I was just reading in my 1876 Winchester book about the history of the 1876. There have been many stories spread about how weak the 1876 Winchester action is and I find it interesting to see what the actual field test was to determine just how weak/strong that action is. Everyone parrots the same old saying about how weak it is and yet this study seems to nullify that rumor.
Here is a picture of a blown up 1876 that the action held and yet the barrel was blown completely off the action...