My Uberti /Colt 1883 Burgess carbine arrived today , sweet little rifle , anyone have any tips or tricks for a new owner . Especially when to come to shooting cast It will be on a strictly cast boolit diet , Well maybe a little factory fodder to try it out .
A couple pics if this works
Https://photos.app.goo.gl/ymPsaDzQCdfhiVAH6
Sweet! What caliber is it?
NRA Life Member
Amvets life member
45 colt
That is a beauty! Sorry, no tips or tricks - I'm just enjoying the eye candy.
"Truth is treason in the empire of lies" Ron Paul
That is one sweet looking lever gun. I hope it shoots have as good as it looks for you. Were it mine I would polish the bore up with some JB Bore paste, then shoot my boolit of choice in it. GF
While I wait to try out the new rifle I got antsy and slugged the bore . .450 groove and .442 on the lands . My other Uberti 45 cal is my 1858 carbine, it is .450x.444 . At least they seem consistent.
For a .45 colt, I would suggest a rnfp 250 or 255 grain sized .452 with 8 grs of unique. I almost got a Burgess last summer my lgs had one on consignment cheap but I passed on it.
I was able to handle a couple of original ones but it was a loooooong time ago - probably close to 50 years ago - an interesting rifle with an interesting history. Have no experience with shooting one but I hope you'll let us know how your's shoots! Your photos show a mighty fine looking lever gun! Enjoy and have fun!
Just curious - how do you like your Uberti 1858 carbine? I always wanted one so picked up a new one this past winter - got a conversion cylinder from Taylor's and will eventually add a Uberti 1858 Remington .44 to use the cylinder in. I love the 45 LC as well as the Schofield cartridges - fun to load - fun to shoot - and love the history of 'em!
The 1858 carbine is my first cap and ball so there has been a learning curve , getting ok plinking accuracy but still have some fine tuning to do , sure is a lot of fun thoughOriginally Posted by bedbugbilly
Are these still being made?
I am shooting one of these in CAS. Loading Lee’s 200 TL RF ( unsized is 453 diameter) with 4.9 700X. And of course lyman’s 454190 with 9 grains unique is my factory substitute. With 454190, it fits so tight sized to 454, just the normal crimp on the ogive keeps bullets from pushing in. I got mine used from a colt factory employee and didn’t get a manual ( I did ask if colt was maybe thinking of producing it. He said no). I like the rifle but I don’t believe they come apart easy for cleaning ( I have shot mine now for 2 years and probably 1000 rounds of cast bullet reloads). So just this last time I shot spray cleaner in the action and let it drip out upside down. I’ll clean with pipe cleaners and oil for next time. I may take the stock off some time in the future to clean better. I tried taking the lever off but about lost a spring and ball that holds the lever up so I abanded the idea of taking the bolt out.
Dr Ducati both Taylor’s and Company and Cimarron list the Burgess on their website
So I ordered one of these now from Dixie GW. Supposed to arrive tomorrow. Mine is in 44 WCF.
K, I know someone will find this useful....
How to properly disassemble the Uberti Colt-Burgess, article on page 56:
http://www.sassnet.com/Downloads/10e...10octchron.pdf
Congrats on the new rifle and thanks for posting the article , quite informative
Thanks so much!
I think that the Burgess is one of the most attractive lever action carbines ever made. It's no wonder that it made Winchester so nervous.
It's not a very strong action, so factory velocity loads should be your limit.
A 250 grain RNFP with 8.5 grains of Unique will do nicely. (Or maybe 8.2 grains of Universal)
Your muzzle velocity will be around 1075 FPS, so it's really an 80 yard woods rifle suitable for whitetail maximum. Sighted for an 80 yard zero it will be about 2" high at 50 yards and about 3" low at 100 yards.
If you were not aware, Accurate molds has a nice catalog. The 45-250B appeals to me.
The .3" nose length is correct for feeding.
I agree about the looks of the Burgess, the more I check out my copy the more I think it was a shame that colt stopped making levers. They were off to a good start . What I would give to be a fly on the wall in some of those board rooms back then. After buying out Whitney Winchester would have been familiar with Burgess and his talent , Colt was to big for them to buy out , I bet they were sweating . Now if it had been a couple years later and Whinchester had John M Browning aboard they may have not been as concerned . All history now but sure fun to speculate .
I wish I had a 73 clone to go out and shoot with the burgess it would be fun to compare. I do have an 1860 Henry and a 92 clone , shooting all three one day is in my plans .
Thanks for the load tips , an 80 yard deer rifle is going to cover 90% of the shots I make here in North Western Ontario . So not much of a handicap . Taking a deer with The Burgess is something I would like to do.
I find the springs on the Burgess very weak. When I pulled the mag tube end cap, prepared to keep the spring from shooting out, it didn't even move. There was light spotting of orange rust in the tube. I oiled it up and substituted a new spring from Wolff Springs. For the carbine, it has to be cut short, but it makes a big difference. I may need to replace the mainspring also.
Posting Permissions
| BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
| BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
| BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
| C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
| HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
| PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
| LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
| GC | Gas Check |
Reply With Quote