Historian Mike Venturino owns and shoots three original 73s. The Colt SAA wasnt infallible, however. Nevertheless, the 1873 and 1866 rifles did see action in the Indian Wars of the late 19th century. Just 12,445 of the various model 74s were madeincluding the popular target riflesthey did more to destroy the Plains Indians nomadic way of life than any other firearm. Based on the 1860 Henry Repeating Rifle, the famous Winchester featured a tube magazine with an enormous capacity for the time and a rapid-fire lever action. The 1873 Winchester outsold all its competitors and was the premier choice with gun savvy Westerners like the post-1874 Texas Rangers, Pat Garrett, Butch Cassidy, Belle Starr and Buffalo Bill Cody. A lesser-known weapon of the period, it appeared recently as a plot point in BBC Ones Victorian police drama Ripper Street. Save my name and email to use for future comments. There are 2.2 million of them out there, and theyre essentially the same gun: a lever-action rifle of lovely balance, handsome lines, infallible performance, excellent accuracy, and the ability to use Short, Long, or Long Rifle ammo interchangeably. Guns were tools used on the frontier to harvest resources, defend oneself against animals, and to conquer Native Americans. Forensic ballistics have revealed that Native Americans used eight Model 73s at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. Read next: The Many Lives of Olive Oatman, Tattooed Captive of the West. Who was better at catching outlaws: the law officers or bounty hunters? An estimated 525,000-plus left the factory by 1898. This created the very practical and favored habit on the frontier of mating ones rifle and revolver. Capable of bagging nearly any game known to man be it covered in fur or feather the shotgun also doubled as one of the most notorious defensive arms ever to bare a trigger. Winchester Repeating Arms has long billed the Model 1873 as the gun that won the West, and in this case, they may just be right. Carbines were carried by Custers 7th Cavalry at the Little Bighorn, while both rifle and carbine were used in other battles with the northern plains tribes as well as the Apaches, Comanches and other Southwestern Indians. Interestingly, 134 years after its introduction, some originals are still seeing use, thanks largely to cowboy action and cowboy mounted shooters. Despite their limited numbers, the Colt Patersons found their way into a number of definitive conflicts in the mid-1800s. These weapons were called messengers guns or cut off guns because they were shorter in length than other shotguns. The 60 Army was easily holstered on a mans hip, and it had plenty of stopping powernearly that of the big cumbersome Dragoon. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. 1. The Russian variation of the Model 3 was carried by the notorious John Wesley Hardin, James Younger gang member Charlie Pitts, New Mexico sheriff Pat Garrett and gunman King Fisher, to name a few of the S&Ws admirers. Lets step back in time in Colts history and look at the revolutionary Colt Paterson Revolver, which was the genesis of all revolvers. What the 73 did have was firepower. This was the rifle credited for the U.S. Armys ability to withstand Indian attacks along Wyomings Bozeman Trail in the Hayfield and Wagon Box fights in 1867. It was the 1860 Henry, however, that established the reputation of loading up on Sunday and shooting all week. Developed by Benjamin Henry, the 1860 had the inline hammer and lever that when operated ejected the old case, cocked the hammer and then loaded the new round in the chamber. Shooting Lever Guns of the Old West - amazon.com Nearly a quarter-million of these .36 caliber six-guns were turned out from 1850 to 1873. Phil Spangenberger has written for Guns & Ammo, appears on the History Channel and other documentary networks, produces Wild West shows, is a Hollywood gun coach and character actor, and is True Wests Firearms Editor. In fact, Colt still produces the firearm due to continued demand from collectors. After the war, Erskine S. Allin proposed to convert these old muzzle-loaders to breach-loaded weapons that could fire .58 caliber bullets. This was just as well, considering how bumpy stagecoaches were. The ability to smack snuff cans off-hand at 50 yards noted Mann, and the beauty of the new Winchester was all that was needed to convince him to crack open his wallet., The ability to smack snuff cans off-hand at 50 yards . Known by a number of colorful nicknames like the equalizer, hogleg, Judge Colt and his Jury of Six and others, it was produced in many powerful chamberings, most notably .45 Colt, .44-40, and .38-40. The Gatling gun was one of the most unused weapons of the Old West, but perhaps one of the most important. It is from this time that the term riding shotgun originates, though it seems to have been invented long after the heyday of the Wells Fargo stages. This firearms company had, according to historian Jeff Kinard, executed a major contract with the Russian Empire for the purchase of its firearms which were dubbed the Russian. This is one of the pistols wielded by Jamie Foxx in Django Unchained (2012). Find out more. Reliability of the ammunition was sometimes questionable, however, and it had a reduced effective range. (.44 S&W Russian and .44-40 Win.) Related read: 8 Reasons Why Black Bart Was a One-Of-A-Kind Old West Outlaw. The 73 received a huge boost from Remington and Colt, who began chambering their revolvers for the .44/40. Winchester produced it until 2006, reintroduced it in 2010, and currently offers eight versions of the 94. Now, Ruger, having bought what was left of Marlin in 2020, has turned out a 2022 version of the 1895 SBL, to rave reviews. It last saw combat in 1890 at Wounded Knee in South Dakota. During the