Uberti's '73 replicas are right up there among the most popular lever guns for cowboy action. They're out of my price range, but the ones that I've seen in action work great, and the ones I've handled were well made rifles. Some of them can use a little gunsmith attention to bring out their full potential, but I'm saving my nickles and dimes to buy one of my own in .38 WCF. They don't seem to wear out any faster than other rifles in use. Some guys have been using the same '73 rifles in matches for years without complaint, and that's a lot of hard use.