Winchester 92 trapper takedown (Japanese)?

[Scott Tschirhart]

These guns look really well made (in spite of the tang safety).

Has anyone played with one enough to evaluate one?

[pinefd]

I've had one (in .357 Mag.) for a couple of years, and although I don't shoot it much, I find it to be a great, high quality, little gun. Fit and finish, and especially the wood, is outstanding. I haven't tried shooting it beyond 50 yards, but it does quite well up to that distance. The takedown aspect of it is very stiff, but doable with some effort. Here it is pictured with my Winchester/Miroku 1894, chambered in 38-55, another great gun:




Frank

[horsesoldier03]

I shot a deer with the 94 Trapper with the large loop. I found the loop had too much slop for my hands for working the lever and didnt care for the 16" barrel, it threw off the sights for me and made me shoot higher than I thought my point of aim was if I recall correctly. I prefer a standard carbine, but they are definitely cool looking guns.

[Pat C]

The Japanese Winchesters are decent looking solid copies of a rare and expensive version of Winchester 1892. Nice handy design.
I'm an 1892 snob though so I don't like the tang safety , not a fan of the heavily stamped barrel markings, Some other subtle cosmetics are slightly off to the original.

I just wish as expensive they are they would be exact copies .
I would love to go to one of those shot shows and go to their booth and point out the cosmetic differences but it probably wouldn't matter.

It's a shame that Winchester is no longer made here in the United States.

[wvfarrier]

My only complaint with Miroku is the chambers. Every single one I have ever shot in a variety of different calibers had very short chambers. They build them for one specific bullet profile and length so that nothing else works. My 45 colt, 45-70 and 357 all required touch up with a finishing reamer as Winchester says they are "in spec"

[2ndovc]

I don't have a Miroku '92 but I have a 73 in .45 Colt.

It's an outstanding shooter and functions perfectly.

jb

[Scott Tschirhart]

Thanks for the responses Gentlemen!

[Pat C]

Turnbull's custom finished 1892 has bone charcoal color case .No tang safety ,special markings . Finer finished all around.
About 1k higher than Standard.

[pinefd]

Turnbull's custom finished 1892 has bone charcoal color case .No tang safety ,special markings . Finer finished all around.
About 1k higher than Standard.

Yes, beautiful guns. I have one of those in a takedown model with a 24" octagonal barrel, chambered in .357 Mag. I really need to try and take a nice photo of that gun, together with my Turnbull finished Colt SAA. I've kinda been waiting until I have a chance to hand make a one piece figured walnut grip for the SAA, but since that will likely take another year to come to fruition, I may need to take that photo sooner.


Frank

[LeverGunner]

I really like my Turnbull finished and safety converted 1892 in 44 Magnum. The takedown feature I'm not so sure about. I have a friend that asked some of the folks at Turnbull about it, and he was told it's more of a novalty and if you take it down a lot it'll quickly become loose. I've taken mine down a few times, but I don't do so on a regular basis. Honestly, I'd probably have bought a solid frame gun if it was an option, but this one was a gift.





The workmanship of the gun is very nice though, as is that of the 1886 Miroku made Winchester I have. The latter has the safety and I do not care for it. Regarding the former, I've not done much in the way of accuracy testing or load development, as I haven't had much time yet. It will not cycle the RCBS 44-250-K or the 44-240-SWC, which is a disappointment to me, especially the latter. They both cycle without issue in 44 Special brass though.

[RIHMFIRE]

I really like my Turnbull finished and safety converted 1892 in 44 Magnum. The takedown feature I'm not so sure about. I have a friend that asked some of the folks at Turnbull about it, and he was told it's more of a novalty and if you take it down a lot it'll quickly become loose. I've taken mine down a few times, but I don't do so on a regular basis. Honestly, I'd probably have bought a solid frame gun if it was an option, but this one was a gift.





The workmanship of the gun is very nice though, as is that of the 1886 Miroku made Winchester I have. The latter has the safety and I do not care for it. Regarding the former, I've not done much in the way of accuracy testing or load development, as I haven't had much time yet. It will not cycle the RCBS 44-250-K or the 44-240-SWC, which is a disappointment to me, especially the latter. They both cycle without issue in 44 Special brass though.

THAT IS AWESOME!

[Scott Tschirhart]

I really like my Turnbull finished and safety converted 1892 in 44 Magnum. The takedown feature I'm not so sure about. I have a friend that asked some of the folks at Turnbull about it, and he was told it's more of a novalty and if you take it down a lot it'll quickly become loose. I've taken mine down a few times, but I don't do so on a regular basis. Honestly, I'd probably have bought a solid frame gun if it was an option, but this one was a gift.





The workmanship of the gun is very nice though, as is that of the 1886 Miroku made Winchester I have. The latter has the safety and I do not care for it. Regarding the former, I've not done much in the way of accuracy testing or load development, as I haven't had much time yet. It will not cycle the RCBS 44-250-K or the 44-240-SWC, which is a disappointment to me, especially the latter. They both cycle without issue in 44 Special brass though.

That’s gorgeous!!

[Pat C]

The Turnbull 1892 is top tear , no tang safety better finishes ,wood etc. But at $1K higher than standard Jap Winchester.

[Rimfire McNutjob]

Somebody dug deep in the wood pile for that stock blank. Super nice.

[LeverGunner]

Thanks all. My stock is the V/VI walnut that Winchester puts on this model, but it's a bit nicer than some of the others I've seen. Sara Turnbull was gracious enough to take pictures of all the guns they had in stock so could I choose between them. It was the standard dark color that Winchester puts on these guns before Turnbull refinished it, but of course I could tell that the wood was spectacular. I really like the red stain.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Seems like it should have a saddle ring.