hide-hunting era of the American frontier, the powerful single-shot rifle felled more buffalo than perhaps any other firearm. Either way, the rifle still had an impact be it large or small and today is considered by many as iconic in the West as the Colt SAA and Winchester 1873. It had a good trigger. Also in the 1880s was the Whitney-Kennedy lever rifle (Eli Whitney Jr., son of the cotton gin inventor), which was capable of firing the same calibers as Winchesters 1876, but never reached the same popularity. I doubt it. While it saw its share of military battles and the odd lawman might have one at hand, the venerable Sharps left its mark on the West in a much different fashion than many of this era's storied firearms hunting. There was figure and curl in the walnut stock, with chocolate and gold colors like Im not used to seeing on a 21st century gun rack., When the rifle arrived, its beauty stunned methe wood was to die for. The color-case hardened receiver, lever, nose cap and buttplate were done to perfection, continued Mann. So popular was the Model 94 that it was the first commercial sporting rifle whose sales exceeded 7 million. But it wasnt only hunters who saw the benefit of the massive and powerful Model 1886. Produced from 1860 until 1873, Colts 1860 Army model is the companys third most-produced percussion handgun, and as such is considered by many the epitome of .44 caliber percussion revolvers. The Henry awed the Confederates, and when it went West after the war, it terrified the Indians who came up against it. In addition to its ease of use and low maintenance, what made the 1873 a success was Winchester chambering it for a number of its proprietary pistol ammunition .44-40, .38-40 and .32-20. There is still no shortage of people to whom deer rifle means lever-action rifle.. Though limited in use, the 1860 Henry proved itself a wicked weapon in the Civil War. Using the percussion system of ignition, it would take some time to load but was among the first pistols to provide the user with multiple shots before reloading. When the West really was wild, the Model 73 lever gun was the go-to rifle. Certainly, in popular history, the Winchester Model 1873 is given this distinction. Join F&S+ to read exclusive stories by your favorite writers. Original article copyright Guns of the Old West, 2015. Review copyright Winchester Repeating Arms, 2015. Review written by staff writer Scott Engen. In 1950, an A-list Hollywood western starring Jimmy Stewart was made entitled Winchester 73.. No single gun won the West, but these ten firearms certainly carved a niche in its history. The Apache leader Geronimos brother-in-law Yanhoza and son Chappo carried 73s. Mass Market Paperback - November 15, 2010. The Winchester Model 1873 has become the rifle of the Old West and has come to symbolize that place and time. The higher pressure issue was solved by none other than John M. Browning in 1883 with a new locking mechanism that was introduced on Winchesters Model 1886. Even the beloved Colt Single Action Army couldn't beat out the Model 3 since it had to be reloaded one cartridge at a time. This wasnt the only time Hays prevailed against overwhelming odds due to the revolver. TheFirearmBlog // Because of this, while modern weapons may have more power and capacity, the classics tenaciously refuse to go out of style. The weapon, however, had flaws, particularly with the trigger. The Savage Model 99 was chambered for a wide variety of cartridges, and Id guess that most rifles were sold in .300 Savage, which is very similar to the .308. This US Civil War provided R&D for a great many new weapon designs, most of which mercifully expired in their childhood before being inflicted upon the soldiers of either side. Colts Single Action Army is indeed the premier six-gun of the Old West. Guns from the movies It was said that many a western baby cut his first teeth on the sling ring of a Winchester Model 73 carbine. Aiming carefully, I can fire 15 shots in 60 seconds. The 73 was Winchesters first centerfire arm, and was manufactured in 1873-1919, with total of 720,000 guns made. This was first chambered in the popular .44-40 caliber, a popular caliber in Colt revolvers of the same model year and close competitor of the .45 Long Colt. Originally chambered in .45/70, .45/90, .40/82, and the .50/110 Express, the Model 86 later transitioned to smokeless cartridges, most notably the .33 WCF. Patented in 1836, the Paterson was not actually produced until the following year and production ran until 1842. Its rapid-fire capabilities gave the user an edge over someone with a more powerful single-shot rifle. Dimick, J.P. Gemmer and others, turned out such rifles, it was the gun shop of Samuel and Jacob Hawken that became the standard by which all other plains rifles were judged. Richard Jordan Gatling first patented this proto-machine gun during the Civil War in 1862. Shooting Lever Guns of the Old West. People were discovering that it could drop deer with dispatch and very little recoil, or you could load it up to near-.458 levels. However, it was the long-barreled .36 caliber Texas Paterson version of this first Colt that was put to such deadly use against the Comanches by the early Texas Rangers. Although it was not as powerful and accurate a. And, when hunting in hostile territory, one barrel, loaded with shot for game, and a second charged with a slug for defense, was often the preferred method. An Arizona sheriff named John Slaughter (was ever a lawman more aptly named?) Best Lever Action Rifle For Hunting & Large Caliber (2023) - Barrett Rifles Winchester still offers more than half a dozen versions of this classic lever gun. Winchester introduced the .30-30 cartridge in 1895 specifically for its Model 1894 that was capable of firing the small bore, smokeless powder