MGC Winchester M-73

Post by Garyforce

Ok gang .you’ve had all the handgun reviews..now..its time to move onto the big stuff !
THE MGC WINCHESTER M-73
a.k.a.
MGC Winchester 1873 Saddle Ring Carbine.
(pictured below)
Specs
Length: 92 cms / 36 3/16" (muzzle to butt)
Barrel: 43 cm / 17" (open)
Weight: 2.7kg (approx)
Materials: Metal.
Grip: Wood stocks
Comments
The gun that won the west
This rifle has a great weight to it and is comfortable held into the shoulder (you do forget your holding a model gun and stray into ‘target practice’ mode with this one )

Loading
ok Loading the Winchester cartridges is the same as the revolver carts. The carts are Winchester M73 44-40 Cartridges each taking a 7mm cap face up in the end. Having primed your cartridges (a maximum of 12) you ‘feed’ the rounds into the rifle at the chamber on the right of the gun.
Firing
first we have to chamber a round so crank that leaver down and back up again……aim ……. And fire!
Ok …. Then its simply a matter of crank the leaver again to eject the spent cartridge and load the next.
Now heres were I have to issue a health warning ……in order to eject the cart and load the next you have to crank that leaver pretty hard ….. now if you’ve got that rifle into your shoulder …. Be sure your wearing glasses or goggles ….. cause those carts sting when then hit you square between the eyes ! (voice of experience there ! …. And I thought…you never see that in the cowboy movies ! )

Cleaning
Right …… striping the Winchester down is easy
2 screws allow you to remove the stock. Next 3 screws remove the side plates…. Now you can remove the trigger / hammer mechanism.
unlike my other reviews the trigger / hammer mechanism isn’t that fiddley or difficult to remove / put back together so that’s a refreshing change !! still its best to refer to the instructions or to make note of how the parts of the hammer & trigger fit back together.
Next …… unscrew and remove the fore grip. Then you can remove the loading chamber.
Now you can clean and oil the gun using whatever cleaning solution / oil you prefer. (i recommend marks cleaning technique of hot water, baking soda & vinegar)
Then once we are cleaned and oiled .... put it all back together ....and that’s that !
Over all
This is an excellent rifle to have in your collection (despite the health risk of a cart between the eyes ! )
I have however found that this Winchester doesn’t really like having all 12 carts loaded in the chamber as the pressure put on the spring tends to push the carts back and jams the loading mechanism …... so 6 at a time is probably best. Still that could just be mine and not typical of all Winchesters (anyone else had that with theirs ?) so over the next few weeks I intend to strip her down thoroughly and see what I can do (if anything )
But ….. that aside. this is a cracking rifle .a good solid weight ….and a worthwhile addition to rifle lovers out their. 8/10





(Photos copied from Smootik's Review, originals no longer available ... Cerwyn Site Admin)

Post by Mark

Gary, man your working overtime! I have always liked the MGC M73 but, i just never have gotten around to buying one as they where somewhat rare until MGC reproduced them. The original Winchester M73's cartridges would be thrown into the air away from the shooters face. I think that since the real cartridge cases are much lighter than the MGC cartridges, the lack of weight alows them to fly away further than the heavier MGC cartridges.

Nice review!
_________________
Wanted to buy: MGC Sten MK3....trades?(still)

MGC MP40 Marushin MP40 Nakata MP40 TRC MP40

Modelgun manufacturers, past and present:CMC,CAW,Hudson,HWS,LS,MGC(R.I.P. 1960's~2007) Marushin,Marui,Kokusai,Shoei,Tanaka and Western Arms

Post by francky1958

Hi guys,

if you are going to invest on it, i really recommend to get with open
barrel　or randal custom with open barrel. when i fired the randal before.
i could see the muzzul flash with one 7mm caps. Wow!

Nice review! Garyforce!

A brief comparison of a real Winchester 1873 with a MGC M73 PFC Modelgun

As Smootik remarks in his very fine review, lever-action rifles are synonymous with Western Cowboys – and for us older guys – with some of our childhood “heroes”: The Lone Ranger, The Rifleman, Josh Randall (Wanted Dead or Alive), countless John Wayne characters – and countless movies.
More recently (well it’s 25 years ago!) a Winchester ’73 lever action was used with dramatic effect in the opening sequence in “Silverado” – a “must-see” action movie for every M73 enthusiast.

As a kid living in Europe, toy Winchesters were my world, Mattel’s Winchester saddle gun with loading and ejecting shells at the age of 10, was a dream come-true! And was probably the beginning of my Modelgun hobby!
By the age of 18 I was living in New Zealand and bought my first real Winchester – a model 1894 (.30-30 cal). A couple of years later I also had a Model 1892. I used to hunt deer and wild pigs & goats for food.
In 1990 I bought a Uberti ’73 hexagonal barrelled rifle – a copy of a real Winchester ’73 and hunted with that – having sold my previous guns. But what I really wanted was a carbine version.

Having minimized my hunting escapades, I sold the Uberti ’73 last year (2010) to help pay for my growing modelgun collection! It was worth NZ$2000, and I hadn’t used it in a long while. And as you ALL know, Modelguns can be very expensive. Then a couple of months ago an MGC M73 carbine came up in an eBay auction – which I won. Three weeks later a real 1873 Winchester (Euroarms) carbine came up for auction locally. The buy-now price was less than a third of the Uberti so I bought it!


Having both carbines in my hot little hands, I thought a comparison would be of interest to Forum members, and hope you all enjoy these photos. MGC did a great job of creating a replica to comply with gun laws and to avoid counterfeiting. All the dimensions are larger than real in the MGC M73, and the internals are obviously different. But for any aspiring or nostalgic “Western Cowboy” who can’t have the real deal – the MGC M73 is a great substitute. And if you can own both – then that’s a great bonus: you can shoot the MGC model in your own lounge. Just don’t get them mixed up!

Kiwigunner

PS: Both guns need some work to give them a face lift - might even re-blue to MGC M73 at some point!

That's a very interesting post!
Thanks for taking time to do a detailed comparison of these two. Dimensions are interesting, I "knew" that models are made a bit different, but never had opportunity to do the comparison with a real weapon as you did.

Any idea why loading gate is larger on the model? Are real shells smaller?

Hi Smootik,
Glad you found this of interest.

I really can only guess why the loading gate is so large - maybe to avoid exchanging parts with a real carbine?

As you will see from the photos, the M-73 cartridges are much SMALLER than the real .44-40 cartridges - so the cartridge size is not necessarily related. Then again, maybe because the M-73 carts don't have a lead bullet installed, the length is needed to allow successfull loading of the fake carts???


Maybe someone else can figure it out?

Kiwigunner

Very interesting comparison between the replica model and the real thing.
It's always good to see what the differences are, and how close or varied they can be.

I think the main reason for the shorter MGC cartridges would have to be so that they can eject through the top of the gun like the original shells. Any longer, and they wouldn't make it out of that ejection port.

Thanks Aussie!
You're most likely correct re the cartridges. Those MGC designers certainly knew what they were doing!
It's great modelgun. Quite like to get an 1866 like yours too!

I just posted a Review on my M-73; Smootik has replied saying he's experiencing some tolerance issues in his model.
Have you had any similar issues, for example the elevator not lifting high enough?

Kiwigunner

Spotted this on Youtube:
apparently even the REAL Winchesters had elevator problems similar to the MGC ones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CY-KsxA6QB4

Though the real steel had springs that could be adjusted that MGC didn't copy - lthium grease seems to have fixed mine!

Kiwigunner