Winchester 1892 .44

[peter302]

Hello, new member here. Am thinking of getting into Gallery Rifle shooting, interested in using Winchester 1892 either rifle or carbine in .44 calibre. Where do you start looking for a dealer that holds stock of this firearm. Want to see a selection of lever actions if possible, to compare.

[dromia]

Hi Peter welcome to Full-Bore UK!

I've moved your post to a more appropriate forum.

Why not introduce yourself in the New Members forum?

[Mike357]

If you want to compete and be competitive then do your research. The Winchester has issues such as feed problems, scope mounting etc that mean that it isn't the first choice for competition shooters.

If you are sure you never want to use a scope then a Winchester or Rossi will serve you well, especially once tuned. If you want to use a scope or be competitive then but a Marlin.

All are tricky to track down.

[FredB]

The Marlin is the way to go if you want to be competitive in Gallery Rifle. I happen to have an original Winchester mad in 1902 and to have owned a Rossi. If you are a 'scope man, forget it. Don't know where the feeding problem comment came from---you can load mine up with empty cases and it will feed them!
Fred

[mag41uk]

You might struggle to find an actual Winchester 92 in 44.
Browning made some but I have never seen one. Supposed to a very nice action.
As said very difficult to beat a Marlin. I had a Winchester 94 Trails End in 44 and it was a nice rifle.
I ended up trading it for a Marlin.
The problem will be finding one.
Tony

[saddler]

Have seen model 92s for sale in .44 & .45
Never handled one, but would love one in .45: already have a Winchester 94 Trapper .45.

NO IDEA where all the muppetry about scope mounting problems comes from!
The early non angle eject models did have some issues around scopes...but that design was replaced by the Angle Eject format some decades ago.
The Angle Eject models accept a standard scope base or (in my case) one of the XS Scout scope mounts: VERY fast to use plus ideal if you want to use non traditional sights such as red dots.


Chances are the newer manufactured Model 92s will be better suited to scopes...if not then a scout rail bracket could be very easily modified to fit or a section of picatinny rail similarly fitted.

[FredB]

You need to sort out wether you mean Winchester 92 or 94. Originals of these---proper Winchester----will not work with a scope over the ejection port.
The later angle eject type was only developed for the '94. There are various '92 clones with crappy Miroku actions, but I have never seen one with the angle eject feature. The Rossi is a true copy of the '92 except for having coil springs---no angle eject. There are Spanish and Italian copies---again, no angle eject. I serve as a club armoury and I am frequently asked to make replacement parts for '94 angle eject "Winchesters" with japanese actions. Steel selection and heat treatment seem to be the causes of the problems, rather than design.
Nobody has mentioned that the '92 is not easy to strip---Marlins are.
Go marlin, buy second hand and get one made before Remington took over and the quality suffered.
Fred

[nfrancis]

You don't actually need a scope to be competitive in most Gallery Rifle competitions. The is a 'classic' division or class in a lot of Open Comps which means essentially iron sights only. You will probably need to acquire a decent set of aperture sights but I have seen people hold their own with standard 'open' buckhorn sights.

Having said this a practiced iron sighted shooter can quite reasonably hold their own against even X class scoped shooters for the 25m events. Check out some of the scores on Galleryrifle.com for the short events such as T&P1, M-T and the precision matches. Compare 'Standard' and 'Classic' scores.

Scopeless the average gallery rifle will be lighter, easier to handle and sight acquisition is much quicker.

[peter302]

Which dealer in UK supplies new Winchester lever actions, having difficulty finding one dealer that supplies them to have a look and compare to other lever actions.