1873 Winchester 45 Colt rifle

[bigted]

So may just work out the funds for this rifle I have been wanting for awhile ... A 73 Winchester chambered in 45 Colt.

I have a very nice Winchester 92 chambered in 45 Colt and as nice as it is ... The chamber is huge. The fired brass will accept.458 inch boolit. As such I can not use the same rounds in any of my revolvers because of the need to load the 92 to be accurate ... Being larger boolit of a dead soft lead to work in the barrel.

Question I have is to the folks that own and load for the " NEW" Winchester 73. How is the bore and chamber measurements? Hopefully they will be of a measurement to accept either .452 or maybe the .454 inch boolits in the fired cases ... Or are they huge like the Miroku 92's?

[Wayne Smith]

Gotta specify a maker to answer that question.

[bigted]

" w i n c h e s t e r "

[bigted]

MIROKU ...Winchester that is

[Bent Ramrod]

You might pose your question on the SASS website. That model, in that chambering, was made for Cowboy Action shooters (by the Italians and by Miroku/Winchester) so they ought to have the experience and info you need.

[bigted]

Thanks Bent. Was just gonna comment on the lack of responses.

[w30wcf]

SAAMI specs for the 45 colt chamber have a + - .003 tolerance. So if a chamber was cut on the upper side of the tolerance well....my Marlin Cowboy will also accept .458 bullets. So, I just neck size and leave the rest of the case in its as fired dimension.

W30wcf

[Hickok]

I know that it is not a Winchester like you have, but I once owned a Marlin 1894 in .45 Colt. It also had a overly large chamber. Cases came out looking like a pregnant guppy. The cases were hard to resize due to being so out-of-spec. Sent it back to Marlin, came back still with oversize chamber. It went out on a trade.

[bigted]

Yes I also neck size my brass and thusly I need to keep my 92 brass seperated from ALL my other 45 Colt cases.

I don't want to have this for another rifle and this is the why of asking about others 73 Chambers.

Maybe now would be a great time to switch to the 44 WCF rifle. Sounds like a great cartridge with none of the filth blowing back in the action when shooting BP.

[Geezer in NH]

Ah, Winchester died long ago. So did the Japanese/whoever buy the name? What company? They would be better off telling their name than to rely on "Winchester".

[bigted]

Isn't it "Miroku" ? Colt did the same thing kinda with their cap n ball revolvers and the Italian maker ... Uberti ... I think.

[John Barleycorn]

.452 Dia. will work just fine. I have a brand new 24" Case Hardened Sporter I'm selling for $1375 plus shipping, jbarleycorn68@gmail.com if you are interested.

[bigted]

Well my 92 gave a gasping sigh last Saturday. Shooting some of my 300 grain boolit ahead of a charge of I'm 4227. Walnuted the barrel rite under the rear sight dovetail and split the barrel by about 1/4 inch rite in the dovetail.

Now waiting for the motorcycle to sell so the funds are available for a NEW Winchester 44 WCF rifle. Gotta begin collecting the 44 stuff.

Dingy 92 has been a pain since I traded into it. Maybe I could find a 44 WCF barrel and have it rebarreled. That would work for me.

[Wayne Smith]

Since Winchester never chambered the 1873 in .45 Colt it's gotta be another maker! In fact, historically, the .45 Colt was never chambered in rifles because of it's small rim. It's only in modern times we see such chambering.

[John Barleycorn]

I hate semantics. Yes its a Winchester, and it's made by Miroku, same as Brownings made by Miroku are still Brownings.

[Randy Bohannon]

I read years ago a SASS gunsmith had said that lever action rifles in 45 Colt needed the big sloppy chambers to aid in feeding.This would be true given what I have heard from virtually everyone who owns a lever action 45 Colt regardless of maker,who has a tight 45 Colt chamber in a lever gun ? The Winchesters/Miroku's are perhaps the best built 73's at any time forgiving the rebound hammer and the tang safety on the 92's.

[bigted]

I read years ago a SASS gunsmith had said that lever action rifles in 45 Colt needed the big sloppy chambers to aid in feeding.This would be true given what I have heard from virtually everyone who owns a lever action 45 Colt regardless of maker,who has a tight 45 Colt chamber in a lever gun ? The Winchesters/Miroku's are perhaps the best built 73's at any time forgiving the rebound hammer and the tang safety on the 92's.

that makes sense as the 45 Colt is a fairly straight walled case with hardly any taper. in the '73' this should not be a problem as the lifter raises the next cartridge up flat and shoves it in the chamber in this straight line afair ... now the '92' on the other hand ... it is slanted on the lifter and requires the bolt to shove it in at an angle so i can see the possible why of the 92 needing a larger chamber in the 45 Colt.

[johnhenry57]

Hi bigted,

I have been loading .452 diameter boolits in my Uberti 1873 for years now without any problems. I shoot Cowboy Action so loading one boolit for both pistol and rifle is important. Also, I have not heard any mention of this problem with any CAS members. Miroku makes fine firearms. I have an 1886 made by them and love it. But don't discount the Uberti, their Winchester replicas are tuff enough to stand up to heavy use and abuse.