Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Cowboy Action Shooting Nerdboy Stuff

I just picked up my Winchester 73 reproduction of a Winchester 73! Basically, it's part of Winchester's long-term plan to offer some of their classic models back into the market. The 73 is made by Miroku in Japan, which has a reputation for building world-class firearms. I think the Browning 92s in .357 and .44 Magnum, clones of the Winchester 92s, are some of the finest lever guns ever made.

Some quick first impressions....The wood-to-metal fit is every bit as good as the fit on my pre-'64 Model 94, which is pretty impressive. One thing to immediately notice is that in spite of the fact that I love the color casehardening finish on the Uberti receivers, the Winchester 73 carries the same, deep blue-black finish as my pre-'64 30-30, which I believe is indeed the standard all lever guns are compared against. Here's the 73 on top, my pre-'64 Winchester 94 on the bottom:


The wood is very nice, and I like the matt finish better than the shiny finish of both my pre-'64 and my Ubertis. Definitely a step up from even my older Marlins. The trigger's not bad...not as good as a tuned Uberti, but QUANTUMS better than an out-of-the-box Italian gun. Ditto on lever motion...it's a little stiff, but not even in the same universe as the last Italian '73 I purchased...I needed an Iron Man suit to run that lever!

Here's the Winchester 73 on top, my match Uberti '73 on the bottom:


Here's the wood comparison between the 73 (on top) and hte pre-'64 94 30-30:


...and the 73 versus my match Uberti:


Finally, for all you cowboy action shooters out there, here's the picture you really want to see, the comparizon of the stroke on the Winchester 73 to my short-stroked Uberti 73:


Will be shooting it Saturday!

6 comments:

Gary B. said...

Wishing luck Saturday, post pictures if you can.

I'm enjoying my Winchester 94 pre-64 30-30 I got for b-day that replaced my days that was stolen.
Love the gong sound at 250 yards with iron sights.

Gene aka Ulmus said...

A true Winchester 73? I am soooo jealous!

Enjoy man. :)

Anonymous said...

So nice to see the walnut stocks. I am so tired of black ones(that I keep investing in). But, I do miss the wood. Congrats.

Anon from the right border of PROB.

PS. Excellent rant in the previous post. Keep them coming.

DamDoc said...

Wow!.. you must have one safe dedicated to just lever guns.... nice. Thanks for sharing, and good luck compeating with them.

DamDoc said...

I am on a business trip and at the Denver Tech Center (sorry, but no choice but to come here.. but eating a subway instead of higher priced places), and just saw a news story that 54 of 64 Colofornia Sherriffs are filing a lawsuit against the "unconstitutional" gun laws today.. Big press conference thia am... maybe some hope yet?

Anonymous said...

Will the new '73 only be offered in .357Mag or will there be a follow-up in .44Mag or 44/40?