Uberti 1876 45-60

[Cool Hand]

Hello from Texas!
Got a Uberti 1876 in 45-60 for Christmas my first cowboy action rifle and was wondering if anyone has any ifno on it?
Also i'm have a hard time finding ammo.If you own one how do you like it? Can i hunt elk with it?

[J Miller]

Cool Hand,

Welcome to the forum.


Yes, there are a number of folks here who have Ubertis and other brands of 1876 copies and they'll be along soon I'm sure.

As for hunting elk, can you get close enough and hit what you aim at? Then yes, the rifle/cartridge will do it.

Joe

[Shasta]

First of all, WELCOME to the best forum on the internet, and congratulations on getting such a fine rifle!

By using the search feature for this forum, you will find many threads on both reproduction and original 1876 Winchesters. Just type in "Uberti 1876" or "Winchester 1876". The absolute "must read" article is by KirkD, an indispensable regular poster here on Leverguns:

http://www.leverguns.com/articles/1876.pdf

Since I have owned a Taylors Winchester 1876 (made by Uberti) for several years, I can say it is one of my very favorite rifles, and I can address a few issues for you concerning these rifles. The first is, of course, ammunition. Loaded ammo is available, but it is extremely expensive. If you plan on shooting it much at all, you really need to be a reloader to shoot this rifle economically. Using 45-70 brass trimmed back to 1.89", and cast lead bullets, this caliber is very easy to reload. There can be chambering issues with some rifles due to the thickness of the rim on 45-70 cases. The original 45-60 brass had a thinner rim than 45-70, and in a nod to originality, some of the reproduction rifles are chambered to this thinner rim dimension, while others went with practicality and chambered to the thicker rim of 45-70 brass, knowing it would be the easiest to modify into 45-60 ammo. My rifle happens to have the thin rim chamber, so I must thin the rims on the Starline brand brass I use by about .003" to make up ammunition for my 45-60. When I bought the rifle it came with 300 round of loaded smokeless powder ammunition, custom made using modified Starline 45-70 brass by an outfit back east by the name of GAD. None of the rounds would chamber because the rims were too thick. I shot them in my 45-70 rifle, then thinned the rims before reloading them for the 45-60. The above referenced article covers this rim thickness problem, and was the source I used on how to go about thinning the rims.

The original 1876 Winchester was introduced in an era of black powder only, but modern rifles have superior steel and are easily capable of firing either black or smokeless powder, provided the reloader bears in mind the inherent weakness of the 1876 action. It is not designed to handle heavy loads! For my own rifle, I have used both black and smokeless, but I most often use smokeless. Hercules Reloader 7 or IMR 4198 are both very good powders in my rifle. I cast my own 300 grain bullets using a Lyman 457191 bullet mold.

Another chronic problem with virtually all new-production arms these days is excessively heavy trigger pull. The Uberti folks have got this lawyer-induced flaw down to a science, and I have bought Uberti-made rifles with triggers that exceeded the twelve pound capacity of my Lyman Digital Trigger Pull Gauge! While the action of my 1876 was quite smooth, a trigger job was required to bring the trigger pull down to an acceptable level.

The stock barrel sights of the Uberti 1876 are adequate for normal uses, but I use mine for NRA Cowboy Lever Action Silhouette match shooting, and so I have installed an MVA vernier rear tang sight and a Lee Shaver spirit level globe front sight. That looooooong 28" barrel just begs for a tang sight to maximize the sight radius.

As for your elk hunting question, I don't get the opportunity to hunt elk, but as with any game animal shot placement is more important than caliber. My 45-60 shoots well enough and hits hard enough, so I would not be afraid to hunt elk with it if I had the opportunity.

P.S.- Warning!! You will receive some good-natured heat for not posting pictures of your new rifle, so you better hurry up and get some added to this thread!


