Uberti 1873 Accuracy?

[Michael J. Spangler]

Hello guys and gals,

Just wondering if anyone here can tell me what type of accuracy they’re getting with their 1873?
I’m running an 18” 38/357 and she doesn’t seem to shoot as well as my Marlin 1894C
The main problem being I like the looks of the 1873 and take it to the range more often.
A couple factors are I prefer the Marlin’s brass bead and rear sights (I hold up some front sight to make the longer range shots and take a fine bead for the close up shots) and I haven’t played with load development. I shoot a bare bottomed 358156 over 3.5 grains of bullseye and it’s always shot very well in the 1894 so I never changed.

My accuracy claims aren’t anything special, just being able to hit a 12” or so gong at 200 with about 90% success rate off of a set of bags. Seems the 1873 is all over the place.

I’m going to give the bore a quick scrub. I haven’t done that in a long time so maybe it needs a little cleaning.
I’m going to bring the Marlin out and do a side by side comparison.
Maybe the brass bead is easier to pick up than the blued 1873 front sight and helping with sight picture?
Maybe the 1873 doesn’t like that load?
Maybe my eyes have aged enough in the last couple years that I’m not shooting as good as 5 years ago with the Marlin?
Maybe the Uberti’s arent as accurate as a Marlin?
Maybe during changing over my dies I dropped the crimp back giving my inconsistent ammo? I’m going to try to rule that out with a labaradar this coming week.
Is my mish mash ofmoxed brass causing inconsistencies?
Any suggestions on variables I can work through?
Thanks for looking!

[veeman]

I'd be happy to hit anything with anything at 200 yards! Never shot my 73 to that distance, so I don't know.

[Boz330]

Everything you mentioned could be an issue not to mention all of them at once. 3.5gr of BE sounds a little light for that sort of distance but Lever guns aren't known for MOA accuracy.
I've just started working with a Uberti 73 in 45Colt at 75yd over sand bags and the best group so far has been just over 2". If I could get that consistently at 100yd I would be ecstatic. Many of the powders were more in the 5" to 6" area.

Bob

[Michael J. Spangler]

I agree the 3.5 is a little light but I shoot down to 2.5 clays under a 148 wadcutter. I just hold up more sight. That load Seemed to always do fine in the 1894 also.
I guess next week I’ll do a side by side with both of them and see how they shoot.
Then start crossing off variables.
Scrub bores before anything.
Shoot at 50 yards to take the poor sight picture out of the mix.
Maybe a little white paint on the Uberti front sight to help.
I’m going to grab some starline 38 special brass or sort through my mixed brass to make a matching batch.

[fecmech]

My experience with pistol cartridge levers is that it is not easy to maintain 3 moa 10 shot groups at 100 yds. Holding that 3 moa accuracy to 200yds is another much more difficult feat. I'm guessing you are using standard buckhorn sights which adds in even more difficulty. So to me 90% hits on a 12" gong is a bit of a stretch. I used to shoot a square 12" 200 yd gong (more area than round) with a tang sight and benched could generally hit 8-9 times on a calm day. Wind drift is a factor also as ballistics of that SWC are essentially the same as a .22rf. If you really want to see what the 73 is capable of mount a scout scope on the barrel and compare your groups to the irons. My 2X scout scope groups were always much more consistent than my tang sight groups.

[Ruts]

My miroku 73 in 357 won’t shoot well after about 75 metres with any bullet I have tried yet. 100 is ok sometimes, by 150 forget about it.

[Michael J. Spangler]

That’s disappointing.

Maybe I need to send the 1894 out for an octagon barrel and a case hardening job.

[Mistered]

