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December 20, 2014
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I bought this 1876 rifle s/n 340xx ,45-75, 28in barrel,the rifle is in fair to good shape.
The action is great,the problem is the barrel is gone,shot about 20 rounds through
the rifle at 50 to 200yds didn’t hit the target once.The barrel is shot out.
I decided to put on a new barrel and not put a liner in the old barrel and keep the old barrel original.
My question is did I do the right thing by saving the old barrel.
The rifle is fun to shot because the action is so smooth.
Thanks
Bill
Bill,
What type of bullets did you shoot in it?
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
December 20, 2014
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Bob,350 grain flat point, 20 to 1, lead to tin bullet.
Buffalo Arms bullet mold,goex ffg blackpower.
I don’t load my own cartridges,a friend does.
Bill
Bill,
If you can get some jacketed bullets, try them before you spend any money on the barrel. Ruff bores don’t like lead bullets.
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
I have been recently shooting a 76 in 45-60 . I think your 45-75 is a slightly faster twist to stabilize a heavier bullet. My 45-60 does very well with Hornady 300 and H4198 (mild load) , but doesnt do well with Hornady 325’s ,or 350. So a bit of experimenting is in order. I would expect yours to do reasonably well with all these. Older Hornady 300’s were criticized as being too thin a jacket for good results on thicker skinned game, I think they may have changed it now.but I bought a bunch of the older ones thinking they would be easier on my bore. I have never had any lands wearing from shooting mild load Jacketed in any old gun, but would avoid thicker jacket such as Barnes
Phil
Hello Bill, I think you did the right thing by saving the original barrel. If you replace the original barrel with a new barrel for shooting and decide later you could put the original barrel back on. Just my thoughts ,if you have not removed the original barrel already you could try another load before giving up on it . ,,,,DT
If I was getting a barrel made ,I would like the 45-60 for several reasons . Ease of making brass by shortening a 45-70 by about .210 , and this reduction makes for a much milder cartridge and pleasant to shoot. Not being a fan of 45-70 and bigger capacity cartridges as I shoot Smokeless , I was amazed at what I could do with this Cal. and the accuracy I can get. 40 -60 might be even better , but a little more to make the brass, reducing 45-70 and necking down, and a bit more limited bullet selection bullets would be .406 – .410 dia. (good molds in this range) , or lighter bullets available for 41 Mag , 200 -250 gr. I do shoot these bullets in an 86 40-82 , and have had good luck, but my 86 40-82 has a slow twist to suit lighter bullets and large Black powder capacity in The Standard Winchester Express mentality to shoot lighter bullets faster and flatter with in the limits that with Black powder could provide
Not sure a barrel in these cals would fit the feeding and compatibility with your 45-75, probably cartridge specific brass lifter would be required . just my thoughts. If you are wanting to load black powder as all 76 offerings were designed for , Dusty would be up on your options
William Cawley said
I… shot about 20 rounds through the rifle at 50 to 200yds didn’t hit the target once.
Bill, congratulations on acquiring a nice ’76. I am puzzled by the very brief summary of your shooting results. Normally, I would start at 25 yards or 50 yards, just to make sure the sights were on paper, then I would move out to 100 yards and sight it in for that range. If I was not hitting paper at 50 yards, then I would not try it at 200 yards. The big question in my mind is if you were still able to tell where the bullets were hitting at 50 yards and whether they were key holing. I have had a few 1876’s and 1873’s, a couple with an unbelievably bad bore. I was still able to get five-shot groups at 100 yards of 4 and a half inches with a corroded sewer pipe, provided I put a single sheet of loosely rolled and folded single-ply toilet paper between the powder and bullet to act as an adjustable gas check as the bullet travelled over the rough terrain on its way out the bore. This is with a medium speed smokeless powder like 5744 or 2400, of course, not black powder. If your bullets were not key holing and hitting within about 5″ of each other at 50 yards, then toilet paper could fix that. If they were key holing, then I might up the bullet diameter a bit and use toilet paper. I’ve seen some awful bores with only a faint ghost of rifling here and there and a pitted moonscape, with the throat deeply corroded out and still was able to get decent accuracy at 100 yards.
By the way, if you have already changed out the barrel, then you definitely did the right thing by saving the original. As a collector/shooter, I would not be interested in a ’76 with a replaced barrel unless the seller had the original to come with it.
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