Which Win 92 Clone?

[Phil]

Hi all!

First, Buckshot did you get a Winchester brand reproduction M92 or a clone by someone else? Sounds like a nice rifle.

What I would like to know is, who makes a good quality M92 replica? What I am looking for is a blued gun, 20" barrel, 357 mag, (would love to have a 38-40 but realize that's a non starter) WITHOUT any of the idiotic safeties that everyone seems to be putting on lever guns these days.

I have read several of the threads on this forum but am now more confused than ever. I really don't want something that I have to rebuild, rechamber, or any of that. Just a reliable rifle to shoot.

Thanks,

Phil

[mainiac]

I picked up a rossi .357 earlier in the year, and i have put about 2500 bullets threw it so far. Does this explain how much i like shooting this gun? Ive never been much of a lever fan, but now im hooked bad! Been high speed and ultimate precision for years, and now im just plain enjoying this stlye. Sorry, got off track,my rifle is a interarms rossi,it doesnt have any of the saftey crap on it and shoots pretty well. Would dearly love to find one in 45 colt! My gun has deep,perfect bluing,and nice figured wood. Dont knoe how the newest ones are made. Mine must be 5-10 years old?

[Four Fingers of Death]

I bought a 92 clone stainless 44Mag last year and it has no extra safety devices. I don't know how the new ones are now, I must find out. I have been told that rifles are no longer allowed to be imported into Australia unless they have two safety devices. This seems to be a world wide trend, (UN influence? maybe).

The Taurus pump rifle is an example, one of the better excuted ones, the button atop the hammer and the key that you use in the back of the hammer, hardly see them at all. They could license that to other manafacturers and make $ out of it, seems to be the way things are going. Mick.

[Tristan]

I believe you'll need to find an older Puma or Rossi to get one without the 'extra' safeties...

I'm looking for one too. If you come across a passle of em', I'd appreciate it if you let me know.

[dtalley]

I have the Puma (Rossi) 92 in 45 colt. I love it. It is not as pretty as Buckshots because I suppose it was more of a bottom line model. I use it for CAS mostly. Mine has the safety on top of it. A gunsmith that I shot CAS with said he can take it out and plug the hole really easy. I haven't done it yet but I think I will.

Anyway I love mine alot and don't regret getting it.:-D

[NickSS]

I have a Rossi Puma stainless in 45 Colt. It has a little flip lever on top of the bolt as a safety but I never use it. This little carbine is my very favorite lever gun. It is light, smooth and reasonably accurate with open sights. I have run several thousand rounds through it with no problems until recently when it started to double feed. After cleaning all the gunk out of the action it is now working perfectly again. The only thing I do not like about the 92 Winchester (and clones) is the difficulty in taking it apart for cleaning inside. But then all Browning desighs of that era are similar in that respect.

[9.3X62AL]

If you are wanting a rifle in 38-40 WCF, Cimarron offers their '73 repros in that chambering. That platform limits you to 1873-level ballistics (1200 FPS or so) with the 180 grain boolits, but I'm right fond of the '73. Since the 38-40 is the only one of these pistol-length WCF calibers I don't have a rifle chambered for--that would be the route I would take to get there. NOT CHEAP.

Buckshot's Legacy Arms example is positively beautiful. NO other way to say it.

[Phil]

Hi Tristan.

If I find a covey of them I'll sure let you know. Also good to know that the bolt top safety can be removed and welded. I could do that with my laser welder at work.

Cheers all and Happy Thanksgiving!

Phil

[ron brooks]

Just when did they start putting the extra safeties on the lever actions?

Thanks,

Ron

[KCSO]

EMF sells the levers without the safetys. They may have them in 38-40 by now. They have the 92's in takedown and solid frame and other than the chunky stock are right on.

[Buckshot]

..............My Rossi was from Legacy Sports. Don't know if they 'spec' anything different or extra on their rifles.

The safety on the top rear of the bolt blocks the firing pin. However the hammer also has a half cock position so I had no problems in just deleting the bolt mounted safety. Carb cleaner removes the paint in the F & S (Fire and Safe) positions, and you can grind off the lever and cold blue the stub. It's retianed in the bolt with a cross pin.

While at the range Tuesday JonK was there also and a new (to him) Browning (Miroku) M1892 round barrel carbine in 357 mag. Not to denegrate my or any other Rossi made M92, the Browning made version was a couple points ahead. The wood was of beautiful walnut, as was the polish on the barrel superb. Wood to metal fit was excellent. While my Rossi has a dark oil finished hardwood stock the fitting of it was almost as good.

The machine work internally was a step above the Rossi product. However my rifle functions as smoothly and without issue as anyone could ask for. I'm very happy with it.

.............Buckshot

[Four Fingers of Death]

I forgot to mention, that lever gun I'm shooting in my avitar is a Rossi 38/357 that I bought cheap as. It is a ball tearer of a rifle. Simple, reliable and robust. It has a mind of it's own when it comes to ejecting brass however. They go everywhere, buy in bulk.

[mtngunr]

Don't forget any of the excellent Browning 92's and 53's that are still out there......yes, Miroku-made like the latest Winchesters, but exceedingly close to original Winchesters in design and function, unlike the newer "improved" guns that feature constant monkeying with the design and additional safeties...my B53 is one of the finest rifles I've ever owned....period.....

