First Model 1873, unearthed Humboldt County 1972

[scrubby2009]

     My mother's father and his father-in-law were poking around a known Karok settlement location that was abandoned during WWI. This was one of three rifles they discovered rotting away in a wool blanket about 10" deep in the dirt. Adjacent to a fallen-in cabin, tidy depression in the soil about 18" by 5'. 1841 Mississippi (1851 Whitney contract, sporterized post-war with set trigger),  War Dept-marked Henry, and this 1873 First Model (#4741). Over the years I've played with it as a child, treasured and displayed it through three marriages (!), and last year got serious and put it back to functional condition.

[dusty texian]

Great piece's of family history . ,,,DT

[Coal Creek Griff]

That is very cool. Have you considered sending for the Winchester letter?

CC Griff

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[scrubby2009]

First full tear down and clean-up since last January.  Probably 1200 rounds through it since then. This is the mess inside. Lots of gun oil, dust powder residue, chunks of rust...

[Major 2]

That is amazing

[Blackpowder Burn]

Need some photos of it since cleaning up.......

[scrubby2009]

This is after cleaning yesterday. Somewhere in time the original buttplate w/trapdoor and liftblock vanished. I was lucky to find an early ( no caliber marked on it ) liftblock with great patina to match my rust-pitted old friend. Likewise, the wood I found on eBay was used and damaged and fits perfectly, appearance-wise

[scrubby2009]

Photo loading is a little tough here, not sure why. I'll try a couple more from the teardown and cleaning. Did I mention that the only "special feature" on this basic round barrel rifle in 44WCF was a set trigger? Those parts are stupid-expensive! Still don't have it functional, but without the "set" working, the trigger break is decent and I live with it.

[scrubby2009]

So when I began chasing down everything needed to shoot this old relic, the set trigger and all the special parts it requires was a real puzzle. I scrounged images on-line, looked for diagrams, still haven't really got a good sense of how it works. One thing , though: I was very determined to use as many original parts as possible. So when I saw the prices that 1st Model set trigger sears and springs and pins were commanding ($750 on eBay..), I got out my Fabricator hat and went to work. I made a mainspring with a an angle grinder and hand files, the trigger springs ( 3 of 'em! ) I "crafted" from a quality hacksaw blade. The stirrup and pin I hand filed off a chunk of leafspring ( good steel there!) and the spring, catch and screw for the dustcover I also fabricated. The original frontsight was missing the blade, so I found an old buffalo nickel mother gave years back, and cut and filed it. Here are the only new (reproduction) parts I've bought so far. The buttplate was a raw casting from Numrich, I think. I handfit it to the worn very used stock I got off gunbroker ( $60 bucks for all that character!) and rustblued it. Would like to find a better match, appearance-wise, for a used rear sight. But for $20, that older Marbles with do.

[scrubby2009]

Need some photos of it since cleaning up.......

[Blackpowder Burn]

Scrubby,

That's some darn resourceful and inventive restoration work you've done.  I bet the old girls a hoot to shoot, especially with the history you have with her.

FWIW, if you haven't heard about them, there is a company called Homestead Parts (www.homesteadparts.com) that has original and newly manufactured parts for many old rifles.  The Winchester 1873 is one of the primary ones.  It's amazing what they have for pretty reasonable prices.  Note that their parts are for ORIGINAL Winchesters, not modern reproductions......

[treebeard]

Scrubby— Thanks for sharing these pictures and your restoration process. You have some real talent and used it to save a rifle the parts Nazi’s would have parted out IF they had ever gotten their hands on it— of course you benefitted by their services.  The parts you made are interesting— the spring must have been a challenge. Congrats!  On one of your earlier pictures there was a Remington 1858– is there a good story there?
.

[Major 2]

I too returned a Circa 1891 73 Rifle to a shooter....mine was not the challenge you faced ...still I need a few parts.
My go to was Winchester Bob 207-532 -9206 , he had what Homestead did not... I understand they themselves are occasionally supplied by Winchester Bob.

In my case a 32/20 magazine spring, a dust dover spring & screw ( mine being a 3rd Model ) and a missing rear sight  Adjuster.

Mine had been a gentleman's collection since the early 60's and in a closet for the past 15 years since he passed ...


You get the credit as the dedicated restorer , but I understand your passion

[scrubby2009]

Scrubby— Thanks for sharing these pictures and your restoration process. You have some real talent and used it to save a rifle the parts Nazi’s would have parted out IF they had ever gotten their hands on it— of course you benefitted by their services.  The parts you made are interesting— the spring must have been a challenge. Congrats!  On one of your earlier pictures there was a Remington 1858– is there a good story there?
.

[scrubby2009]

Thanks for your kind appreciation of the project. It's an honor for me to use the humble skills that were passed on to me as a youngster. Lots of poor-but-clever survivors in my family tree and I enjoy being a tinker of sorts. The Remmie also came with a story, yessir. In fact, I'd say that at least $250 of the grand I paid for that thing was for the privilege of pursuing the resurrection of another buried-and-forgotten oldtimer.
The story I paid for was that the pistol was discovered in an old outhouse pit in Auburn CA back after the War when a lot of renovating was done and subdivisions laid out for returning GIs and their young families. Apparantly, the old Remington got some home-made grips (still wearing them now) and was a paperweight on someones desk for a long while. Pistol came into the shop where I bought it about 12 years ago, part of an estate collection being broken up. No mainspring, cylinder frozen on the pin, pin broken and rotating in the frame. Still had clay and rusty dirt in the cracks. So I cut the pin, reamed out the cylinder and frame to an oversized pin, fitted a reproduction hand.  I cleaned with Kroil and a dental pick, bought a new mainspring from Dixie Gun Works. and started shooting it.
I got one of Mark Hubbs' bullet molds for the Johnston and Dow heeled conical bullets and started making paper cartridges. It is a hoot and a half!
The serial # on this NMA is 52,623 and all the numbered pieces match. War Department records indicate this pistol was part of an order received in January '64, couple different volunteer cavalry regiments were refitting during this period, documented to have drawn pistols with serial numbers very close to this one. Fun stuff to search out, no doubt.