Lubricating toggle links

[Scott Tschirhart]

I’m having so much fun shooting leverguns in the Winch step 66 and 73 pattern, but I’ve never participated in any CAS type shooting.

For those of you who do, I wander w how you lubricate the lever links? I’ve been using grease and treating them like any other machine.

What is recommended by those who shoot these guns a great deal?

[Eddie Southgate]

Same.

[Griff]

General rule is grease, for where it can't be refilled without disassembly, oil where it can. So grease, I use Lucas' "Red N' Tacky" synthetic. Just a dab'll do ya! Don't forget the ends of the lifter & lever springs and I put a VERY light film on the sides of the links where they'll contact the side plates. The carrier should be dry lubed, if at all. Runnin' BP, mine is dry. I've sanded ~.015 off the sides to allow a little BP fouling & carbon buildup before it gets "gummy". I can usually shoot a 3-day match before it needs a teardown & cleaning... about 120 rounds over that 3 days. I say "usually", because temps & humidity can affect the nature of the fouling. That includes shooting from the deserts of Feb in Phoenix, AZ, June - September in Raton, NM, all over TX, to the one trip I made to IN in June, 2021. That's w/2 Uberti '73s & an 1860 Henry. If I only shot smokeless, I'd only do a full strip & regrease once a year unless I was in real dusty conditions. I'll make one recommendation, replace your factory lever & lifter springs with SlixSprings; along with the '73's trigger block safety spring with a unit from Longhunter, Even with the factory lever stroke it really smooths up the action & reduces the effort to hold the lever closed.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Thanks Griff.

Very informative. I ordered a new front sight assembly from Longhunter and I was very satisfied.

I do like my red axle grease.

[Oldncrusty]

Good stuff. Thanks.

[LeverGunner]

Good information.

I've shot a buddy's Winchester 73 made by Miroku, but I haven't had much experience of my own. I liked his enough though that I'm wanting one of my own though.

[Griff]

All 3 of mine are in 45 Colt, which is a really pleasant shooting cartridge. While most of my shooting is in cowboy action and lighter loads are even more pleasant, they're quite capable of standard velocity rounds. But, with black powder light loads don't expand the case to seal the chamber, and get a lot of fouling back into the carrier area, a 44-40 or 38-40 are better choices as the thin cases & bottleneck design do seal the chamber more effectively. Hence my sanding some extra clearance into the carrier. When new, my 1860 Henry couldn't shoot 2 complete stages without gumming up. I put a special carrier in it to cycle the C45S cartridge, it now holds 19 cartridges in the magazine.
Here loaded w/hust 10 smokeless rounds for testing.

(click on pic for video)