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Yesterday I visited with Bill Hanus on the phone for nearly an hour.

I shared with Bill my ideas about the Marlin 90 in the 16ga , 20ga ,28ga
He was very intriuged with my idea concerning this paticular choice of game gun to replicate.

Bill was very knowledgable about the Marlin 90 and said I was on the right track that this shotgun indeed had the weight , balance and pointability that made it a wonderful shotgun , and shared a story with me of a friend of his that shot competition with the Marlin 90 and that gun alone and was very sucessful with it during that time frame .

I also shared with him my idea of producing the 3/4 OZ - 1OZ wad and what I have already found out and am pursuring further , Bill also was excited with my choice of wad and told me that I need to explore the aspects of producing the loaded ammo in my favorite load ( I didnt know till I looked at his website that he was a fan of light charges of small shot at High Velocity, like I am ) the load that was proposed was one from 3/4 OZ to 7/8 OZ of not larger than # 7 1/2 thru #9 of Nickle plated or hard shot @ 1400fps or faster, My choice of weight .

Bill told me that if I were to pursue the ammo of this quality that he was going to propose a Joint Venture with me and lend me his name and network , with him marketing my gun and ammo if I would like for him to do so. I said it sounded like I had better get to work on my end for this is the kind of endorsment that I needed to help me make a decision to proceed with my ideas.

I proposed a 26 gram load and he said you have the right idea well I will have to work up the loads and get the data published for I intend to use Rex powders for propellant and will have to get data to go with the wads , I have made my mind up about the design for the wad it will be based on the Win AA after all with some changes made , double powder migration ring for starts , taller center section for the loading of 3/4 OZ loads ,

I have studied all of the wads available and such as the Gaulandi I prefer but I give much thought to the crush section ( I want this wad to be able to load 3/4 OZ - 1 OZ and most of the wads out there are too stiff when wad pressure increases these want to rebound too readly ) the AA will compress enough to accomodate the larger shot charge ( I HOPE ) I know we will be able to get 7/8OZ out of it .

I will change the base to accomodate the avalible hulls ( straight sided hulls) decrease the pedals to hold exactly 3/4 OZ charge and perhaps incorporate the break away pedals , not sure yet. WHAT DO YOU GUYS AND GALS THINK ???

Bill told me that the ammo is what would make him jump for joy , he said that he would include a case of this ammo with every gun sale , also that he would not be interested in the wad to sell , stating that he sold guns and shells and was not into the reloading side .

Later on that day I called Precision Reloading in South Dakota and visited with them and shared the info on the call with Bill Hanus , I found out that these folks will pressure test my loading data and said that if I get the Mold going and start kicking wads out that they would like to be the distributor for the wad , hmmmm looks like things might just work .

Later on that evening I visited with My buddy the Mold maker and found out the 8 cavity mold that we visited on would only run 24 parts per minute not enough to make cost effective at $ .035 too much money per part so balancing out the size of the mold to the 5 OZ weight limit of the machines ( the molder has 3 oz and 5 oz machines ) we will have to double the cavity of the mold plus in order to get the price down .

Now this is the delima by doubling the number of cavitys this increased the price of the mold by 33% well just a rough figure it will take nearly 3 million wads to cover the price of the mold alone, now we are going to see if we can increase the shots per Min and crunching # to get exact figures but for now that is ball park figure. ( will have to know exact weight and configuation , some parts run faster than others and need to make the simplest design that will meet our needs and run Fast LOL) so untill we have all the variables worked out will not know exact numbers so you will have to bear with me for now .

The Molder and Builder said that I need to build a single cavity and run to test and see if the part will meet requirments so more enters the equation (Smiling, always something else to do or consider )

I will post more when things go to happening

Oh we will be meeting with one of the ammuniton companies in the near future about running the loads just to let you know how we are approching it .

Regards Charles

Member Joined: 09 Aug 2004 Posts: 401 Location: Tennessee

Charles, have you talked with the folks at Graf's concerning marketing your wad? Their pricing is generally better than other dealers plus they do not eat you alive on shipping and 'handling' charges. Just a thought.
Bill
PS - I can't speak for others but I would love to see a reasonably-priced 3/4 or 7/8 oz wad.

Hello Bill:

I know Mike real well and have visited with him on the 16ga and I will be visiting with him in the next month or so , I want to use his Rex powder in the loads if I can get all of the ducks in a row.

Keep your fingers crossed that I can get everything going and can have some efforts from others this is a tall order to get all done by myself , but I am working on it and I would love to get a low cost wad such as this on the market for everyone including myself ( Hey I want this wad for myself to shoot )

Thanks for all the suggestions and help I do appreciate it .

Regards Charles

Guest

I purchased one of my Citoris from Bill Hanus. It was a good transaction and I got a great gun. Good luck with your endeavor, I truly hope you get it up and running.

Hello Charles,

Have you been in touch with Kevin from Downrange Manufacturing? Search this site for his number. It might be worth a call.

Member Joined: 26 Apr 2005 Posts: 743

Speaking of Marlin 90's, any of you fans ever see the "Skeetking" version? It's advertised in my old Shooters Bible, in 410 as well as 12-16-20. (In fact, the catalog does not show the standard Model 90 as being offered in 410). Wood, engraving, and barrel boring were the major difference--no rib on the Skeetking either. Double trigger, just like the field gun. Nearly twice the price, in my old 1940 book.

Member Joined: 28 Oct 2005 Posts: 665 Location: Louisiana

Yep, Larry. The cosmetics of the 'Skeetking' are certainly different from the production models and the barrels were bored and regulated for, as you would expect, skeet. I couldn't discern much difference in internal finich or fitting.
The handling characteristics of the 'Skeetking' however do not seem to be sigificantly improved and, in the case of 'upgraded' wood, slightly modify the weight profile.
There were some production models with minimal 'engraving'--very poor minimal engraving. In a much earlier post gg and I discussed this and my comment about the 'setter' Marlin put on the 90 was to the effect that it looked more like a pig to me.

Hello Larry and Woodcock:

If you want more info on the Marlin 90 , I know a guy that is a big time collector in WI that would visit with you on the phone and he has a bunch of skeet kings in all guages and factory ribs to boot he also has the roll engraving die and much much more . let me know if you want his phone # , he is in his late 70s and used to shoot lots of competition .

Let me know if your interested I have learned alot from this gentleman.

Regards Charles

I called Bill Hanus today to update him on the status of things in the works , The last time I visited with him , I told him that I would call him again when we were cutting metal on the mold .

We visited on the wad , shells and the Marlin 90 , he ask if we could put the wood that he would furnish on the guns ? I told him that we would have no problems there and discussed other attributes of the proposed Marlin 90 Replica.

I also am receiving a letter of " INTENT TO DO BUSINESS " with AA PRECISION / SPORTING CLASSIC'S from BILL HANUS BIRDGUNS.

As soon as we get a little closer to the production mold running, Bill is going to do some articals and advertising on his site for the pending loadings and all offerings concerning the wad.

Just to keep you all updated on what is going on .

Regards Charles