Collecting and Shooting the Winchester 1873

Few guns define a nation like the Winchester 1873. A fine piece of American-made steel and walnut granted repeatable firepower to the hearty souls venturing westward – not to mention hunters, outlaws, and lawmen across the nation. The Model of 1873 remains an iconic rifle today and one that belongs on every shooter’s must-own list. Here’s why.

Over 720,000 Winchester Model 1873s were produced from the years 1873 through 1919. Oliver Winchester’s patents and works owe heavily to earlier repeating rifle designs from Benjamin Tyler Henry of Henry rifle fame and the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company with its ties to Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson. At its core, the Winchester Model 1873 is a lever-action, toggle-link design that fires metallic centerfire cartridges.

Factory production rifles came most commonly with a full magazine tube, blued finish, sliding dustcover, brass cartridge lifter, crescent-shaped buttplate, and straight-grain walnut stocks. Interestingly, the first Model 1873s used an iron receiver until 1884, when the transition to steel receivers took effect.

The Model 1873 was originally chambered in the most common centerfire metallic round of the day—the .44 Winchester Center Fire, or as it is more commonly known today, the .44-40 Win. That was followed in 1879 by a .38 WCF, or .38-40 Win, chambering. Then the .32 WCF, or .32-20 Win, came in 1882, as cowpokes, gunslingers, and hunters often opted to carry both a long gun and revolver in the same chambering. Fewer shooters and collectors know that Winchester also offered the 1873 in the first rimfire repeater of its time, as the Winchester 1873 was chambered for both .22 Short and .22 Long rimfires, which made a short run beginning in 1884.