Cimarron 1873 38/40 short rifle

[BILLYDIXON]

I ordered this rifle last year took about 6 months. But it shoots really nice. I haven't tried black in it yet. But I was always told 38/40 was hard to load but I didn't have any trouble at all. I bought a RCBS mold for it and they looked to good to shoot. But I loaded with Bulseye forget the load. I found a 1 lb container the old paper style never opened. It shot very tight groups on the pistol range 25 yards and then 100 yards. Just want to know if there some other shooters out there that have loads and have hunted with that caliber. One thing I did notice that it was a lot heavier than my 73 24" 45 Colt.

[Mike]

I shoot a 20 inch carbine with Titgroup and BP, shoots very well. Dont no why more people dont shoot 38WCF.
I have a 1898 92 take down in 38WCF ad well.
Great calibre.

[Tascosa Joe]

I have a several 38 WCF rifles.  I mostly shoot a 24in Cimarron 73.  My usual load is 6.8 gr of 231 with a 180 gr bullet.  For smokeless I shoot commercial bullets.  For BP I cast with the old Lyman 2 groove mold w/SPG.  I can shoot a 6 stage match without cleaning the bore.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

.38-40 or .44-40 are not hard to reload. But, it is easy to crumple neck unless you take a bit of care. That doesn't slow up the process very much.

Consider getting a LEE collet neck-sizer. It adds a fourth die, but gives very good loaded rounds.

[rbertalotto]

All my CAS rifles are in 38-40......Haven't taken one apart to clean it in over a year. The brass expands and really seals the chamber! No blowby. The brass comes out as clean as it went in. The internals stay clean as a hounds tooth!

Two 1866 Ubertis, carbine and rifle
an 1873 Uberti, a original Colt Lightning, A 1889 Marlin, a 1892 Winchester and two vintage 1873s....and a few revolvers. And some I'm sure I'm missing.

Never had a problem loading thousands of rounds on a LEE 1000 press.

I see that Dixie has the 1866 carbine on sale for around $800...Now THAT'S a deal!

[mtmarfield]

   Greetings!

   I have a mid-production Colt NS, an old EMF / Armi Jaeger Bisley, and a 1990's vintage Colt SAA,
all in .38WCF. An excellent handgun cartridge, and I'd love to be able to afford a '73 in this chambering.
   I've never tried BP, but "Alliant" UNIQUE powder is a top performer in all of my pistols! The old Lyman-
Ideal #40043 with "Pot-luck WW" alloy, and any Std. Lg Pistol Primer works great for me. The Lyman
#401638HP mould, for the .40SW, is also a tack-driver with the above alloy, and weighs about 155gr.

   Enjoy!

            M.T.Marfield

[Blackpowder Burn]

I have two original '73's in 38-40.  I also have it's bigger brother, the 44-40, in 2 Lightning rifles, an original '92 and two SAA's.  All shoot extremely well and I have no difficulty with reloading.  I normally load them with BP on a Dillon progressive press.  On the rare occasion with I use that new-fanged smokeless stuff, 7 to 8 grains of Unique does an excellent job.

[Cholla Hill Tirador]

I ordered this rifle last year took about 6 months. But it shoots really nice. I haven't tried black in it yet. But I was always told 38/40 was hard to load but I didn't have any trouble at all. I bought a RCBS mold for it and they looked to good to shoot. But I loaded with Bulseye forget the load. I found a 1 lb container the old paper style never opened. It shot very tight groups on the pistol range 25 yards and then 100 yards. Just want to know if there some other shooters out there that have loads and have hunted with that caliber. One thing I did notice that it was a lot heavier than my 73 24" 45 Colt.

Count me among the 38-40 lovers.

So far, I have two original Colt Bisleys, a 4 3/4" and a 5 1/2" as well as a 1902 production 4 3/4" Colt SA. In addition I have two original '73 Winchester rifles; an 1886 production and an 1888 production.

Initially I cast and load bullets from the RCBS 40-180 mould. These bullets actually dropped at 192 grs. from my mould. Eventually I picked up an older Lyman 40143 mould which drops them at around 177 grs.

