Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots Uberti Courteney Stalking rifle

Anyone have one of these? I'm interested in your overall opinions, quality, accuracy, etc.

Did you choose to mount a scope? Are you able to get a good cheek weld?

Any info from owners appreciated.

I think it was Craig Bodington that wrote an article about wringing one out. Not sure what magazine it was in. If I can find it, I'll pass it along. He seemed to like it!

Just googled this rifle, for some reason the 303 British caliber seems so cool in a single shot

Someone here bought one a while back. You could search for that thread and ask him.

I like the looks, but alas have too many rifles already………….

and not a single .303 component or loading gizmo.

I liked the look too. I sent a letter to them requesting more information. They never answered.

These days, if I wanted a 303, I would be inclined to put a 308 barrel on it and make it a 30-303. .311 bullets are very hard to find! Especially given the events of the past two years or so.

A 30-303 uses easy to find 308 bullets and 303 brass. Someone on another thread mentioned a 30-40, but try to find the brass!

Both the 303 and 30-40 will kill anything in the lower 48 with a 220 grain cast bullet.

A Highwall or No. 1 is no fun to shoot in either will full house loads.

but try to find the brass!

Yup. Ran into a very nice Rem 141 about a week ago, at a nice price. Had the money in my pocket, but Reason prevailed. Good thing, because I checked around and found not a single source for .35 ammo or brass. Took a quick look yesterday for ordinary .30 bullets, and ones for hunting are very limited. Good thing this old Boomer-Hoarder has a pile, though not the RNs I was looking for.

I'd like one in 7x57 and have told Uberti through their contact us page a few times. So far, they have not called asking for my credit card number, even though I have offered it up for pre-ordering.

Traditional High Walls don't work well with rimless. There is a 7X57R that would work fine.

I question this. What gun are you shooting? Many hi walls offered for sale to day have the curved butt plate and straight grip or one of the two evil feature. That is not good. I have the BPCR version which has flat butt plate and grip design but also a heavy barrel. Kinda Apples to oranges. I also have a limited edition medium 28" round barrel '85 with pistol grip and shotgun style butt plate. Both are very easy shooters with max BP loads and 500 gr bullets. Looking at the Courtney, it really should be fine on recoil with in a great over all handling package. Good rubber butt plate and pistol grip. If I were buying one, it would be a 45/70. That is where the fun is for me. But, I already have two repro 85's, both in 45/70, that puts me in the same boat as Pappy. I handled a Courtney in the gun shop. I was impressed.

Maybe a 405 Win or more a British flavor might be a 450/400? Probably not in my budget in any caliber. Post Covid, my dollars just not covering life the way they used too. If I was still working the Miruko 1895 in 405 would be tempting with a companion in an 85. Not an option. Miruko is scheduled to do a '95 in 405 (again) this year (2022). The worthless paper dollar is killing me though.

Speaking of 450/400 I have that in a No1. It kicks but; nothing like a 458 that will really slap you around hard. That includes sitting on the bench, which is worse case. The muzzle rises you roll back a bit. Not the punishment one might expect. I know it is all subjective. The Courtney should be just fine with any load. My 8c adjusted for Covid.

It might be time for people to re-examine older cartridges. Around here, it is easy to find new 7.62x54r and 303 British cases for reloading. 7.62x39 as well. Powder and primers are still a problem, Bullets are getting slightly easier to find.

As I posted earlier, for single shots, a 7.62x54r or 303 British with a 308 barrel would be great. Of course, component availability changes depending on where you live.

What’s up with all the modern Winchesters in non rimmed cartridges? Is it modern adaptation of the 1885 design that allows it? (Asking out of ignorance here)

And since a 7x57 is cool, a 7x57R has to be more cooler right?

Dunno about that. My Browning B78 handles 30-06 ammo just fine. I have a small collection of Ruger #1 rifles in the various configurations. Only two are rimmed cartridges and one cartridge is actually rebated. The rest are just are plain old rimless common mill of the run cartridges and they have been 100 percent reliable.
Paul B.

Your Browning is not a traditional Winchester design Highwall

The extraction system is different using a moving spring loaded extractor.

