I think I got a good deal on the gun anyway

[Jjed]

I always wanted a 1873 Winchester after shooting a friends original 1873, but at $1200.00 + for a uberti I didn’t think I would buy one. Stopped at a shop north of my place about 3 weeks ago they had a used uberti 1873 24 inch bbl in 44-40 asking price $599.00 talked them down to $550.00 and bought it, it has a few small dings in the fore arm and a small rust spot on the left side of the bbl, still it has great bluing and case hardening. Shot it using factory ammo from magtech, shoots great but at $45.00 a box I knew it was time to buy dies and use molds I already have. bought a set advertised as new on ebay when I got them the seating die was missing, so I emailed the guy, no response yet. Today the wife and I went to a flea market and a guy had a set of new RCBS 44-40 dies he was asking $40.00 looked them over and could see they where never used, clean as could be, got them for $25.00 get home to find out the threads on the resizing die are boogied up and didn’t want to go into the press (think I can fix them with a small file). With the two die sets I am loading and think I am going to enjoy this rifle.

[Sweetpea]

Nice!

Be sure to familiarize yourself with the quirks of the cartridge.

Careful resizing, and the proper boolit with the proper crimp go a long way toward 44-40 happiness.

Brandon

[Jjed]

Im still learning. any help would be appreciated

[blindeye]

Some RCBS dies were made for jacketed bullets only. If your's is that type it might be limited to about .428"-.429" bullets in the seating die. It can be opened up to accept larger dia. bullets; which you might find will shoot more accurately. I used to own a Uberti 1866 and pair of 1873's in 44/40 and they all did better with .431" bullets than any smaller dia. Tried Unique and Trailboss but went back to 2400 powder; not as economical but was always more accurate. I had a tang sight on one 1873 which was a big help with my eye sight. Haven't shot any 44/40 since turning to single shots almost exclusively, but since I still have 600 Starline brass and a conversion for my Dillon, I expect a single shot 44/40 is in my future. I liked the cartridge. If you're not set up to cast these bullets yet, the Oregon Trail Lasercast did well in all three rifles, which was surprising with them being so hard, yet not leading. .427" bullets weren't inaccurate, but accuracy improved with increasing bullet diameter. I had no problems at all with the Uberti's. I only used 200gr. cast bullets in them. They were fun to shoot. 200 rounds didn't last long at the range. I didn't try to see how fast I could push those bullets. Moderate velocity and pressure seemed like a good idea for longer brass life and less wear on the rifle. The Starline brass seemed a little thicker walled than Remington, but I didn't measure them.
Good luck.

[gmsharps]

Those are great rifles and the price was super. You will enjoy it. Just make sure the bullets are tight enough in the case so as to not get bullet setback in the case. There is some info on this site referencing this I'm just not sure where at this moment.

gmsharps

[veeman]

Be sure to get a Lee Factory Crimp Die. I use .428 200 gr. bullets over 4.5 grs of Trail Boss in all my CAS guns, very accurate loads. If I could hunt deer with my Uberti 66 here in Illinois, which I can't, I would go with 8.0 grs of Green Dot. Lots more umph but plenty safe.

[pietro]

.

Nice catch on the rifle !

Sometimes, it just doesn't pay to cut corners - a new die set would have cost the same or most likely less than whatever total $$$ + aggrivation you paid for the ebay & flea market used die sets.


.

[Speedo66]

Nice rifle! I have an original in .38-40 which is based on the same cartridge, just necked down a little. Mine is well worn; finish, stock, etc., but still operates well, and is lots of fun to shoot. One of my favorites.

Re: reloading. The cases are very thin walled, and bend easily, either stepping on them or reloading. Care must be exercised, as mentioned, a Lee crimp die does a nice job on them without excess wear and tear. I use Trailboss as these are relatively weak actions, and the bulky Trailboss powder prevents a double charge.

Good luck with your beautiful gun.

[runfiverun]

I use a 45 colt die to seat the boolits in my 44-40 brass.
the brass is thin and needs to be loaded gently, I have to open each fired case and take the dings out with a pair of needle nose pliers before I size.
be careful when crimping you can buckle the shoulder or push the case mouth down creating a ring.

