Winchester 92 Short Rifle is great!

[Lance Boyle]

While the newer rifles are nice, I still prefer originals like these 38/40's made in 1892 (4 digit Ser No's)

that’s what set the hook for me on the .44-40. A club member encouraged me to shoot his vintage 92. The gun was vey accurate with his BP loads. It made me giggle. Iirc his was made in the 90’s,….1890’s that is.

Hitting that imaginary like button on your pictures.

[FergusonTO35]

I used to go to church with an older fellow who had an original 92 in .38-40 as his one and only long arm. Not that he couldn't afford another, but for his practical uses of home defense, varmints, and close range deer hunting it fit the bill perfectly. He fed it Winchester factory JSP loads and would fire it a couple of times a year just to make sure it was still zeroed with the original sights, which it always was. As much as I love accumulating guns, there is definitely something to be said for the minimalist approach!

[Lance Boyle]

I used to go to church with an older fellow who had an original 92 in .38-40 as his one and only long arm. Not that he couldn't afford another, but for his practical uses of home defense, varmints, and close range deer hunting it fit the bill perfectly. He fed it Winchester factory JSP loads and would fire it a couple of times a year just to make sure it was still zeroed with the original sights, which it always was. As much as I love accumulating guns, there is definitely something to be said for the minimalist approach!

Another post that could use a like button.

Very true but I am a poor one at gun buying discipline. I am fixing to pare down I think.

[FergusonTO35]

I gave up trying a long time ago. My kid can sell whatever she wants after I'm gone.

[Lance Boyle]

My reloading testing has been going well.

I started out with Acme bullets, first their 0.430 sized to .429 in my Lyman sizer, then I tried them purchased already sized to .428”. While my eyes aren’t the best and I struggle with the semi buckhorns especially with the wrong light and the target getting shaded by the trees late in the day, I found them to be CAS accurate. To me that means able to hit a 20” plate at ten yards. I was more likely getting fist sized groups at fifty yards or larger. Underwhelming.

Phase 2 was picking up a new old stock from 2005 Lyman 427098 mold that at the right temperature drops WW bullets between 0.429 and .4295” give or take. I did get a small percentage of them over 0.4295” and ran them through a 0.430 size die and lubed with 50/50. So far my favorite accuracy load is with 6.8 grains of WST in a Starline case. I am experimenting with cases sized with the Redding .44-40 expander and the larger stem .44 mag expander. While both have given good groups over all I think the larger expander is the better one. I tried to test the roll crimp in the Redding seating die versus the Redding Profile crimp die. That was a bust as with the no crimp groove Lyman bullet to get enough crimp with the roll crimp to not get the bullet to get stuffed by my simple thumb pressure test I would get an unchamberable cartridge with the case neck puckered out. I had to profile crimp them. That was WW but perhaps it may work with a softer alloy.

Anyways I am getting good results with the redding profile crimp with bullets approaching 0.430 diameter. Savvy Jack cautioned that above .428-429” you could get case buckling. So far so good. The only buckled cases so far were from not expanding enough with my first batch of Acme bullets. Maybe Redding is making the die for guns with .44 mag dimensioned barrels now? Or maybe the Starline cases are just thin enough to squeak by. With WW alloy I did not get my bullets resized small by the profile crimp die. I need to see if that is holding true with the 30:1 alloy.

IMG_0557.jpeg

This was my latest test. Not my best groups but not bad for me.

This was 30:1 with the expander size as the variable and WW with the same variable. WW so far has performed better but in all fairness I worked up the load with the WW bullets and substituted the 30:1 alloy bullets in to that load, it’s giving the 30:1 alloy the short shrift not being finely tuned for it. A mild surprise note that I made during testing that the softer alloy has more felt recoil that the WW alloy, ceterus parabus with the load.

[HWooldridge]

I used to go to church with an older fellow who had an original 92 in .38-40 as his one and only long arm. Not that he couldn't afford another, but for his practical uses of home defense, varmints, and close range deer hunting it fit the bill perfectly. He fed it Winchester factory JSP loads and would fire it a couple of times a year just to make sure it was still zeroed with the original sights, which it always was. As much as I love accumulating guns, there is definitely something to be said for the minimalist approach!

My great uncle was similar; he owned a 22 rimfire rifle, a 12 gauge double barrel, and a 38-55 deer rifle. He and great aunt lived on the farm and a box of shells would last for years…

[Lance Boyle]

My great uncle was similar; he owned a 22 rimfire rifle, a 12 gauge double barrel, and a 38-55 deer rifle. He and great aunt lived on the farm and a box of shells would last for years…

My dad too. Heck he still had a box of Savage branded .30-30 ammo that he got with the used rifle. I am guessing that ammo was made in the sixties.