Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General The NEW 1873 and 44-40 loads?

According to Shooting Times.......

The New ’73 Up Close
The Achilles’ heel of the Winchester ’73 is its mechanical lockup. Like the Henry Rifle and Winchester ’66 before it, bolt lockup is achieved via a simple toggle mechanism rather than any sort of crossbolt. Excessive pressure can distort toggle pins and create excessive headspace. While it is strong enough to support the .357 Magnum–and the new Winchester ’73 is chambered for it –the lockup is arguably too weak to handle the .44 Magnum or modern, high-pressure .44-40 loads. The accuracy results are listed in the accompanying charts. If pressed to choose one jacketed factory load for all-around use, I’d go with the Remington UMC 125-grain JSP load; it was second-best shooting and came out of the rifle’s muzzle at a rather impressive 2,174 fps.

Read more: http://www.shootingtimes.com/rifles/winchester-model-1873-rifle-review/#ixzz4ZAQ5gLdO


So does this mean one can load the 44-40 up to 20k - 30K PSI (max for the 357 is 35k) safely and fire it?

I would load the 1873 with black powder loads - I use 36 grains 3F and get 1200fps from a 20' carbine with a pure lead bullet, you may get more powder compressed in a case and be able to burn it if you have a longer barrel, and get 1300 fps.
I can load 40 grains in a Starline case with the same amount of compression (0.2)that Winchester used to have in their factory loads but I cant burn it in the 20 inch barrel, I don't get any more velocity than 36grains, and sparks from the muzzle, so I have reached the point of diminishing returns with my shorter barrel. If you have a 24 inch rifle you will do better.

Or with similar pressure smokeless loads - 1300 fps is what your aiming for, , 16-17 grains or so with H4227, 8.5 grains of Unique or Universal

I decided on 8.5 gr Unique. 1250 fps over my chrono.....

Sounds good, I settled on 8.0 grains of Unique for my 1896 Winchester Model 1892 and Rossi .44/40's with great results.

I've been loading this new 73 in 44-40 with 35 gr of Olde Eynsford 3f and a 205 gr bullet cast from 16-1 from the lyman mould, and sized .429. Shoots great.
I did have to change the front sight as the one that comes on the rifle is way to tall. Had to use the top slot on the elevator to be able to get on at 100 yds. Replace it with an ivory blade and have plenty of elevation to shoot 200 yds and beyond.

It also gets along well with 12 gr. of bludot if a person is smokeless powder inclined.

I will be trying 24 gr of RL7 too