WinchEster Model 1873

Shooting the Latest Saddle Ring Carbine

- Mike Venturino

A Wolfe Publishing Company reprint of a Winchester catalog from 1899 shows saddle ring carbines (SRCs) priced lower than any of the company’s other standard model leverguns. Model 1873 prices were $17.50 compared to $18 for a round-barreled rifle, or $19.50 for one with an octagonal barrel. These days, on the collectors’ market standard SRCs bring substantially higher prices than standard rifles with either type of barrel, when in comparable condition. Some say the price difference results from fewer carbines having been made. One-third of the nearly 750,000 Model 1873s were SRCs. Others think it was a century of movie usage. That’s not a strong point. Older westerns often featured Model 1892 SRCs in a timeframe when Model 1873s were proper. My take is the fact that, on the whole, SRCs of all models saw much harsher treatment than rifles. This factor seems to be especially prominent with ’73 SRCs.

What exactly constitutes a saddle ring carbine? My desk dictionary defines carbine as “a short, light rifle.” Winchester Repeating Arms put its own definitions on rifles and carbines. Rifles had deeply curved, crescent buttplates. SRC buttplates had much shallower curves and were wider to boot. Rifles had steel forend caps. SRCs had steel barrel bands to secure forearms.

Rifles had buckhorn-type rear sights adjustable for elevation in 50-yard increments using notched sliders. SRCs had ladder-type rear sights on which sight bars could slide up for increased elevation. Front sights on rifles were blade types dovetailed to barrels. For SRCs, studs were brazed to barrels into which blades were set. Windage could be zeroed on rifles by drifting the front sight or rear sight, or both, laterally in their dovetails. Only the rear sight on SRCs could be drifted.