Winchester 1873 Trapper load workup

[ColdSpring]

Have always lusted after one of these, & finally found one (Miroku) in 357 Magnum new in the box at a local gun shop. Found a certification letter inside the box that it's a distributor special, "one of 201"; not sure what differentiates it from Winchester's standard 1873 offerings but assume it's the 16" trapper barrel length. Fairly new to lever guns (last couple years), & all previous experience has been with Marlin 1894 & Henry designs.
It's extremely well finished, deep even bluing, great oil finish on the wood, excellent wood to metal fit, and all metal to metal surfaces are perfectly mated. The walnut is straight grained without much figure, but I don't want to refer to it as plain- it's quite beautiful, as is the color case hardening where applied.
No idea whether or not the "1873 + heavy magnum loads = problems" equation is accurate, but in any case I don't plan on heavy loads through this rifle- have a Henry X for that. Everything I had on hand was high pressure, so I loaded up some 158 grain coated lead over 4.1 grains of W231 in magnum cases to try out. Knew that would at least be a safe, functional load.
The rifle fed, fired, extracted & ejected without a hitch. The length of pull & trigger reach suit me well, and it's comfortable to shoot- with one caveat noted below. Shoulders well, and I'm able to quickly get it on target.
Mostly a very positive experience, but did have to work through a few things:

- The trigger stop pushed back on the lever with what I consider to be way more vigor than necessary. Had to "remember" to squeeze the lever up on several occasions in order to light one off. Fixed this by getting a flat edge underneath its spring & lifting enough to grasp with needle nose, then slowly lifted until it lost just a bit of mustard. Now it stays disengaged once the lever has been full worked- but only if it's been fully worked.
- Loading through the King's gate was hard, at least the very last push. Went in fine until the rim was almost in, then it would hang up HARD. It was hard enough that I was inspecting the cases for damage, though I didn't see any. Confession- have read & heard others complaints about tough gate loading on their lever guns, & always kinda dismissed it. Once broken down, could easily see the loading hangup- a raised ridge inside the brass lifter, complete with marks from forcing the rounds through. Might have smoothed out on it's own eventually, but i helped it along, breaking the edge with a needle file & smoothing with 600 grit. The lifter was a bit rough overall, so I smoothed over all the machining marks with 600 grit while I had it out. Other than that it's smooth as silk inside, couldn't find even the faintest milling artifacts on any of the steel.
- With the rear sight as low as it will go, still a few inches high at 30 yards. Correctable with a taller front sight or by filing the notch deeper, but opted for a Marbles tang sight instead. VERY pleased with that decision, really sharpens the sight picture & the sight seems very well made.



Ok, now for the reloading part...

Only two powders on hand suitable for relatively low pressure loads with lead bullets, W231 & IMR 4227. Loaded some with 4.1, 4.4, & 4.7 grains of W231. Did the same with 10.5 & 11.0 grains of IMR 4227 (NOTE- Hodgdon site shows 10.5-11.5 grain range for 158 grain swc, but with H4227- I was assured that it's good for IMR 4227 as currently formulated).
The W231 loads were absolutely terrible; none turned in a 5-shot, 50-yard group less than 7". Not interested in going much higher with that powder since this is meant to be a low pressure target load. Now I'm a little concerned the rifle may have a barrel problem. Did a quick barrel cleaning before trying the 4227 loads.

Fears of a bad barrel were quickly squashed. Here are the first 5 at 50 with 10.5 grains IMR 4227:



First 5 with 11.0 grains IMR 4227 (pretty sure I pulled the one farthest right:



One click up on the tang sight, then another 5 with 11.0 grains:



11.0 grains ought to put me in the range of 16,000-17,000 C.U.P according to Hodgdon. Give or take a little for differences between the listed lswc & the coated rnfp I'm using. Should be a load the 1873 can digest in bulk quantity.

10 shots over the chronograph produced:
AVG 1057
ST DEV 7
ES 25
KE 392

 

[dh1633pm]

Those are pretty light bullets for 45 Colt. I have a Uberti 1873 which I love to shoot. Yes, I know not a 45 Colt. Your results show your loads are working well for you. Your rifle looks great!

 

[ColdSpring]

Thanks dh1633pm!
Typed that whole manifesto & didn't have the sense to say what caliber it is
It's a 357 Magnum.

If it had been a Uberti I still would've bought it, almost everything I hear about them is positive.

 

[dh1633pm]

You did well. The one thing that stood out for me was how smooth the action is compared to any other lever action that I have ever owned or handles. Smooth. Second was how easy they are to take apart for cleaning. I thought with an action this smooth, it must be complicated, it wasn't. I went with the 45 Colt because it was more original (NOT). I went with 45 Colt because I already load in the caliber. Makes things easier. If they only had a .357 I would have considered. My dad has lots of everything to load .357. He uses a lot of Win W231. That is one sweet rifle you have. The finish is outstanding.

 

[Frulk]

Congrats on your acquisition....I’ve dated women that weren’t as good looking as that rifle...

 

[AJC1]

The lever guns I have use in new condition needed some breaking in. The loading gate was super sharp on the ubertini so I stoned down the edges on the gate and frame. I dont know if where you shoot required range saftey flags for the breach on cold range but they are perfect for pushing bullets into the tube without cutting your fingers and bleeding all over your nice rifle. The good part is they seem to get nicer, and smooth out after some use. Congratulations on a sweet rifle.

 

[ColdSpring]

Frulk - you & me both!

AJC1 - it loads smooth as butter now, just needed to knock down that ridge on the brass lifter. Using a range flag is a nice trick though!

dh1633pm - working the action is amazing, & it has a much shorter throw than other 357 levers I've owned or shot.

Still scratching my head over the powder disparity. One of the W231 loads (forget which) was giving nearly identical velocities as the 11 grain 4227 load... same bullet pushed at the same speed, but one grouped under an inch & the other was close to eight.
Ain't complaining since I have 8 lbs of the IMR. That powder also produced the most accurate load I've tested in my Henry, though it's a much hotter load. Beat anything I got from W296 or 2400.

 

[AJC1]

Frulk - you & me both!

AJC1 - it loads smooth as butter now, just needed to knock down that ridge on the brass lifter. Using a range flag is a nice trick though!

dh1633pm - working the action is amazing, & it has a much shorter throw than other 357 levers I've owned or shot.

Still scratching my head over the powder disparity. One of the W231 loads (forget which) was giving nearly identical velocities as the 11 grain 4227 load... same bullet pushed at the same speed, but one grouped under an inch & the other was close to eight.
Ain't complaining since I have 8 lbs of the IMR. That powder also produced the most accurate load I've tested in my Henry, though it's a much hotter load. Beat anything I got from W296 or 2400.

If it's the same bullet at the same speed then it's all about how the pressure curve opterates the bullet, and possibly if the slower powder holds the rifling and the faster is causing shear. I would be very intrested in cleanliness and or leading of the barrel in both cases.

 

[ColdSpring]

Good points. W231 is a very fast powder, while IMR 4227 is the slowest powder practical for this cartridge (& probably only for rifles or long barrel revolvers). One is getting max speed well before the other. Milliseconds of course, but those matter in hand loading.

Fired a total of 100 rounds between all the loads I worked up, & zero leading so no clues there. Still, I think you're on to it.
There was a light sooting (very little but it's there) on the front portion of the carrier, indication of a less then perfect seal between case & chamber. Makes sense; those loads are less than half the pressure the cases are designed to work at.