(At which someone took a LOT of pictures, I hope they post the damned things soon!) which I shot with the 45-70 barrels, not having the ammo count for the match in 500 nitro, I put on the 500 barrels and let another couple guys shoot it. There is an amazing grin associated with big rifles, even if you’re not a recoil junkie like me.

So I used a pullthrough while I was there, and tonight sat down to give both barrels and the receiver a good and thorough cleaning.

I have a one piece wooden cleaning rod I have made specific to the purpose, not liking to think about metal on metal in the barrel, even though my portable cleaning rod is brass.

Scrubbing the doubles and looking down them to see clean, perfect rifling is a very satisfying thing. Parking them in the case and then sliding it back under the bed is like stashing away a thick pile of silver certificates. I certainly sleep well when it’s there.