That Smell

Humans are mostly creatures of sight but there are some sounds and smells we find very alluring. Some caffeine aficionados will perk up when they hear a pot of coffee perking. The same can be said if they smell coffee brewing. For gun guys there are other sounds and smells. Like the smell of fall, the sound of a whip-poor-will, the metallic sound of a lever action being cycled and the smell of leather.

Leather aroma might seem to be an odd allure for gun guys but at least us older gun guys grew up when leather, bulled steel and walnut went together like Lynyrd and Skynyrd. There’s nothing that smells like a single action in a fine leather holster. Nothing!

Lever gun lovers can enjoy that aroma too with a leather butt cuff. Not only is it practical in that it holds your ammo load or extra cartridges, when you ‘re shooting its right there at your nose so you can enjoy the full bouquet of leather mixed in with gun grease.

I’ve been shooting my Brockman’s custom 1894 in .327 Federal a lot lately and it is the rifle I’ll be deer hunting with this year. Now, before you start all that crap about the .327 Federal being enough for deer; trust me, I’ve conducted extensive terminal performance testing and Buffalo Bore’s 100 grain JHP load with a muzzle velocity of 1800 fps will impact at around 1400 fps at 75 yards, expand to about .40 caliber and penetrate to about 21 inches. SEE RESULTS HERE Nuff said on that.

This is a fast handling, 16 inch barreled carbine with XS sights and all it needed to make it perfect was THAT SMELL. I called up master leather craftsman Mike Barranti and asked him if he could make me a butt cuff to hold a full load – 8 rounds?

Now, I may not find that buck this year, and if I do, I might even miss. But one thing is for sure. Thanks to Barranti Leather, my rifle is going to look good no matter how it all sorts out.

If you like lever guns, like to hunt with them, or even just like to hold them and imagine you are a real cowboy, riding the range, wrangling cows and fighting Indians, I suggest you give Mike a call. He can hook you up with some fine leather kit and you can enjoy that smell wherever you carry your lever gun.

By the way, if you are interested in this rifle, a full feature article will be appearing in an upcoming issue of Rifle Firepower magazine.