Winchester .44-40 Model 1873 now in my care

[strobro32]

My mom had it sitting in her closet for the last few years. It belonged to my recently departed stepfather. The story is his father traded and old LA swamp rat many moons ago. The rifle sat over the mantel for as long as I remember. I don't think he ever fired it. The bore is shinny

I remember it being heavier when I was young. :)

I have a feeling my black powder reloading days are about to begin.

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[prsman23]

Good lord that's a pretty gun. Congrats and take care of her!

[Wayne Smith]

Full case of FFG and a 200gr Big Lube boolit is what I use in mine (Uberti, though).

[georgerkahn]

You are indeed fortunate to have such a treasure! I gave up on my decade-long quest for a 44-40 when I came across a Henry 66 Urberti at a show this summer. Not quite the same as your '73 -- cherish your step-dad's rifle! At least in my neck of the woods, they're just about impossible to find.
BEST!
georgerkahn

[DougGuy]

Dang man I would find a clone and shoot it, save this ol' girl and put it in a safe! It's GORGEOUS! And prolly worth a BUNCH too!

[dikman]

Beautiful! Be a difficult decision - shoot it or put it in a glass case.

[starmac]

It was built to shoot, I would not waste a minute on the decision to shoot or not. In fact if I lived in whitetail country, I would have noooooo choice but to put it to use.

[TXGunNut]

Awesome, thanks for sharing. By all means shoot it! When do you think you'd ever get another chance to shoot something as nice as that?

[roadie]

I would give it a good cleaning and inspection and start loading some black powder. That rifle was meant to be used.

[Speedo66]

Nice score. Has the original dust cover which is great.

How long is the barrel, looks like more than the normal 24".

[strobro32]

Thank you all. The barrel is about 28".

This rifle has been in my dreams of late. I look forward to learning how to slug the barrel, aquiring the right mold, casting bullets, making my own BP and reloading.

I have also been daydreaming of a wheel gun in the same caliber. :)

[missionary5155]

Greetings
If that fine looking 1873 was mine and it is mechanically sound I would load it up with some 3F and a 200 grainer of 40-1 sized about .002 under throat diameter. My worst 44WCF has a .435+ throat and shoots best with a .433 boolit from a Saeco 220 grain mold. Will easily hold minute of ground hog out to 50 yards. The better bores still need attention to detail, especially the throat diameter to be the best shooter they are capable of doing.
Do not be afraid to shoot it though. When up north there I get out flinters that are 1826 (a Hall breachloader) and some muskets that are near 200 years old. Have a 1780 vintage "Club Butt" that goes out crow hunting and ground hog thumping with swan shot. My oldest hunting cartridge rifle is a Marlin/Ballard 38-50 from 1870 that wacks ground hogs with no trouble. Then there is a 1866 50-70 Trapdoor that is a joy to shoot. So again if it is sound there is no reason to not to let it roar again.
Mike in Peru

[w30wcf]

Welcome to the forum. Beautiful example of the famous 1873 Winchester!:smile:
Ahh...28" barrel...4" over standard. I thought that it looked longer than the standard 24".
Thank you for that tidbit of information.

Here is a thread on loading b.p. in the .44-40 with a bit of historic information included.
http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,40683.0.html

w30wcf

[Gtek]

No kid, you'll shoot your eye out! Clean, inspect, slug, load, shoot, enjoy, about in that order. With some smaller enjoys in the middle.

[gmsharps]

That's a fine lookin rifle for sure. I picked up a 1873 in 44-40 a number of years back that had seen hard use but taken care of maybe to well. The bore at the muzzle had been wallowed out from cleaning and bullets would tumble at 20 ft. Tried a lot of different things trying to get it to shoot but in the end I had it lined and the work was done flawlessly. It now shoots so well I am using it more all the time. I carry it on my tractor and it gets to shoot things that need to be shot quite often. I am shooting smokeless but at the cowboy pressures and velocity with no issues. Good luck with yours you will love it.

gmsharps

[Rick B]

Very nice rifle. Appears to be unmolested, and a shiny bore. You are very fortunate. Tom at Accurate Molds has a big lube design that looks like it would work very well with BP. Once again very nice 1873.
Rick