Took the 128 year old 1873 out for a shoot...Ugh!

[rbertalotto]

My brass and dies finally came in for my old 38-40 Winchester.  The bullet mold arrived a few days ago. I cast up a bunch of 180g bullets and loaded ten rounds to see how the "sewer pipe" barrel would do.

Not so good! Can you say "key holing"!

There is a whole update and pictures of the targets on the entire 1873 Winchester project here:

www.rvbprecision.com

Hope you enjoy it!

[Missionary5155]

Greetings
You will want to get a good measurement of the throat area of your particular rifle.  That will generally be the fattest diameter you have to deal with.  Using smokeless you must fill that throat or your bullet will wobble all over in there getting started.  3F black powder will bump up a 180+ grain soft cast (40-1) that is close to throat diameter.
Chamber.. measure your fired brass against sized brass.  For my 38/40's I only neck size and dedicate brass to each rifle.  Chamber sizes very.
Next check the muzzle diameter.  If your rifle has a wollered out muzzle from individuals cleaning without a muzzle protector then you are going to have to make a serious decision.  You can relign the barrel and still have the origonal exterior. You can cut off probably one inch but may have to go to 1.5 inch removal.  Yea I know the collectors are spitting all over the keyboard.. Rebarrel is the other solution but then you have nothing origonal mounted but keep the origonal barrel with the rifle. 
Those are some of the issues I have encountered with the 38/40 in old worn rifles.

[rbertalotto]

There is simply no way this old corroded barrel will ever be made to shoot. It is TOO far gone. If you try to push a bullet through the bore, it comes out all torn to bits. There are many tight and loose spots in the bore. The chamber is totally rusted out. I had to use steel wool in the chamber just to get a cartridge to fit.

The pictures of the bore on the website will convince you.

Nope, this old girl is a perfect candidate for a reline.

Stay tuned.

[Mikey]

Robert:  That certainly is a beautiful looking rifle but the pictures you posted of the bore were, as you stated, not for the faint of heart.  It appears the black powder corrosion has completely ruined the rifling.  I know you had mentioned lining the barrel and since you intend to keep the rifle in its original external condition I think this would be the best way to go.  If you consider a re-barrel, you might wish to contact the Montana Rifleman and ask them if they work on or restore original 1873s to the new condition.
I don't know what condition the barrel is in other than the completely corroded bore and do not know if what remains of the barrel is either strong enough or integral enough to withstand the lining process without developing cracks or becoming otherwise fatigued.  HTH.

[lakota]

Wether its a shooter or not I think its cool that you own a piece if history like that rifle.

[rbertalotto]

I have a lathe and all the tooling to work on rifles. I've converted lever action rifles to Take Downs, built rifles rfrom old military actions and a few from custom actions. I rebarrel and chamber all my benchrest and varmint rifles. So I ordered a Redman liner and the special drill from Brownells. I'll rent the reamer from "Reamer Rentals" and I should have this rifle shooting dime size groups by next weekend.....

Stay tuned!

[tacklebury]

Green Mountain makes tapered octagon barrels that could probably just be threaded and installed with some small milling of dovetails etc.  Take the old barrel off for posterity or if you were to want to sell it and put on a good shooter.  Use plum brown instead of bluing and it'll blend right into your patina. 
 
Well you might have to contact them for a .38-55 or Rice barrel company or Colrain Barrel Company because they only stock .40 and .45 at GM in the tapered Octagon
http://www.gmriflebarrel.com/catalog.aspx?catid=taperedoctagonbarrels

[454Puma]

rbertalotto 
Dam son I read the whole right up on this !! Looks like you made that old Whinny a real shooter.
Good for another 100 years plus!

[rbertalotto]

I just realized that I never finished this thread.

I lined the old 1873 and it came out great. Read all about it here:

www.rvbprecision.com