1873 in 38-40?

[Bigfoot]

So want to pose a question to those more in the know than I. I came across a Uberti 1873 in 38-40 for a really good price (new!) that felt really good on the shoulder. I shot my first cowboy pistol cartridge match a few weeks back and thought wow santa is being really nice to me this year.

After looking through the forum though I'm not seeing a lot of folks using this caliber. Is there a reason? Inquiring minds want to know!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts....

[Shandy]

I'd say the main reason you don't see too many 38-40's is that there generally there seems to be fewer around compared to other calibre's.

Certainly no reason not to used one and loading them is no more difficult or problematic that any of the other older calibre's such as 32-20, 44-40 etc. Good brass is available through Starline, projectiles and molds and dies can be had, so nothing really to prevent one from going in that direction.

My gut feeling is that a lot of the older rifles in 38-40 suffered from the effects of black powder and probably have pretty poor bores. But if you have a good one, then life is good.

As for the Uberti's, I'm surprised I don't see more people shooting them. They really are a lovely gun and I would personally like to have several in my safe, I suspect the main reason they are less common is their premium price. Certainly the ones I have seen have been very nice rifles.

If was buying a new one, I wouldn't rule out 38-40.

[the ex pom]

I have used them for years, have also won the CLAS nationals here in Australia with one. Great calibre, easy to load and shoots really well.


Dave

[Bigfoot]

I think that does it then. This one is new in box for $799 so me thinks it's coming home with me this week.

Now the fun part of researching what sights to put on it. That and trying to convince the fiance that it isn't a new rifle just one I haven't taken out of the case for a while...Yeah that might work!

[Jason]

Does this mean that I can expect to see you at the cowboy matches at Machias in the future? I didn't even get to shoot your new smallbore cowboy rifle at that last match. Now you and Byron will both have new rifles to sight in and play with next month, as I expect that he'll have the sights for his new Weatherby by then. If you guys keep this up, I'm just going to have to find one of those Marlin cowboy rifles in 357 so I can have a new rifle to play with, too. I definitely think I could reload for a 357 a lot cheaper than I can feed the current 22 mag...

[Bigfoot]

That really says something doesn't it. "Cheaper to reload 357 than shoot 22wmr".

Any tips on what to uses sight wise mr Jason? Fingers crossed I might be ready for Machias next match.

[Jason]

Actually, sight for the cowby matches are something that I've put a fair amount of thought into recently. I've tried the Williams FP receiver sights with target knobs and they worked OK, but didn't initially seem as smooth and repeatable as the Redfield 75 receiver sights that I'm using now. After proper cleaning/lubrication and changing out the elevation locking screw for a target knob on the Williams, though, they are very good. They're also a lot easier to find than the Redfields. I'm definitely not an expert on sight setups, though. I'm still undecided on the "ideal" setup for guns that can use tang sights, as I'm trying to get a rifle set up for the centerfire CLAS matches up at Custer and am planning to try a tang sight on that gun and test it against the Redfield/Williams sights that I already have. I don't have the option of tang sights on my current 57 and 57M rifles that I use for the smallbore and PC cowboy matches, so the Redfield 75s are probably as good as I can get for those. Byron had a tang sight on his older Marlin 39 that I got to shoot a few times, and it seemed wonderful to have such a long sight radius with the rear sight so close for those few shots. The tang sight did get in the way of my normal thumb position and I don't know if I would want that rear sight close to my eye/face with a big recoiler like a centerfire CLAS rifle shooting ram loads. A tang sight, which is closer to the shooter's eye, with an adjustable aperture should theoretically allow both a longer depth of field (better focus on front sight and target at the same time) and more precise aiming due to the longer sight radius. That tang sight has to be repeatable and the shooter has to be comfortable with using it, of course.

I had a potential new shooter for our smallbore cowboy match ask me what the "perfect" setup would be for smallbore CLAS, as he had heard that match was the cheapest to get into. My answer was to get one of the older Marlin 39a rifles with the wider foreend in good condition with a new extra-power hammer spring (faster locktime, more reliable ignition) and wild west happy trigger, then get a Marbles windage-adjustable tang sight with Merrit adjustable aperture and a Lyman 17A front sight with whatever insert worked best for him. There are rifles out there with longer/heavier barrels, but with a tang sight I don't personally think a barrel longer than 24" or heavier than the 39a comes with returns enough improvement for smallbore to be worth the weight/rarity, especially over a longer tournament. I think a variation of that setup for the other matches is probably the best, but I am not nearly as knowledgeable about the cowboy matches as many others on this forum. The longer barrel will be a bit more helpful in a 200 meter match, as the eye has to focus on a 200-meter target at the same time as the front sight in that match instead of a 100-meter target in the shorter matches. The slightly heavier barrel could also possibly help reduce perceived recoil a bit more, also, but I'm not particularly recoil sensitive so I am not a good judge of that.

To be honest, the targets that we shoot in the cowboy matches are very large compared to the scoped rifle silhouette matches and most other target rifle games. We don't need high-end Anschutz sights that adjust with 1/8 or 1/10 minute adjustments, even if they were allowed, or rifle/load combos that shoot less than half-minute five-shot groups at 100 meters. For me, the most important thing is for the equipment to be dead reliable, easy to use, hard to make a mistake with, easy to maintain, and most importantly, comfortable, for lack of a better word. Other than some accuracy issues with one of the Marlin 57s that I used to have, I can honestly say that misses that I have in cowboy silhouette matches are shooter errors. I get complacent about my shot sequence due to the larger targets and don't do a step right. I've seen you shoot the scoped rifle matches, so I expect the same will probably be true for misses for you as it is for most any of us who shoot AAA/master scores with scoped rifles on the tiny targets.

So summarize what should have been short enough to not need summarizing (:mrgreen:), the best sight setup is the setup that works to let the shooter see the front sight and target simultaneously, is repeatable long-term, and is easy enough to use that adjustments can be made between animals without errors. It's not really any more complicated than that.

[Bigfoot]

Great words o wisdom my man. So after doing a little research I think Marble might be the way to go. See link.

http://www.marblearms.com/improvedPeepTang.html

They break out recommended sights by rifle and list mine in there and actually demo how to install. Looks like I might need Steve or someone to help with drilling and tapping one hole but that's my only concern. I'll have to think about the front sight before I take the plunge there as well.

Thanks tons all! The next match is going to seem like an eternity away!