Where are all the 1873s going?

[am44mag]

I noticed last week that there appears to be quite a shortage of 1873 clones made by Uberti (and all it's associated importers) and Winchester. The ones made in 45 colt seem to be the easiest to find, and you can find various models of the 44-40 and 357 versions here and there (mostly long barreled pistol grip versions). My question is, why? Is there some kind of rush on them that I don't know about, or are they simply having issues getting them made and imported due to the ongoing pandemic?

[Jeff Michel]

Uberti isn't shipping scarcely anything due to bottlenecks in the supply line. Yes, it's virus related. This info came straight from Benelli about six weeks ago. Can't speak for any others difficulties.

[pietro]

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Some of the European countries, like Italy, have experienced dramatic numbers of COVID-19 deaths - which, when added to quarantines, made for sketchy work forces.


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[FLINTNFIRE]

Funny thing is local gun shop owner was heckling me about the 6 guns and lever action ubertis I was buying last dec. , now its what he has had to fill his pistol case with as it was all he could get , that and a whole rack of mosin nagant rifles , the rifles were pretty nice looking but for price I passed .

[mickbr]

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Some of the European countries, like Italy, have experienced dramatic numbers of COVID-19 deaths - which, when added to quarantines, made for sketchy work forces.


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Italy has only lost 34,000 people, they lose that many every two months to cancer. Hardly a skills or workforce shortage on a country with 60 million people. The bottlenecks are purely lockdown/shut down related.

[Outpost75]

My buddy in Italy says that sales of "sporting rifles" have soared in the EU. Regional demand is absorbing all of the lever-action cowboy guns, because they can be had with lesser restrictions similar to a shotgun or .22 rifle, whereas to get a semi-auto rifle like an AR you must jump through more hoops. They don't need to export to the US and Canada to sell all they currently make.

The cowboy guns can be loaded with common shotgun powders which are less restricted, whereas "rifle" powders suitable for high-powered hunting and military rifles are more highly regulated and expensive. Large pistol primers are apparently not a problem, as they are used also for reloading all-brass shotgun shells, which are popular, so when you buy primers and shotgun powder you are loading shotgun shells to shoot clay targets and wood pigeon, of course!

[sharps4590]

Seems to be plenty of the originals....for a price, of course.