round. . Henry VIIIs foot combat armour Nor could it accept a scope; but this was in the era before scopes. Yet, two lever actions that proved promising were the 1860 Henry Rifle and the 1860 Spencer Carbine. Honestly, no self-respecting lawman, rancher or outlaw would be caught without one. The Winchester took care of business from 150 yards to arms length; when matters got to that point, you pulled your six-gun. The trigger was usually hidden and then came down when the gun was cocked. The revolver was well balanced, provided a fast rate of fire and superior ergonomics. Source: Wikimedia Commons 4 minutes It combined a tube magazine with what became the familiar lever to be operated by the shooters whole hand. While not as storied as some Colts, the first commercially successful repeating firearm, nonetheless, left its mark on the West. When not at his press or the range he can be found chasing mule deer around the Rocky Mountains. Going away from Colt, lets turn to one of the other major firearm manufacturers, Smith and Wesson. Join F&S+ to read exclusive stories by your favorite writers. This gave a decisive advantage to the U.S. army over Plains tribes such as Sioux. Shooters loved the .44/40, and Winchester saw little need to change anything else. It would not let you down, ever. The Marlin brand is synonymous with lever-action rifles - the classic American long gun, a tool of history and just as much a symbol of the Old West as the six-shooter. General George S. Patton famously bore an ivory-handled Peacemaker during World War II. Still chambered in .44 rimfire, the 1860 and 1866 both established the standard lever action as a popular choice for sportsmen and cowboys alike. The 73 was more than a rifle model. As gun writer Ned Crossman stated in 1920, the 1873 was the rifle that put the name Winchester on the map of the West, trotting along with the equally formidable Colt gun at the belt of the frontiersman.. Field & Stream is dedicated to covering safe and responsible gun ownership for hunting, recreation, and personal protection. Lever actions were born of 1800s experimentation. This weapon was nicknamed the poison slinger or big fifty; admittedly, there is some controversy among gun enthusiasts as to what the exact size of this caliber was. What is double action? Yet a number of them were privately purchased by officers serving out West. by Phil Spangenberger | Mar 5, 2009 | Art, Guns and Culture. This was a distinct advantage in an era where old cap-and-ball revolvers were still prevalent. The Model 1886 lever action rifle is a John M. Browning design, and its been called the American version of the British express riflea heavy, powerful gun designed to deliver crushing blows fast. The 1873 Winchester was even more popular, and the company marketed the firearm as the hyperbolic Gun that won the West.. You have entered an incorrect email address! In 1866, New Haven Arms name was changed to the Winchester Repeating Arms Co., and the Henry was succeeded by an improved version called the Model 66. The most obvious being Marlin in 1889 in .22 followed quickly by its own 1894 carbine and Model 336 in several popular deer calibers. Join F&S+ to read exclusive stories by your favorite writers. Over 170,000 left the factory in 1866-98long after stronger centerfire ammunition had eclipsed the 66s weaker rimfire fodder. Sam Colt, always the clever businessman, determined the need for such a gun and realized that he could eliminate many of the manufacturing steps and parts required in his large Dragoon revolvers to produce an inexpensive, lightweight sidearm. Originally dubbed the Improved Henry, the brass-framed, .44 rimfire 1866 Winchester was often called the Yellowboy by Indians. Despite not being a successful business venture for Samuel Colt, this five-shot, cap and ball single-action became the first practical revolving pistol. Although only around 2,850 revolvers were made, this was the handgun that revolutionized revolvers for all time. This coincided with a resurgence of interest in the ancient cartridge. It was, according to The Peacemaker and Its Rivals, the first cartridge type revolver adopted by the U.S. Army. The gun, however, reputedly was subject to glitches in its double-action trigger, and often these weapons were used as single-action revolvers instead. His revolvers were formidable weapons, but they were accurate only at very close range and thus arms of the last resort. Even if there was no single gun that won the West, there are certainly some six-shooters, repeaters and other great guns that more than pulled their share of the weight during this era. It was used after the war, including in the Indian Wars. The American West was conquered over a period of decades, beginning with the birth of the industrial revolution, a time of great improvements in firearms technology. So it seems George Armstrong Custer and his men werent only outnumbered that late June day, they were also vastly outgunned. If it were me, Id look for a rotary-magazine model in nice shape, chambered for the .250/3000. The average for all 15 five-shot groups was a respectable 1.5 inches, reported Mann. Join F&S+ to read exclusive stories by your favorite writers. The most famous Winchester, however, was the 1873. It was a jewel when it was made, and its still a gem among rifles. A stronger rifle than the Model 1876, with vertical locking bolts, the 86 was also sleeker and easier to handle. But from 1861 to 1918from the Civil War to World War Iwe were a lever-gun nation. For hunting most Western game, the 73 Winchester was well received by all, barring the buffalo hunters who generally favored the big-bore single-shot rifles. The Navy Revolver was based on the original Colt Paterson design of 1836 and saw widespread military and civilian service.