Short stroke kits: Pioneer vs C&I

[cal44walker]

I've now tried most of the kits available to short stroke the Winchester 1860/6 & 1873 lever guns. Here's what I found positive and negative....

Pioneer: Both short and super short

+   Well made in 1080 steel with plenty of metal left for fitting and timing for a gunsmith. Headspace was in the middle of  the go/no go gauge. Good positive lowering of the elevator.

-    Parts not heat treated and on the soft side. Slightly more slop in the pivot joint that I would like, bit still functional. A fair amount of fitting required for someone trying to do it themselves. On the Super Short kit with a 32-20 I experienced failure to eject too often due to the inherent design of the links that allowed too much variation in bolt position during the final extraction phase. The large radius at the end of the lever pin channel appeared to be the culprit. This might not be the case for other calibers however.

C&I Generation 5 Super short kit

+ Well made. Steel type not known. Parts were properly heat treated and showed hardness test dimples. Almost a drop in fit for the 32-20, other larger rim caliber would require more fitting. Good positive hold down of the elevator. No excessive tolerances of the links. Headspace was also right in the middle of the range.

No negatives with this kit.

cal44walker

[Coffinmaker]

If you happen to have a Head Space problem (real common), the kit makers can alter the links to improve or even correct bad Head Space.

Coffinmaker

[High Sierra]

I have a 5 gen short stroke from Cowboys and Indian store that Jim Bowie installed.What a great rifle to shoot

HS