My favorite centerfire lever action: The Model 1892

[Alpo]

My 357 is K1018xx, and I bought it sometime between '95 and 2000.

I'd sure like to know, too. I've got 5 them. One's an M prefix, one's an N, one's an NA (but it was sold by Navy Arms so that's probably why) and the other's an AM.

 

[Catshooter]

Well, I'm not usually much of a fan of small bores so the .357 doesn't excite me.

Improvements in metalurgy have permitted the .454 Casull in the 92, let alone the 44.

My pistol caliber carbines are all in 45 Colt, a much better round in my book than any other offered. Light loads like the 255 grain Keith at 1150 fps have zero recoil. Twenty two grains of #2400 under a 310 grain Keith is still nice for recoil and hits like Thor's hammer.


Cat

 

[semperfi71]

I have worked up some .45 Colt loads in my Marlin 1894 Cowboy that will move a 300 grain bullet at 1400 fps. That is approximately the old .45/60 load of a 300 grain bullet at about 1400 fps. That load killed a lot of elk and grizzly.

 

[Bassamatic]

Boy, I picked this little 92 up at a gun show back in the 70's. It's in 25-20 and shoots like a dream.

 

[WPWarhawk]

I have this Browning B92 in .44 Magnum. Bought it at a Salt Lake City gunshow a few years ago from an older gentleman who had spent many years in Alaska. He said this rifle had spent a lot of time "on duty" at his cabin in Alaska.

He also had stripped the high gloss Browning finish off the stock and had the wood checkered, whoever did it did a very nice job. If guns could talk ...

I also have a B92 in .357 magnum. I haven't played with it much yet. I bought it from a Cowboy shooter and the action has been slicked up and the sights changed, including a front sight with a fairly large ivory bead. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of it.

I also have a pair of stainless Rossi trappers, in 357 and 44 Mag. I bought the 44 from Steve Young and had him work his magic on it before shipping it to my FFL. It is as smooth as a warm knife through butter. It also has sights very much like the Patrige sights on a S&W revolver, and since most of my open sight shooting over the last 30 years has been with S&W revolvers, I like 'em.

The 44 is such a winner that I bought it's twin in .357. At the time they were scarce and I bought it locally, then shipped it to Steve for him to work his magic.

I have been surprised that the Rossi's are considerably more accurate that their Browning kin, although on my Browning 357 that may be due to the large front sight bead. This pic was taken before the 357 visited Steve Young and had the safety removed.

I have used the Rossi 44 to take a couple of Texas feral hogs. Both were dropped in their tracks with the first shot. And the little Rossi trappers aren't much heavier or harder to carry than a long barreled sixgun.

I have some 180 grain LBT cast bullets for the 357's. I plan to work up accurate loads for these and use the 357 Rossi on my next hog hunt. Something similar to the round on the right

 

[Hondo44]

Has anyone experienced the Big Horn Armory 500 Mag lever gun yet?

Built on an '86/'92 action and about 1/2 way in between in size.

Big Horn Armory Model 89 Lever-Action 500 S&W Magnum Carbine

 

[aphelion]

This is one of my favorite rifles, and one the rest of the family enjoys shooting. It is in 25-20, originally put together in 1922. It is a great cast bullet rifle.

 

[calmex]

I am going to buy myself an original Winchester 92 in .38-40 for fun and excitement. I would like to know if there is a specific serial number after which the guns were made with a higher steel content in the receivers? I have looked around for this information without much success and if somebody actually knows this information it would be a big help. There's two old '92's right here locally and the serial numbers are not far apart but both of them are under 200,000. I think the one in nice shape is an 1899 manufacture and the one that's rather degraded is a 1900 manufacture.

I have a nice condition .38-40 carbine barrel for my restoration I just want to buy the receiver that's steel if I can. Maybe I need to look further? I don't know when they switched from iron to steel.

I don't know much about them at all, but will learn as this goes along. Thanks!

 

[greenmachine]

Thank you calmex for resurrecting this thread. I'm also interested in your serial number/steel content question. My 1892 .44-40 SRC is serial numbered 998xxx from 1929, not that I'm about to 'hot-rod' this nice old gun but really I would like to know.

 

[calmex]

Thank you calmex for resurrecting this thread. I'm also interested in your serial number/steel content question. My 1892 .44-40 SRC is serial numbered 998xxx from 1929, not that I'm about to 'hot-rod' this nice old gun but really I would like to know.

I know as much about the 1892 Winchesters as your favorite actor's key grip, but I believe I read somewhere (before I actually became interested in buying one) that after 1902 they were steel. I repeat; I believe I read that. I'm not saying this is correct.

However, when I stumbled upon 2 different 1892 rifles in .38-40 very close to home within the same week, I suddenly became fanatically interested in finding out if there's a "magic serial number" I need to look for. I think a 1929 model should be as steel as steel gets.

But remember, you could get an opinion on the Model 1892 Winchester rifle as qualified as my own by watching back-episodes of Marcus Welbey M.D., so don't go with my opinion as the "final opinion" on the matter.

 

[BAM-BAM]

Had a Rossi 20 inch .357 in the 80s which I traded for a Winchester Trapper in .357 in the 90s. Had the stupid cross-bolt safety.... removed and a plug made..........

my dumb question.... is the Winchester Trapper built on a 92 (pistol caliber) or 94 (30-30) action?

 

[Mule Packer]

I, too, love the model 92. I have two made by Rossi, both in .45 Colt. One is blued, with a 24-inch octagon barrel, smoothed up by Steve Young. The other is a bead-blasted, stainless, with a 16-inch barrel, also with a Steve Young action job. The 16-incher is my main truck gun.

Fits nice in a scabbard, too, when I want to pack it on my saddle or in the Rhino.

 

[BearBio]

A couple of 38-40's, both from Oklahoma (Indian Territory)

 

[Alpo]

Had a Rossi 20 inch .357 in the 80s which I traded for a Winchester Trapper in .357 in the 90s. Had the stupid cross-bolt safety.... removed and a plug made..........

my dumb question.... is the Winchester Trapper built on a 92 (pistol caliber) or 94 (30-30) action?

Since "trapper" just means it's a 16" barrel, you could have either a 94 Trapper or a 92 Trapper.

Open your lever all the way. If there is a kinda rectangular block attached to the lever, like in the top and bottom guns, it's a 92. If half the innards fall out, like the middle gun, it's a 94.

 

[BAM-BAM]

Since "trapper" just means it's a 16" barrel, you could have either a 94 Trapper or a 92 Trapper.

Open your lever all the way. If there is a kinda rectangular block attached to the lever, like in the top and bottom guns, it's a 92. If half the innards fall out, like the middle gun, it's a 94.

Thanks.........

 

[153]

This is a pretty old thread, but what the heck ...

I purchased the Browning '92 when it came out. My OCD was worse back in the 1980's. I refinished the gold trigger, restocked the carbine in real walnut and shortened the barrel to 16". I also added a saddle ring and a genuine custom large loop lever. The hard part was getting steel barrel bands on the little gun.

Sure does kick with magnums, but I used to shoot light loads for more fun. Finally felt a bit silly about the large loop lever so I have since replaced it with a standard one.