Rifles

I am a modern shooter and hunter, hooked on scopes, stainless actions and barrels, and synthetic stocks. Having used black-powder muzzleloaders on and off over the past 35 years, I would rather be shooting smokeless cartridges. Nowadays, though, it’s hard to ignore Cowboy Action and the reproduction rifles that competitors are using.

However, Uberti is offering a modern repro of an early lever gun that really caught my attention.

When I got to handle the company’s Model 1876 rifle, I was immediately attracted by the color case-hardening and the long octagon barrel. Then I worked the lever. It was the smoothest I’d ever cycled. Again and again I worked it.

What is that sliding part on the top for? What do you call that brass block that goes up and down behind the barrel? How many cartridges does the full-length magazine tube hold? What is the twisty-thing behind the rear of the lever? Questions, questions, questions… I had to find out for myself.

Cartridge/Rifle Combo

For my testing I requested a .50-95 version, the largest caliber offered. It is a bottle-necked rimmed case, about 1.89 inches long, with a water capacity of 85 grains. It’s a black-powder cartridge, and many sources I checked with indicated that loads up to 29,000 psi would be a reasonable upper limit. The rifle has a 28-inch heavy octagon barrel, which measures three-quarters of an inch across the flats.

The rifle—which has an overall length of 49 inches—weighs a substantial 101/2 pounds. A round loaded with the Barnes 450-grain Original weighs around 740 grains, so 11 cartridges in the full-length magazine tube will add another 11/4 pounds to the overall package.

The action and lever are beautifully color case-hardened. Right behind the barrel is a brass carrier block, which transports cartridges up to load into the chamber, also serving to carry and eject fired cases. The breechblock—which actually looks like a thick automotive engine valve—drives a cartridge into the chamber. As the lever is fully closed, the brass carrier drops back down into the lowered position, picking up the next cartridge from the magazine tube.

The lever has a fully closed safety, which requires that it be raised up against the bottom of the receiver for firing. At the bottom rear of the lever is a rotating lever hook, which prevents the lever from being worked to load the rifle.

At the very top of the receiver is a sliding dustcover, to keep the insides clean when it’s not in use or when you’re in the field. It moves back and stays to the rear when the lever is first cycled. When done firing, the shooter can simply push it forward to the closed position.