Found a nice old 1892 in 44-40.......

[leverman44]

Had been looking for a nice 1892 Winchester in 44-40 that I could afford and found one recently. Has wear but looks great and cycles and shoots very well with the right load.
Only 44-40 ammo I could find was HSM Cowboy and it didn't shoot that well with what looked to be key holing. Slugged the barrel and it was .430 so loaded up some 200 gr. Xtreme plated bullets with Red Dot and Unique.
The Red Dot load shot really well! Got the Winchester Letter and it shows a build date of 1895 which is very cool! Of course a companion SA revolver had to follow so found a Cimarron 44-40 in original old finish and gave it a bit more
patina to match a 128 yr. old Winchester. The revolver shoots about as well. No 44-40 brass available yet so I found 4 more boxes of HSM ammo and knocked out the slugs and powder and loaded my own.
Really enjoy shooting and just looking at a fine old Winchester with some stories to tell!

[JimT]

Both are nice. I love those old guns who have been used well. You can feel it in them.

[gamekeeper]

Congratulations on a GREAT find........

[JBowen]

Very nice pair you have there. It is always a bonus to have a nice old gun that also shoots well.

JBowen

[Walt]

Very nice! I'm envious, leverman.

[Pat C]

Rifle looks nice and 44 WCF is in high demand in an 1892.
The barrel has been cut off shorter ,probably damaged/ringed behind front sight.

Would be easy to change it to 20" short rifle ,reputable the radial hanger dovetail in proper place. Probably find the muzzle rifling in better at that location too.

[leverman44]

Yes it had been cut from standard length to 21.5 at some point and from looking at wear on the barrel it was a long time ago. I like that shorter length and whomever did the job did a good job. On how it shoots...I did not have to adjust the sights at all.

[ollogger]

Wow, that came together real nice for ya!!




ollogger

[OldWin]

Nice! The 92 is one of my favorite Winchesters. My favorite to shoot. I have a couple 44s, but the bulk of mine are in 38. The 44 always takes more fussing as to loads with smokeless. Just how it is. Groove diameters vary more in 44. Probably due to much higher production numbers as related to tooling wear.

[Sixgun]

When the bug bites, it never goes away.

Generally speaking, bullet diameter and fit is much more important than powder. Go to .431 and it’ll shoot better.

[Ysabel Kid]

[Drawdown]

Lucky find, congratulations on a fine rifle!

[leverman44]

Thanks all for the comments!

[RIHMFIRE]

awesome little shooter!

[rwt]

Nice!

A great recipe for having fun!

Enjoy!

[Pat C]

My 38WCF barrel was like this one , cut in front of hanger dovetail .Front sight dovetail and muzzle looked like it was cut by hacksaw Harry.

Couldn't deal with that so I recut mine properly with machine tools to 20" and recut the radial hanger dovetail and front sight dovetail at correct locations .Little touch up with track's rust brown regent can't tell it was ever cut.