1873 black powder load suggestions please.

[Tar Heel]

Tar Heel,

I have the standard 1873 rifle with the 24" barrel. It has a case color receiver, which I am not all that keen on as originally Winchester '73s came blued. I bought it because the wood looks more like old walnut than the usual wood finish from Japan. I was looking for a Miroku carbine in 44 WCF when I came across this one. Glad I bought it as I still haven't found a carbine.

Dave

Sounds like a nice rifle. I think that color case hardening may grow on you as you shoot the rifle more and more. The carbines are hard to find and you would need to keep the money set aside for when you spy one. I have to say the 24" barrels have a better "look" to me than the shorter carbine "20" barrels - if that is what you mean. They always looked "chopped off" to my eye although I watched a ton of westerns too growing up and all the good guys and baddies had Model 94's (even though the show era predated 1894). The 1873 has a larger receiver and therefore needs a longer barrel to make it symmetrical. If I were such an expert however, why am I sitting here typing!

Post us some pictures of your shot groups and rifle when you get your loads worked up. We would love to see your new hardware and what it can do! Shoot safe amigo.

[jrmartin1964]

It has a case color receiver, which I am not all that keen on as originally Winchester '73s came blued.

The original Model 1873 could be had from Winchester either blued (the standard finish) or color case hardened (available on special order, and at extra cost).

Jim

[warren5421]

can't cast where I live so I use the cheapest cast I can buy. I load both Goex FFg and FFFg and 777 FFg and FFFg. I use a marking viberator to viberate the case after adding the powder to it. My loads are different for the different length of the bullets. I load powder, compress 1/16"-1/4", card wad. lube felt wad, bullet and crimp. I use lubes I buy or make, doesn't make a change in group sizes. I like a hard lead bullet for hunting.

[indian joe]

Keep It Simple
Primed case
Boolit with decent size lube grooves
Blackpowder lube
36 to 40 grains black powder goes in case
Compress to suit boolit
Insert boolit
crimp so boolit dont fall out
Go shoot it
Rinse and repeat .
Dont have too much fun or you will get cancelcultured

[Dave T]

The original Model 1873 could be had from Winchester either blued (the standard finish) or color case hardened (available on special order, and at extra cost).

Jim

You're right Jim. I was referring to the "standard finish" when I said the originals came blued.

Tar Heel, I agree about the longer action of the '73 being more balanced with the 24" barrel. The other 73 I was interested in is the saddle ring carbine. With it's tapered barrel and shortened forearm it looks better with a 20" barrel than the "short rifle" configuration, at least to my eyes. (smile)

Dave

[Tar Heel]

Tar Heel, I agree about the longer action of the '73 being more balanced with the 24" barrel. The other 73 I was interested in is the saddle ring carbine. With it's tapered barrel and shortened forearm it looks better with a 20" barrel than the "short rifle" configuration, at least to my eyes. (smile)

And that my friend, is all that matters. I get so tired of hearing the "purists" beating up on folks who want a "brasser" revolver. What they fail to understand is that 1) some folks can only afford a brasser and 2) some folks like the look of the brass framed revolvers. Who cares that "the south never made that or Colt never made that or this and that." If you like the look of it, get the dang thang! I probably have some butt ugly guns but man are they beautiful to me.

[jarhead jim]

And that my friend, is all that matters. I get so tired of hearing the "purists" beating up on folks who want a "brasser" revolver. What they fail to understand is that 1) some folks can only afford a brasser and 2) some folks like the look of the brass framed revolvers. Who cares that "the south never made that or Colt never made that or this and that." If you like the look of it, get the dang thang! I probably have some butt ugly guns but man are they beautiful to me.

Oh how I can relate. Went to the Winchester Collector site to discuss my restoration of my 4 digit 1873 Winchester. It was a complete bucket of rust, missing side plates, hammer, toggles..... Showed them a before and after picture of it just before sending it off to color case and blue. You woulda thought I was caught in the street stomping kittens......

[jarhead jim]

OK, I’ve read that because our modern brass is no longer formed the way as the old “balloon” style, that the 44/40 case won’t hold 40 grains anymore and that our new cases will only hold 34 or 35. I just reloaded some Winchester cases and got 37 grains of Gotex in them. Compressed load of course. No case bulging out of specs. Am I gaining anything here by smashing more powder in or not? My feeling is that the 2f is now 4f.lol.....

[indian joe]

OK, I’ve read that because our modern brass is no longer formed the way as the old “balloon” style, that the 44/40 case won’t hold 40 grains anymore and that our new cases will only hold 34 or 35. I just reloaded some Winchester cases and got 37 grains of Gotex in them. Compressed load of course. No case bulging out of specs. Am I gaining anything here by smashing more powder in or not? My feeling is that the 2f is now 4f.lol.....

you can squeeze/scrunch 40grains in under a 200grain boolit, you will gain some velocity, make a little more kaboom, get peoples attention - specially if you let them shoot it in a revolver, have more fun because of all of the above - if it stops bein fun stop doin it - 36 grains is lots easier to load. At the distances (and in the manner) we normally shoot these I doubt you will see an accuracy difference one way or tother.

[mack1]

OK, I’ve read that because our modern brass is no longer formed the way as the old “balloon” style, that the 44/40 case won’t hold 40 grains anymore and that our new cases will only hold 34 or 35. I just reloaded some Winchester cases and got 37 grains of Gotex in them. Compressed load of course. No case bulging out of specs. Am I gaining anything here by smashing more powder in or not? My feeling is that the 2f is now 4f.lol.....

I would shoot a few and see what the fouling is like. 36 or so seems to be the best for me with a large grease groove, any more and he fouling is getting hard and repeated shots become less accurate. This will change with brands and grades. This has been my experience anyway.

[Dave T]

When I first loaded BP in the 44 WCF I was after the original performance and achieved that (~1350 fps w/200g RNFP) in modern brass with 36g of FFFg instead of the original 40g of FFg in balloon cases. That was back in the '80s and '90s when all I could get was GOEX black powder.

I've gotten back into BP cartridge in the last 5 years or so and recently started loading 36g of Olde Eynsford FFg in modern brass topped by a 200g RNFP. I find OE to be not only cleaner burning than GOEX (yes I know they're made by the same people), it also appears to be more energetic and shoots more like the GOEX FFFg did. Haven't shot them through the Oehler M-33's Sky-Screens but so far it is shooting so good I'm not worried about it. (smiley face goes here)

YMMV,
Dave