ZERO experience with Uberti but a pretty fair 'novice' with levers in general - owned 'em all my life.
Typically however I have never heard any bad reports from owners of Ubertis.
Two things I have discovered with levers (pistol and rifle cartridge style) that really influence accuracy are loads AND sights.
I ditto the post about the 3.5 grain BE load seeming light. While this is a 'standard' .38 Special load (shot thousands of this load out of revolvers) BE is a little fast for a rifle and runs its pressure course fairly quickly. In a rifle barrel a round should have a slower powder to continue to create pressure until the bullet leaves the barrel. This is not to say it will NOT be accurate but maybe in one rifle and not another. Another thing I have discovered is pistol cartridge rifles (such as .357) prefer a heavier bullet such as 158 grain for maximum accuracy.
On to sights. While traditional buckhorns are about the worst - some are better than others but overall they are not going to produce the best accuracy.
I am a fan of receiver peeps and have Williams on all my rifles. There is no denying a peep is going to improve accuracy as a round aperture will naturally center a front sight and give a much better sight picture.
I put a Williams on my Henry BBB .357 with a front blade from a Winchester and my accuracy improved dramatically.
Unfortunately I don't believe you can put a receiver sight on the 1873 as its not drilled and tapped for it but you could try a tang sight which can be installed.
The target below is 50 yards with my 1966 100 year Commemorative Winchester 30-30 with a Williams rear and a gold bead front. The load is 12 grains of Unique with a 100 gr 'Plinker' bullet from Speer. I could never get this kind of accuracy with a buckhorn.


AND, FWIW if anyone wants an inexpensive alternative to the higher priced sights than many use on their Henrys a Williams 336 WGRS mounted BACKWARDS with the windage slider flipped around in reverse makes it work like it was made for it!

[Walks]

My old Uberti '73 Rifle will hold 2 1/2"+ at 50 yards resting both elbows on the bench. I used a Commercial Cast Magma 225gr RNFP with hard blue lube, sized .428dia over 7.0grs of Unique. Had a bit of Leading, but I must have shot 25,000 during my Cowboy Shooting days.

Never tried any other bullet on paper. Shot a lot of LYMAN #42798, RCBS #44-200-FN & #44-200-CM too.

I eventually got a 4cav LYMAN # 427666 and a pair of Lyman # 358665 4cav to keep up with my 2 kids shooting too.

[hightime]

I’ve had trouble too with my 1873 Uberti in 45 colt. I slugged the barrel . There was a tight spot under the rear sight. I have not had much luck with my own casting, but the .455 Remington swaged seems the best.

[DAVIDMAGNUM]

My miroku 73 in 357 won’t shoot well after about 75 meters with any bullet I have tried yet. 100 is ok sometimes, by 150 forget about it.

For the amount of money that they cost I would expect a 1.5MOA double your money back guarantee .

This may not be very scientific but....... my Uberti 1873 in 44WCF is pretty accurate . Two inch 10 shot groups at 100 yards and 4 to 6 inch 10 shot groups at 200 yards. I believe there are at least two things at play here. First, I have had 1892 rifles that were either finicky about loads or just down right inaccurate junk. They were chambered in straight wall cartridges. Uberti, Winchester and Marlin have all been spoken about on forums like this. Large or even off center chambers seem to be the culprit with 45 Colt, 44 Magnum and 357 Magnum . My 1873 Uberti and at least one other fellow that has one seem to be the most accurate/consistent with the Winchester dash calibers and a case full of the appropriate powder. In My rifle for the best accuracy my choices of powder are Swiss 2F, Alliant Reloader 7 and Hodgdon Trailboss. My choices of powder come from what the rifle let me know that it likes. Swiss 2F is a slightly compressed load, Reloader 7 is a 95% load density and Trailboss about a 75% load density. Small charges of Titegroup, Greendot, Unique and even Bluedot suffer past 50 yards.

[KCSO]

Same as any cast gun, they can be as accurate as you make them. Bullet to barrel fit , load development and then SIGHTS. I found that with my 73 I got to where the sight wasn't as sharp as it use to be and I switched to Marbles bead and a tang sight and went back to hitting a playing card 4 out of 5 at 100 yards. In the old days I did just as good with the patridge sights on my old Rossi 92. I have found that the 45 Colt rifles are not as consistent in bore as the 44-40 and the 357. My 73 favourite from the bench will run under 3" consistently with the right loads.

[Ruts]

My miroku 44 40 is pretty accurate with .429 bullets but my 357 leads quick with 358 bullets so I use plated 158 gr. Although factory s. And b. loads aren’t any better. It seems once the bullet goes off track it flys off worse and worse so I dont notice anything beyond my own shooting error at 75 but by 100 it’s clearly going awry.

[john.k]

I have a 'bad ole days' 94 in 44-40,and its quite accurate at 100,but at 200 ,bullets you think should work dont......I think slow twist stability is the problem,and 215gn FN seem to be better at 200 than the 250 RN type......I just use a casefull of trailboss with any bullet.............I once used big loads of 296 ,but the thin cases dont last,and I cant chase pigs anymore,anyway.