[Jjed]

Thanks for all the help guys, tried 12 grains of 2400 with a 245 gr Lyman round nose mold and a Lyman 265 hollow point mold that shot even better. It shoots great, just a bit to the left need to adjust the sights, no problem there. I may take this thing hunting for deer season. The wife and I bought a gun safe from tractor supply today (had to use the tractor loader and help from my son and his friend to get it in the house heavy sucker). What do you guys use for dehumidifiers in your safe?

[helice]

Sweet color hardening. Beautiful piece. Can't help myself from liking the '73s.

[Hatiwolf]

is the thread stripped or just crushed etc?

[hightime]

Great price for a nice gun. I paid double that, but still I'm glad to have it.

Owen

[longranger]

Get a "Golden Rod" for dehumidifying might have to drill a hole in the back of the safe near the bottom for the e-cord,just big enough for the cord not the plug.Most safes have this hole already drilled near the bottom of the back might have a plastic plug in it,so look to see if it is there.They work excellent and take up very little room.

[Jjed]

Hatiwolf
Looks like the dies where dropped two threads are flattened a bit on one side I think I can clean then up with a die or thread chaser. Longranger the safe has a plug in the back for 110, usb and cat 5. But not thinking I bolted it to the concrete floor too close to the wall before putting the plug in now I have to unbolt it slid it out a bit install the plug so I can have power for the lights ect. Sometimes I move to fast for my own good. Still learning.
Thanks for all the replies
Jim

[IridiumRed]

Since you know what a die and thread chaser are, I'm already betting you're the sorta guy who can figure out how to fix those threads :)

I'm guessing that the damaged threads are in the first few threads of the die. Damaged threads are usually on the ends. To damage just a couple of threads in the middle would mean that it wasn't dropped on a flat surface, but something hard enough / tall enough to stand up high enough to hit the threads in the middle w/o touching the ends, and that doesn't happen nearly as often as just, say, dropping it on a (flat) concrete floor

So clean up those threads as you need to. And really, if you filed away at the damaged area of the threads enough that there wasn't anything left there at that spot, would it really matter?? I doubt it. The rest of the threads on the die would probably hold way more pressure that you'll ever put on it.

I work on motorcycles and cars a lot, and I've often cut bolts down, or had bolts with bad threads (and did both b/c I just didn't have anything else that would work). Whenever I cut a bolt down, whether by grinder / cutoff wheel / hacksaw, etc, I always thread a nut on FIRST. That way, after I cut the bolt, and clean up the threads with a file / chaser, I can back the nut off the damaged section, and if there are any "peculiarities" or rough spots, the nut will be the first to show me. If I can't back the nut off by hand, then I have more cleanup to do (this is especially important with a steel bolt in an aluminum housing / engine block - any roughness on the end will really chew up the aluminum threads)

If it were ME, what I would do is clean up the threads as best as can by eye, THEN take the die ring and start it on the other end of the die if possible, and run it past the damaged area. if the die ring goes by it, I'm guessing it will go into the press fine.... and if it doesn't.... just more cleanup work to do.....

Sometimes just a plain old marker is handy for finding a tight spot.... degrease the damaged area, mark it up with a marker, then run a nut over it. It will show u the high spots really well... the places that need work :)

Btw, sounds like a great deal on that rifle. I'll gladly take a few cosmetic imperfections on a rifle in exchange for getting it at half of retail!! Hope it works well for ya :)

[Jjed]

Thanks again guys, been useing the two die sets to reload and get the gun shooting, it's fun to shoot. i think it's a keeper. All the help with the thread's on the dies is appreciated.
Thanks Iridiumred.

[IridiumRed]

Thanks again guys, been useing the two die sets to reload and get the gun shooting, it's fun to shoot. i think it's a keeper. All the help with the thread's on the dies is appreciated.
Thanks Iridiumred.

Jjed, no problem at all :)

I spend a ton of time reading on this forum, and rarely ever post, so when I feel like I can contribute to a subject, to a good cause, I'm always happy to do so

Glad to hear you got everything working :)

Btw, how does it shoot? You shoot any groups, or just been plinkin for fun?

[jonp]

Great looking gun. If I was there we might have gotten into a bidding war over it

[Jjed]

Thanks again guys. You guy's make this a great site.
Jim

[TXGunNut]

Sweet gun, sweet deal. And a shooter to boot! Congrats!