Rifle suggestions for Cowboy Action newb?

The Baron

The Baron

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OK... I'm thinking about dipping my toe in the CAS pool. I think I will shoot .38/.357 for economical reasons as I'm not currently set up to reload, nor do I have the time to do so. So, even though I'd love to shoot .45 LC or .44-40 and be much more "authentic", .38 seems like a good way to get started. If I love it and decide to go full throttle, then a .38 setup will be good for the wife and/or kids to use if they're so inclined.

Near as I can tell from some Googling and You Tubing... :p... the "benchmark" rifle seems to be the Uberti 1873 replica. My question is, are these rifles really good or will I need to tinker and tune? (I heard a not so great review on Uberti pistols from a local club member and CAS shooter). Should I just get a Rossi M92 to get started or will it be a waste of money and I'll want an Uberti so bad after seeing one at a match that I'll be upgrading right away. :rolleyes: Does anyone have experience with the Taylor & Co. 1873 rifle replicas? It looks like IRG has access to those (although I haven't inquired yet).

Realistically, I've got all winter to find a rifle. Any and all input is welcome!

:popCorn:
 
Before you waste any money, go to the SASS website download the shooters manual and figure out which category that you want to shoot in. Different category's require different rifles. While not all clubs are SASS affiliated, most clubs pay lip service to the SASS shooters manual and safety regs. I own Marlins M1894's, Winchester 92's & clones and a Uberti 73. All are great rifles. Winchester 92 clones are sensitive to bullet overall length, once you get them running properly though, there is no stopping them. All rifles need tuning. If your category allows it buy a Uberti 73, you will never have to buy another Cowboy Rifle.
 
Buy the Uberti 73 and Ruger revolvers. The 73 will need to be tuned up as you progress, but with a little home slicking they are perfectly suited to a new shooter. I would stay away from the 92 clones as my experience is that even the well tuned ones have a tendency to stove pipe loaded rounds when run a top speed. The older Marlins are excellent guns and I have heard good things about the new Win 73. I think you are on the right track with the 38s, they are easy to reload for, brass and bullets are readily available. The cost of the 38s also makes them attractive as we can shoot up a crap load of ammo in practice.
 
There is a new kid on the block that you should consider, that being the Miroku made Winchester 73. I've hade the opportunity to run 3 of them thru the paces recently and In my mind they are a much better "deal" for a first time cowboy shooter.

I have 3 Uberti's, and love them, BUTevery Uberti needs gunsmithing to be a good working main match rifle. I have my own and have worked on numerous others to bring them up to a semblance of a working cowboy gun...depending on the expectations of the shooter/owner, every one of them will require work.

Not so with any of the Japchesters I've tested, they come out of the box very usable as a main match gun for anybody except possibly the most demanding speed demon...Cariboo...

I will agree with Cariboo on the 92's...
they will work and serve their owners very well...until they don't...and every one will stovepipe or eject live rounds just when you don't want them too.

Garrand is right about the 73's, buy one and have a rifle that will work faithfully for probably as long as you will shoot, just be aware that the Uberi's, with the smithing required will be considerably more expensive in the long run than the Japchester.

As an afterthought I can only think of one exception to all the above, and that is if you want to shoot full house .357 mag loads when plinking, that is the only time I would suggest the 92's (not even then if there is a Marlin 94 layin around for sale somewhere) over a 73 toggle action.
 
Howdy; I used to say look at a Marlin 1894 in 357 BUT they are spoty and the older good used are getting as costly as the win 73 type, so just wait til you can find and buy right the first time, mainly a good win 73 type.
 
I've actually been pretty happy with my Rossi 92. But I love learning the gunsmithing side of this hobby to go with my lifetime of metal working as a hobby. So I'm not really a good reference to go by. I will say that it took me a good half dozen trips into the rifle doing a little more each time to cure the stovepipe jams Lefty described. And by far the biggest "fix" is to use .357Mag brass with .38Spl like loads. I'm also lucky enough to have a "resident cowboy gunsmith in Rusty Wood locally that's helped out with hints as well. So all in all I would say that a Rossi CAN be tuned to work for all but the very top 15 or 20% of the shooters. And if you're looking at .357 as an introductory step you'll also save a bundle of money over an 1873 then tuning it. Especially if this first rifle will end up as your spare, loaner or family rifle.

