NEW Winchester Model 1892........Quality Question...?

[pinehavensredrocket]

hi smitty; times have changed concerning how we percieve safety.....in my law enforcement career i carried a "cocked & locked" .45 goldcup. the safety(s) didn't seem difficult to master. of course we carried all our firearms ( rifle, shotgun, subgun, pistol ) loaded. once a person asked me. " isn't that dangerous?". i replied. "you **** right!". hahaha true story though.

your puma is a nice little rifle, with a great lockup and smooth action. good shooter too!

this "new" winchester is in a different league with quality wood, metal, and finishing unlike what has come before. for those who want to spend the money, it is a great value.

[tvfinak]

I haven't looked at the new 92s but some of the reproductions lack some of the quality touches of the orginals like the forearms inletted into the front of the action. They are also hot blued and the finish just doesn't look right to those familar with the orginals. On the postive side they are very well made and have better steel and heat treating than the orginals.

I've got a nice orginal 92 action I've got to restore - I think it is a .25-20 now but the barrel isn't that good. Anybody know if the actions are the same for all cartridges? I know they have inserts or rails to handle the different cartridges.

Any body remember the surplus "El Tiger" carbine imported years ago? I think they werein .44-40, Spanish and made by Astra but Ii sold mine many years ago.

[Smitty of the North]

Thanks rbuck351:

I'll give it a shot. OOPS, I mean I'll TRY IT.

Smitty of the North

[Malamute]

Yep, you can unload the chamber without loading another round, but there is a fine line. Just as soon as the extracted round clears the chamber, stop and it can be done....

Doesn't have to be a fine line. You can run the lever all the way, raising the carrier, then just push the carrier (lifter) back down with your little finger and close the action. I do it all the time, and feel its one of the main functional advantages of the Winchester type action over the Marlins. I use small game loads in mine, leaving the magazine loaded with full power rounds. Some later guns are a bit sticky doing this, but you can take the lever out and polish the front edge where the brass marks are where its pushing the round back into the mag tube. All my older Winchesters are slick as can be doing this, newer ones (94's) need a little polish once in a while. A little carefull wiggling of the lever can get the round to move back forward, but dont overdo it. The Miroku 92's work slick in this regard.


The actions of the 25-20's and 32-20's are smaller actions than the 38-40's and 44-40's (the outside dimensions are the same but the internals are all different). I think a small type could be made to function with larger rounds, but would take a lot of work. The magazine tube hole in the frame is different, the bolt face is differrent, and the cartridge guides and stop are different. The smaller actions were used in years past to build 357's, the larger calibered 92's were used to build 44 mags. A 357 would be a nice smaller game/protection/truck gun. There's a guy that does restoration work that can make a barrel with original style markings on it in whatever caliber you want. Would be a cool 92. Could be a special order type gun, like a short rifle, or short carbine etc.


If you want a functional shooter, any decent quality 92 copy will do. Some of us like the clean lines and quality of fit and finish of the Miroku Winchesters and Brownings. They are getting better at doing the lines and finish on the Rossi's etc, but they still don't have the level of fit and finish of the Miroku guns. Looking around can turn up the Miroku guns for reasonable prices. CDNN has had them for less then common wholesale after the production run is done. I bought this high grade Winchester/Miroku 92 for less than most Rossi's retail for. It was used, and had a tiny mark in the blue on the barrel. I found Browning 92 hammer, trigger, mainspring and related parts to do away with the rebound hammer. It's also getting a Lyman tang sight, which will cover the tang safety nicely. I'm happy with it.

[tvfinak]

Neat

Nice looking rifle - thanks for the picture!

Does it have the receiver recessed for the fore end? That was one big gripe I had with a number of reproductions.

I'll have to take a look at my 92 again. It has a nice clean action and major with strong markings and no pitting action parts except I need the loading gate and some internal parts. I bought it for a $100 off of a junk rack at a local gun store so I can afford to put a few dollars in it.

If I recall there were also some changes when Winchester went from black to smokeless powders. I think WInchester changed the firing pin size and perhaps hardened some of the psrts.

The actions of the 25-20's and 32-20's are smaller actions than the 38-40's and 44-40's (the outside dimensions are the same but the internals are all different). I think a small type could be made to function with larger rounds, but would take a lot of work. The magazine tube hole in the frame is different, the bolt face is differrent, and the cartridge guides and stop are different. The smaller actions were used in years past to build 357's, the larger calibered 92's were used to build 44 mags. A 357 would be a nice smaller game/protection/truck gun. There's a guy that does restoration work that can make a barrel with original style markings on it in whatever caliber you want. Would be a cool 92. Could be a special order type gun, like a short rifle, or short carbine etc.


If you want a functional shooter, any decent quality 92 copy will do. Some of us like the clean lines and quality of fit and finish of the Miroku Winchesters and Brownings. They are getting better at doing the lines and finish on the Rossi's etc, but they still don't have the level of fit and finish of the Miroku guns. Looking around can turn up the Miroku guns for reasonable prices. CDNN has had them for less then common wholesale after the production run is done. I bought this high grade Winchester/Miroku 92 for less than most Rossi's retail for. It was used, and had a tiny mark in the blue on the barrel. I found Browning 92 hammer, trigger, mainspring and related parts to do away with the rebound hammer. It's also getting a Lyman tang sight, which will cover the tang safety nicely. I'm happy with it.

[Malamute]

Actually, they all have the fore end recessed into the receiver, you just can't see it. After 64, Winchester went to a recess that was a round area indexed off of the magazine tube hole, the fore end fits into that area, instead of the whole area of the front of the receiver being milled out with a thin rim or lip all the way around. It bothered me some before, but doesn't now. I think most of the modern manufacturers do it that way, it probably saves a lot of machine time and fitting of the wood.

I've used late fore ends on early guns, they work, but leave a small gap at the sides of the barrel. Doesnt look the best if you look for it (most would probably not notice), but allowed me to get a gun or two up and running when that's the parts I had on hand.

Yes, somewhere in the early 1900's I believe the changed the firing pin tip size to a smaller one. Some gunsmiths bushed the bolt face and turned the pin down a little when making up guns in modern calibers. I don't know if the heat treat changed any in that period, tho it probably got better over time later. I think it would be tough to hurt one in any event. The 1886's were better hardened in later guns, but the main problem with early guns was the barrel, they are the weak link. Some early 86's were rebarreled to 348 and 33 Win. They did fine, and Winchester even did some of the barrel swaps. If you look at traditional type lever gun blow ups, its always the barrel that lets go first, I haven't seen any pics of an action that let go so far as lockup, it's the barrel going that makes them come apart. The actions can get so stretched and sloppy loose from overloads that they won't function, but they just dont seem to "blow up" like many seem to think they would.