'Nuther '92 Finally Made It Home

[TXGunNut]

Found a nice 1892 in Cody last month, finally made it home. Let's just say it's been a crazy month and leave it at that. :shock: It's a 24" rifle with an octagon barrel chambered in 38WCF. According to my friends at the Cody Museum this old girl is just over 100 yrs with a SNA date of 11/22/1915. Action feels great, bore is bright and it looks like a shooter. Other than the receiver bluing is 75-80% and the receiver is about 50% with the flaking often found on guns of this era.
Will try to post pics tomorrow, phone and laptop fighting again and I don't have any 38WCF ammo loaded for tomorrow. :bigsmyl2:

[Speedo66]

Sounds like a nice one, good luck with it!

Wish I could've found an original '92 to keep my .38-40 '73 company, but at this point my '92 is made in Brazil.

[TXGunNut]

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As you can see I need to work on my load a bit. I have a tang sight available for this rifle and will put it on soon, today was a rare day in that I was almost able to use the issue sights.

[TXGunNut]

Sounds like a nice one, good luck with it!

Wish I could've found an original '92 to keep my .38-40 '73 company, but at this point my '92 is made in Brazil.

My Rossi is one of my favorite rifles, but then again it seems almost every levergun is in that group, lol. My other 38-40 is an 1873, barrel a bit problematic but a very interesting rifle.

[DerekP Houston]

My Rossi is one of my favorite rifles, but then again it seems almost every levergun is in that group, lol. My other '73 is a 38-40, barrel a bit problematic but a very interesting rifle.

Lever guns are just a work of beauty. Nothing wrong with the modern guns, but revolvers and leverguns just "get me". I wish I had the funds to appropriate the originals....some day when I have more time and money!

[No_1]

Dang fine lever gun in a great cartridge.

[TXGunNut]

Dang fine lever gun in a great cartridge.

Thanks. I don't have much experience with the 38-40 but I think it's a lot of fun to shoot. Crimp was a little light but I'll fix that for next time out. Bore is slick and seems to shoot as well as I expected. I cleaned and lubed the action tonight and it may very well be the slickest 92 I've handled in awhile. I have a tang sight around here somewhere, just need to order some screws.
Collectors at the show were turning up their noses on this little '92 because of the receiver, they won't be getting another chance any time soon, lol.

[quail4jake]

Nice rifle, glad it found its way to someone educated who can load properly and fire it!

[smokeywolf]

The high condition Winchesters are wonderful to look at and hold. They command a resale price that befits their looks.
They don't inspire the imagination.
I look at one of my Winchesters that looks like it spent decades bouncing around in a scabbard on the side of a horse or rattling around in the bottom of a wagon and it paints a picture in my mind of all the places that rifle has seen and all the game that Winchester put on the table AND, all the threats that Winchester subdued.

[TXGunNut]

Ol' girl may not be much of a looker but she's definitely a shooter! Moderate crimp fixed the vertical stringing. Now all I need is a good tang sight, that tiny rear sight makes my eyes tired. I need to keep a few boxes of ammo loaded for this rifle, got a feeling it will be making lots of trips to the range.

[TXGunNut]

The high condition Winchesters are wonderful to look at and hold. They command a resale price that befits their looks.
They don't inspire the imagination.
I look at one of my Winchesters that looks like it spent decades bouncing around in a scabbard on the side of a horse or rattling around in the bottom of a wagon and it paints a picture in my mind of all the places that rifle has seen and all the game that Winchester put on the table AND, all the threats that Winchester subdued.

The 80-90% guns are better investments but nobody picks them up to ponder the adventures they've been a part of. My 60-70% 100 yr old guns have been there, done that and are willing and able to do it again. Hopefully most will continue to go afield and to the range long after I'm gone.

[Speedo66]

I found the Lee factory crimp die does a nice job, prevents movement of the bullet into the case while it's in the magazine also. The '73 is not a particularly strong action like your '92, so I'm using relatively weak loads of Missouri 180g lead flat nose bullets over 5.5g of TrailBoss.

Very quiet with no recoil. I think the bullets are just barely making it out, but the sewer pipe barrel shoots well with this load. Bowling pins at 60 yards are not a problem.

[Deputy Dog]

I use 9.5 grs of unique and 180 grn j pistol bullets the reason for jacketed bullets is my bore has lite lands in it. took apart some factory winchester rounds they were loaded with 40 cal pistol bullets so I bought a canalure tool from C&H and a lee factory crimp die I can hit a ten inch dong ten out of ten at 100 yds off hand that aint great but not bad

[shoot-n-lead]

Nice combo...cartridge and rifle.

[northmn]

The 80-90% guns are better investments but nobody picks them up to ponder the adventures they've been a part of. My 60-70% 100 yr old guns have been there, done that and are willing and able to do it again. Hopefully most will continue to go afield and to the range long after I'm gone.
Kind of feel that way even with non collectors or marginal collectors, like the Marlin 336 waffle tops. See a lot of posts asking how to fix up some rougher looking rifles. I carry mine on a tractor/4 wheeler when I put up wood or plant food plots. I am one of those guilty of giving them the "patena" .
When I was building muzzle loaders, there was a faction that would "antique" their builds to try to get them looking 100 years old. Many of us thought it a bit strange as rifles did not look 100 years old when commonly carried. But a true old rifle like yours would be a joy to own and shoot. I am a bit envious as I kind of think the 38-40 may have had more use than commonly attributed to it. These were "opportunistic" rifle carried to shoot what was seen and it may have been more smaller game friendly.
With todays smokeless powder cannons we do not look at the power of some of the commonly carried rifles previous. While a 38-40 may not have the muzzle velocity it compares favorably in terminal power to the 50 cal round ball loads commonly carried previously. The 50 cal was considered a pretty fair game getter. Mosrt laoded them with about 50-60 grains of powder back then also.


DP