take…
anyways will be starting a new thread in a bit just fer walt on another very vintage project… 😆