[35 Whelen]

100 yds.



This one is a 44-40-



All 200 yds-

21" steel-



24" steel-





300 yds-

36" steel-

This target was fired from a prone position and I didn't have a rest for the buttstock. I was pretty happy with it.



35W

[Michael J. Spangler]

UPDATE

So after taking the little Marlin back out and lobbing some lead at 200 I realized I couldn't hit much with it either. Some random shots but not the 8/10 I used to pull off regularly. It was fine at 50 yards, chasing golf ball to baseball sized rocks around.
So after wracking my brain I realized that there was a change that I didn't account for and wondered if this could make enough of a difference to screw up my load.
LUBE
I had been shooting a decent amount of coated bullets and also Carnauba Red lubed.
I had switched over to Carnauba Blue sometime last year and then once that was done I switched over to 2500+ or 50/50 from White Label.
Previously I had only used Carnauba Red. It was my go to and only lube for such a long time I never even though of the change.
I don't think the Uberti 1873 has ever seen C-Red at all.
So I'm going to cast some more and Hi-Tek coat them and cast some more to lube with C-Red.

Does anyone think the change in lube could throw me off?

The journey continues.

[sghart3578]

I stick with Alox based lube. Usually Lee Alox thinned 50/50 with mineral spirits. Applid in one light coat.

I was getting a lot of flyers with traditional lubes.

The only other lube I use is Tac-X in my LAM. No flyers so far.


Steve in N CA

[Larry Gibson]

35 Whelen

If you don't mind, what's your load with the 44-40 in the '66? I just picked up a nice '92 Uberti (Cimeron) in 44-40.

[bigted]

UPDATE

So after taking the little Marlin back out and lobbing some lead at 200 I realized I couldn't hit much with it either. Some random shots but not the 8/10 I used to pull off regularly. It was fine at 50 yards, chasing golf ball to baseball sized rocks around.
So after wracking my brain I realized that there was a change that I didn't account for and wondered if this could make enough of a difference to screw up my load.
LUBE
I had been shooting a decent amount of coated bullets and also Carnauba Red lubed.
I had switched over to Carnauba Blue sometime last year and then once that was done I switched over to 2500+ or 50/50 from White Label.
Previously I had only used Carnauba Red. It was my go to and only lube for such a long time I never even though of the change.
I don't think the Uberti 1873 has ever seen C-Red at all.
So I'm going to cast some more and Hi-Tek coat them and cast some more to lube with C-Red.

Does anyone think the change in lube could throw me off?

The journey continues.

YES. Lube is king for accuracy. Both to deal with bp fouling AND to deal with longer barrels where lube can run short on lubricity for the long run.

In problems resultant from change of any kind, go back to success and begin there. Any change has ability to change outcome in areas not immediately noticeable.

Go back to what worked.
Revisit the reason for change

Took me many years , off n on , to discover solutions to problems ... this is ... for the most part ... my enjoyment in the shooting sports.

Never encountered hard to figure out problems, till I began delving into guns and loading ammo for cartridges designed to shoot BLACK POWDER. My education really has changed me ... THANKS BPC's!

Still has same basics ... but subtle changes make huge outcome differences.

[Michael J. Spangler]

YES. Lube is king for accuracy. Both to deal with bp fouling AND to deal with longer barrels where lube can run short on lubricity for the long run.

In problems resultant from change of any kind, go back to success and begin there. Any change has ability to change outcome in areas not immediately noticeable.

Go back to what worked.
Revisit the reason for change

Took me many years , off n on , to discover solutions to problems ... this is ... for the most part ... my enjoyment in the shooting sports.

Never encountered hard to figure out problems, till I began delving into guns and loading ammo for cartridges designed to shoot BLACK POWDER. My education really has changed me ... THANKS BPC's!

Still has same basics ... but subtle changes make huge outcome differences.

Thanks bigted.
I’m going to go back to using the coated and lube some with C Red as soon as I run through what’s already in the Star.
I would be happy with the accuracy at 50 yards if I had steel to shoot. My club only allows steel at 200/300/500
I’m not much for shooting paper and need to hear that steel ring. I’ve been known to shoot hundred of 38s at that 200 yard steel in a sitting without getting bored.
I think I need to petition the club to let me set up swingers at 50.
Keep the suggestions coming please and I’ll keep the updates coming
Thanks again