Winchester 1873 made in 1883

[prsman23]

Had to show her off to folks who might appreciate her. Just picked her up at auction today. Came with a letter from the Cody museum. Can any winchester folks tell me if I did ok? I'm not a buff on correct parts and screws etc. I was hoping for an all original. Anyway. Her she is!

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/19/1fd9f5857dc1d481894c802ee8bdf7ad.jpg

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/19/30411d3172b0bc4c989c9c741923c028.jpg

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/19/cbb762fa546c8603e214b515cce084f2.jpg

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/19/fa51c429ae98d4e15867ce77264d002a.jpg

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/19/5d4e8ef331701b70b9f312828dfd61ba.jpg

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/19/a71c3ac0171a4e11af2c7f63dc0d7280.jpg

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/19/c5d1c80afbf7a23f0c5fa4353c753c06.jpg

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/19/ef0bde0626e3364ca6019c291b1d20dc.jpg

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/19/a527d5f15e1069bb9174400b03b6a240.jpg

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/19/b1a4f437bc32d0addc505c005dd49ae1.jpg

44-40 octagon barrel.

[prsman23]

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/19/11abfc70a7090db51d77c24b0d1eed67.jpg

[John Allen]

That is a beauty. It is one of the guns on my wish list also. Someday.

[historicfirearms]

Awesome gun. I love how the brass parts take on that patina.

[pworley1]

Very nice.

[TXGunNut]

Nice. Wish it could tell us what it's been up to all these years. Anything interesting in the Cody letter?

[prsman23]

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/19/707c13747b5f25d25614ad0c59d1e207.jpg

[longarm85]

is the front sight backwards?

[fouronesix]

Actually the rifle looks all correct to me. Of course most were taken apart at one time or another and usually show a few buggered screws- common and not too much worry. Most but not all '73 carrier blocks after about 1880 should have a caliber marking- can't really see it in the photo. The carrier block looks possibly to have been cleaned at one time- but hard to tell in the photo as it as regained some patina. Usually, the "A" suffix to the serial number is simply an "assembly line" designation where both line "A" and line "B" were in operation at the factory when this gun was assembled- common during heavy demand/production. This rifle was run through line "A".

The sights look original also. The front sight is called a "Knife Blade" but hard to tell for certain and is mounted in the direction most commonly seen. It was quite common for the sights to be changed out during the lifetime of these rifles and the sights could very well be the ones original from the factory- a good sign. There is a good amount of thick patina (old thin surface rust) to the metal so that shows the metal was probably never cleaned or stripped, at least not recently. The wood also looks correct for the age and appears to have never been sanded if at all. The wood remains even with or sightly proud to all the metal.

If it has a decent bore that would be a huge bonus. But all in all, looks to be a nice, original, un-molested '73.

[Speedo66]

I was under the impression the front sight was a "rocky mt." sight. I thought they were aftermarket.

Overall, it looks in nice condition. The main thing is, are you happy with it? That trumps everything.

[prsman23]

Yes very happy. I wonder if I got an ok price on it. Does anyone know what these are going for? Just hoping I didn't pay too much. I know what the book says, just am out of touch with the market.

[yooper]

Looks as correct as it came from the factory IMHO. As for the caliber markings, they weren't used on 44 caliber guns until the 150-160,000 range and even then only occasionally. Caliber markings were found on most all Model '73's by 300,000. Many today are found missing the dust cover and/or lever latch - yours has both. Sights look proper. Wood to metal fit is great, indicating lack of sanding. I've seen guns like yours sell in the $1700-2200 range BASED ON A COUPLE PICS. It's a nice standard M73 that's nice enough to display yet not so nice you'd be afraid to shoot it, a lot like mine. And it's a LOT more gun with more pride of ownership than the guns being passed off as Model 1873's today. Congrats.
yooper

[OverMax]

Screws all look period. Got yourself a pretty good look'in 73 there partner. yes indeed Very Nice.

[fouronesix]

I was under the impression the front sight was a "rocky mt." sight. I thought they were aftermarket.

Overall, it looks in nice condition. The main thing is, are you happy with it? That trumps everything.

Winchester offered a large number of "factory" sight combinations at that time.
Pic of Rocky Mountain vs Knife Blade.

[3leggedturtle]

Really nice, always wished guns like this could talk.

