Good choice?

[horseman308]

Why is that? (two different sizes of ammunition?)

Orginal 1873 Winchesters came in .44WCF (.44-40), .38-40, and .32-20 ( I think). Later, other cartridges were introduced, but in the initial years, it was only those, and .44-40 was the most common.

However, the Colt SAA came in .45 Colt. So, the two single most common - or at least most famous - guns in the Old West didn't share common ammo, and if you had both, you had to have 2 different types of ammo.

A couple years later, Remington patented the 1875 in .44-40, as well as some others, but you could then buy a Winchester '73 and a pistol (1875 Rem) in the same cartridge. Much easier to source ammo. Too bad the Remmy never really took off like the Colt (personal opinion there).

I'm not certain, but I don't think Winchester ever made rifles in .45 Colt, and the availability of lever guns in .45 Colt today is the result of demand from the Cowboy Action sport.

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[Jim Watson]

Colt picked up the .44-40 in 1878 as the "Frontier Six Shooter" and made 64000 of them, vs 150000 .45s. But if you deduct Army contracts and add in the 38000 .38-40s and 29000 .32-20s, it shows the popularity of dual purpose calibers was very high.

Real 1873 Winchesters were made only in .44, .38, and .32. Except for the .22 Short and .22 Long versions, not common and you can see why, expensive and heavy when you could get a Stevens for four bucks.

There are a couple of stories of dual purpose calibers.

A Texas Ranger had to clear a jam caused by hastily loading a .45 into his .44 carbine. This required unscrewing the sideplate with the point of his Bowie knife, extracting the jammed .45, returning the sideplate, and loading properly. Almost a "hair raising" experience while under fire.
When he got back to civilization, he traded for a .44 sixgun.
I have seen this happen on a CAS range. It is not a simple fix even with a table and screwdriver.

Also, if you load a .44 into a .45 revolver, you get a "Bloop" and not much effect on the target. Seen that one, too.

Another western lawman had the opposite problem. A .44-40 case split and tied up his revolver. He got a .45.

 

[Hawg]

I'm not certain, but I don't think Winchester ever made rifles in .45 Colt, and the availability of lever guns in .45 Colt today is the result of demand from the Cowboy Action sport.

Nobody made a lever action in .45 Colt until Uberti did it in 1984.

 

[Rachen]

Taylor’s makes much better guns than either Umberto or Pietro.

Taylors do not actually make guns. They import all repro guns from the Italian firms. They might do some gunsmithing on them and accessorize them per customers' orders but they do not manufacture firearms.

Nobody made a lever action in .45 Colt until Uberti did it in 1984.

At first, I wondered if Winchester really did make their 1873's in .45 LC, would it make their already successful rifle even more successful? But then I realized that they did not have to. The .44-40 was a very capable cartridge and have dropped many bad men, good men, and game alike, much like it's predecessor, the .44 Rimfire. Though I suspect many a cattleman would have liked to carry the exact same cartridge for their rifle and sidearm.

 

[Hawg]

The original balloon head case rim on the .45 Colt was too small and weak for an ejector to work with. I suppose Winchester could have made a .45 cartridge with a wider rim that would have worked in Winchester rifles and Colt pistols but invariably there would have been a lot of people try to use Colt cartridges in Winchester rifles and getting jams and blaming the rifles which would have been bad for business.

 

[Rachen]

The original balloon head case rim on the .45 Colt was too small and weak for an ejector to work with. I suppose Winchester could have made a .45 cartridge with a wider rim that would have worked in Winchester rifles and Colt pistols but invariably there would have been a lot of people try to use Colt cartridges in Winchester rifles and getting jams and blaming the rifles which would have been bad for business.

Hmm...Just thought about this for a pretty long minute right now. And from personal experience, the mind has a tendency to make a lot of random errors when it is under stress. Ie...new drivers mistaking the gas pedal for the brakes. Imagine how the mind reacts during the stress of combat, with people shooting at you and bullets flying all around.

It seems like one of the really foolproof ways to avoid slamming in wrong ammo into your guns in the heat of a fight would be:

A: Have your entire belt loaded with rifle ammo for your levergun. But use cap and ball revolvers as your sidearm. Multiple cylinders and paper cartridges will still go a long distance in keeping you in the fray.

B: Entirely rely on your cartridge pistol or a brace of cartridge pistols.

C: Have a cartridge pistol as your sidearm, but for primary long gun go for a .45-70 or .50-90 Buffalo Sharps or Rem. Rolling Block. Can't mistake cartridges now. In the Dixie Gun Works Black Powder Annuals, there was an article titled "Backup Guns of the Buffalo Hunters", and the author noted that this was the combination most used on the trail during the peak years of the big hunts.