Vintage lever rifles with receiver top mounted sights|Page 2|Winchester Sights|Forum|Winchester Collector

Ridge, I concur. Happily, because I like cast lead and rough bores don’t, the line of re-issued Winchester 73 models manufactured by Miroku for Browning are like the Browning labeled 1886, 1895, and 1892 guns made by Miroku from 1986 to about 1991, in two respects. First, they don’t  have any safety other than the original half-cock position of the hammer. Second, the hammer doesn’t rebound. ( Although rebounding hammers bother some folks more than me.)

Bottom line, my Model 73 Sporting Rifle 44 WCF and a carbine 357/38 are mechanically, cosmetically, and functionally identical to the original 3rd model 1873. And will shoot cast lead all day without a build-up. 

While we of the Southland aren’t troubled by over-intrusive State government, if anyone else should need a non-evil-appearing Urban Assault Rifle that can do business as required, my Model 73 will shuck and shoot twelve high velocity +P 38 Special 150 grain semi-wadcutters from its 20″ barrel at well over 1200 fs mv. Additional rounds can be fed into the gate without interfering with readiness. Post-engagement photo ops will not offend an average Grand Jury. 

Bill

You just mentioned Ben Lilly and TR in the same sentence.  Did you know TR met Lilly while on a hunt in the Louisiana swamps?  Roosevelt was the guest of the McIlhenny family on their plantation and wrote about it in a story published in a sporting anthology, titled something like Tales of Woods and Waters. He describes Lilly as an almost superhuman old man, impervious to discomfort and able to withstand almost any weather without shelter.

I know you wrote about Lilly extensively but thought Id mention it on the offchance the story slipped by. 

450 Fuller said
That Porter sight looks first rate. The Ross rifle was ahead of its time and quite popular in Canada, England and used in Africa.
The military version was used  selectively by some in WWI. Assembly and disassembly of the Ross rifle has to be done carefully; the design does not suffer fools gladly. Improperly assembled, a Ross rifle was indeed somewhat  hazardous to the user.
   

Sir Charles Ross and his rifle had similar personalities. Neither suffered fools gladly, as you say.

If you mis-assembled the bolt, you could fire the rifle with the bolt unlocked, scoring an “own goal” as the bolt came back through your head. 

The last words uttered by Sir Charles were to an attendant, immediately after which he rolled over in his bed and died:  “Get the hell out of here.”

My kind of Scot.