[prsman23]

Winchester offered a large number of "factory" sight combinations at that time.
Pic of Rocky Mountain vs Knife Blade.

Very cool. What book is that?

[fouronesix]

I have several books that cover old Winchesters. Two I'd recommend. For general coverage- "The Winchester Book" by Madis. For details on the '73- "Winchester Lever Action Repeating Firearms- Vol I- Models of 1866, 1873 and 1876" by Pirkle.

The pic is from Madis' book.

[prsman23]

I ordered the pirkle book the other day. Should have it tomorrow. I'll try to find the madis book. Thanks!

[Speedo66]

Winchester offered a large number of "factory" sight combinations at that time.
Pic of Rocky Mountain vs Knife Blade.

Excellent, thanks for the clarification. Mine had the rocky mt. sight when I got it. I thought it was aftermarket, but I see it was offered as a factory option. Definitely good to know.

[Snow ninja]

Beautiful firearm, thanks for sharing. Maybe one day...

[clum553946]

Great looking rifle, congrats!

[missionary5155]

Greetings
As said nice 1873. And to know a little history adds to the nice historical rifle you are entrusted with.
I was stunned the "letter" did not have the caliber. Ussualy the model 3's had the caliber on the lifter. That is interesting unless your rifle is a 44 WCF and a lifter from the model 2's was somehow still laying about and was used.
You will have years of good service. Remember this is a "weak" design action that is 130 years old and needs to be fed ammo that does not surpass the BP pressures it was designed to handle. There are many good safe loads listed for your rifle's caliber. Do not exceed them. You can easily damage the toggle lock up.
Mike in Peru

[prsman23]

Greetings
As said nice 1873. And to know a little history adds to the nice historical rifle you are entrusted with.
I was stunned the "letter" did not have the caliber. Ussualy the model 3's had the caliber on the lifter. That is interesting unless your rifle is a 44 WCF and a lifter from the model 2's was somehow still laying about and was used.
You will have years of good service. Remember this is a "weak" design action that is 130 years old and needs to be fed ammo that does not surpass the BP pressures it was designed to handle. There are many good safe loads listed for your rifle's caliber. Do not exceed them. You can easily damage the toggle lock up.
Mike in Peru

Thanks Mike. It's a 44wcf and I just got a book I'll likely dig into and see all the gory bits so to speak.

I am a bit hesitant to shoot it so I'll be sending it to a reputable winchester gunsmith to check it all out. He bought a bunch of the old tooling from winchester a ways back.

I'd be interested to get some starting info for loads so I can stretch her out a bit when it's all said and done. Will any of the molds I have for 44 mag work ok. To be honest I'm not very familiar at all with the caliber and pressures this gun can handle.

[bigted]

BLACK POWDER ... this is the kindest thing to feed such a historic and sexy old gal. carefully pound a PURE lead slug thru the barrel to find out what she is for sure and then feed it soft lead just about .001 or .002 larger then what the slug tells ya. most 44WCF's that I have seen or heard of take around a .427 inch boolit. your hard cast 44 mag boolits will prolly be too large and definitely too hard.

I would glean info on loading and shooting this fine ol gal from the "BLACKPOWDER CARTRIDGE" section above this one as there be better heads hangin out there then mine for these fine old cartridges and the tricks to make em run.

really tho in the interest of taking care to load her rite and in the correct pressure levels ... I would heartily recommend using real blackpowder in it.

I never read your reply as to the barrel condition inside. how is it in a rating from 1 [being no rifling at all] to 10 [shiny rifling in full depth with nice crisp edges] ?

[MtGun44]

It sure looks right to me, but not an expert, just someone that has looked closely at a
bunch of these over the years.

Bill

[w30wcf]

prsman23,
Nice vintage Winchester! Thank you for the excellent pics.

Here is an excellent Winchester '73 book.

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o25/w30wcf/Leverguns/SCAN002.jpg

w30wcf

[rbertalotto]

Beautiful Rifle! I have a couple of its cousins........
"Saddle Ring Rifle"
http://images16.fotki.com/v369/photos/2/36012/13547848/P1260009-vi.jpg

Rifle
http://images16.fotki.com/v377/photos/2/36012/10611500/DSC_4382-vi.jpg

Love those "73"s