SHASTA

[pwl44m]

Welcome to the forum, I'm not a 76 Guy but there are some here, I just deal in Junk- it's cheaper. Pull up a stump and sit a spell.
Perry

[Cool Hand]

Thanks guys!,well as far as hunting elk it may happen once a year,but i do plan on hunting whitetail with it and hogs as well.I'm sure i wont have any issues dropping a whitetail with it.I'll post some picturers tonight.I did manage to find the only two boxes of 45- 60 here in Houston that were loaded by Ten-X so at the least i have 40 brass shells to start with.I'll be shooting it for the first time this Sunday.I still can't beleive my wife bought it for me for Christmas.I have a ton of varmint rifles,but this is by far my favorite yet.I may buy another in 45-70 or 45-90...? My first cowboy rifle!

[86er]

Welcome and congratulations!

[rjohns94]

Welcome sir. Nice start with leverguns.

[RIHMFIRE]

first off....... A big welcome from Florida
congrats on a fine gun!
Time to start reloading......a must
and i would hunt elk with it!

and we need to see pics of your new toy!

[Winnetou]

I don’t shoot in cowboy action events, but as far as I know, you can not use an 1876 as a main match rifle, which must be limited to “pistol” type cartridges such as .44-40 and .45 Colt. Some events have side matches for long range rifles, and you could use the 1876 for that. The most popular main match rifle is the Model 1873, due to its speed and reliability.

My 1876 is in .50-95 Express, and I find it a delightful rifle. I don’t hunt, but I should think that any of the four 1876 calibres—.40-60, .45-60, .45-75, and .50-95—would be effective on elk, within range limitations.

As mentioned above, tang sights are ideal for these rifles, both at the range and in the field. I use an exact replica of the original thick-base Winchester sight, made by Axtell/Riflesmith. This company is now defunct, and unfortunately, there is no longer a source of replica Winchester tang sights. The MVA Sharps-style sights are of the same high quality, and similar.:

http://www.montanavintagearms.com/vernier.html

You already know about Ten-X:

http://tenxammo.com/tenx_ammo_B.html

They offer the 1876 calibres in either smokeless or black powder substitute (Triple-7) loadings. You can get black powder cartridges from Buffalo Arms:

http://www.buffaloarms.com/45_60_Winche ... x?CAT=4443

Buffalo Arms are a superb source of everything needed for black powder cartridge rifles.

There is a forum devoted to the Model 1876:

http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php?board=89.0

[veeman]

[quote="I may buy another in 45-70 or 45-90...? My first cowboy rifle![/quote]

Those calibers don't come in the 1876, but are chambered for the 1886.

[Cool Hand]

[quote="I may buy another in 45-70 or 45-90...? My first cowboy rifle!

Those calibers don't come in the 1876, but are chambered for the 1886.[/quote]
Uberti offers the 1876 in the 45-75 and 50-95 (my mistake sorry) wich i may be buying soon. I have been searching and i now have about 60 rounds in 45-60.I don't plan on competition shooting i just want to hunt pigs,whitetail and maybe elk every other year or so.Mainly hunt here in Texas.

[Cool Hand]

Here are some pictures.

[hightime]

Very, very nice and welcome.

Owen

[Cool Hand]

Thanks for the welcome Owen.I'll be shooting it for the first time Sunday......can't wait.

[gamekeeper]

Handsome rifle you have there! Welcome to the fire...

[veeman]

Beautiful rifle, next on my "to get" list. I'm thinking 45-75, Iv'e got a bunch of 348 brass I can convert.

[Ysabel Kid]

Sweet gun! Uberti hadn't started making these yet when I picked up my Chapparal Arms one. I got lucky on mine, but in general, they had a lot of problems. Never heard of the Uberti ones having problems, which is what I've come to expect from Uberti.

KirkD here loads for the .45-60 WCF. I got my recipe from him. I trimmed down .45-70 Government cases, and thinned the rims to the .45-60 WCF specs. You can now buy Jamison brass correctly marked and to specs. Lee Precision makes dies (or, at least they did). I use Kirk's recipe of 26.2 grains of AA 5744 powder under a 300-grain LRN-FP bullet. I've added a 1/3 piece of toliet paper, lightly rolled and folded, to keep the powder against the primer. This load works very well and duplicates the pressure curve of the original blackpowder load fairly well - without the BP mess.

Good shooting!

[Lefty Dude]

For additional info, ya might try this site;

http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index. ... ,89.0.html

[Cool Hand]

I love this rifle! think i'll be buying one in 50-95 soon.Thanks for all the info guys.