My dad called me the other day and said he had bought a 73 Winchester.   He sent it up to my house for me to look at and fix a problem with the lever wanting to fall down, when the hammer was cocked.

I did a quick overview of the disassembly instructions in one of my books and went at it.   I really only had to take off the side plates to access the springs, and found the finger lever spring to be quite warn, but tightening the screw made work correctly again.   I imagine that I need to find a new leaf spring, that hasn't had the end warn off, but it will work for now.  

If anyone can post a link to Winchester parts, I would appreciate it.  I need a front and rear sight, and a newer finger lever spring.

I was fascinated by the simplicity of the 73 action, especially compared to the 94s and 86's that I've had the unfortunate luck to take apart for people.   The side plates really make it quite easy to work on, although I realize it makes the action much weaker.


The rifle in particular has had some parts replaced, and after talking to my father, I'm going to work on them to give them more of an aged patina.   They are blued, and relatively little of the plum brown finish remains on the rifle.   The stock has been replaced somewhere along the line, and needs "aged" as well.    

I was not real impressed with the bore.  It was pretty dark with some rifling still visible, but I took a lot of brown "stuff" out of it with cleaning.   I think it has pretty well had it.   A friend wants my dad to sleeve it, but I think he ought to just leave it, as it is the original barrel.  There are some pretty nasty gouges on the barrel, and some significant pitting on the outside.    I think he is going to go with my way, and just leave it.  

We will shoot it, but it is more of a collector’s item, than a shooter.  He only paid 700 for it, which is fairly low for 73's.   It was probably too much considering the stock, and barrel, but hey, it wasn't my money.   The best part is, now I have a fun little project to work on.  I mean, how many people would let you mess around with a 1873 Wiinchester, or the 86 in .45-70 that he let me "play" with last year.  I love my dad

Cool.

I grew up shooting my Grandpa's model '73 in .32-20

ya gotta love those old guns!

there's not too much i could find about parts for the '73, but heres a link to the model '92
link

and here is another link

Quoted: ya gotta love those old guns! there's not too much i could find about parts for the '73, but heres a link to the model '92 link and here is another link

Thanks for the info.   I already tried Gunparts.  They have more parts than most, but not the finger lever spring.

Are the sights on the 73, the same as on the 92 or 86?   Anyone know?    I think they may be different.   I think I replaced them on my dad's 86, but I think I found out they were not the same as on the 92.  I can't remember.  

The 73 is going back together today.  The parts were "aged" well, and look authentic, now.   The stock is still a little too nice looking, but I just couldn't bring myself to beat the hell out of it.   The color looks good now; nice and dark, with a hint of red oxidation in the pigment.