Uberti 1876 in 45, what boolit?

[Four Fingers of Death]

I am toying with the idea of getting one of these to compete in the Pat Garrett matches as it will match my 1873 Uberti (when i finally get it working that is :( )

I really fancy a 45/75 or the 50 cal, but the 45/60 or 45/65 or whatever it is would be tons more practical.

I am undetr the impression that a 300Gn boolit would be tops for this big weakling.

I have a Big Lube 45/70 mould which I have not used yet, would this be ok, I can't remember what weight it is (I am on holidays and near the shop hat has these in stock).

Thanks, Mick.

[John Boy]

Mick - for the 45-75, the original Ideal bullet 457192 (350gr) can be had. Might want to look around on this forum devoted exclusively to the Winchester 1876 for where to order the mold, reloads and other interesting information ... http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/board,89.0.html

[Jbar4Ranch]

The calibers were .40-60, .45-60, .45-75, and .50-95. Definitely pass on the .40-60. The .45-60 is basically just a slightly cut down .45-70 case. The .45-75 was the first of the series and is my personal favorite of the four, but cases are expensive to buy and time consuming to make. I went with Chaparral, but knowing what I know now, I would definitely spend the extra $$$ and go with Uberti. My first two Chaparrals were replaced by Charter Arms, but the third one (.45-75) was within my capabilities to get it running smooth and landed me 2nd place at the Montana Cowboy Action Championship long range side match last year. I use a 340 grain mould design from Lee.

[Bullshop]

I recently had a customer ask for boolits for a repro 76 in 45/60. As he told it they are very limited for boolit length with cases that are the correct length. Working with his numbers we found the RCBS 300FNU (about 330gn in WW) would just barely make the cut. This is the one w/o gas check. I think he said they also used the express twist but am not sure on that.
BIC/BS

[EDK]

PM Idaho Sharpshooter. He did a magazine article awhile back on the 76 in 45/60 THE SINGLE SHOT EXCHANGE JULY 2006 (I don't have a scanner, etc to send you a copy, but perhaps Rich or some other kind soul will get you a copy.)

Mike Venturino has some info on the 76 calibers in his excellent book SHOOTING LEVER GUNS OF THE OLD WEST. Get it from him and request his autograph when you do. Duke really does his homework...and saves you a lot of time and money.

The 45/60 would be the easiest....and cheapest brass! to load for. BUT the cool factor for a 50/95 would be hard to beat. I shoot a 50/90 SHILOH SHARPS and they don't give the brass away for it either!

I really liked the looks of the 76 carbine that Tom Selleck used in the CROSSFIRE TRAIL movie; along with a scoped Sharps, an 1872 Open Top and a Schofield Smith & Wesson. If you haven't seen it, get the DVD just for the guns used in it.

:cbpour::redneck::Fire:

[405]

Ditto on what EDK said.
Crossfire Trail and Monte Walsh are pretty darn good low budget movies produced by Selleck himself with help from some generous character actors.

I think many of the guns used in both movies were originals. That's why they weren't thrown around as in other shoot-em-up movies. In Crossfire Trail I noticed Rafe leaned the 76 carbine gently on the building when he pulled out the revolvers. :mrgreen:

The 45-60 would be the easiest to deal with but 45-75 is a classic. I shoot the RCBS 45 300 FN (about 325gr) in a 76 in 45-75 with no problems. A friend had a Chap. 76. Never worked right even after two trips back for repair. I don't have a repro so don't know about them but would sure check around with as many who shoot them as possible to get a feel for problems with the 76 Italianos.

[Four Fingers of Death]

"The 45/60 would be the easiest....and cheapest brass! to load for. BUT the cool factor for a 50/95 would be hard to beat."

I gotta agree with that, the 45/60 would be the go for me as I have heaps of 45/70 brass, but I am never going to be real competitive and have a BPCR in 45/70 for long range, so a 50/95 full of black would be major cool for teh Pat Garrett matches. Decisions, decisions.

