fingers284
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Alberta Cowboy Ranges
We have been looking for a Marlin 94 or Uberti 73 for the nephew to use in the Cowboy game without any luck. On Saturday,I found one of the new Japchester 73's. I had never seen one before Saturday and was actually surprised to see one on the shelf of my local gun shop.
I was very impressed at the first handling of the gun and it got better after using it for the first time. The gun is a grade 3 (CC hardened finish and deluxe wood), very well done as to fit & finish however that isn't what impressed me... the smooth and free running action sure did. Very much better than any Uberti I've ever handled right out of the box and at least as good as most Uberti's after a considerable amount of smithing. The second impressive thing is that this "out of the box goodness" comes at a price ($1490 for the deluxe model, $200 or so less for the plain wood/blued model)considerably less than a Uberti out of the box that needs considerable extra expense to bring it to a competitive state. I didn't get a chance to take the side plates off to see if a Uberti short stroke kit will fit but really, they are so smooth that a shortstroke kit wouldn't be that much of an advantage.
We run 4-500 rounds thru the gun (.45 LC ) the first afternoon, not one ftf or fte was encountered. feeding with factory or my handloads were equally as efficient in the gun. At 50 yrds the gun shot less than 2" groups with both ammo, completely good enough for Cowboy'n.
All in all I think that if Uberti doesn't pick up their game they will loose the advantage they have enjoyed for quite a # of years in the 73 market. I have 3 of them, all fully smoothed & rigged for main match rifles and I gave the nephew the choice of taking one of them home or the new gun...he chose the new one.
I was very impressed at the first handling of the gun and it got better after using it for the first time. The gun is a grade 3 (CC hardened finish and deluxe wood), very well done as to fit & finish however that isn't what impressed me... the smooth and free running action sure did. Very much better than any Uberti I've ever handled right out of the box and at least as good as most Uberti's after a considerable amount of smithing. The second impressive thing is that this "out of the box goodness" comes at a price ($1490 for the deluxe model, $200 or so less for the plain wood/blued model)considerably less than a Uberti out of the box that needs considerable extra expense to bring it to a competitive state. I didn't get a chance to take the side plates off to see if a Uberti short stroke kit will fit but really, they are so smooth that a shortstroke kit wouldn't be that much of an advantage.
We run 4-500 rounds thru the gun (.45 LC ) the first afternoon, not one ftf or fte was encountered. feeding with factory or my handloads were equally as efficient in the gun. At 50 yrds the gun shot less than 2" groups with both ammo, completely good enough for Cowboy'n.
All in all I think that if Uberti doesn't pick up their game they will loose the advantage they have enjoyed for quite a # of years in the 73 market. I have 3 of them, all fully smoothed & rigged for main match rifles and I gave the nephew the choice of taking one of them home or the new gun...he chose the new one.
