I have a Uberti '73 in .357, it's held up just fine for many years, lots of .357 rounds and lord knows how many .38's. My favorite though is a Uberti in 38-40.
I have a Uberti '73 in .357, it's held up just fine for many years, lots of .357 rounds and lord knows how many .38's. My favorite though is a Uberti in 38-40.
“Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.”
― Mark Twain
W8SOB
The biggest waste of time is arguing with the fool and fanatic who doesn't care about truth or reality, but only the victory of his beliefs and illusions.
There are people who, for all the evidence presented to them, do not have the ability to understand.
NRA Life Member
I would think modern materials greatly increase the ability of the toggle action to resist wear over time. The old guns were relatively soft - we now have the benefit of improved production and testing.
Over the last few years a couple of photos of destroyed 1873's have surfaced. In each case the action survived while the barrel was blown out of the action in one case and the barrel had a hole blown in it in the other. I'll see if I can find them.
35W
The biggest waste of time is arguing with the fool and fanatic who doesn't care about truth or reality, but only the victory of his beliefs and illusions.
There are people who, for all the evidence presented to them, do not have the ability to understand.
NRA Life Member
I thought I had saved the photos to my computer but can't find them. I know for sure that I saw them on www.cascity.com forums. I'll see if I can find them.
35W
The biggest waste of time is arguing with the fool and fanatic who doesn't care about truth or reality, but only the victory of his beliefs and illusions.
There are people who, for all the evidence presented to them, do not have the ability to understand.
NRA Life Member
Found it, or at least one of the posts. Scroll down to post #25.
Smokeless in an Original 73!
35W
Last edited by 35 Whelen; 08-05-2022 at 10:56 AM.
The biggest waste of time is arguing with the fool and fanatic who doesn't care about truth or reality, but only the victory of his beliefs and illusions.
There are people who, for all the evidence presented to them, do not have the ability to understand.
NRA Life Member
I had an original in 38-40 and it was sweet! Traded it for a 44-40 with a better bore and it didn't shoot any better, I was sorry I traded.
The biggest waste of time is arguing with the fool and fanatic who doesn't care about truth or reality, but only the victory of his beliefs and illusions.
There are people who, for all the evidence presented to them, do not have the ability to understand.
NRA Life Member
Unless you are carring a hand gun in the same calibor. I would go with the 45/70. Can load it up or down for what ever you need ?? We carry a 45/70 in bear country. More rounds in gun than shotgun and more powerful >>
I can't vote in the poll because there aren't any proper 1873 Winchester cartridges listed.
Here are my three choices:
#1 44WCF Plenty of power, accurate to at least 200 meters, good bullet weight for medium size game and metallic silhouette targets.
#2 38WCF Nearly as powerful , accurate out to at least 200 meters, good bullet weight for medium size game and metallic silhouette targets. A little flatter shooting than the 44WCF.
#3 32WCF Decent bullet weight for small game/varmints, pistol caliber metallic silhouette targets and maybe home defense .
Can't vote. The only caliber I would buy in the 1873 would be the .44-40 (WCF).
The point of the thread was to choose one or the other option. Maybe give some pros and cons for one or the other.
Seems most people here would rather be without a gun than to have one in a non WCF cartridge.
Yup. To at least a certain degree. The 1873 action is different than John Moses Browning designs, so I am guessing the chambers could be closer to spec. I owned an 1892 Japchester in 45 Colt and one in 357 magnum. I also owned a Rossi in 357 magnum. All three had over sized out of round chambers to allow a straight walled cartridge to enter the chamber at an angle. The 45 Colt was the worst. All three were not accurate and had blow by unless high pressure reloads were used. The Japchester 45 Colt was sent to John Taylor for gender reassignment surgery. It is now chambered in 44WCF and is accurate with light, moderate and heavy loads with smokeless and black powder. So.......basically the straight wall modern cartridges in a lever action rifle are less than attractive to me. I would rather have one less rifle than an inaccurate troublesome rifle.
This is my experience and my opinion. Your mileage may vary.
The problem with modern 73' replicas is that the early replicas used a weak part designed for the 60' and 66'. The firing pin stop is a .58" (.058?) to .79" (.079"?) diameter pin rather than the original design firing pin extension stop plate.
I would suggest periodic inspections of this pin if that is what is in your 73'. This part is no longer manufactured and at one point conversion bolt kits were available..
Weak part #104 - https://www.vtigunparts.com/store/sh...rti+1860+Henry
Strong part #721 - https://www.vtigunparts.com/store/sh...i+1873+Carbine
There are photos floating around the internet of original 73's with the chambers blown out, but the toggles are not affected. However, extended wear is a major culprit on many things going bad!
I’m a big fan of all .45 cartridges in general and I have both the .45 and .357 in lever guns . With all honesty I shoot the .357 more . I shoot a lot of .38’s thru it . I believe it has much more flexibility over the .45 . Just MHO .
Keep your powder dry and watch your six !!
my gun safe(s) does not suffer from a lack of guns so there is no "be without a gun" issue
I participated in the hope that if enough of us express this opinion the manufacturers might pull their heads out and again offer these firearms in the calibres for which they were designed at least in addition to the present situation of botched up oversize chambers, or in case of using blackpowder the constant case annealing it takes to get them to function satisfactorily.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |