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Out of the box


Cowpoke Chris

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Since you guys crushed my idea of the thunderbolt I still have not chosen a rifle. Maybe it would simplify things to just ask out right for recommendations. Which rifle will give me the best service out of the box. No slicking or stroking. Just unbox and shoot. Highly considering 44-40 because that is what my revolvers are. But I may go 357 just because I really like it. 

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welcome !!! and there will be a lot of different thoughts ...... but  i would try to find a used uberti  ..... there is a lot of aftermarket parts for them where there is not for others... may not seem like it matters now but might down the road because, Most  everyone wants to go as fast as they can  when they get used to playing the game.

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Have not handled one, but I've been told the out of the box Winchester (Miroku) 73 is best.  The Uberti's (66 & 73) probably have the most upgrades available to make them go fast.  A couple of other thinks to keep in mind are if you ever might want to shoot Wild Bunch, you need .40 caliber or larger and if you might ever want to shoot black powder, the 44-40 is a great choice.

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Get a Uberti 66 Short Rifle in .38 WCF ( .38-40 ) WB legal ...

And the best caliber fer shooting the Smokie Stuff ...

 

Jabez Cowboy

 

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Uberti 73's & 66's are Very Good..... You'll see more of them than anything else at a Shoot.

But like stated above...

For straight outta the Box and to the Range, Winchester/Miroku is your best choice for sure!

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Win ‘73 clone is the best, I believe.  I don’t recommend you shoot .357Mag consistently in large quantity.  Doing so with close to factory loads of high powered ammo, will ultimately damage the rifle and you’ll have a parts gun at that point.

 

Cat Brules

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If already had 44WCF pistols, I'd stick with that in a rifle.

 

Barrel and stock length are individual preferences.

 

Out of the box you'd be hard pressed to do any better than the new Winchesters from Miroku.

 

That is, unless you also want to go for the "cool" factor, then maybe consider a Henry manufactured New Original Henry.  This ones going to cot a bit more, though.

 

If you search around the classifieds here or at your local ranges you might come up with a used but not abused Uberti that's had work done to it for less than the cost of a new Uberti.

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I like simplicity so if I may suggest if you have a choice get a .44-40 rifle.  Makes it easier and cheaper at the beginning to reload having only one caliber.  The .44-40 will also give you some choices because it works well with BP and smokeless, and it would allow you to shoot WB if you ever wanted to.  As you get to more matches you might find that you want to try different categories, from when I started (1 1/2 years ago) to now I've changed from shooting smokeless to BP cartridge, 2 handed to duelist, now I'm going to try my hand at gunfighter and even frontiersman.  This hasn't been quite the answer to your question but IMHO they are things to think about with the rifle purchase.  And like most in this game you'll wind up getting other guns and no one says that they have to be all the same caliber. 

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Miroku Winchester 1873 will be slickest out of the box, but you’ll struggle to find parts and gunsmiths to upgrade it if you decide to.

 

Uberti 1873 won’t be as slick out of the box as a Winchester, but can be made very slick indeed and there’s no shortage of parts or smiths to work on them.

 

44-40 is a very versatile cartridge, allowing you to compete in WB, and shoot BP, BUT, that caliber is a lot more expensive to reload. The brass is a lot more expensive as are the bullets. 
 

38 special brass can be purchased for as little as .03 per piece, 44-40 will cost at least 5-10 times that much. You can reload 38 special for .08-.09 a bullet. 44-40 is probably twice that, maybe more.

 

If you develop a 1000+ round per month habit like my wife and I have that can add up to hundreds of dollars more every month, just to have the ability to shoot WB or BP every now and then.

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The Winchester Miroku is the smoothest "out of the box" but as others have said the Uberti's are easier to get parts for. I'd personally go with the Uberti's, I have two a 66 and a 73

 

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1 hour ago, Cowpoke Chris said:

Good morning everyone. Thanks for the great replies. One question about the 73's. Are the pistol grip stocks in some models legal for sass?

I use pistol grip '73 Uberti's but they are not stock. As mentioned earlier every Cowboy Gunsmith can work on them and parts are readily available. If you don't want to have to have anything done to it the Winchester / Miroku '73 is probably the way to go.

 

Randy

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1 hour ago, Captain Bill Burt said:

Miroku Winchester 1873 will be slickest out of the box, but you’ll struggle to find parts and gunsmiths to upgrade it if you decide to.

 

Uberti 1873 won’t be as slick out of the box as a Winchester, but can be made very slick indeed and there’s no shortage of parts or smiths to work on them.

 

44-40 is a very versatile cartridge, allowing you to compete in WB, and shoot BP, BUT, that caliber is a lot more expensive to reload. The brass is a lot more expensive as are the bullets. 
 

38 special brass can be purchased for as little as .03 per piece, 44-40 will cost at least 5-10 times that much. You can reload 38 special for .08-.09 a bullet. 44-40 is probably twice that, maybe more.

 

If you develop a 1000+ round per month habit like my wife and I have that can add up to hundreds of dollars more every month, just to have the ability to shoot WB or BP every now and then.

 

He's correct about reloading costs, which is something I wasn't thinking about.  @Cowpoke Chris if you want to go to a .38 let me know I've got a couple of pistols in .38 that we might be able to work a deal on for your .44-40's

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I own a Miroku rifle in 357.  It is a slick and pretty gun.  It did need work before use in competition.  I had a reputable smith do the work.  However, he and some other CAS smiths no longer work on the guns.  If you buy one you may have to make the minor mods needed yourself.