[w30wcf]

Lyman's 457191 is a copy of the original .45-60 bullet.

w30wcf

[Kudu]

I have a Cimmaron Uberti 76 in 45-60 that I use the RCBS 300 FN GC boolit in, it actually weighs 325 grains. I also use the Lyman Gould bullet with great success. I killed two antelope and a mule deer with it this last fall. These are both good boolits for the 45-60 and
shoot very accurate in my 76.
A note on the Cimmaron 76 the first one I had had a bad barrel on it and I sent it back for replacement, it took about 10 months for them to replace it, but on the bright side this new one has a good barrel and shoots very good. I really like it. So I guess it was worth the trouble.
Rich

[Four Fingers of Death]

I rang the charming and ever efficient Bernadette at Bertram Brass yesterday enquiring about brass for the wee beasties. 45/60 is $AU44.00 for 20 and the 45/75 and the 50/95 are $66.00 for 20. I don't know that I need that much cool factor.

I will anguish over this for a while I should just forget about it and use my new 45/70 cowboy, but those 1876s are as slick as frog snot and way cool to boot.

Decisions, decisions :(

Four Fingers.

[EDK]

There ain't no flies on an 1895 Cowboy! Not quite as cool as an 1876, but a h--- of a lot more rifle and horsepower for a lot less money. I like the Marlin Cowboys a lot...an 1897 22, 357 and 44 1894, 45/70 1895 and a 336 Cowboy in 30/30 on its way to me. Made in Connecticut; seller (and second owner) in NW Washington state...d--- near in British Columbia; and now headed for Missouri. Not quite as good as a plane or boat ride to Australia!

Load the 45/70 and enjoy. I usually use the 44 magnums, but when I get the BIG BOY out of the safe, I wonder why I don't use it more. There isn't much that will stand up to a couple of those big boolits.

:cbpour::redneck::Fire:

[Grapeshot]

This is for those Pards that have gotten or are getting the Chaparral 1876 Winchester in .45-60 WCF.

First, if you are modifying .45/70 cases, you have to shorten your .45-70 cases from 2.10 inches to 1.88 inches. I used a Lyman case trimmer with a .45 Caliber pilot and a dial caliper to shorten one case to 1.88 inch.

I had a .45 Colt case trimming die that is used by using an RCBS press, a hacksaw and fine cut file. Lubricating the shortened .45-70 case, I ran it into this trim die until it was flush with the top. I then gave it a couple of passes with the file to true up the mouth.

Once that was done, I made sure that the die's locking nut was tightened down so it would not move.

The rest of the 89 cases I lubed and ran into the trim die until they protruded through the top of the die. I then used the hacksaw to cut off the excess and the file to true up the mouth.

After I had all the cases I wanted, I champhered the case mouths.

At this point in time, the cases are a bit bottlenecked in shape. I then ran them up through a .45/70 Sizing Die. Then through a .45/70 case mouth belling die to set them up for a .458 bullet.

After seating Remington Large Rifle Magnum Primers, I loaded the cases with a variety of .458 bullets and a 50-grain by volume Hogdon 777. An NEI 390 grain Gas Checked Model, a Rapine 405 grain Hollow Based bullet and a Lee 405 grain RNFP were used to fire form the cases. To crimp them I first ran them SLOWLY up a .45 Colt Taper Crimp die.

Knowing that I was going to have to have a real crimping die and a sizing die for the .45/60 I CALLED Lee Precision using their contact number from their web site. They had the dies on hand and I ordered a sizing die and a seating/crimping die.

This did not prove to be a practical solution, as the crimp die would not crimp. I may have trimmed the cases to short, or their die was not as precise as they claim. Anyway, I had a Lee .45-70 factory crimp die that I was not using, so I filed the sliding collet shorter, trying to crimp every few strokes until it would crimp the cases as slick as a whistle.

After firing the rifle with my modified cases, I reloaded with the same style bullets and new magnum rifle primers, but reduced the powder charge to 40 grains, by volume, of 777, and used the new sizing die and seating die and the modified FCD. I took it to the range again and had a blast as I made an old frying pan dance at 100 yards with those heavy bullets.

I've reloaded a batch using some smokeless loads and some Hornady 350 grain JSP's and some Montana Swaged 300 grain RNFP's in .458 diameter. I hope to check them out by the end of next month, if the weather cooperates around the Midatlantic eastern states.:Fire:

I checked the rifling and it is faster than the originals. It came out to 1:22 inches.

[Four Fingers of Death]

Thanks for the help. Four Fingers.