1873 30 inch conundrum.

[Baltimore Ed]

Guys, thought I'd bounce this off you. Y'all are smarter than I am. I bought this nice 30 inch .45 Cimarron 1873 thirty plus years ago. It turned into a hot mess when I discovered the beautiful new looking rifle had a bogus barrel and would pattern as opposed to group. As it had Cimarron's name on the barrel I contacted them. After initially claiming the rifle wasn't theirs they relented and I shipped them the '73. It stayed there a whole year while a barrel was built and shipped from uberti. Anyway the gun now groups but at 71 I have issues with the weight. As I'm not as strong as I was then so shooting a ten round string is tough. Because of that I haven't shot it in a match in quite a while. My 24 inch marlin or 27 inch '66 musket are manageable plus I have an original '73 musket. And I'm really liking my Marlin Trapper '94 and Stoeger 18 inch '73 builds so much better. My conundrum is do I sell the long barreled critter or cut it to 19-20 inch? As it won't run Schofield loads it can't become a trapper but it wouldn't look good that short anyway. Appreciate any thoughts you might have.

[Abilene]

My thought would be sell it and buy what you will use.  But why won't it run Schofields?  I run them in my 16" '73 since it is so much easier to load ten than with .45 Colt.  It needs a 200 or 250gr bullet to be long enough to cycle.

[DeaconKC]

Gotta agree with Abilene. Trade it for what you want. Maybe look at a 92 with a 24" barrel. It would be a lot lighter and still have a reasonable sight radius.

[Baltimore Ed]

Where the lifter on my stoeger '73 cams the next [255 gr swc- 1.40 inch]  45 Schofield cartridge back into the magazine this rifles lifter is different enough that it doesn't cam the round, just locks up. I guess the angle of the radius on the front bottom of the lifter is too flat.

[Coffinmaker]

  Hi Ya Biltmore 

I have several thoughts (the resultant pain is horrible).  Whilst I have reservations about whacking off your long barrel (fella up on 'gunsmithing' looking for one), you might consider changing out the Carrier Block (If it's not the "old" short block).  Or reshaping the cartridge return ramp.  should you elect to whack it off, consider a "special" Carrier Block from The Smith Shop and shoot C45S cases.  In which case you could whack it off to 16" if desired.

My thought though, is to sell it on and grab up something more user friendly for us more "seasoned" players.  Those long barrels suddenly aren't fun anymore if you know what I mean.

Play Safe Out There

[Baltimore Ed]

How much trouble would it be to just swap barrels on my '73? It's been swapped once before, the bad 30 inch for a correct 30 inch by Cimarron.

[Abilene]

Sure, you could do that.  Keep in mind that the forend on the 30" is same as 24", they are shorter for 20" and less barrels.  So if you go with, say a 20" barrel, need to make sure any little cuts or dovetails are correct for the forend hanger.  (This is all IIRC )

[Baltimore Ed]

Just talked with a nice fellow from Taylors&Co. Ordered a 20 inch .45 barrel and some screws. With tax and ship 225.00+-. Just fyi, 30 inch barrels are 356.00. He put me on back order on a 20 inch mag tube and forearm. I would like to keep all the 30 inch stuff more or less together to sell but I'll see what happens. I might shorten the forearm or redo the location of the hanger. Depends on how it looks. Appears that I've figured out my conundrum.... Maybe.

[wildman1]

My first 73 was a 30" barrel. Sold it for a $20 gold piece.
wM1

[Baltimore Ed]

I've recently read a reply on a thread where the shooter was telling his son that after he was gone and the son was selling his collection that he only accept silver for his guns. A terrific idea. One precious metal for another.

[Coffinmaker]

  Hey Biltmore 

Yes folks, "Biltmore" is really an estate.  Anyway, I built my current 1873 "Trapper" from a 24"  rifle.  I much prefer the slightly longer ForeEnd.  Looks and feels much better than the "short" ForeEnd on my 1866 "Trapper."  Just another thought (Ouch)

Play Safe Out There

[Baltimore Ed]

We did the Biltmore tour years ago, nice joint. A little pretentious though. Must have had an army of servants to keep it running. Would like to see your Trapper. I'm probably going to move the hanger to keep the long forearm as it's a good match to the butt. Save a few bucks.

[Coffinmaker]

I'll see if I can't get my Fairy Godfadda to post a Tin Type of my Trappers.

Yep.  running the Biltmore would have taken an army of "staff."  I shudder at the thought of having to heat that stone monstrosity.  Has a really cool driveway too.

Play Safe Out There

[Baltimore Ed]

My 20 inch barrel is waiting to be picked up by ups. Looks like I'm going to ship it to Cody Conagher for a barrel swap. Can't find anyone local. Being's I'm shipping to him I might let him codymatic it too. Spending my son's inheritance. I handled one of his '73s years ago and it was a very slick rifle.

2-8 update. Got the 20 inch barrel. The whole shebang [15 lbs] is all boxed up and mailed off to the Cowboy Shop. I found a 20 inch mag tube, new spring and a few other bits. By the time I get the rebarreled rifle back everything should be in. Just a matter of putting it together.

[Baltimore Ed]

 2-17 update He received my '73 with an 'about 2 week' turnaround. Got a 20 inch mag tube, new spring and front sight from MGW. Planning on selling the 30 inch stuff and front globe and tang sights. Can't wait to see how my codymatic runs. Pictures soon.

2-28 got an email from Cody and a tracking # from ups. My rifle is done and shipped. I'll still have to install my 20 inch magazine tube when it gets here Wednesday.

3-2  missed the ups truck yesterday [urologist and optometrist-at least my eyes are ok].

[Abilene]

Unlike some 'smiths, I hear plenty of stories about quick turnaround from Cody.  Good luck!

[Baltimore Ed]

My rifle came today from The Cowboy Shop with its new 20 inch barrel. Cody had recut the forearm hanger dovetail to work with my long forearm and did an action job. I like the look of the longer forearm. I installed the 20 inch magazine [had to reduce the diameter to get it to slide into the recvr cutout], clipped the mag spring, put the sights on it, removed the #9 shot from the buttstock where I had put it to help counterbalance the heavy barrel. I also swapped out the mainspring with a reduced power spring that I had. Helped a lot. I've put about 25 rds through it with no issues. Schofield loads will not work. Very happy with how it turned out.

[DeaconKC]

Ed that turned out really well!

[Baltimore Ed]

We had our March shoot yesterday, i shot the rebarreled '73, a Ruger birdshead .45acp vaquero, a Cimarron nickel 1911 with my new barky stags from Baltimore and a Model 24 Marlin pump. The rifle ran like a top, very pleased. We had a blustery day that was chilly but nowhere as bad as last month when we quit after 3 scenarios. We started with 12 shooters but sadly one wound up with a dq and another had knee issues so then there were 10. I had a miss with the vaquero and a P on my rifle. I ran it so fast I lost count and then put the last round on the wrong steel. Duh. Our regular scorekeeper was out with a hip replacement so I'm still waiting on scores. Next month's shoot will have a Wild Bunch category. Planning to experiment with slam firing my M12 trench. Saw it done on a video and it was very impressive.

[Baltimore Ed]

Here's my new barky grips. Both sides are that way. The seller said he'd had them for 30 years.