Most folks end up spending up around $2500 to $2700 on their 1873 by the time all the stuff is done. You can buy a Rossi and have a smith "cowboy it to hell n' gone" for under $1000 total and it'll serve well until you get up to that faster top echelon. But by that time you'll have long ago switched to your more authentic big bore stuff if that's how you want to play the game.

If you enjoy the sport and want to get better this means practicing. And that means you're going to go through a lot of ammo. So you may want to re-consider your stand on reloading. Even if you only put together a modest setup JUST for your cowboy reloading you'll save a bundle really soon if you end up falling head over heels into this mess of fun like many of us have done. Also if you buy a Rossi in .357 you'll quickly find that you NEED to use .357Mag brass to avoid the bulk of that stove pipe jamming. And that most certainly means reloading.

I'm not really saying that you MUST go one way or the other. Mostly I just wanted to point out that there's a lot of us that use Rossi's quite effectively up to a point.
 
Thanks to a tip from a fellow CGN'er, I found a new Winchester '73 short rifle (20") case hardened in .357 sitting at a gun shop just begging to become part of my collection. It should arrive early next week! :D
 
Alrighty, Gents... my ###y new Winchester 1873 Short Rifle in .38/.357 arrived last week!:D

I was lucky enough to grab a bunch of the Wolf .38 158gr, RN "cowboy" loads and hit the range Saturday afternoon. 150 rounds later, I had zero malfunctions and a huge smile on my face! The gun ran great, was plenty accurate enough for what I believe is needed in CAS. Cases were ejected about 2+ft. up and slightly forward, so well away from the action. I've never tried to run a lever gun with any sort of speed before but I had no trouble running 10 shots through in under 10 seconds and holding "pie plate" groups at about 20m (I only had paper targets to shoot at). I've got no idea if that's good or bad for a newb, but I sure had fun trying.

I have no baseline but I thought the gun ran pretty smooth. I showed my '73 off to a friend and club member who has been shooting CAS for a while and has a couple Uberti's but had not handled one of the new Winchesters yet. He shouldered my rifle, cycled the action several times and said "its nice - someone has slicked up the action". I told him nope, it came out of the box yesterday - he kind of gave the raised eyebrows nod and cycled it several more times. I believe he was pretty impressed with it. Only thing I dont care for is the short LOP and crescent butt. I'm 6'4" so I'm definitely looking for ideas for a lace on leather pad to straighten the butt and add an inch or so.

Anyway, I had a blast running my new rifle and will look forward to shooting some steel soon. I also ran a quick box of shells through my matching serial numbers 1897 that I picked up to make sure it functions 100% before it goes out to be chopped to 21". Don't panic collectors - its already been nicely refinished so it's just a shooter now.:)

Just a quick pic. Photobucket is finally cooperating now.

cowboyguns1_zps520057d3.jpg
 
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Been waiting for the report on this... Under ten seconds at 20 yrds is a very good baseline to start with, lots of experienced levergunners can't do much better than 7 seconds at that range, The ones you see in the u-tube vids at 4 or 5 seconds are shooting at 12 yrds or so at a 30" "dump" target.

You may learn to like the curved butt as you speed up. The advantage it provides, with a little hold back pressure from the front stock grip, is to hold the butt in the shoulder as you work the action with gusto, keeping the site plane on target thought the cycle.

The leather you will want is a wrap around the bottom lever frame. The back of your fingers/knuckles will thank you profusely by the end of your first shoot with it.

very nice looking pair of guns you have there...enjoy the sport...
 
fingers284 said:
... The leather you will want is a wrap around the bottom lever frame. The back of your fingers/knuckles will thank you profusely by the end of your first shoot with it. ...
Click to expand...

Yes, that's on the list too. I've got pretty big hands and didn't take long to wear the skin off a spot on the first knuckle of my pinky. I quickly learned my pinky isn't needed in the lever loop anyway so now it lives outside.
 
Nice Rifle +1 on the Winchester over a Rossi. If your not lucky in the Rossi quality lottery your pretty well on your own . Service and parts are sorely lacking and not improving.Too bad ; a reasonable priced 92 would be a nice option but the border is in the way of parts.

Hardin
 
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