Found a Uberti made 1885 Courtney Stalking rifle in 303 British

dthunter

dthunter

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Hello fellow gunnutz! As the title says, I Found a Uberti made 1885 Courtney Stalking rifle in 303 British! I have been looking around for a nice classic single shot rifle in a classic caliber for awhile now.

I love tinkering with the single shots, especially the falling block actions! I tried a few Ruger number 1’s over the years, and really wanted the stainless 30-30 version they made a couple years ago. I never had any luck getting the number one design to shoot to my expectations. I always hear of fellow shooters giving reports of. MOA performance from them, but I have never seen this yet.��.

I have now tried 5-6 different Browning/Miruko B-78’s and 1885 BPCR’s and they shoot amazing! So when I saw this Uberti single shot with the 1885 falling block style action, I felt more confident to grab one and try it out!

I will give a bit of a range report when the rifle arrives and I get it set up and shooting.

Does anyone here have any experience with these Uberti single shots? What is you thoughts on the quality of the overall build?
 
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The colour case hardenibg finish on the action looks nice! Not sure if it is ACTUAL colour case hardening, but it is pretty looking on the photos.
 
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I bought one new from PR in 45/70 32” bbl. Love it, early days but seems incredibly accurate at least at least up to 100 yds so far. Fit and finish very good.
 
They are beautiful rifles & if I didn't have two single shot 303's already I'd be on the hunt for one of those myself. Congrats!
 
I decided to dive in and here are my preliminary observations.
According to Rifleshooter Magazine the Uberti 1885 action "With today's metallurgy, it is capable of handling cartridge pressures up to 28,000 psi, which means it will handle most any modern .45-70 load, even the stouter stuff". The 303 Brit can reside between 45,000 to 52,000 PSI (45-70 is about 28,000) so I'm not sure why Uberti is chambering the 303 Brit? All I know is that not all 1885 actions are rated for the same strength. I assumed the 1885 would be strong enough but after checking the numbers I'm not so sure. I know that Winchester / Browning produced a Hi-Wall 1885 chambered in 270W and 30-06 and a few WSM chamberings so maybe they are doing something different with this specific action? It is certainly something to ponder when considering a cartridge for the 1885 action.

 
Well according to Riflechair his chamber was built out of specifications. Seems even Ruger had some bore diameter issues with thier No. 1 action also in caliber 303 British.
Seems that non traditional builders of new 303 rifles have a learning curve?
I don't understand how Uberti can market an improper rifle with a price tag of $2300?
A single shot rifle should operate lickedie split from the get go.
 
I remember years ago looking at Uberti's or Pedersoli's, maybe both, action was only rated around 30K, Win ran some low walls in 6.5x55 and 260Rem, I have had a Hiwall in 22-250 and have one in 223 & 300H&H, both factory guns. Maybe these guys ran a special batch of steel in these or a bit thicker sidewall on them.
 
I had a look at one lately. Liked it quite a lot, except for the rail as I’d probly shoot irons anyway. I fired one shot and the brass didn’t extract. One and done for me. I wasn’t going to comment but after watching the video review posted here I believe I made the right choice in putting it back on the shelf.
 
I suspect someone made a typo in regards to the 28,000psi max rating. I don't know what Uberti is using for steel but the 1885 is a VERY stout design with originals being factory chambered in just about every cartridge conceivable. John Campbell's book "The Winchester Single Shot" lists over 96 FACTORY chamberings including .303brit (and hotter). This speaks nothing of custom/wildcat chamberings paired to this favored rifle platform by gunsmiths and rifle builders over the past century.
 
PR Cook said:
I suspect someone made a typo in regards to the 28,000psi max rating. I don't know what Uberti is using for steel but the 1885 is a VERY stout design with originals being factory chambered in just about every cartridge conceivable. John Campbell's book "The Winchester Single Shot" lists over 96 FACTORY chamberings including .303brit (and hotter). This speaks nothing of custom/wildcat chamberings paired to this favored rifle platform by gunsmiths and rifle builders over the past century.
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It isn't a mistake in the case of the Italian copies, check their website, it used to be ( may still be) listed on it, I wanted to build a couple, decided that wasn't going to work for what I wanted.
 
I had to check the numbers from different sources because 28,000 PSI sounds really low. I’d be very interested to know if Uberti did anything different to the action before chambering the 303 British.

PR Cook said:
I suspect someone made a typo in regards to the 28,000psi max rating. I don't know what Uberti is using for steel but the 1885 is a VERY stout design with originals being factory chambered in just about every cartridge conceivable. John Campbell's book "The Winchester Single Shot" lists over 96 FACTORY chamberings including .303brit (and hotter). This speaks nothing of custom/wildcat chamberings paired to this favored rifle platform by gunsmiths and rifle builders over the past century.
Click to expand...
 
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