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I have a Winchester 1873 built in 1880.
Is shooting light loads of modern smokeless (ie-4 grains of Unique) a total no no in this gun?
Im curious if doing this will cause damage – but not curious enough to find out first hand by doing it!
What Caliber? what bullet weight?
I know I shoot bought ammo from Remington and its good with it.
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
1873man said
What Caliber? what bullet weight?I know I shoot bought ammo from Remington and its good with it.
Bob
44-40 – with a 200g bullet is what I had in mind
It looks like your at half load for a 44-40 according to Handloads.com
I don’t do enough handloading to know what would be the problems with light loading a shell. I know the powder will not be packed against the primer which affect its burn rate.
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
In the Speer book I have, if using Unique for 44-40 with a 200 grn bullet, the minimum is stated as 7.8 grns, and max 8.6 grns. Wouldnt take half measures on the powder, have heard it can have adverse effects. You may also check other load data sites on the web.
1892takedown @sbcglobal.net ......NRA Endowment Life Member.....WACA Member
"God is great.....beer is good.....and people are crazy"... Billy Currington
Thanks guys. I’ve hand loaded many other modern calibres, but my worry was more that this is an iron gun designed to fire black powder – I’d be interested if others have used modern smokeless on a similar dated (1880) Winchester 1873.
I shoot my 1873 rifles and carbines all the time. My standard load is a 200 grain hard cast and 7.5 grains Unique. Calliber is .44WCF. MY SHOOTERS WERE MADE 1876, 1887 and 1899. I shoot the same loads in my Colts.
1892takedown said
In the Speer book I have, if using Unique for 44-40 with a 200 grn bullet, the minimum is stated as 7.8 grns, and max 8.6 grns. Wouldnt take half measures on the powder, have heard it can have adverse effects. You may also check other load data sites on the web.
I can’t prove it but I have seen 4 nice colts
blown up with half loads of unique. Never saw one damaged with listed loads.
I strongly believe in the theory light loads occasionally detonate rather than burn. Also can stick a bullet in the barrel especially in a rifle.
Dinosaur 1, I shoot all my 73’s with smokeless, they vary in age, 1874-1880. You are talking about a pistol caliber in a rifle, not a 45-70 rifle cartridge. Just do not make any stupid mistakes! Do not accidentally double charge a cartridge, keep the powder up against the primer, and make sure your gun is mechanically shootable. My load is a 200gr. cast bullet at 1200fps, I cast wheel weights in a original Winchester mold and do not size the bullet, hand lub, 14grs of 2400, fill the rest of the space with corn meal. Some powders do not require a filler, know your powder. I like 2400 because it gives me consistent velocity with a filler. I like cast not sized because shoots accurate in old barrels and minty alike. I also use Remington jacketed bullets .427, with the same powder if the barrel is bad. This is not a recommendation, this is what I do in my guns. T/R
Smokeless powder has different relative quickness. Some, like Bullseye and Trail Boss are very fast, Unique is fairly fast, 5744 is medium speed, and IMR 3031 is the beginning of what I might call the slower end. For the same muzzle velocity, and bullet weight and type, the faster burn rates will give you a higher and sharper pressure spike. The trick is to find a smokeless powder that comes close to the BP burn rates and pressure spikes. 2400 comes close to the same pressure curve as FFg and Blue Dot is closer to FFFg, BUT … my preference to use in BP cartridges is 5744, which actually gives you a lower peak pressure than FFg. IMR 4198 is a good one as well, with an even lower peak pressure (for the same velocity, bullet weight, etc.). One general rule you can take to the bank is that if you use 5744 and stick to original bullet weights, types, and ballistics, you will always have a peak pressure that is lower than BP.
I use nothing but smokeless powders in all my vintage 1800’s era rifles, including a Springfield Model 1888, a Marlin Model 1889, various Winchester Model 1873’s, and 1886’s and so forth, as well as an original Colt SAA shipped in 1882. I also use soft cast bullets, usually pure wheel weights, air cooled (or pure stick on WW’s air cooled, which are pretty much pure lead).
If you don’t want to reload and you’re just plinking buy some SASS rated ammo. Most of this stuff is very lightly loaded. I chorongraphed some Ken’s 10X in my 26″ 73 and it was only a whopping 400 FPS. Most loaded 44-40 is under powered for safety sake. Most will only come out at about 700-800 FPS.
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