Winchester fun

[Leadeye]

Out shooting my old 1892 SRC in 44-40 at steel today, it just rings and rings. Made in 1905 it's been to South America and back and who knows where. Still chambers and accurately spits cast lead 200 grain Lee bullets on top of 8 grains of Unique powder. When you pull it out of the period Heiser scabbard it just feels right.

This is the type of rifle you see the character of Ramon, the psycho leader of the Rojos clan in the 1964 film Fistful of Dollars, using throughout the film. He says he would never give it up as he doesn't think he could ever find one that shot as well.



It's a lightweight, reliable, rifle, Winchester made over a million of them and other companies have made more since. A great credit to another John Browning design.

 

[Mongo59]

Always aim for the heart...

 

[Max Volume]

Do I see a carboy with home made spirits?

 

[Leadeye]

Do I see a carboy with home made spirits?

Yes you do.

 

[kennedy759]

check out the winchesters on bonanza, all model 92`s, its a hollywood favorite

 

[DadSmith]

Out shooting my old 1892 SRC in 44-40 at steel today, it just rings and rings. Made in 1905 it's been to South America and back and who knows where. Still chambers and accurately spits cast lead 200 grain Lee bullets on top of 8 grains of Unique powder. When you pull it out of the period Heiser scabbard it just feels right.

This is the type of rifle you see the character of Ramon, the psycho leader of the Rojos clan in the 1964 film Fistful of Dollars, using throughout the film. He says he would never give it up as he doesn't think he could ever find one that shot as well.

View attachment 306822

It's a lightweight, reliable, rifle, Winchester made over a million of them and other companies have made more since. A great credit to another John Browning design.

View attachment 306828

Leadeye a question came up about the Winchester 1873 rifle.
The question was two fold.
What was the most popular caliber It was chambered in at the time, and what was the actual price of the rifle in those days?
I tried to use my Google fu, and it failed.

 

[Leadeye]

The 44-40 was the most popular caliber then and still is today. Price for those rifles moved around from 20 to 50 dollars over their lifetime which was long, dropping as competitors both internal and external appeared. Production did not cease until 1923 so in addition to people like Marlin, the 1873 faced their own 1876, 1886, 1892, 1894 and 1895.

44-40 was a good caliber and a lot of those guns got a lot of use on farms, mines, etc. in the West. My experience over the years has been that 32-20 was the least popular with 38-40 in between. The latter two calibers are easier to obtain and in generally better condition for the money, I think because they saw less use.

 

[DadSmith]

The 44-40 was the most popular caliber then and still is today. Price for those rifles moved around from 20 to 50 dollars over their lifetime which was long, dropping as competitors both internal and external appeared. Production did not cease until 1923 so in addition to people like Marlin, the 1873 faced their own 1876, 1886, 1892, 1894 and 1895.

44-40 was a good caliber and a lot of those guns got a lot of use on farms, mines, etc. in the West. My experience over the years has been that 32-20 was the least popular with 38-40 in between. The latter two calibers are easier to obtain and in generally better condition for the money, I think because they saw less use.

Thanks for the history.
So originally 40gr of BP? What was the usual bullet weight and velocity from 40gr of BP?

 

[Max Volume]

"The Winchester Book" 1 of 1000 by George Madis is a good source of info for Winchester rifles. Got it on the shelf.

 

[Leadeye]

Thanks for the history.
So originally 40gr of BP? What was the usual bullet weight and velocity from 40gr of BP?

I've never been able to get 40 grains of BP in a modern 44-40 case with a 200 grain cast lead bullet. The data for old balloon head cases and BP back in the day is around 1200 FPS. Modern guns can get a jacketed 200 grain bullet up to around 1500, but that would be pushing it. I confine my BP 44-40 mainly to my collection of Colt revolvers, the Winchester 1892 gets smokeless, along with the 1873 repros.

 

[DadSmith]

I've never been able to get 40 grains of BP in a modern 44-40 case with a 200 grain cast lead bullet. The data for old balloon head cases and BP back in the day is around 1200 FPS. Modern guns can get a jacketed 200 grain bullet up to around 1500, but that would be pushing it. I confine my BP 44-40 mainly to my collection of Colt revolvers, the Winchester 1892 gets smokeless, along with the 1873 repros.

That was pretty powerful for the day. The power of a 10mm in a carbine.

 

[Leadeye]

That was pretty powerful for the day. The power of a 10mm in a carbine.

You can get 10mm ballistics out of the 38-40 if you work at it. It even shoots the same 180 grain bullets.

 

[DadSmith]

You can get 10mm ballistics out of the 38-40 if you work at it. It even shoots the same 180 grain bullets.

That is formidable for a BP cartridge.

 

[Leadeye]

That is formidable for a BP cartridge.

I should have been more clear, that's the capability with smokeless.

 

[Methane Herder]

One of my favorite Winchesters.

MH