New Uberti 1866 Yellowboy Sporting Rifle

After work on Wednesday I stopped at my local FFL and picked up an Uberti Model 1866 "Winchester" Sporting Rifle that I'd ordered from Dixie Gun Works.

The original 1866 was the first rifle to bear the Winchester name. Prior to its introduction, the company had been known as the New Haven Arms Company, known for manufacturing the 1860 Henry Rifle. Like the Henry, the 1866 was chambered for the .44 Henry rimfire cartridge.

The '66 was catalogued by Winchester all the way up to 1898 or '99, long after the introduction of its successor, the 1873. It was a bit cheaper and as long as it kept selling, Winchester kept it in the catalog. For a lot of folks in the late 19th Century, the 1866 was good enough even though its .44 rimfire round was less powerful than .44-40.

During the 1860s the Model 1866 was evaluated by the Swiss military, but ultimately not adopted due primarily to "not invented here" syndrome. Six thousand were sold to France for use in the Franco-Prussian War, and they were famously used by the Ottoman Turks against the Russians at the Siege of Plevna in 1877.

The .44 Henry cartridge pushed a 200 grain bullet to around 1100 feet per second, which is nothing to sneeze at for a defensive cartridge. It also worked ok for deer hunting at close range with careful shot placement.

Incidentally, modern Winchester Super-X .44-40 ammo is loaded to .44 Henry ballistics. Several years ago I chronographed Black Hills .44-40 cowboy action shooting ammo from my 1873 Sporting Rifle's 24.25" barrel at about the same velocity. (My full power .44-40 black powder handloads average over 1300 FPS.)

.44 Henry rimfire hasn't been manufactured since the 1930s, so modern reproductions of the Henry and 1866 are chambered for other rounds. Most commonly, these a .44-40, .45 Colt, .38 Special, and .22 LR. Some are made in .44 Special or .32-20, while the one I got is chambered for .38-40 Winchester.

At first, 1866 was known as the "Improved Henry", and like the earlier rifle had a receiver made from bronze. The replicas use brass. Bronze is stronger but brass will work fine with black powder pressure loads.

Like the Henry and later Winchester 1873 and 1876, the 1866 uses a toggle locking system. Compared with the Winchester 1886 or 1892 it isn't as strong, but it is strong enough for the cartridges for which it's chambered.

I generally prefer the toggle locked rifles over the stronger, 1886 and '92 for a few reasons:

• They are smoother and can be run faster. The top shooters in cowboy action shooting all use tuned up 1866s or 1873.
• They are simpler and easier to work on.
• They have a controlled round feed, due to the cartridge being enclosed within the carrier block before it's fed into the chamber.

The downsides are that as mentioned above, they aren't as strong, and also that they are bulkier and heavier.

So why did I get this 1866 in .38-40 instead of .44-40 like I already shoot in my Henry or 1873? Mainly for something different. I was already setup for .38-40 from the Winchester 1892 that I had that was stolen. I had a bunch of brass, some ammo and components, and reloading dies laying around with no use for them until I got this rifle.

The Uberti 1866 is beautifully finished and due to the smaller bore, a bit heavier than my 1873.

After I ordered the rifle, I ordered a 40-180E bullet mold from Accurate Molds. It arrived yesterday and I hope to break it in this weekend. AM builds these to order and it took only 11 days from the time I placed the order until it arrived. Not bad at all!

I am hoping that will a full load of Swiss 3Fg it will drive the ~180 grain slug to about 1200 FPS from the Yellowboy's 24.25" barrel.

Range report to follow.