Winchester 1873 Uberti

[Toklotursa]

I recently purchased a new Uberti Winchester 1873. I took it to the range yesterday to try it out. I could not get more tha 6 rounds loaded at a time.
Any ideas?

[Uncle Ethan]

There are those that know more about this than me, but here goes. If this is a new gun, sounds like the spring may be tight. I had a gun like this once and just keep putting rounds in. After awhile I got 10  in. You can also take the spring and follow out of the mag tube. May help loosen the spring up some. Shorter spring will be the answer if nothing else works. I wouldn't cut the spring without talking to someone who has done this before. Hope this helps some.

[Sheriff Langston]

Ditto to what Uncle Ethan said.  I had the same problem on my new one - thought I had bought an expensive dud

Eventually I got 10 loaded with considerable effort - (.38) However my suggestion would be to contact Curly Bill Kelly.  In addition shortening the follower spring making it much easier to load he also did an awsome short stroke job on my 73 (among others)


I dont want to put his # on here but if you are around this weekend for set up or for our matches next week I'll give you his contact info.  He is in Harriman TN. and a really nice guy.


Nice to hear you are getting your stuff together,  I know it's a journey.


Sheriff Langston

[Jackalope]

Those magazine tubes are natural hide-outs for rust.  A tiny bit of rust accumulation has been known to restrict the movement of the magazine follower.  It's easy enough to clean with a shotgun brush wrapped with some fine steel wool but the end caps can be difficult to remove the first time.

[Toklotursa]

Thanks for the info. I will be there this weekend.

[TN Mongo]

If you are shooting a .357 there is another problem that can occur.  Make sure that you are using flat tip bullets.

My sister in-law had a new .357 Uberti from a top gunsmith and it had the same problem.  What she found was that she was using conical shaped bullets and they were jamming in the magazine tube.  The standard magazine in a Uberti is the same diameter in a .45 or .357.  With a .357, the bullets go into the magazine in a zig-zag pattern and a conical bullet shape can jam the magazine tube.  A flat tip bullet will solve this problem. 

A number of us, who use .357s,  have also put a liner tube inside our magazine tube to keep the rounds in a straight line.

[Toklotursa]

Thanks good to know. I was using 38s with conical lead heads.

[Ranger Z]

Any dirt, debris, crud or metal shavings from the manufacturing process can also cause the follower to jam. I would start by just removing the spring and follower and swabbing out the tube and see if that helps.