Did Winchester make a reproduction 1873 Carbine in the mid to late 1900's?

[Amarillo]

Howdy folks

I'm new to the forum and new to CAS so need a little help!  I was at our quarterly Arms and Militaria fair here in Melbourne, Australia yesterday and cam across an modern reproduction 1873 Carbine in .44/40 that appeared to be a made by Winchester.  It is blued on all metal parts, has a saddle ring, has Winchester and New Haven marked on top of the barrel just infront of the breech and has Model 1873 on the tang.  It has no engraving.  I believe Winchester made a very fancy anniversary 1873 in the 70's but don't know if they made any plain ones.  So, I am hoping to tap into the collective wisdom of the forum to answer the following questions:

Did Winchester make a reproduction 1873 Carbine in the mid to late 1900's?
If so, is it worth looking at as a main match rifle or should I stick with a Uberti?

Any advice or assistance you can offer would be grately appreciated.

[sail32]

I have my doubts, I wrote a proposal the president of Winchester in the early 70's, with the suggestion that with the Bi-Centennial coming up, it would be a good time to reintroduce Winchester's line of early lever action rifles.
The rifles being the 1860, 1873 and the 1876, with the 1876 being the first off rifle.
I got a polite reply from the president and he informed me that Winchester had done a market survey and there was no demand for those types of rifles, and returned my proposal

[Pettifogger]

Nope, Winchester has never made any 73 repros.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

If you have the serial number, this might help;

http://oldguns.net/sn_php/winmods.htm

[Bow View Haymaker]

I have seen winchester 94s fancied up and brass colored and labled as 66 commemoratives ,  they may have done that for a 73.  Or maybe some one defarbed a uberti to "look" like a "real" winchester.   

[Ranch 13]

Howdy folks

I'm new to the forum and new to CAS so need a little help!  I was at our quarterly Arms and Militaria fair here in Melbourne, Australia yesterday and cam across an modern reproduction 1873 Carbine in .44/40 that appeared to be a made by Winchester.  It is blued on all metal parts, has a saddle ring, has Winchester and New Haven marked on top of the barrel just infront of the breech and has Model 1873 on the tang.  It has no engraving.  I believe Winchester made a very fancy anniversary 1873 in the 70's but don't know if they made any plain ones.  So, I am hoping to tap into the collective wisdom of the forum to answer the following questions:

Did Winchester make a reproduction 1873 Carbine in the mid to late 1900's?
If so, is it worth looking at as a main match rifle or should I stick with a Uberti?

Any advice or assistance you can offer would be grately appreciated.

Winchester never made any reproduction 1873's. They manufactured them up to the 1930's and there hasn't been an 1873 Winchester manufactured since. There are however Italian knockoffs of the model 1873 that started showing up in the late 60's....

[Amarillo]

Thanks very much for your responses to my post!  Based on what I've learned here it looks like it wasn't made by Winchester.  I'm curious to work out what it is so I think I'll contact the dealer in question and get a little more information.  I'll let you know what I find out.

[Rowdy Fulcher]

Howdy
Wonder how many 1873 rifles and carbines Uberti has made since the 1970's ? Why was Winchester asleep at the wheel .

[Ranch 13]

If it has Winchester and New Haven  stamped on the barrel it's a Winchester.

[Amarillo]

Howdy
Wonder how many 1873 rifles and carbines Uberti has made since the 1970's ? Why was Winchester asleep at the wheel .

That is a really good question Rowdy.  I don't know too many people who would choose an Italian, copy no matter how good it is, over a genuine Winchester.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Whatever happened to the link to the article on Italian proof codes.  Is it blocked or moved, 'cause I can't access it?


((((This is where I thought it was, but now its BROKE!!!!!!

https://store.bluebookinc.com/Info/PDF/POWDER/MBPProofmarks.pdf)))))

[Buck Stinson]

Howdy
Wonder how many 1873 rifles and carbines Uberti has made since the 1970's ? Why was Winchester asleep at the wheel .

Winchester wasn't asleep at the wheel.  First of all, the old tooling used to make the "original" 1873 Winchester had long since been disposed of.  To remake these jigs would have cost a fortune and compared to the number of guns that would have been sold, this would have been a financial disaster.   In the 70's, SASS didn't exist and with 724,000 original model 1873's produced, their survival rate was extremely high.   Anybody who wanted one to shoot or collect, could pick up a standard production rifle or carbine in very fine condition for under $400.00.

If it has Winchester and New Haven  stamped on the barrel it's a Winchester.

Not by a long shot.  Several forgein gun makers made "copies" of the 1873 and marked them with the Winchester name.  These guns were bad imitations and most were relegated to only a few hundred pieces.  Winchester was constantly on the lookout for forgein made forgeries and delt with those makers severely.  Even today, there are gunmakers in this country who can and do take Uberti made "Winchesters" and make originals out of them.  Unless the gun is completely disassembled, you can't tell the difference.  These fakes even have serial numbers that are recorded on original guns.