I’ve developed a hankering for one of these, but there seems to be a few different models. 1866, 1873, ‘76, ‘86, ‘92, ‘94, ... What is the best model for this caliber, barrel length, round or octagonal, durability, best value, etc.? Post pics if you have one. Thanks in advance.

Do you exclusively want a Winchester or are other models okay? I can recommend Henry rifles. I have a Henry Big Boy, a Taylor Alaskan Take Down Taylor Take Down, and a Henry Big Boy X Model in .357 is at the top of my get list.

The Henry has been 100% reliable with both .357 and .38 caliber ammo. The Taylor has been 100% with .357 but has issues with .38 caliber.

quote:

Originally posted by jsbcody:
Do you exclusively want a Winchester or are other models okay? I can recommend Henry rifles. I have a Henry Big Boy, a Taylor Take Down, and a Henry Big Boy X Model in .357 is at the top of my get list.

I was looking at the Winchester for the name, and also for the top ejection since I am a southpaw.

A couple people use other brands (Rossi and Chiappa) for Cowboy Action Shooting and can give you better advice. Those are top ejection too (copies of Winchester but might be better made than current Winchesters).

Winchester 1873 or Uberti 1873 are my favorites.



Photo Jan 10, 11 11 20 AM by Dave Steier, on Flickr




Cthulhu Butt Covers close by Dave Steier, on Flickr

Rolan those are beauties! What are the specs of that Winchester?

I'm in the market for a Winchester too, also partly (mostly?) for the name. I had a Henry Big Boy .44 Mag but sold it a while back. Since then I picked up a Colt SAA in .45 Colt (also have a Ruger Vaquero) and now I want a matching lever gun to go with them. I've been reading up on the history of the Winchester lever rifles and I've come up with a question.

The reason they developed the 1892 was because the 1866 and 1873 actions weren't strong enough to handle the (then) new smokeless powder cartridges. So, would a current-manufacture 1873 (or replica) have the same issue and be limited to powderpuff loads?

The old school original 73/92/94 were never made in modern pistol calibers.
In about the late 70’s Winchester started making ( in the United States) model 94’s in 357,44 mag and 45 colt.
These are sort of an odd duck as they are an action designed for rifle length ( ie 30-30 and similar) cartridges) my father and a couple friends had them and they worked fine however.
The earliest ones did not have a safety, then they added the cross bolt safety ( that had an annoying habit of getting knocked on safe to easily for my taste)
I think ( might be wrong) they did make a few model 92’s ( general appearance similar to 94 but designed around pistol length cartridge with a tang safety) in the United States
The current production 92’s and 73’s are made in Japan. While they are reported to be of excellent quality some people can’t stomach a Winchester made in Japan.
The current 92&73 are also rather expensive ( right around a thousand bucks give or take)
It it were me, I would probably look for an American made 94,preferably pre safety, but they are pretty scarce and the most recent ones I have seen have been in the 800-900 dollar range.

Thread drift, but Rolan, where did you get those Cthulhu butt covers?

Also at one time owned the much less expensive and well built Rossi 1892.
Keep in mind that in these types of rifles cartridge overall length is critical to feeding, so often a rifle ( 357 for example ) may run like a top on 357 length rounds but not function well with 38 specials without some tinkering

quote:

Originally posted by captain127:
Also at one time owned the much less expensive and well built Rossi 1892.
Keep in mind that in these types of rifles cartridge overall length is critical to feeding, so often a rifle ( 357 for example ) may run like a top on 357 length rounds but not function well with 38 specials without some tinkering

Yeah, I've heard about that problem quite a few times. Also with .44 Mag/Spl. I never tried any .44Spl loads in my Henry so I can't speak to it personally. Of course if you handload, you can always make special loads using magnum cases. I've also heard that they tend to not like wadcutters or semi-wadcutters, so you may be limited to round nose, truncated cone, or JSP/JHP bullets.

Great information captain127. I don’t mind the made in Japan, I guess, any more than I mind my Springfield made in Brazil or my Hi Power assembled in Portugal.

Yeah, Japanese made Winchesters don't bother me so much, especially given the good reviews they've been getting. Chinese-made Winchesters, now that would be a deal killer.

My original question is still unanswered though. If I were to buy a current manufacture 1873, would I have to limit it to relatively mild loads? I'm not looking to cook up a .454 Casull equivalent load for it, but I'd like to shoot something a little stronger than a SASS load. I'm actually leaning more toward a `92 than the `73, just for that reason.

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The reason they developed the 1892 was because the 1866 and 1873 actions weren't strong enough to handle the (then) new smokeless powder cartridges.

That's not even close to being accurate. During a meeting with John Browning in 1890, the Winchester President, Thomas Bennett, suggested a scaled-down version of Browning's 1886. The 1873 had seen decreasing sales due to competition from Marlin and other manufacturers.

Bennett offered Browning $10,000 if he could deliver a design prototype in three months. Browning told him that for $20,000 he would do it in 30 days or Bennett could have the design for free. Browning had the design and a test-fired prototype delivered to Winchester in less than 30 days.

The 1892 was initially offered in the same blackpowder loadings as the 1873 (.44, .38, and .32 WCF). Winchester didn't start cataloguing smokeless loads in these calibers until 1899.

Winchester's current Miroku 1873s and 1892s are rated for SAAMI-spec loads, so they're okay for something stronger than pretend-cowboy loads.

I would take a Miroku made Winchester every day of the week over the US made ones of the final 20, maybe even 30 years of production.

I had the same question about the differences between the models a few months ago. Ian over at Forgotten Weapons has a bunch of videos on the Winchester lever action and their development. Goes over each model. Very informative.

Winchester Lever Action Development

I have two Winchester lever actions.
One is a 357 and one is a 45/70. The 357 is a Winchester made by Miroku and the 45/70 is a Browning Winchester made by Miroku. Both are limited editions with grade 5 or better walnut stocks. The Browning is a Montana commemorative model with engravings.
Both Miroku made rifles are perfectly assembled and no details are overlooked.

quote:

Originally posted by mesabi:

quote:

The reason they developed the 1892 was because the 1866 and 1873 actions weren't strong enough to handle the (then) new smokeless powder cartridges.

That's not even close to being accurate. During a meeting with John Browning in 1890, the Winchester President, Thomas Bennett, suggested a scaled-down version of Browning's 1886. The 1873 had seen decreasing sales due to competition from Marlin and other manufacturers.

Bennett offered Browning $10,000 if he could deliver a design prototype in three months. Browning told him that for $20,000 he would do it in 30 days or Bennett could have the design for free. Browning had the design and a test-fired prototype delivered to Winchester in less than 30 days.

Yeah, I read the same thing. I think we're actually saying pretty much the same thing, maybe I just didn't say it as well. The 1886 was developed to handle the newer, bigger calibers better than the 1876 (which was really a scaled-up 1873) could. The 1892 came after that because Bennett wanted a pistol-caliber sized gun that could pick up the ground that the 1873 had started to lose. So Browning just scaled the 1886 design down a bit.

Don't forget the Marlin CB guns. Tough to beat!

I bought a trapper about 15 years ago. After a few hundred rounds the pot metal lifter broke off clean. Got that fixed and sat it in the corner. It slid down and hit the floor and the pot metal front sight broke off.

After that, I didn’t have much faith in it.