Winchester Highwalls have a manual extractor that sits behind the rim and levers out the cartridge.

http://www.wyomingarmory.com/gun-parts.html

I had one of these in 300 H&H that never worked. I converted it to 300 H&H Flanged (rimmed) and it worked better but still was hard to extract a high pressure cartridge.

That's why the Browning (and the Ruger) have springs.

I have never seen a 100% original Winchester Highwall chambered for a rimless cartridge.

Are you familiar with the Uberti 1885 and if so; how accurate a replica is this?

The current Winchester is a whole new design. It should really be given a new name like 1885A.

A pretty clever design, for low-power stuff anyway. You’ll never get a case wedged under it. How strong it is I can’t say.

The new Miruko design maybe clever. But; they dont even have any screws. And the BPCR (ie black powder cartridge rifle) came with a warning not to dis-assemble for cleaning. I do see screws on the side of the Uberti. It maybe have been easier for Uberti to simply copy a real Winchester than try and make it better? I read some reviews. As usual, all review are100% positive while saying as little as possible in the way of real information.

I have a couple of new-ish ones, and they have been pretty easy to keep fed. The others are moldy old .223s, .308s, .270s, etc. and I’m fat with stuff for them.

Sold 300 new .243 cases today locally to a guy who was damn glad to get them. He just built an AR10 and knows there’s gonna be a lot of brass carnage with that one.

I look around a lot and pick up stuff where I can. Learned my lesson a shortage or two ago.

I would prefer one in 30-30win or 30-40 krag (that would be amazing), but 303 is pretty cool.

I just love the look. I'd keep it open sights.

I took a Browning BPCR apart and the warning is well deserved.

drover

Ha, I did it twice...the first time and the last time!

Just picked up mine a few weeks back....have a Burris 3- 9 Compact mounted in high color case hardened rings from VGS.....was concerned about cheek weld and how hard it is to access the hammer, but neither are an issue.....I also put on a Galco butt cuff that holds 5 rounds.....very pleased with the whole package.

Why the high rings?

If the scope is mounted too low, it is difficult to get your thumb on the hammer.

"I have never seen a 100% original Winchester Highwall chambered for a rimless cartridge."

I have at the range. Rifle was chambered to the .35 Whelen. Very nice job and it extracted very nicely. It wasn't a problem for me when I shot the rifle. Recoil was noticeable but tolerable. Steel buttplate.
PJ

On the Courtney rifle, I'd read somewhere just before it was to be released to the public that you were to have the choice of .303 British or (GASP!) 7x57 Mauser. I wonder why they dropped the 7x57 round? It too was a traditional African cartridge. I'd have snapped up the first on I saw in 7x57. Bell used both the .303 Brit and 7x57 for elephants, and 800+ of the elephants were with the 7x57. He used the .303 and a 400 something on the 300 some odd elephants he killed. In 1948, Bell opined that the .308 Win. shooting 200 or 220 gr. bullets at about 2300 FPS would be an excellent rifle/cartridge combo for elephant. That article was in the American Rifleman BTW.
PJ

I credit Bell with a hell of a lot, but recommending a rifle in 1948 that didn't didn't come out till 1952 is really a case of " forward thinking".

I believe he was commenting on the T65 case rather than the actual .308. Apparently he'd seen or actually had samples on hand. Just quoting what the article said. I'm not going to dig through 12 months of 1948 and 1952 issues of the Rifleman to find when he made the comments.
PJ

Nice looking rifle.

Bell's comment on the 308, December, 1954,

in the 30-06 paragraph

https://postimg.cc/XrZ5XDLb

and here

https://postimg.cc/BL9psPr2

Bruce

Yes, I bought one not long after they were available.

I had always lusted after a Farquharson in 303 but never could get over the "mortgage the house to buy one".

The Uberti came along and I thought it was close enough for my pocketbook.

Over the time that I purchased it I ended up having hip replacement which put a crimp on my range time. So far, it's been fun but not found to be a tack driver, at least not yet. With the dearth of primers I've not been able to do the load development with different primer manufacturers. I still have lots of loads to check and hope springs eternal.

As to fit and finish. As good as you would expect. Wood match to metal is good, finish excellent, action tight but smooth, a good trigger. If you are a rifle crank and like to muss with old and obsolete calibers, a good way to spend your time.

TCRken