.38 special in a lever gun

[Bakerloo]

Gentlemen, I have ordered a Winchester 1873 in .357/.38.
Can you tell me what .38 ammo works well in lever guns? I like the cost of .38 vs .357...
Thanks in advance.

[bodger]

I have shot just about any kind of .38 special through mine, including range reloads, and never had a problem. I did have to be sure to clean the chamber where the brass seats after shooting a lot of .38 through it, because the residue build-up would prevent the longer .357 round from seating properly.

No big deal, just kept a cleaning brush around when I was shooting.

[Kings River Kid]

Any round nose .38 will work fine. Levers of this design are not overly OAl sensitive. They can be a little bit sensitive on bullet shape but as long as you don't try SWC it should do fine.

[eman_308]

I use lead round nose and semi wadcutters .38SPL in my '73

[larkja]

I use flatnose in my Uberti '73. No probs.

[Ugly Hombre]

my Rossi 92 will feed and cycle any 38 specials of any type- I have fed it so far.

[Barbarosa]

I picked up a Commemorative Winchester '73 last year. It is a great gun; very accurate and a pleasure to shoot. I have tried several different varieties of ammo and haven't noticed any difference. For target and plinking I use whatever is on sale. Primarily that has been either Remington or Winchester FMJ 130 gr. For giggles I ran a box of JHP Federal 180 gr .357 - really didn't notice much of a kick since it is a pretty heavy gun.

[sigfan91]

I use only jacketed bullets. I hate cleaning lead out of a barrel. It's also better because I don't want to breathe in air borne lead particles when I shoot...or any other time.

[PoorRichRichard]

You'll save money, and get better accuracy if you build reloads specificly meant for your rifle. And congrats on the purchase.

[Garv]

I use round nose and TC (tapered cone).

The flat-nosed lead bullets sometimes catch and deform on my Rossi.

[Kokopelli]

From my JM Marlin 1894C, Remington 38 Specials work great. The 125 JHP +P is very accurate and a good HD load. I can easily lob the 158gr LRN Remington onto a paper plate at 200.

[Kings River Kid]

You'll save money, and get better accuracy if you build reloads specificly meant for your rifle. And congrats on the purchase.

That's true, I used to use these little 105gr "Rattler John" bullets for Cowboy Shooting that were just plain awesome. accurate as all get out and it had the recoil of a .22

[golfish]

I've been lucky with my two 38/357 Rossi's, both feed anything I have thrown at em (now). I like the green and white box UMC in either 38 or 357 for my two. The 125 grain .357 packs more punch than just about any other factory 357 I have shot.

You going to post up some pix when you get it (please) I just bought my first Winchester, its a 94AE with a cross bolt safety. I want a 73, I'm a little jelly, okay, a lot jelly

[Air]

I have a Rossi 92 and it functions fine, but I have never ran factory ammo through it...Just my own reloads. I haven't shot the thing a lot, but it seems to eat up everything regardless of OAL. Mostly 158 grain Lead FP's and 125 grain Plated FP's. I think I fed it some Jacketed RN bullets and it did fine. 38's fyi.

[Bakerloo]

You going to post up some pix when you get it (please) I just bought my first Winchester, its a 94AE with a cross bolt safety. I want a 73, I'm a little jelly, okay, a lot jelly

I will post pics as soon as I get it. I had a small windfall of $$ and figured this would be a good way to spend it.