136 year old new baby

[RugerOldArmy]

I've been wanting an 1873 Winchester pattern rifle all my life, and finally laid down the cash for it yesterday. Fit and finish was great. The action was slick, and trigger was nice for a levergun.

A new baby. Now the question is what do feed it. Its a Uberti 1873 Winchester in .357 Mag, a cartridge I don't reload for yet. I'm looking at dies and components.

This design is 136 years old, and the manufacturer is Uberti, which is a concern to me. Now, I'm not buying this kind of gun, especially in this chambering, for power. There is very little documentation that comes with it, and all that does, states commercial ammo only.

Can this design really handle standard .357 Mag full-house loads? There are no disclaimers. I'm assuming that 'cowboy loads' are more appropriate. From some of what I've read, this replica is so close that the vast majority of parts swap with originals.

There is a vast difference in the pressure between full .357 Mag loads and the original .44-40 loads.

Anybody have one of these Uberti 1873 Winchesters? What do you feed it?

 

[RugerOldArmy]

I'm rethinking this. It would probably be smarter to opt for this rifle chambered in .45 Colt (Long Colt), no?

 

[SundownRider]

I had one in 45 colt and loved it. It had a 30 inch barrel and was accurate all day long. At longer range targets, it became a game of artillary, but it as fun none the less. Like the cocking of a Colt SAA, or the raking of a shotgun slide, the 1873 WInchester has a wonderful sound all its own when you work the lever.

 

[RugerOldArmy]

Yep. I'm going in a half an hour, and opt for the .45 Long Colt version.

I had a dream I left the .357 Mag version to my older son, and he loaded it with full house Cor-Bon .357, with bad results. The original design was for .44-40, which was just 14,000 CUP. Full house .357 Mag is like 30,000+ CUP. Regardless of better metalurgy, or what the sales folks told me, I don't want to trust that toggle-link action too much.

Heavier bullets at moderate speeds is more my preference anyway, and I'm not looking for power from a pistol-cartridge levergun anyway.

 

[Eightball]

From my understanding, the parts will interchange with the original rifles; a guy I know that restores antiques said that he had to resort to this method to replace a rusted and worn-out screw once, among some other minor parts.

Post pics when you can.!

 

[RugerOldArmy]

Done deal, but due to the time I bought it, I still have to wait until tomorrow to pick it up. Silly 24 Hour delay.

One note, they didn't have the special sporting option in .45 LC, only the sporting version. (No checkering, and a standard stock.) More like this, but with a 24" octagon barrel instead of a 20". I'm kinda bummed about that, but still, it saved $200 (The crown of the 45 LC barrel looked better, on the plus side.)

I'll post pics, with my faithful brown dog, later in the week.

I'm feeling much better about .45 LC rather than .357 Mag in an 1973.

 

[rcmodel]

Keep in mind that hopefully, Uberti is using much better steel & heat treating then even Winchester had available to them in the 19th. century.

And the .357 Mag case-head is much smaller then the WCF calibers, so bolt thrust is greatly reduced, even at higher pressure.

I'm sure the modern clone is perfectly safe with .357 Mag ammo, or they wouldn't be making & selling them.

Still, if I had an 1873 clone, it would for sure be a big-bore 1873 clone!

rc

 

[RugerOldArmy]

rcmodel,

It's too late now. Not only did I have them switch the serial to the 45 LC, but I just dove in deep.

- 2lbs of Trail Boss
- 2lbs of Unique
- 1000 Starline cases
- 2K more Large Pistol Primers (CCI)
- Dillon Deluxe Caliber conversion (Toolhead, stand, powder measure)
- 45 LC Dillon Carbide dies
- 45 Colt Caliber conversion
- 1000 200 Gr RNFP (Missouri Bullet Co.)
- 1000 250 Gr RNFP

I had been waiting to pull the trigger on a levergun purchase for a while.