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The 1873 was made in 1887 and is the 3rd style. It’s chambered in 38-40 and has a 24″ barrel. I shoot a lot of Cowboy Silhouette so I am hoping this one will be my new match rifle:
January 26, 2011
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Brian,
It looks like you did well, both appear to be nice clean examples. Nice sight package on the ’94.
~Gary~
Brian,
Nice looking rifles, thanks for posting pictures and contributing to the site.
Let us know how they shoot.
Regards,
WACA Life Member #6284 - Specializing in Pre-64 Winchester .22 Rimfire
Yes, very high condition rifles, congrats!
What auction did you purchase them, if you don’t mind my asking?
Winchester Model 1873 44-40 circa 1886
Kevin Jones said
Yes, very high condition rifles, congrats!What auction did you purchase them, if you don’t mind my asking?
These were in the Little John’s auction in Lost Angeles. I normally don’t buy from CA auctions since my C&R is worthless here (I have to have the 1894 shipped to a dealer) but they seemed to be going for less than what I could have bought them locally.
^ Thank you Brian. I was curious as I had followed the recent RIA and Ward auctions pretty closely and didn’t recall seeing that particular 1873.
Winchester Model 1873 44-40 circa 1886
This is my first one. Do you guys see anything that stands out on this one? I’m pretty excited and I’m hoping it turns out as nice as I am thinking it is. I am in this thing about $1500 after shipping and fees.
Here are a few more pics of the 73:
Brian,
It appears to be a perfectly honest (original) old Model 1873 Sporting Rifle, with no issues. You got it for a very good price.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
It looks like you really got a bargain from the photos. Don’t you love it when auction purchases go that way? But then they can sometimes go the other as well!
Winchester Model 1873 44-40 circa 1886
Brian,
You got a good gun for the money.
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
Brian, have you run the serial # through Cody to see what info comes back?
Winchester Model 1873 44-40 circa 1886
Kevin Jones said
Brian, have you run the serial # through Cody to see what info comes back?
Yes, this is what I got back from Jessica:
WINCHESTER MODEL 1873 – SERIAL NUMBER 241021
Serial number application date not available
Type: Rifle
Caliber: 38
Barrel Type: Octagon
Trigger: Plain
Received in warehouse on May 18, 1887
Shipped from warehouse on May 19, 1887, Order number 18534
OK so I got them in my hands today. The 73 has a decent bore and I will try it out tomorrow.
The 94 is very nice and really has me charged up. It has an odd looking barrel sight and I’m wondering if anyone has any info on what type of sight this is?
It has 3 different sight notches that fold down; 50, 100 & 200.
The color on the lever is amazing!
Really pretty wood too
The sight on the barrel is a standard 3-leaf Express sight. It was used on a fair number of Model 1894 Rifles & Carbines. The Lyman tang sight is a No. 1A, patented in July of 1905.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
January 26, 2011
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That’s a great looking ’94 with lots of original blue and a nice sight package. I have quite a few M94s with the 3 leaf express sight. I find it on almost all of the extra lightweights. The upgraded wood shows up quite often on the takedowns and is a nice bonus.
~Gary~
JWA said
Brian,Nice looking rifles, thanks for posting pictures and contributing to the site.
Let us know how they shoot.
Regards,
I’m back with a range report. I shoot a Vintage Military Silhouette Match each month in Sacramento and during the match I try to find a few minutes of free time to shoot my new acquisitions. I took both rifles out there Saturday and got a chance to try them both. It’s a little optimistic to be shooting these for the first time at 200 meters, but that is the shortest distance we shoot there, so I waited until I was on the chicken course.
I shot the 1894 first, using some 170 grain cast bullets with gas checks, loaded with H4895. Unfortunately, I loaded these a little too light as they were test loads and I think I will need to up the charge to get any accuracy from these. They did fire and eject fine, and I could see my shots but I had a hard time getting it dialed in.
The 1873 was a different story! I load a lot of 38-40 using starline brass and cast 180 grain bullets. My normal load is 6.8 grains of unique but I decided to drop it to around 6 or 6.2 since this is my first 1873 and I am concerned about loading it too hot. I settled on 6.2 and loaded 20 the night before. Wow… this was an amazing rifle. I had to raise the rear ladder to the top to get elevation, then ended up dropping it one notch down from the max. Once I got on target I knocked down 3 chickens in a row. When I went out to set them back up the hits were all in the same spot, so if I was shooting paper it would have been a damn nice group.
Here’s a photo of the chicken line, just to give you an idea of what it looks like (photo not taken Saturday):
I’m hoping to use the 1873 in a cowboy lever match soon, and those distances are a lot more reasonable.
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