Field Test - Original Winchester 1873.

[Grizzly Adams]

Winchester Model of 1873, circa 1881, caliber 44WCF. 

Rifle started life as a 38WCF, but many long years ago,  some Cowboy in Northern New Mexico cut off the 30" barrel to a length that would fit his saddle scabard better.  (Hey, it was a tool!) Bore was a sewer pipe with little or no rifling left.  Collector value was little, so I had the metel refinished and case hardened by Doug Turnbull, and I replaced the sewer pipe with a Badger barrel, caliber 44WCF.  (Because I like it and its my gun!) Action is still all original and in good tight condition, with no headspace issues.

Now, I needed a "close to original" load.  I located a 44WCF bullet mold made by Winchester Repeating Arms in 1882, and managed to also find an original Winchester tong type loading tool, of about the same vintage.

The mold produced a remarkabally nice bullet.  The bullets I made are pretty soft - close to 20/1.  Bullet has two grease groves and is a bit longer than those cast from commercial molds now.  It has more taper at the nose and works well with the reloading tool.  (Also tried a "modern" 44-40 bullet, but it will NOT work in the tool at all.)  The tool allows the user to deprime the case, and set a new primer.  Fill case with BP of your choice, press bullet to start, insert in tool and close handles.  Done!

Off to our monthly match goes I.  First stage was a bit of an adjustment, since I usually shoot an Uberti 73 with a SS kit in it. (Slow gamer!)  By the second stage, I didn't much notice the difference.  The old girl fed like the rounds were greased!  She was  smooth as silk and  shot like a dream.  Lots of smoke, lots of concussion, and enough recoil to know you were shooting a rifle.  Nice solid "whack" on the plates!  This was a serious rifle in its day, boys!  I had a ball!

Clean up was two patches and Balliistol for the bore.  NO blowback in the action what-so-ever.  Not a single flak of lead in the bore.

I may do this more often!

Vaya con Dios, and Merry Christmas.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Cool!

[Dick Dastardly]

It's a privilige to restore and shoot the originals.  They bring back the genuine feel of how and what cowboys had to work with.  You've done a noble thing.  Also, thanks for keepin' her on the Dark Side.

May yer white smoke enlighten shooters of the Heathen Fad Smokeyless ammo.

Merry Christmas, Santa loves you.

DD-DLoS

[Grizzly Adams]

Thanks for the reply, Dick.

One of the things that really kinda surprized me, was how well the bullet cast from the original mold works.  Makes me wonder why some outfit has not choosen to reproduce the shape for use by CAS shooters interested in shooting BP.  I am not sure that it would be a good choice for smokeless powder, as it lacks a crimping grove, and relies on a case full of powder to prevent set back in the magazine.  If seated to allow a crimp in the first grease groove, it might be over long for some actions.  I have not checked that out yet, however, so just speculation at this point.

A fella equiped with the mold and the Winchester hand tool was in pretty good shape when it came to his shooting requirement.  So long as he had access to primers, powder and lead, I fella could make himself up a good supply of loads in an evening.

I have also shot two coyotes with this rifle/bullet combination.  No complaints from either of them!

Merry Christmas to ya, pard.

[Dick Dastardly]

Hey Griz,

I'm wonderin' if mayhaps this would be a good candidate for the LEE carbide factory roll crimp die.  Once OAL is set up that die will make it's own crimp grove when it sets the crimp.  It's a stand alone tool and NOT a bullet seating tool.  I'm usin' it on my 44 Magnum rounds now because we have one Rossi Puma 92 that's a bit of a fussy feeder.  It looks like the crimp from this tool will keep the bullet from hanging up on the way into the chamber.

If ya care to send me a couple of dummy rounds, I'll give 'em a try and send 'em back to ya.

Have a very Merry Christmas yerself and same to those that matter to you.

DD-DLoS

[Grizzly Adams]

Good question, Dick.  I have a Lee crimp die.  Will give it a try and post result for you.  Given that this bullet is cast pretty soft, I would think it would work well.

Merry Christmas.  Hope Santa was good to ya!

[Lars]

Grizzly Adams,

I have always considered the original Lyman 44-40 bullet (427098) to be the best for that cartridge. I use it cast no harder than 20.1 Pb:Sn, with even softer being better. It is SOP for premium loads duplicating original Winchester factory 44-40 loads. It used to be possible to buy this bullet from Mid-Kansas Cast Bullets but, they went out of business. The only bummer for this bullet in commercial casting  is that the mold appears to be incompatible with modern machine casting equipment. So, it is hand casting all the way. The only commercial operation I know currently casting this bullet is Republic Metallic Cartridge, Co. (www.republicmetallic.com).

Lars