Looking at an early 38 spl Navy Arms 1866 lever action with the lever lock . . .

[Dilli GaHoot Galoot]

And yes, this time I'm doing a BUNCH of reading before reaching for my wallet 

 

It looks like half way between NOS and a safe queen, screw heads aren't bugged up and no noticeable bluing or finish damage. It is the short action with the frame notch,  I know these are hit or miss with spotty QC, finicky about OAL, may not be a candidate for short stroking, parts availability is very limited and 38 spl isn't a great choice for BP loading (something I have asked about before)

 

Given all that, why am I looking at it?  Right now I have a 16" Rossi 92 in 357 that only holds 9 rounds of 38spl's and runs poorly with them including kicking rounds out the top every now and again.  It runs great with 357's, but I would only get 8 rounds and I have my own version of tolerance stacking and no matter which way I come at it, this one isn't going cut it

Also, I'm on the poorer side of the curve and it's in my budget (less than $600 out the door) and at that price point my choices are pretty much this or a better Rossi 92 than the one I have 

 

Soooo . . . Is there anything I should look at to try and figure out if this one might run?  All I have come up with is to see if the shop has some dummy rounds I can run through it, or if they will let me bring some of my own.

And yeah, I would love it if "Be less poor" was an option 

 

 

[Tex Jones, SASS 2263]

I had a three digit serial numbered '66 carbine I picked up at an auction years ago.  It too had a lever safety.  The lever was bent a bit (didn't notice it until I tried shooting it), I sent it to Navy Arm's gunsmith and it was repaired.  It worked fine, but I didn't like the weight distribution since the barrel wasn't heavy enough and I couldn't get used to the balance.  I doubt that short stroke parts will work, but I also had an early model '66 rifle (later mfg. than the carbine) where short stroke parts did work, and a '73 built after the '66 rifle where short stroke parts didn't work, so who knows?  Both were 44-40s.  Trying it out with dummy rounds, if you're allowed, would give you an idea about how the carbine feeds, but in the end the only way to be sure is to shoot it.  It is a good price, however, that, in part, may be due to lack of available parts.  Can a gunsmith look it over before you buy? 

 

Good luck,

Tex

[Dilli GaHoot Galoot]

33 minutes ago, Tex Jones, SASS 2263 said:

Can a gunsmith look it over before you buy? 

It’s in a shop that I don’t get too very often and I think they have an on-site Smith but it’s a consignment gun so I doubt they’ll be much interested in tearing it down 

[Rooster Ron Wayne]

I have a 4 digit 66 with the safety and love the rifle .

It's not my main rifle so it really don't matter. 

And yes you can fit parts to it .

But parts are not drop in like a new rifle. 

If the price is right and you like the rifle .

Jump on it .

Rooster 

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

Make up 10 dummy rnds, and see if they will let you or an employee cycle them through the rifle. 

BTW, .38 Special and BP work very well.....

[Blackwater 53393]

I have one of those old Navy Arms  ‘66s in .38. It’s a carbine, it has the lever safety, it’s straight stock, and it didn’t feed worth two cents when I got it.

 

The lever safety had that part of the spring that makes it work broken. I hunted around for one for a year, didn’t find one, and finally just made a rough copy that I eventually got to work.

 

It didn’t feed RNFP rounds smoothly, no matter what OAL I tried. I had the opening to the chamber lightly champhered and went to a truncated cone bullet profile and it now feeds really nicely!

 

I later sent it to Cody Conager and had him do what he does and it shoots well now.

 

HOWEVER!!  I’m going to remove that lever safety before I take it out again!  It’s too stiff and I just don’t like how it acts.  My other ‘66 doesn’t have a lever safety and has never given me a second’s trouble.

 

I got it in a trade for a takedown ‘97 that I had nothing in and both parties are happy with the deal. All I have in the gun is the cost of Cody’s work, a little time, and shipping to and from!!

 

 

[PaleWolf Brunelle, #2495L]

Whereabouts in OR are you located?

[Blackwater 53393]

Hey! Galoot!!  You get with PaleWolf!! He’s one to ride the river with and he’ll get you started RIGHT!!

[Dilli GaHoot Galoot]

27 minutes ago, PaleWolf Brunelle, #2495L said:

Whereabouts in OR are you located?

Beaverton 

[PaleWolf Brunelle, #2495L]

Sent PM.

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

 

Well, the rifle you speak of has ABSOLUTELY NO replacement parts.  ZERO.  Uberti has a habit of NOT supporting discontinued items.  There is no real reason not to play with it so long as you understand, if you break it, you basically have a WALL HANGER.  There are also NO after-market speed parts for those guns.

