Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Cowboy Action Shooting 1873 winchester I need help

I have a 73 win in 44-40 that shoots very large groups. So I shot a round into a bucket of sand to slug the bore. What I found is a very worn bore. the slug has no signs of rifleing so I tried the slug in the end of the barrel and it fell right in. the slug is .429 and the barrel measures .434. Can anyone help me with my options? thanks!

Sounds like you need a new barrel. It kinda surprises me to hear that the rifle is so worn out. The toggle link system is not the strongest either so you may need a complete rebuild. Is it worth it, maybe if you keep it as family heirloom and don't use it anymore. May be cheaper to find another. I've seen some go for thousands of dollars depending on year and model.

the rifle was made in 1883 with 24 inch oct.barrel.It's not an heirloom but I got it fairly cheap. It fuctions well just shoots about a 3 foot group. I'm a mounted shooter so it's not ideal for that because of it's weight but I can't get away from the cool factor. It works fine with blanks but I also like shooting live rounds.

Have you checked in the bore to see if there is rifling. If there is chances are it was bored that size when made.

What is cheap? Is it a 2nd Model? 2nd models are good property. About any big bore '73 is worth quite a bit of money. Any modification to it will lower its value and I would strongly counsel against it. If you don't want it or just really want a good gun for cowboy shooting, sell it and get a new Uberti. They are superior in every way to a Winchester and look more like the gun a frontiersman back then would've been using, since it wouldn't have already been worn out. Remember, more than likely, a barrel that is WORN out (as opposed to neglected) is more than likely attatched to a mechanism that is also worn out. The Uberti will give you a complete new gun. My guess is that sooner or later you will see Ubertis cheaper than they currently are due to the big run on more modern types of guns during the days after the last election.

...You could keep the historical barrel on it by having it re-bored to 45 caliber long Colt.

Unless the rifle is a family heirloom then I would sell it to a non shooting collector and buy a new Uberti 73. It's said that they are better than the original. I just love my 44-40. The original 44-40 rifles where a bit on the small side. They usually slugged out at 424 or 425 not the 427 that todays rifles are.The best way to have a truer reading of your bore is to soak the bbl with oil and use a egg shaped fishing sinker and drive it through the bore. Then you can measure both the lands and grooves.You can always have a special mold made if you so desire to spend the hundreds of dollars.