The trials and tribulations of a 73

[Irish Red O'Toole]

I was shooting yesterday and noticed that my 73 rifle was having difficulties.  The lifter wasn't releasing and dropping back down fast enough when the bolt came forward causing the lifter to hang up.  Fortunatley, it didn't cost me any misses or difficulties during the match.  I noticed it at the unloading table after I fired the last stage.  Well, the thought of taking my primary rifle to the gunsmith troubled me, so when I got home, I decided to tear it down and see if I could figure out the problem.  I had just received Larry Crow's fine DVD on the 73 and watched it through again just before taking mine apart.  After I removed the side plates and links, I worked the lever a bit.  I noticed that the lifter spring was VERY loose.  In fact, it was hardly under any tension at all.  So out came the 73-specific screwdrivers and I tighened that spring down a bunch.  I cleaned it up (something I hadn't done for several matches) and then put it back together.  When I worked the action....really fast and hard BTW.... the problem was gone.

Thanks to Larry Crow and his DVDs, I wasn't operating in the dark about tearing down the gun.  Just wanted to share with anyone interested.

[Camille Eonich]

Stump taught me how to take my '73 down and clean it and it's very useful to know how to do that.  Knowing what all of the internals do has helped me get my gun adjusted to better suit me.  On top of that it has helped save me from some aggravation on the line.


I recently took my Vaqueros all the way down for cleaning after shooting a match of BP.  The first one came apart and went back together fine.  On the second one I guess that I warped the detent spring and even when I got it back together it wasn't right.  We'll see.  I have a new detent spring sitting in a box that just got here from Brownells.

[Big John Wyatt]

One of those things I learned by trial and error.

I reckon some instructions would have helped me along a bit.

Glad you got her workin'...

[RRio]

  I had just received Larry Crow's fine DVD on the 73 and watched it through again just before taking mine apart. 

Thanks to Larry Crow and his DVDs, I wasn't operating in the dark about tearing down the gun.  Just wanted to share with anyone interested.

I take it as being suitable for '66 Yellowboys as well?