[mtngunr]

..............My Rossi was from Legacy Sports. Don't know if they 'spec' anything different or extra on their rifles.

The safety on the top rear of the bolt blocks the firing pin. However the hammer also has a half cock position so I had no problems in just deleting the bolt mounted safety. Carb cleaner removes the paint in the F & S (Fire and Safe) positions, and you can grind off the lever and cold blue the stub. It's retianed in the bolt with a cross pin.

While at the range Tuesday JonK was there also and a new (to him) Browning (Miroku) M1892 round barrel carbine in 357 mag. Not to denegrate my or any other Rossi made M92, the Browning made version was a couple points ahead. The wood was of beautiful walnut, as was the polish on the barrel superb. Wood to metal fit was excellent. While my Rossi has a dark oil finished hardwood stock the fitting of it was almost as good.

The machine work internally was a step above the Rossi product. However my rifle functions as smoothly and without issue as anyone could ask for. I'm very happy with it.

.............Buckshot

Sorry, I should have read your entire post before typing mine regarding the Brownings.....

[Bubba w/a 45/70]

I know that the only problem that I've had with my Rossi (old Puma) .357 was a broken firing pin. And that was fixed right up with an updated/better version. It was my mistake, and I paid for it for a bit.

I was really thinking of getting a Marlin 1894 in .357 until I was able to see one in action this year (first time). The poor guy was reduced to shooting it single shot for the duration of the shoot. It was a "Marlin jam" situation, and he couldn't get it cleared up without totally taking the gun apart. That kinda really did no good for wanting a Marlin in pistol calibers.

[Buckshot]

...............One of our Burrito Match shooters and his wife are avid SASS members, and they're VERY active. He bought one of the Marlin 1894 Cowboys not too long after they first came out. He shot his standard cowboy 45 Colt load of a 225gr slug over 8.0grs of Unique. Right outta the bag he sat down and stacked 5 rounds in on top of each other at 50 yards.

I made some surprized noise and asked him to let me try the next 5 rounds. Did the same thing with 5 cutting each other's holes. Only problem I know of is that he's had to replace the hammer spring once.

...............Buckshot

[Bubba w/a 45/70]

I probably came off as very anti-Marlin, and for that I'm sorry. I was just very unimpressed with the way the jamming occurred and was "unfixable" within a short period of time. I was just more impressed by the way my Rossi fails to fail time after time. ....and believe me, I am more a Marlin type than Winchester (clone or real).

[PatMarlin]

I sure would like to have a 92, and a 73 for that matter.

I paid $350 2 years ago for a mint 94 in 45 colt. Yeah- it's got the cross bolt safety but it is a gem from top to bottom. I remember thinkin' how I was paying to much for this Made in the USA Winchester.. :mrgreen:

[mtngunr]

The older I get, the stupider I get....when I was younger, I knew everything, including how stupid Winchester was for not chambering straightwalled pistol cases in their leveractions decades before they finally started....now that I am older and stupider, I can see maybe Winchester knew what they were doing when they chambered their guns in those thin-brassed, tapered, bottle-necked cartridges which feed slick as a whistle, seem to never jam and always seal the action against any and all blow-back fouling.....

[Poohgyrr]

[smilie=1:

PAT,

I feel bad about you getting taken like that. Just awful. What if I send you $350, plus an extra $50 for all your suffering, and you send me that old underpowered 1894 - 1994 M94??

Just trying to help a fellow Levergunner in his time of need.. :mrgreen:

[PatMarlin]

Yeah John.. The pain... THE PAIN!!!.. :groner:

Rio Linda High??

Ever heard of a place called Bell Aqua? One of my closests friends developed and owned that place... :drinks:

[Poohgyrr]

Guys,

I emailed the warrenty repair Lever Smith for EMF, and he mentioned that all the M92 clones made by Rossi now have the bolt safety. If I remember right, these brands are EMF, LSI, Rossi, & Navy Arms. EMF's made before this year don't have this safety, but the others have had them for a while. The Navy Arms have walnut, the EMFs have better sights, the Rossi's have that painted wood - strip it and there are some good looking stocks.

The M92 clones made by Taylor & others I don't know about.

The recent Miroku made Winchesters have the tang safety.


Pat,

Yup, Bel Aqua's about two blocks from the high school, and next to the lake where they used to have waterski races.

[PatMarlin]

That's my buddy Bill Mahannah...

:drinks:

[jerdog53]

I picked up a Rossi Puma M92 clone about 4 years ago in 454, it has about 500 rounds through it and functions flawlessly. It was cracking the fore grip at the screw hole with that ugly factory wood and after 2 trips back to the supplier for replacements I had a local smith put Winchester wood on it and haven't had a problem, much better looking to!


Here it is!

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q182/jerdog53/Puma92_454_0111.jpg

[Buckshot]

...............Nice looking piece of wood in the buttstock there. I don't know what kind of wood was used for my rifle. I'm sure it's some So. American hardwood though. While with a quick glance it may fool some into thinking it Birch or Beech, but i don't think there's much of that in Brazil. On closer inspection it does have a bit of an open grain, as there are pores in the grain. I do not particularly care for very light colored wood so I'm glad to see that whatever kind of wood this is, it'll take a stain!

................Buckshot

[jerdog53]

I don't know what kind of wood was used for my rifle. I'm sure it's some So. American hardwood though.

................Buckshot



Its CocoaNut Wood!