I didn't realize Euro arms made a repro 1873. How does it compare to the Uberti & Miroku?
Carbine or rifle?
I have a Uberti saddlering carbine version of the 1873 I bought in 1991. I like it a lot. Also a recently made Miroku repro of the Winchester 1892 takedown rifle in .32-20. Yes it has rebound hammer and tang safety, but these don't put me off like the do others....."to each his own," as they say.
I have a couple Euro arms cap & ball revolvers I consider very well made....I'm wondering about their 1873?
Euroarms is no longer in business. The carbine I mentioned is quite old for an Italian repro. The date code is XX7 which is supposed to be 1971. I didn't realize that Italy was even reproducing a model 73 that early until I checked the code. The barrel is marked "made by Euroarms, Bresca, Italy". It has no saddle ring, but does have the sliding brass trap door in the carbine butt plate with a cavity in the butt stock for a jointed cleaning rod.
In trying to piece together the lineage, it appears that the factory was Armi San Paulo who owned the importer named Euroarms from 1970 to 1996. They also had relations in the US with Cabelas, Dixie Gunworks, and Navy Arms. The importer name then changed to Euroarms of America still connected to Armi San Paulo or Euroarms Italia. That's about the best I can make of
how all that fits together.
According to the Blue Book of black powder the Euroarms of America or Armi San Paulo ceased production and importation in 2011. At the time they were only producing muzzle loading muskets and percussion revolvers---no cartridge firearms. All of their tooling was purchased by Pedersoli who plans to use it to continue some of their former offerings.
Neither the black powder Blue book nor the big standard Blue book of cartridge firearms lists any
model 1873's made or imported by Euroarms, so they must not have made them for very long and probably sold the tooling to somebody like Uberti.
Here's a picture of all of my 1873's except my last purchased Miroku sporting rifle. That model is pictured at the bottom
From front to back:
1. Miroku short rifle in .357 mag/.38 spl Notice how mis-matched the wood is between the butt stock and the forearm. This is not that unusual for them either.
2. Original sporting rifle in 38-40 made in 1891
3. Uberti sporting rifle in 45 Colt. I bought this unfired locally and sold it the same way two weekends ago. I paid $750 and sold it for $850. The new buyer still got an excellent deal on a pristine rifle that had never been fired.
4. The Euroarms carbine in 44-40. I've had it at least 15 or more years and got it as part of a trade
If the date code is right, it's 46 years old. The serial number is only three digits 04xx. It shoot great and is in mint condition--especially for its age.
5. Uberti 1873 deluxe sporting rifle in .357 mag/ .38 spl.
Here is the Miroku sporting rifle in 44-40. I don't know if it shows up well, but this is the rifle that has the non-authentic extreme barrel taper--if not, one can certainly see that abnormally tall front sight. The premium wood is quite pretty though and matches up much better than the short rifle I got from them. This was a shot show special from the year before Miroku formally added it to their catalog. This rifle is a full half pound lighter than the original it is supposed to replicate. I've said it more than once on this forum that IMHO--pound for pound (literally) Uberti makes a more historically authentic 1873 replica than Miroku does and at a better MSRP. The species of the walnut used being one exception.
Cheers