 

357 is a good caliber.  It is a straight-walled case and is easy too load.  You can load 38 Specials longer than spec and they feed very well in many rifles chambered for 357.  Once-fired brass is cheap and readily available.  When I lose 38 Special cases to the weeds or under props it costs me very little.

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OP, I bought the Marlin 1894CB in 357 because it has a more stout action than the 1873,

For SASS, this is a mistake... wish I would have bought the Miroku/Winchester 1873 instead.
SASS simply does not require a stout action, but rather one that is reliable when operated at very fast SASS speeds.

The Marlin 1894 can indeed be slicked up and modified for reliability.
Remlins (Marlins by Remington since 2010) have a reputation for hit-or-miss quality.
Mine is 2019.03 production, and fit and finish are excellent.  I got lucky.
Warranty replacement in CA is an onerous, time consuming and very expensive process (FFL, Background).

Winchester offers an 1873 in 357 or 45 Colt that looks like my octagonal barrel Marlin.
IMO, the Winchester is the highest out-of-the-box quality.

I recently got into 44 mag by happenstance.
Winchester does not offer an 1873 in 44 mag, so I bought the Uberti 1873 instead.
The Uberti does not come with the octagonal barrel, so I had to settle for 2nd best.

IMO, new shooters are best suited with a single caliber for ease of reloading and lack of confusion at the loading table.


 

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Bone stock out of the box you'll be hard pressed to find a better rifle than the miroku 73. If price is an issue or you're on a budget then my second choice would be a marlin. They are pretty easy to smooth out on your own. But finding one in 44/40 would be a challenge and probably run you about the same as a new winchester anyway. Picking up a used uberti 66 or 73 will save some money and odds are if it's coming from another cowboy it's already smoothed up either by a smith or just from the years of use. But that can be a double edged sword in and of itself. If you decide to go that route then be sure to either buy it from a local cowboy where you can test it before buying or from a well known long time cowboy here on the wire. I learned the hard way about buying a used cowboy gun from a non cowboy. 

If you ever plan to shoot black powder then i'd highly recommend sticking with the 44/40 to match your pistols. If you're going to strictly shoot smokeless powder then going the 38/357 route will save a few bucks on ammo. I personally like to keep my pistols and rifle chambered the same so I dont bugger anything up at the loading table but 44/40 and 38 are pretty easy to spot the difference between. 

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My first question would be, what are your goals with the rifle?  Are your goals buckles in competitive categories? Or are you going to just enjoy shooting a cool gun.    If you aren't into going as fast as possible there are plenty of rifles that will be fun and work fine.  If you want to win.  Out of the box the miruko is the only one that is capable and won't chew itself to pieces

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Naw.  None of the above.  Twer it I, I'd be searching, ordering, begging, finding a Miroku Winchester 1866.  It'll run just as well and just as reliable and be a little simpler than the Miroku '73 while being a whole group better for "cool factor."

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Quote

Which rifle will give me the best service out of the box. No slicking or stroking. Just unbox and shoot. Highly considering 44-40 because that is what my revolvers are. But I may go 357 just because I really like it.

Depends on the size of your wallet ... I have 3 Rossi's, two 45 Colts and a modified 38Spl/357 to 32-20.

One of the 45's has near to 20,000 black powder reloads down the bore: no replacement parts, chamber/extraction issues and an accurate bore

Of  course for more expense you can step up to a 1866 or 73 - your vendor choice

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I have Ubertis in 45 (3 of them), 32-20, 44 Special,  Henry, 66, and '73s.  One of the '73s is almost 30 years old now.   Some of them full on race guns but all modified to  some degree.  My favorite isn't a Uberti but a Winchester Miroku '73 carbine in 44-40.  Didn't have to do a thing to it.  

 

Nice rifles.

 

 

 

 

IMG_3405 (2).JPG

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I have been shooting a Uberti 66 in 44-40 feeding it a regular diet of Goex 2f I have not really done much as far as tuning other than changing some springs. That said having handled a box stock Miroku Winchester it was pretty sweet and would certainly like having one of their 73 also 44-40. Generally I shoot Frontiersman so am not having to worry so much about matching ammo. But I have a pair of Vaqueros in .357 that I enjoy shooting too. So then there is a mix of ammo no biggie as I also load .38 for the Mrs. Try as many as you can before you buy.

Thats my 2 cents

 

Hochbauer

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I have a Winchester Miroku '73 short rifle in 44-40. No work done to it. Does it compare to a slicked Codymatic? No. Does it run very well anyway? Yes. I'm quite happy with it and don't plan on having any work done to it. Just fine the way it is.

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I'll still say the AWA version of the Lightning will serve you well.   The only problem mine (in .44-40) had was a too tight chamber, which is easily rectified IF you get one with the same problem.   Can't find one on the used market?   The Pedersoli made Lightnings are according to those who know, quite good.   Maybe a real Colt.

 

But, if you wanna go with a lever, a 73 or 66 will never fail you.  Nor will a 92.

 

And you can still find real Winchester 92s for a reasonable price.  73s are a little harder to get without spending a lot of money, but they are out there.

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I agree that the AWA was a good choice of a pump action rifle, at least in my case. I was able to get one from them not too long before they closed. It worked flawlwssly for me for several years before an AD broke some parts that were no longer available. I sent it to a world famous Lightening gunsmith who said he could fix it. He didn't.

 

I bought the Pedersoli Lightening in 44-40 a couple of years ago and have been very happy with it. Slicked it up a bit using instructions from Roger Rapid's manual. If you have a Lightening I would suggest getting a copy of the manual. It has complete takedown instructions and tips for slicking up the action.

 

So, Cowpoke Chris, if your heart is set on a Lightening the Pedersoli would be an excellent choice.

Lucky

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