Uberti 1873 Rifle 32-20 Reliabilty

[Kid Curry, SASS# 2924]

Ive read a few items about the 32-20 having issues with the mag tube being too large. Some recommend replacing with a smaller one. Where do you find these?  Any other areas that need to be fixed for reliability?  May need to spell it out, I can be slow sometimes. 

Edited December 8, 2022 by Kid Curry, SASS# 2924

[Major Art Tillery]

https://onlineoutpost.net/products/1873-1866-bullet-alignment-kit-w-spring-and-follower-2

 

This is most likely the fix needed for that issue.

[High Spade Mikey Wilson]

I own a Uberti 1873 rifle in 32-20. It's just as reliable as my .357 mag / 38 Spcl rifle. Yes the mag tube design is dumb as Uberti uses the same 45 Colt diameter tube on all rifles regardless of caliber. I agree with Major Art Tillery. I wasn't happy with the cartridge slop inside my 32-20 magazine tube so I added a carbon tube, spring, and follower for the 38/357 catridge and it worked very well for me. Great little cartridge that I shoot quite often. Enjoy!

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

Compare an original Winchester 73, or a 92, or even a real Colt Lightning in .32-20 to the modern made replicas in the same caliber.  You will notice that the tube on the originals is of noticeably less diameter than the one on the replicas.  As far as I know, the above mentioned sleeve kit is the most effective way to deal with the oversized magazine.   Given how popular replicas in .38 Special are, I am surprised that the makers don't create a properly sized magazine for the smaller calibers.

Edited December 8, 2022 by H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619

[Abilene, SASS # 27489]

The carbon fiber mag liner definitely helped on my Uberti .32-20 '73, especially with loading the mag.  However, a thicker aluminum liner would have been better but was not available when I got my liner.  The bolt and carrier are the same as .357 models, so are also oversize for the .32.  They shave down the bottom of the extractor so it sits lower in its slot to fit the .32 rim, but this weakens the extractor.  The oversize carrier can let the last round loaded sit at quite an angle, but this is improved somewhat by the mag liner.   Due to the oversize carrier, it is also possible that a failure to extract can end up totally jamming the rifle with the carrier at the halfway point and can not be cleared (no joy from a screw knife) except by removing the magazine plug.  This is because the bullet of the round on the carrier and the rim of the next round in the mag can both fit into the front of the carrier opening at the same time.  The .32-20 OAL makes the bullet block access to the round below so you can't push it back into the tube to lower the carrier.

[High Spade Mikey Wilson]

13 hours ago, H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 said:

Compare an original Winchester 73, or a 92, or even a real Colt Lightning in .32-20 to the modern made replicas in the same caliber.  You will notice that the tube on the originals is of noticeably less diameter than the one on the replicas.  As far as I know, the above mentioned sleeve kit is the most effective way to deal with the oversized magazine.   Given how popular replicas in .38 Special are, I am surprised that the makers don't create a properly sized magazine for the smaller calibers.

For sure. I also have a Browning 53 & an original Winchester 1892 in 32-20 and both have smaller mag tubes better designed for that cartridge.

[Jon C]

I don’t have a 32-20 I had terrible binding issues in my .357 until I sleeved the tube with a kit from Online Outpost.