 

I can think of NO reason you shouldn't shoot Black Powder in a .38.  38 special works very well indeed with BP although you may experience some Blow-By with BP fouling.

[Sedalia Dave]

The blow by from shooting real BP or APP in 38 Specials or .357 Mag is minimal. I've been doing it for years with zero issues.

 

That Navy Arms 66 is only a bargain only if it doesn't break. As others have stated there are ZERO parts for them. IF you really think you need to buy it have a gunsmith that specializes in cowboy guns thoroughly inspect it.  

 

AFAIK it cannot be short stroked. I also believe that the hammer spring and lifter springs are unique. So smoothing up the action is going to be tricky as there is ZERO margin for error.

 

One wear area that is difficult to diagnose is where the firing pin extension extends out the back of the frame. Too much wear and the FP extension will bind causing light primer strikes.

 

Lastly once you tire of it resale will be difficult at best.

 

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

Owned some.  Worked on some.  My recommendation is you pass on the gun.  Buy something that parts are still made for.

[Dilli GaHoot Galoot]

43 minutes ago, Sedalia Dave said:

That Navy Arms 66 is only a bargain only if it doesn't break.

 

That's the gamble.  Years ago someone told me that "They were too poor to buy cheep", took me a long time to really understand what he meant

 

“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.”

― Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms: The Play

[watab kid]

i figured that out a bit late as well , now that i understand id like a do-over please 

[Rooster Ron Wayne]

Just an excuse to buy another gun down the road lol 

[Chantry]

On 5/25/2024 at 4:28 PM, Dilli GaHoot Galoot said:

And yes, this time I'm doing a BUNCH of reading before reaching for my wallet 

 

It looks like half way between NOS and a safe queen, screw heads aren't bugged up and no noticeable bluing or finish damage. It is the short action with the frame notch,  I know these are hit or miss with spotty QC, finicky about OAL, may not be a candidate for short stroking, parts availability is very limited and 38 spl isn't a great choice for BP loading (something I have asked about before)

 

Given all that, why am I looking at it?  Right now I have a 16" Rossi 92 in 357 that only holds 9 rounds of 38spl's and runs poorly with them including kicking rounds out the top every now and again.  It runs great with 357's, but I would only get 8 rounds and I have my own version of tolerance stacking and no matter which way I come at it, this one isn't going cut it

Also, I'm on the poorer side of the curve and it's in my budget (less than $600 out the door) and at that price point my choices are pretty much this or a better Rossi 92 than the one I have 

 

Soooo . . . Is there anything I should look at to try and figure out if this one might run?  All I have come up with is to see if the shop has some dummy rounds I can run through it, or if they will let me bring some of my own.

And yeah, I would love it if "Be less poor" was an option 

 

I have one of those early model Navy Arms 1866 that has the lever safety, but no lock.  I can get 10 rounds of .38 Special in the tube.  The original sights aren't very good, but the rear sight dovetail seems to be standard since the replacement rear sight fit right in and the gun will accepted a new factory front sight (part of the barrel band at the muzzle) without a problem.

 

I bought the Whisper springs for the lifter arms from the Smith Shop, which was taken over by Online Outpost  https://the-online-outpost-licensing-corporation.myshopify.com/collections/rifle/products/whisper-spring-kit-lifter-lever-spring-kit-1866-1873-1860-winchester-clones

 

They will need the bases ground and narrowed some, but once that was done  they worked great.  Overall mine has been pretty reliable, however I am not someone who tries to go fast.   Using 2F Triple 777 I have not had any issues with the BP getting into the internals.

 

New production parts may or may not fit and would probably require a gunsmith to fit the part to the gun. 

 

My GUESS is that the bolt and toggle links will not interchange and and new ones either can not be made to fit or it would cost more than the gun is worth to be made to fit.

 

You would probably be better off saving your money and use the money and trading the Rossi to buy a used JM marked Marlin

 

 

[Dilli GaHoot Galoot]

1 hour ago, Chantry said:

You would probably be better off saving your money and use the money and trading the Rossi to buy a used JM marked Marlin

 

Ahhh, good old budget creep.  A Rossi would be the least expensive option, but a JM Marlin wouldn't be that much more, and now that I'm standing there, I can see that with some careful shopping a good 1873 might not be that much more . . . 

 

But in the end, unless I could get the Navy Arms one for dirt cheep (like around $350 out the door) I'll leave it for someone else

 

[Abilene, SASS # 27489]

I only have one '66, a 44 special bought in 2000, but it is stock except for the "poor man's action job" of loosening the spring screws, and has around 8000 rounds through it with nothing breaking.  Seems like the "go-fast" tricked out '73's people are running tend to have a lot more problems!  So if it's in good shape it might be fine for a starter rifle in CAS.  Good luck, either way.