1873 here on the left coast...

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earlmck
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1873 here on the left coast...

Post by earlmck »

No, we're not going back in time unfortunately, but -- a m1873 doesn't find its way this far west very often. I know they were supposed to have "won the west" but I think maybe that referred to western Pennsylvania or thereabouts. Here in these parts the model 1873 is just slightly more common to see than Bigfoot.

I 'bout dropped my teeth when I saw this feller in one of my favorite LGS's ("Gunners" over in Redmond) and it wasn't priced ridiculously (or at least not double like some places do it). So I rescued it.
m739563.jpg
Tried slugging the barrel and my .4025 diameter bullet didn't get reduced in size any, so it is something over that. The bore is not terrible, has some dark streaks and patches but is not pitted. I loaded a few of those 200 grain .4025 bullets into some shortened cases (crimp groove is not placed correctly on this mould for 38/40's of the Winchester persuasion. The Remington 14 1/2 handles them without a problem but not the m92 and not this m73 without reducing case length about .04. And they seemed to shoot OK -- finally got a 50 yard tin can to fall over after about 5 shots at it. But it has one of those little skinny front sights that these eyeballs can't quite see. Fiber-optic in the future?

The nice little 175 grain .401 bullet that the Rem pump and the m92 both like didn't shoot for poop in this m73. And I had to load them single-shot because the semi-wadcutter shape won't feed in this thing because the lifter stops about 1/8 inch too soon to line up with the chamber and the sharp shoulder hangs.

The grandkids were somewhat impressed after I have them a spiel on this thing and some history, though I know they wonder why anyone would mess around with these old things when they could shoot the AR. Though one of the gkids did decide that maybe the Rem 14 1/2 had become his new "favorite" today.
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Re: 1873 here on the left coast...

Post by 3leggedturtle »

Purty nice. I saw a 14 1/2 on GB today but was in 44wcf. Do you have enough brass for it? Todd/3leg
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Tanqueray
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Re: 1873 here on the left coast...

Post by Tanqueray »

What a beauty! I had a similar issue when slugging the bore of one of my ‘92’s. I hit the bullet with a mallet a few times which caused it to widen a bit, and after I pounded that through the bore I was able to get a truer groove diameter.
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Bill in Oregon
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Re: 1873 here on the left coast...

Post by Bill in Oregon »

Congratulations Earl. Hope you can find the flavor of boolit that old iron likes. If it just won't shoot, Bobby Hoyt of the Freischutz Shop in Pennsylvania can reline it for you. John Talyor of Taylor Machine in Puyallup might be able to so too.
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earlmck
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Re: 1873 here on the left coast...

Post by earlmck »

3leggedturtle wrote: Mon Apr 09, 2018 12:08 am Purty nice. I saw a 14 1/2 on GB today but was in 44wcf. Do you have enough brass for it? Todd/3leg
Can't ever have too much brass Todd, but I am in fairly good shape for both 38/40 and 44/40, though most of my 38/40 is headstamped 44/40 so I have to be a little careful now that I own both. And I just visited GB and see they have a Rem 38/40 which might have garnered a bite from me back before I acquired the one I have now.
Bill in Oregon wrote: Mon Apr 09, 2018 7:15 am Congratulations Earl. Hope you can find the flavor of boolit that old iron likes. If it just won't shoot, Bobby Hoyt of the Freischutz Shop in Pennsylvania can reline it for you. John Talyor of Taylor Machine in Puyallup might be able to so too.
Boy I miss Dan's toy store.
I'm pretty sure it'll shoot the bullet in the picture well enough when I get a front sight which is visible to me. And Dan in "Gunners" has several items you'd find interesting Bill: I was tempted on a low-wall Winchester musket in 22 short and a quite decent m94 32 spcl in rifle configuration, but I try to space my acquisitions out and not get two at a time. Once they come home with me they won't leave until some future time when my widow has to deal with them.
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ollogger
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Re: 1873 here on the left coast...

