Winchester 92 sporting rifle capacity?

[Ragnarok]

How many .44-40 cartridges should a original 24" barreled full length magazine M1892 hold?

[missionary5155]

Good morning
Have a 1896 made 44 WCF model 1892 that I can get 12 cartriges into without a lot of resistence. This is with a 220 grain Saeco 443 which has a longer nose than the standard 200 grain. 10 feels much gentler on the mag spring. I normally load 5 and carry 5 for my desert walks. I just do not see me being involved with any large group hostile attacks where I go. Wild dogs are my main concern but they generally stay 30 yards out.
Mike in Peru

[Ragnarok]

period sales brochures and other sources state the rifles have a 15 shot capacity....hmmm..that must be for .25-20 or .32-20 or something besides .44-40/.44wcf chambered 24" rifles.

I had done some work on my rifles mag-tube and was checking it out. Could get a maximum of 13 .44 cartridges stuffed inside. So really I guess about 12 rounds or so would be 'maximum capacity'...

[jrmartin1964]

How many .44-40 cartridges should a original 24" barreled full length magazine M1892 hold?

Winchester seems to have had a problem with that same question. The earliest catalogs showing the Model 1892, July 1892 - February 1895, give no indication of the 1892's magazine capacity, but from August 1895 to August 1899 it was given 15 cartridges; from April 1900 to June 1910 stated capacity was 14 cartridges; from October 1911 to 1916 stated capacity was 13 cartridges; in 1918 stated capacity was back up to 14 cartridges, and by 1932 it had returned to 13.

All the cartridges for which the original Model 1892s were chambered (.44 W.C.F., .38 W.C.F., .32 W.C.F., and .25-20) were loaded to the same overall length, so magazine capacity should be the same regardless of chambering.

[Ragnarok]

yeh..fifteen .44-40 cartridges was maybe the capacity for the optional longer barreled models...

[missionary5155]

Howdy
Yea the longer barrel would make up the room. Typical advertising plow. My cartriges measure the max that will feed reliably. But one time listen to the smack the next cartridge makes when hitting the stop with a full magazine.
AS easy as it is to add to the stack it just seemed counter- productive to walk around with a muzzle heavy rifle.
Mike in Peru

[Speedo66]

I think the one time I tried, I got 14 into my original 1873 .38-40 with a 24" barrel. Thankfully, it's not high capacity illegal here, yet. ;>)