1873 Winchester
I picked up a 1873 32 20 here a while back that is a good solid brown and the only bad pitting I have is from about the end of the front sight pretty much all around the barrel to the end of the barrel. A couple of them are pretty deep and I was wonder if there is a product that could be used that would would take a brown/blue, and not look like a fill in. Or just forget it and say it's over a 100 years old.
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I have a 1873 winchester 32 20 that was missing the ejector. I guess the new parts are made to work in more than one caliber and they have to be dressed a bit. Since i didn't have one in the gun I am not sure of the fit. I got it trimmed down enough to fit the pin hole and the ejector is pretty tight in the grove. What I am wondering is if it should stay down in the grove fair tight or should it be able to rock up just a little. Give the bolt has a bit of slant in the rear where the hole is I would think it maybe should fit loose enough to lift out of the slot when the ejection takes place. I might have to take a little more of the area around the pin so the ejector can move. can anybody tell me how the ejector should work? 0 -
I have some thoughts on your project. First, you are correct in that all collector value of your model '73 has been lost. Second, the barrel should be thick enough to be rebored to .38 Special. Third, the carrier block will have to be modified to handle the larger diameter cartridge. Fourth, the bolt face will have to be opened up to take the larger rim. Fifth, you will have to find someone to do the work and I think that your idea of a "reasonably priced" shooter will be out the window. In my opinion, the cost of doing the conversion would be more then the rifle is worth. If the bore of the barrel is bad, it would be cheaper to have the barrel relined to the original caliber of .32-20 and spend the money saved to buy a reloading set so that you could cut your ammo costs by 60%. On another point, you say that you know that the rifle will stand these loads because the action will stand the pressure of larger cartridges like the .44-40. You may be interested in the fact that the black powder .32-20,.38-40 and .44-40 cartridges, for which the model '73 action was designed, all operate at about the same pressure i.e. 15000-17000 psi it has nothing to do with the physical size of the cartridge. All in all I think that your project is interesting but not practical. 0 -
Keep it as a 32-20 and handload for it. The caliber is a great fun shooter. I have a 32-20 in a pump gun and love recreational shooting with it.
The force on a breechbolt is a function of pressure and crossectional area of the cartridge base. A bigger base like the 38-40 0r 44-40 would exert greater force on a bolt than the 32-20 or 38 special.
I would not alter the gun.0 -
I appreciate all the replies. A note to Iroquois Scout, I figured the carrier and possibly the bolt would need replacing, and both are available from Uberti, among others, so that didn't seem like an insurmountable problem. Add to that the fact that they are fairly cheap. As to barrel thickness and condition, the bore on this gun is actually quite good. And the only reason I even contemplated this was that is was a smaller caliber, so the rebore would create essentially a new barrel. My knowledge lapses are in areas (well, probably many more than this) like the diameter of the magazine, for example. Were they specific to the caliber, or simply a standard size that would accomodate all calibers? You may well all be right that this is too much trouble for the return I would get. i know that 32-20 is a fun caliber, it's just so bloody expensive. Yeah, I could take up handloading at this late date, but not factored into my original explanation is that there are many of us out here that love the old guns, love the shooting, love the history and are just damned lazy. A sad confession on my part. Alternatively, any suggestions on at least the best deal on 32-20 ammo? 0 -
Are you sure that the Uberti parts will fit an original Winchester Model 1873? I would think that the Uberti parts would be metric while the Winchester would be inch pattern. I confess that I don't know as I have never tried to swap parts between those two guns. As to the magazine the .38-40 and .44-40 use the same diameter magazine tube but the .32-20 uses one of smaller diameter. I don't know if it has a enough room to pass the larger .38 special rim. I will try to check on one of my rifles tonight. Best of luck Scout 0 -
I haven't played with a '73 for quite a while but as I recall, it might be something of a task to rework the bolt face for .38 Special. The diameter of the bolt is sized to the diameter of the cartridge head so it will pass thru the carrier block. This is my recollection as something to look into if you pursue the conversion. 0 -
Hey, thanks to everyone. I have a lot more to think about now. I called Uberti and talked to a couple of gunsmmiths they recommended. It turns out that some parts fit like barrels and such, and some don't. Interestingly, their toggles are smaller. the smiths thought though that the carrier and bolt probably would. It's still a big deal though, and even though it's buggered up, it is still a '73. So I will give this a lot more thought. Once again, any offbeat sources of ammo I just haven't run across on the net? 0 -
Finally had a chance to check the diameter of the magazine tube on my .32-20 model 1873. This rifle is a third model made in 1890. The magazine tube has enough room to pass the .38 special rim,but where the tube enters the receiver there is a ring that is of smaller diameter then the tube and the rim of the .38 special will just hardly pass through. I think that you would have a hard time getting these cartridges into the magazine tube from the loading gate without opening up this ring. 0
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