Post by ollogger »

Very nice 73 & I know you will get er shooting



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Re: 1873 here on the left coast...

Post by Sixgun »

Any ''73 is a great find......more and more people want them and there's only a finite amount available.

Yea, you know what to do Earl......slug it and size to dia......maybe a touch on the crown that won't affect collectors value. We know that as long as a barrel is straight and has decent rifling, it will shoot minute of beer can to 100.

I must have slugged several hundred barrels in my time and lately, I've been doing an old trick....stick a dead soft bullet that you know is oversized....if necessary, bump up in your sizer die........load that bullet with a grain or grain and a half of Bullseye.....and shoot it in a pile of towels.....it's will come out perfect.----6
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Re: 1873 here on the left coast...

Post by M. M. Wright »

Congrats Earl. Great find and I have faith you'll come up with a useful load for it. I'm sure you've read my tales of making my '73 shoot. I even changed the barrel, (not to worry, I can change it back) and it's OK with jacketed bullets. Now to make some gas checked bullets and try those.
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earlmck
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Re: 1873 here on the left coast...

Post by earlmck »

Sixgun wrote: Mon Apr 09, 2018 4:41 pm I must have slugged several hundred barrels in my time and lately, I've been doing an old trick....stick a dead soft bullet that you know is oversized....if necessary, bump up in your sizer die........load that bullet with a grain or grain and a half of Bullseye.....and shoot it in a pile of towels.....it's will come out perfect.----6
Yeah, that's my technique also: just didn't expect that .4025 bullet to slide through untouched. .403 is about as big as I have to hand. I think that'll have to do. And at that I have to stick to W-W or Starline brass because the R-P doesn't want to chamber with a .403 pill in the neck.
M. M. Wright wrote: Mon Apr 09, 2018 9:24 pm Congrats Earl. Great find and I have faith you'll come up with a useful load for it. I'm sure you've read my tales of making my '73 shoot. I even changed the barrel, (not to worry, I can change it back) and it's OK with jacketed bullets. Now to make some gas checked bullets and try those.
Yeah, appreciated all you posting your adventures M.M. If you'd like to try some of these 200 grain gc'd give a holler and I'll send you some. But as I mentioned, the crimp groove won't work in a '73 without shortening the case. Also doesn't pack enough lube to use black which would be another strategy for making a right-length cartridge. My next thought is to use enough filler to get compression at the right length, use the Lee FC die.

And I had quite decent shooting from the 175 grain Lee TL bullet when I put on some of those aluminum plain-base gas checks. Out of the m92 those generally shot better than this 200 grain Accurate bullet with the regular gas check, though I'd get an occasional wide flyer which I think was caused by shedding a gas check.
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Re: 1873 here on the left coast...

Post by Catshooter »

Nice rifle Earl. Are you sayin' that most of the '73s never did/don't make it past somewhere suspiciously near to where Sixgun lives? I bet you're right, I hardly ever saw 'em in Seattle when I lived there.

One time I needed to slug a .30 caliber bore and had not one bullet close to it. So I picked up a 452424 (cast from wheel weights) and drove it into the muzzle. Of course I was right careful to not let the hammer touch the muzzle. And then just drove it on through. Worked a treat.


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earlmck
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Re: 1873 here on the left coast...

Post by earlmck »

Catshooter wrote: Wed Apr 11, 2018 9:47 pm Nice rifle Earl. Are you sayin' that most of the '73s never did/don't make it past somewhere suspiciously near to where Sixgun lives? I bet you're right, I hardly ever saw 'em in Seattle when I lived there.
Perzactly! And I suspect that any that made it past Pennsylvania got closely checked over in Wyoming before they came on this way. We get plenty of Krags and Mausers and Springfields and Enfields and anything with a bolt but it is a good day when we find a m94 in a used rack let alone anything older. And we get to peruse the occasional m12 Remington but seldom a m14. And never the 14 1/2.
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