Winchester 1892 - an old one.

[Tycer]

Nancy went out of town this weekend and stopped by a friend of hers on the way home. During the conversation her friend asked if Nancy would bring an old rifle here for me to sell for them.

It's a Win 1892 circa 1906 in 32 WCF.
It's pretty. Decent bore too. Plenty of good rifling and not too many pits. It should be a good shooter.

So I called Nancy's friend and found out it's not a family heirloom, that it was gifted to them by her stepfather. I asked if they had an idea of what it was worth and what they wanted for it. They said a while back they had been quoted $400-450, but they figured it was worth less in todays market. I told them that I had looked on GB, and that only one had sold recently and that was for $800 and that some auctions had bid higher but not met the reserve. I also told them that I was in love with it. So everybody's happy at $450. I'm trying to feel bad, but everbody happy.

I've never owned a 100+ year old gun.
So how far do I take it down for cleaning, what do I NOT DO? Do I remove the furniture and mag tube to inspect and clean?
I normally take all new to me guns down pretty far and scrub and re-oil. I've had my Rossi down.


Click here for a slideshow: http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a88/th ... =slideshow

[Chuck 100 yd]

Once in a while we luck into a deal!!

[TedH]

Oh Tycer you lucky dog! I would feel bad if I were you, but I would get over it pretty quickly.

[2ndovc]

I'd leave her just as she is.

I love '92s and the .32-20! She'll be a keeper for sure!


jb

[AndyM]

I have the same rifle, except it is a 1903 - I am sure you'll love it. Those 92's and 32 wcf are great shooting combo's.

Heck of deal on it...

[GEOFF]

You are a fortunate man!! I've got a 1908 vintage 1892 in .25-20. The bore was kinda rough and I've never fired lead bullets because of that. I've shot 100's of rounds of jacketed bullets down her and she seems to have smoothed up over time. Won more silhouette matches with this rifle than any other and shot it's share of ground hogs.

I'd just leave her as is, oil it up, and shoot the heck out of her for the first while with jacketed bullets.

I have a TON of respect for the quality of firearms during this time period of say late 1890's to WW1. You have got one fine piece there!!!

Geoff

p.s. I sure learned a lesson with my first 92 Winchester. I was looking down at the action when I cycled it and the empty brass hit me right in the eye!!!! Sounds kinda stupid doesn't it?? But I'd never had brass come up at me with that kind of force before!!!

[Ysabel Kid]

We need a "lucky dog" smiley!!!

Congrats Tycer!!!

[20cows]

Wow!

[rjohns94]

How will you address the dents in the mag tube, do they affect the functioning of the rifle? How does one fix those? Looks like it will make a dandy rifle indeed. Best of luck with it.

[JerryB]

Tycer, You have one of the finest Winchesters ever made and in the perfect round, 32WCF. I have a 1917 rifle with the 24 inch round barrel, it will quickly become your favorite go everywhere rifle. As for addressing the mag tube dents I would just forget it you ain't gonna mail it any place are you.Just try some rounds and see if the rims hang up.

[claybob86]

Heck of a deal, Tycer! Try a little harder to feel bad. At that price, I'd of snapped it up without even looking at the bore! Congratulations!

[Griff]

So how far do I take it down for cleaning, what do I NOT DO?

Load it up and shoot it! Don't let it be a safe queen!

[gamekeeper]

Oh Tycer you lucky dog! I would feel bad if I were you, but I would get over it pretty quickly.

+ 1

[Tycer]

I'm gonna ask this part again for the weekday crowd.

I've never owned a 100+ year old gun.
So how far do I take it down for cleaning, what do I NOT DO? Do I remove the furniture and mag tube to inspect and clean?
I normally take all new to me guns down pretty far and scrub and re-oil. I've had my Rossi down.

[Borregos]

If it fuctions well and there is no sign of crud in it I would leave it and just shoot it as much as I could

[cshold]

A very nice rifle indeed.

Really liked the last picture in the slideshow.
Done in the YK format

[Hobie]

Nice! Since you have experience, take her down.

[RIHMFIRE]

You lucky so and so.....
really nice...

[Grizz]

Tycer

Going from my ancient history....

Take the furniture off, it lets you get into the works area and lets you check out the mag tube. Remove the tube. Watch out for the spring turning the tube plug into a bullet.

I believe the next part is to drop the breech blocks. There is a retainer to remove, and then a pin pushes out with finger pressure, and the blocks come out. Suggest putting the little bits back where they come from while those things are on the table.

Next, (I think), there is a retainer for the lever under a screw on the right side of the receiver. Removing the pin that's underneath allows the lever to drop free.

I can't remember if you have to drop the trigger group or the hammer, but I (think) you can remove the bolt at that point. That would be the field strip for accessing the bore from the breech end.

The hammer comes out after removing its axle, and (I believe) the trigger group slides back after removing the cross bolt just forward of the hammer pin.

All from rusty memory. Somewhere in there you remove the feed gate and after the big stuff comes out you take the guide rails out. It's good to remove that stuff once every hundred years because if it's not a safe queen there will be a considerable amount of dust, oil, residue, pine needles, dead insects, and tobacco amalgamated inside.

Sorry for the imprecise and possibly erroneous clues,

Grizz

PS: I love that gun !! Glad you got it !

[Modoc ED]

Neat rifle Tycer. I gave you some links in your other threads.

[BobBill]

Between you and Grizz, you seem to have it in hand. Might steam for dents (use steam iron) unless wood grain has been severed...clean like any good rifle and shoot it...fore ends can be found very reasonable, if too damaged.

Lucky boyo!

[marlinman93]

Tycer,
No reason not to disassemble it and clean the crud out if it's in need of that. I don't use steel wool unless a gun is pretty bad, and then there's not much to hurt. I use Flitz metal polish rubbed in with my fingers on blued parts, but never on case colored parts. Then I wipe it off with a soft cloth and oil it. I wipe my gun's metal and wood with Old West Snake Oil, which really brings out the finish on both. Internally I clean everything with Hoppes #9, and have for years!-Vall
http://www.oldwestsnakeoil.com/