As far as powders go, I tried Unique, Power Pistol, Herco and Re-7. I pretty much eliminated Unique and RE-7 although Unique performed quite well at 200 yds. This particular load ran right at 1200 fps:



Power Pistol at 8.0 grs. has pretty much become my go-to load. So loaded, either bullet will run right at 1300 fps and groups quite well out to 200 yds.:



9.5 grs. of Herco also runs either bullet right at 1300 and too groups nicely at 200 yds.:



I shot the Power Pistol load at 300 yds. and it did remarkably well, but I don't know what I did with the pictures.

For black powder, Swiss 3Fg was the cats meow. 1.9cc would run the bullet from the RCBS mould just shy of 1300 fps and again shot quite well out to 200 yds.

I'm planning on carrying one of my Winchesters this fall for deer hunting. I'm going to use the 192 gr. RNFP from the RCBS mould over the Swiss 3Fg load.

CHT

[rbertalotto]

Mike, you ever want tio sell the 92 Take Down in 38-40....I'm your Huckleberry....Beem looking for a TD  1892 in 38WCF for a while.....Email me rvb100@comcast.net

[Mike]

Sorry not for sale,
Thanks.

[rbertalotto]

Thanks...I'll wait....

[Mike]

Speek to my wife 

[rbertalotto]

 

[Isom]

One more 38-40 lover,,
1-original Win. '73, 24" oct. bbl.
1-Uberti '73 24", oct. bbl.
1-Uberti '73 18"oct. bbl. short rifle, 'nother story. Main match
1-Uberti 1860 Henry 18" bbl, holds only 9,,,  'nother story
1-1st gen. Colt 4 3/4" bbl.
1pr 3rd gen. Colts cch, blu., 5 1/2" bbl. Main match
1pr Ruger OM Vaquero, SS 4 3/4" bbl. 38-40/40S&W
1pr. Ruger OM Vaquero cch, blu 5 1/2" bbl. converted from .357 mag. 'nother story. Sometimes main match.
All main match guns ,,, B/P for last 10 yrs. The first 10 years I shot 44-40 smokeless, then I went to the dark side. Everyone knows that if you shoot with smokeless powder, even if you clean them ,,,, they get messed up. Sooooooo,  you have to get new guns ,,,,,,,,, "that's my story an' I'm stickin' to it". So I picked 38-40 ,,,, and new guns and never looked back. Got some 32-20 stuff also, do love the bottleneck cartridges. They're no harder to load than anything else.
Have fun and safe shooting,
Isom Dart

[Abilene]

...1-Uberti '73 18"oct. bbl. short rifle, 'nother story. Main match
1-Uberti 1860 Henry 18" bbl, holds only 9,,,  'nother story...

Cool.  Okay, you have our attention with the guns that are not like Uberti made them. 

I'm guessing the 18" '73 had the barrel and mag tube shortened from a longer length (or special ordered??).
How about the Henry?  barrel lined?  Started out as a trapper or cut down?  We need the " 'nother story..."

[Isom]

Ooooook, on the Trapper in originally in 44-40 , friend bought it,,,, found out after he bought it that it only held nine. I bought it from him, had the bbl. relined with a 38-40 liner. I have to do the add one more, shuffle at a match,,,,, but waaay cool. On the 18' short rifle. Story #2, I bulged the bbl. at a local match, someone else noticed it. Ordered another bbl. from VTI,,, 10 mos. later bbl. arrives, smith rebarrel's, says you've got about 18" of bbl. left. Asked if I could get ten ctgs. under it, he said yes. I ordered a 44-40 short rifle, swapped bbls.,,, 2 dovetail cuts later, I've got an 18" short rifle in 38-40. We discussed that the nosecap hanger dovetail was about an  inch off,,, longer.   We talked,,, no sweat, just cut another one and plug the extra one. After I got it home and did some measuring against my other '73's. Short rifles have a shorter forearm grip  ,,,,,,,,,,,, now we know  And those are the other stories.
Shoot straight, be safe,
Isom