Cripes, ever win a bid you thought you had no chance?
Doug does it all the time, high dollar stuff, I figure for the excitement. Sure enough someone with deep pockets snaps it up. But he got to enjoy the momentary thrill of “what if…” on a bargain. lol
Well I won! But it’s good. A real 1873 Winchester in .38 WCF, made in 1888. Astonishingly clean for 138 years old. No boogered screws, all matching, no splits in the wood, no extra screw holes added, nothing missing or altered. Good bore. The wonderful Italian guns are so high I stumbled upon this survivor within that budget. Surely some western enthusiast with a pocket full of money will snatch it. I threw out the minimum, just for fun. Now to pay for it….
A good gun at a fair price will always be a sound value. Plus we get to shoot and share them. Looking forward to it. I have two custom .38-40 revolvers. I like the .400 caliber.
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Anyone stumble on the reason the .38-40 named so? It’s a .40
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Maybe 40-40 sounded too weird?
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Did it have 38 grs. of black powder?
The rifles were marked ".38 cal."?!! The .38-72 WCF "was" .38 caliber. They used it in the 1895 Win. It only adds to the speculation. Some DO say that .40-40 and .44-40 were too close?!
There was a .40-72 WCF (.407"), just a little smaller diameter than the .405 Win. (.411") and loaded with BP only. In fact the .401 WSL had the same diameter bullet as the older .40-72 WCF but with it's introduction in 1910, with powerful smokeless propellant, it was more powerful than the comparatively huge case .40-72 WCF. The 250 gr. WSL bullet was lighter than the 300/330 gr. .40-72 but it was 500 fps faster as well, out of the handy little M1910 semi-auto carbine. I saw where one polar expedition carried .38-72 Win. 1895 rifles for defense against polar bears and for taking large Walrus etc. I read one fellow busted off a round below deck and it traveled to the room above, bouncing around almost hitting several fellows. I think the chap later used the same rig to off himself in some time of despair.
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Far as I know it was 40 gr. black powder...
In the early days, sometimes the diameter of the barrels were measured from the top of the lands, not the grooves. The .44 cap n ball pistols used .456" - .457" balls ... the caliber was measured across the tops of the lands.
Last .38-40 I actually slugged mic’d 0.403”
It was an ancient New Service from the 1920’s. It wouldn’t hit the side of a barn. The chamber throats were about 0.400” or maybe less! I figured the bullets were being sized down exiting the chambers to rattle down the bore. I took some emery cloth, and a whole bunch of polishing (x6) I had it where the bullets would slide through the chambers. That fixed it pretty good. As long as they start out bigger than the bore, it will size them down.
I put in the first bid on a S&W model 657- no dash
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at a Texas auction house and was surprised when no one bid against me... Starting bid was $700...