1873 Winchester,,,,got to shoot one today,,QUESTION NOW?

Michael 'Deadwood' Clemons · February 13, 2007, 12:13:19 PM

The fella thats invited me to a SASS shoot let me drop by his house today to look at his 'irons.'
Hes got a Cimarron Cattleman in .45LC, and a Ruger Viecaro in same...and a .73 Uberti/Winchester rilfe that is a doll ! Gorgeous rifle and it speaks 'the parrire to ya' !
One question though,,,,when I shot it and levered it,,the spent brass didnt go flying away over yonder, it just kind flipped up and over the reciever to the right side. Not very high or far, just ,,,kinda flipped up and over.
Is this normal for the Uberti '73's? I could see an advatage in not being hit in the face or top of head with brass...but is something wrong with his '73, or is it in the design?
Thanks guys.
The Preacher

Tensleep · February 13, 2007, 12:21:46 PM

Could be any of several things causing the problem.

How quickly did you work the lever?
Is the ejector worn? Spring broken or weak?
45LC brass has a very small rim and wear on the extractor may let the brass slop around.

All of my 73s and 66s throw the brass about two feet or more over my head and slightly right.

Wymore Wrangler · February 13, 2007, 01:37:48 PM

The harder you work the action, the farther the brass flies, just like what Sleep said...

Abilene · February 13, 2007, 09:51:53 PM

While it is true that the brass flies further if you lever quickly, most toggle-link guns don't throw the brass very high (although I've seen a few that did), and mostly straight up. If you have a pencil roll brim on your hat you are likely to catch a lot of your brass.

buck · February 14, 2007, 03:39:34 PM

I was at one match and one of the pards had a sombrero on...he caught all his brass on his hat then dumped them into a neat pile before going to the next stage. I thought that was kewl

BloodyBill · April 20, 2007, 08:14:17 PM

I just bought a new Uberti Model 1873, what a sweet rifle! I took it to the range just today and shot it for the first time. Yes, the brass just kind of goes straight up without any real force, so I was was just cocking the gun and catching the empties in my hand as they came down. I didn't try cocking it harder. I was pretty disappointed in the shootin' though. I only took some handloads with me, which were .38 Specials with 158 gr Roundnose Flatpoints, with 3.7 grains of HP-38 powder. At 25 yards it shot all over the place, like a 12" pattern, or no pattern at all. I tried the same cartidges in my Vaquero and they grouped nicely. I'll try cleaning the bore really well and also try some other loads. Any thoughts on that would be appreciated.

Deadeye Don · April 21, 2007, 09:50:25 AM

Congrats on buying a sweet rifle. The 1873 is probably the most popular of the Uberti rifles for CAS and with good reason. My wife has one in 45 colt from Cimarron (Border model). Her rifle has shot very well right out of the box. I am surprised you are having so much difficulty with accuracy. You might try cleaning out the bore especially if you didnt wipe it down before starting to shoot it to remove packing oil. As for the shell extraction issue, we have both found that they dont really go flying over your head but do flip out to the side well enough as long as you are not too light on the lever action. I really wouldnt want shells flying out under too much force as I would be afraid of someone catching one in the eye or face. In addition for those of us that want to do reloading, shells that go too far will be more difficult to locate especially outside. Hopefully others will have other ideas for you. Safe shooting, Deadeye.

BloodyBill · April 26, 2007, 10:40:52 AM

Well, I cleaned the bore out well and shot a 5-round group with Black Hills 158 gr 357's. Exactly one inch at 30 yards! Boy was I jazzed. I had me a shooter! So I shot a group with some handloaded 158 gr Oregon Trail round nose flat points, which are mild velocity .357's. They shot all over the paper again. Looking closer, the holes are oval-shaped on the fliers, indicating the bullets are not flying true but are getting upset somehow. If I wanted to shoot Black Hills factory ammo exclusively I'd have it made, but of course I'd much prefer handloading. I would normally be shooting .38 specials instead of the .357's but I thought I'd see if it would make a difference getting the bullet out closer to the rifling. Guess not.

We should have a board dedicated to reloading. There must be a lot of reloaders on this forum.

Marauder · May 03, 2007, 08:45:00 AM

BloodyBill,
That does sound odd. Makes me wonder about the barrell.
How is the crown? Sometimes they get damaged and hurt accuracy.

One thing to try is using 125 grain bullets. I hear many folks say that the 66 and 73 prefers them.

I've been using 125 grain bullets with about 3 grains of Clays and they work well in my rifles.

BloodyBill · May 06, 2007, 10:55:55 PM

The crown was the first thing I thought of too, but it shoots great with the Black Hills ammo, so that's probably not it These 73's have an 18 or 20 inch rifling twist, which is pretty slow, and may require either more velocity or a shorter bullet to stabilize the bullets. I've bought and reloaded some 125 grain bullets with various powder charges, and am trying the Trail Boss powder too. When I shoot these I'll chronograph them too and see what's happening with the velocity. When the weather gets better I'll try them and post the results.

Skullyville Tom · May 21, 2007, 11:35:24 PM

The rifle has shown that it has the capability to be accurate, but you are going to have to experiment with different powder charges and bullets to find what it likes. When the bullets aren't hitting square they are keyholing, which means the bullets aren't being stabilized, that usually indicates the rifling twist isn't good for that bullet weight, but it could be a velocity issue, you are just going to have to experiment to find out what it likes, and you need to do that on paper to make sense out of it, save the steel for when you have the right load worked out.

Four-Eyed Buck · May 22, 2007, 03:21:34 PM

Dia. of the reloads?

?

BloodyBill · June 13, 2007, 07:58:26 PM

Things are looking up. I loaded up various loads with 125 gr Meister bullets (the only 125's I could find locally at the time) and Trail Boss powder, as well as 158 gr Laser Cast bullets with Trail Boss and Unique powders. Just about everything shot pretty well, mostly around 2 inches at 25 yards (5-shot groups), even the 158 gr bullets. The most consistent was 125 gr. bullets and 4.5 gr of TrailBoss in a 357 Mag. case, with a velocity around 1075 fps in my 20" barrel, with no groups going over 2 inches. I also shot a mess of different factory loads (UltaMax 125gr .357, Black Hills 158 gr .357, TenX 105 gr. .38, MagTech 158 gr. .38, and others in Black Hills.) The best was still Black Hills 158 gr. conical point in 357 Mag. which gave me 1.0" to 1.4" groups with velocity around 1080 fps. Yahoo!

The first group I shot with the 105 gr. Ten X was one ragged hole, and I was excited about that until I shot another 5-shot group that went just over 2.5". Oh well.

Shooting these "huge" groups at close range is taking some getting used to, after years of shooting target and varmint rifles with tiny one-hole groups at 100 yards, but it shore is fun shooting these cowboy guns! Especially when I get away from those dang paper targets. I ordered me a 3rd revolver and I can't wait...

will52100 · August 11, 2007, 02:17:15 PM

I don't have any experiance with the 73' in 38, but I have a Henry in 45. My experiance with my Henry has been very positive, I can get tight groups with just about any cast bullet as long as it's fairly soft lead and .454 dia. Harder and I've found accuracy to drop off fast, smaller dia. bullets and I'm all over the place.

Try slugging your barrel and finding out exactly what dia. your groves are, then try a soft bullet of same or slightly larger dia.

Good luck