[Pat C]

That would be easy enough to change , you can get the "No harm" hammer screws with saddle rings on them. Or if you really want you could drill it for the staple type .

Of course short rifles never came with saddle rings unless they were special ordered.

The 1873 and 1892 used the staple ,snug fit and lightly peened inside frame.

1876,1886,1894 all used the 1/4"-30 threaded stud.

[Grizz]

My only complaint with Miroku is the chambers. Every single one I have ever shot in a variety of different calibers had very short chambers. They build them for one specific bullet profile and length so that nothing else works. My 45 colt, 45-70 and 357 all required touch up with a finishing reamer as Winchester says they are "in spec"

I ran into this with the Browning 1886 45/70. My dummy load would not chamber! Eventually I realized that it was the fired, un-resized cartridge without a primer that I used to set the die height in the press. It turns out that Miroku made an exact copy of the saami spec chamber, which was tighter than the Marlins and the H&R 1871 I was shooting. I can't remember if the issue was the rim stopping on the square edge, fixed by trimming the brass, or something else. That rifle is very fond of the old Cast Performance 460 Gr LBT WLNGC.

Makes me wonder about Winchester production, how close to the specs were all those rifle chambers?

[trooper joe]

I had the trapper style .357 take down for several years. I took it apart only once since I was afraid that spinning the magazine tube to take it down would eventually mark it up by the barrel bands.

Ny dealer friend I sold it to still has it. He says he will never take it down because of that issue.

Trooper Joe

[Scott Tschirhart]

The more I think about it the less likely I am to pick this one up. It’s beautiful, almost too much so for a man like me who shoots the heck out of his guns. Thanks guys!

I’m sticking with my 66 and 73 Winchesters.

[jkbrea]

Did you see the one in 45-70 in our classified section? Beautiful!

[chadbr]

I just got one of these in .357 off gunbroker / cdnn - very nice.

I’ll post pics when I find the time to take good ones.

Anyone have any load recommendations?

Thanks! Chad

[Grizz]

My only complaint with Miroku is the chambers. Every single one I have ever shot in a variety of different calibers had very short chambers. They build them for one specific bullet profile and length so that nothing else works. My 45 colt, 45-70 and 357 all required touch up with a finishing reamer as Winchester says they are "in spec"

I 'believe' those are SAAMI chambers, i've seen technical drawings to that effect, and if so it was a policy decision. in a way it's kind of like the Philippine made 1911s, they are built to the exact engineering drawings, almost.

plus, there are plenty of competent machinists who aren't shy about using a chamber reamer. . .

[chadbr]

I plan to start mine out with commercial loads so I assume they’ll chamber well.

But I’ve got about 1500 158grn SWC’s I plan to load after. I need to go back to tolerance school on what I should expect…

The real question is where do I find someone willing to take a reamer to a chamber? (Briley’s in Houston?)

[Rimfire McNutjob]

Get the hand driven version from Manson ... just the throating reamer and the T-handle. If you've got the takedown, it's obviously easier. Otherwise, you'll have to pull the bolt. I think it's just a few turns by hand with some cutting oil applied.

[chadbr]

Get the hand driven version from Manson ... just the throating reamer and the T-handle. If you've got the takedown, it's obviously easier. Otherwise, you'll have to pull the bolt. I think it's just a few turns by hand with some cutting oil applied.

Interesting …
https://mansonreamers.com/product/45-colt/

I’ll need to find some instructions somewhere-
And I’ll be sweating bullets on the first turn (no pun intended )

[Rimfire McNutjob]

When I checked, the 348 throating reamer was $75 and the T-handle was another $25. I might get one and use it on my Browning.

[Griff]

Quoted the wrong post

I ran into this with the Browning 1886 45/70. My dummy load would not chamber! Eventually I realized that it was the fired, un-resized cartridge without a primer that I used to set the die height in the press. It turns out that Miroku made an exact copy of the saami spec chamber, which was tighter than the Marlins and the H&R 1871 I was shooting. I can't remember if the issue was the rim stopping on the square edge, fixed by trimming the brass, or something else. That rifle is very fond of the old Cast Performance 460 Gr LBT WLNGC.
Makes me wonder about Winchester production, how close to the specs were all those rifle chambers?

What bullet is giving yotu trouble. I shoot from a 325 grain to a 405 grain cast out of my Browning 1886 without any feed issues.

I've never shot any factor ammo out of mine, purchasing a mold & a bag of new R-P cases. Then as now trimming them t0 2.1". The 325 grain FRN, feeds smoothly, ans pushed by 27.5 grains of 5744 exits the 26" bbl @ ~1545 fps; is a healthy wallop, but not painfully so. However I'm glad it didn't take more'n 10 to get sighted in!

[Rimfire McNutjob]

It shoots 200 grain Silvertips just fine. But I would like it to match my Winchesters. I've heard the LeverEvolution can be a problem. I know the Barnes data for their 250 Original has you load it pretty short as well. No hurry. Now that MBW is out of business, I'm not able to get the 235 grain LBT bullets for it.

[Slick]

I've got a pair of Miroku rifles - an 1886 takedown in .45-70 and a .44 magnum "short rifle" they call it. If Winchester made their rifles as nicely as Miroku, then I'd have a lot more of them.

The quality is beyond reproach and they function perfectly on my handloads using Oregon Trail cast bullets. Neither of them exhibit the perfection of woodgrain shown by the other rifles in this post. But I was also a young boy at the time of purchase and heavily distracted by belt-fed monsters that consumed my attention like the hottest whores of the day...

Anyways, long story short - BUY if you don't want to miss out on an era of quality firearms. Did I remember to say "BUY"?