Have always lusted after one of these, & finally found one (Miroku) new in the box at a local gun shop. Found a certification letter inside the box that it's a distributor special, "one of 201"; not sure what differentiates it from Winchester's standard 1873 offerings but assume it's the 16" trapper barrel length. Fairly new to lever guns (last couple years), & all previous experience has been with 1894 & 1892 types.
It's extremely well finished, deep even bluing, great oil finish on the wood, excellent wood to metal fit, and all metal to metal surfaces are perfectly mated. The walnut is straight grained without much figure, but I don't want to refer to it as plain- it's quite beautiful, as is the color case hardening where applied.
No idea whether or not the "1873 + heavy magnum loads = problems" equation is accurate, but in any case I don't plan on many heavy loads through this rifle. Everything I had on hand was high pressure, so I loaded up some 158 grain coated lead over 4.1 grains of W231 in magnum cases to try out. Will work up a light load for accuracy soon, but was itching to put some lead downrange & knew that would at least be a safe, functional load.
The rifle fed, fired, extracted & ejected without a hitch. The length of pull & trigger reach suit me well, and it's comfortable to shoot- with one caveat noted below. Shoulders well, and I'm able to quickly get it on target.
Mostly a very positive experience, but do have a few things to work through:
- The trigger stop pushes back on the lever with what I consider to be way more vigor than necessary. Had to "remember" to squeeze the lever up on several occasions in order to light one off. Thinking that lightening or replacing the spring will cure this. Hate to waste all the knowledge on this forum, so I'm open to any & all tips for curing this, if you've experienced the same.
- Loading through the King's gate is rough, at least the very last push. Goes in fine until the rim is almost in, then it hangs up HARD. Don't think it's spring pressure since it only happens at the very end of the load. Seems like the rim itself is catching on something. It was hard enough that I was inspecting the cases for damage, though I didn't see any. Confession- have read & heard others complaints about tough gate loading on their lever guns, & always kinda dismissed it. Put a chamfer on the magazine tube entrance of a Marlin 1894 I used to have in order to smooth things out, but even that didn't require much force, it just felt rough. Takes probably 20x the force I've had to use on other lever guns to get this one loaded, but again, it's only the very last instant before the cartridge is fully in the tube.
- With the rear sight as low as it will go, still a few inches high at 30 yards. Correctable with a taller front sight or by filing the notch deeper, but may not do anything... leaning hard towards a tang sight. For those who use them, any preference as to brand?
Just wanted to share, appreciate you checking out the thread & any advice you can give for a long, happy relationship with my new 1873.