Yea, Winchester Knew How To Make 'Em....

[Sixgun]

back in the old days. This example was made in 1893 and is 100% original except for the sights. Its a heavy round barrel and the gun weighs 10 and 1/4 pounds. I got the week off so along with a few other old leverguns, I took this baby out to the gunclub today.

After shooting several hundred rounds at steel and other objects with different guns, I decided to put this 1886 on paper. Conditions were near perfect. I used one of my homemade "Shoot 'N See" targets.

The first 8 rounds were grouping nicely, and then the wind picked up, blowing the last four to the right. I was going to shoot a 20 shot group but stopped because of the wind. I got off 12.

The first eight went into 4 and 3/4" and the last four blew it out to 8 and 1/2". Oh well, not too bad.

Caliber is 40-65 using reformed 45-70 brass. Bullet is my own, cast from an NEI 4 cavity mould using wheelweights and 4% tin. Weight--275 grains. Sized to .408. Groove diameter of the rifle is .4065. Powder---24 grains of A.A. 5744. Velocity is 1400+.

Oh! I forgot to tell you all how far away-----300 meters or 327 yards. ------Sixgun

[BenT]

WOW! That's a keeper!

[mod71alaska]

Jack,

Nice rifle...good shootin'!!!

[stretch]

Good on yer!

That's nice shootin' at 300 yards.

I use the wind exuse my self.........

(Joke, it's a joke......)

-Stretch

[kimwcook]

Nice. Well another one goes into Sixgun's black hole never to see another man's hands again. I'm envious.

[Sixgun]

Kimwcook, No..no..I've had this rifle for about 15 years and yes, yes.....its gonna follow me to the end and then.........that son of mine will hold on to it for another 30 years or until someone offers him enough money for it that will cover a trip to the islands!

That terrible wind--it does make a fine excuse. For real, the bad shots were the last four and I just "assumed" the wind.

What I did not tell you boys is that a '95 in 35 would not group inside of 6" at 100 yards! Never could find the problem--try it another day.

Then there were the 100 count 300 and 325 gr. test loads in another 86 in 45-70. Worthless. I ended up blasting them at steel, shooting as fast as I could as its easier shootin' them than it is pulling the bullets.

Oh well, life goes on -----------Sixgun

[Ysabel Kid]

Excellent!!!

[TedH]

Good shootin'!

[Nicknack]

Great Shooting !! Yes these old antiques still have exceptional accuracy. Would love a Model 86,This is what the 86's little brother the model 92 is capable of. I posted this a few months ago.

"I took my old Winchester Model 1892 to the range last weekend and the Old girl surprised me with good consistent accuracy.
I'm lucky the rifle still has a very good bore only lightly pitted just 1/8 into the crown I was going to counter bore it up to the good rifling but thought to try her out first, I think by the results I will leave it alone.
The barrel is an original -STAINLESS STEEL- Winchester postal replacement barrel (stamped with a P inside an oval and the same size as the Winchester proof stamp) apparently very rare and they were only offered for a few years. They were expensive and hard to machine for Winchester, because they couldn’t be blued, Winchester could only give them a painted "japanned" finish which was not too durable and the finish was soon worn away. My 92 in the picture has a dinged up stock all the bluing worn off to a grey patina from a life of use but not abuse, but I like her just the way she is, warts and all.
The 32 WCF is not much of a high powered killer but its fun and cheep to shoot. Back in the old days the 32-20 was very common and 9 out of 10 Model 92’s in Australia are in 32-20 with the short button magazine, and long magazines are rare here. The little model 92 is quite common in Australia and most can be picked up for around $300/350 for one in fair condition.Because they were used so much in Australia shooters would literally wear their bores out so a company here called sportco decided to make replacement barrels for them, but I have only ever seen sportco's in round barrel form, they were made from very good steel and the ones I have shot are very accurate. Sportco even converted.310 Cadet Martinis to .22LR, 22 Hornet.218 BEE and 25-20,they even converted them to a .22 Target Rifle.There were so many cheep Martinis in Australia they were bought as concrete reinforcing!,so I'm told and you can still pick up good original 310's for around $300/350.
The 32 WCF loves lead and my pet load is 110 grain FP lead bullets with 4.5grains of Australian ADI AP70,to you US shooters, the exact same powder is Hodgens Universal, as Australian Defense Industries export it to the Hodgen company. regards Dallas"

Model 92 32-20 1926 001.JPG

Model 92 32-20 1926 002.JPG

Model 92 32-20 1926 003.JPG

Model 92 32-20 1926 004.JPG

1892 1892 32-20 Target.JPG

[Old Savage]

Great old gun and wow with the 32-20.

[Griff]

[RIHMFIRE]

nice shooting guys

[Chas.]

He11, I can't even SEE 327 yards.

[Sixgun]

Nicknack,
You and I have to talk. Somehow, somehow......I gotta get your 32-20.

What I'm not, and that is a thief or a person who takes advantage of a fellow good guy. (But I'll backstab a Liberal every chance I get) I am here to tell you that your octagon stainless steel barrel is extremely rare.

In close to 40 years of playing with the old Winchesters, I have only seen ONE stainless barrels in OCTAGON form. I heard of another that Leroy Mertz had. My good friend Cimmaron Reds has the only one I have ever seen.

Yours makes #3---hold on to that and don't alter that in any way. If you ever sell it, I'm buying------------------Sixgun

[jlchucker]

Nicknack,
You and I have to talk. Somehow, somehow......I gotta get your 32-20.

What I'm not, and that is a thief or a person who takes advantage of a fellow good guy. (But I'll backstab a Liberal every chance I get) I am here to tell you that your octagon stainless steel barrel is extremely rare.

In close to 40 years of playing with the old Winchesters, I have only seen ONE stainless barrels in OCTAGON form. I heard of another that Leroy Mertz had. My good friend Cimmaron Reds has the only one I have ever seen.

Yours makes #3---hold on to that and don't alter that in any way. If you ever sell it, I'm buying------------------Sixgun

You can find stainless barrels as an option in old catalogs--I've noticed them mentioned in way-before-64 copies. But like color-hardening, I suspect that Winchester really hoped nobody would opt for that option. Way back before modern tooling and CNC machinery, stainless used to be rather challenging, to say the least, to machine in production quantities. I don't know the story behind the color-hardening though--since right up the road Marlin used to do a lot of color-hardened receivers. Maybe it was because the process involved toxic chemicals, and Winchester, although they had a big, sprawling plant in New Haven, it was not located very close to a river to dump these chemicals in, as was a common practice for sewage disposal in the olden days.

[geobru]

Nice shooting Sixgun!

Just out of curiosity, what is the trajectory like with that 40-65? I just fitted my 40-82 with a tang sight and will be doing some experimenting with the longer ranges. I'm thinking that the trajectories will be very similar.

George

[2ndovc]

Hey Jack,

What kind of bullets were you shooting in the .35WCF?


jb

[Dave]

That is very strong shooting with a high class rifle

[Sixgun]

Hey Jack,
What kind of bullets were you shooting in the .35WCF?
jb

Fellow guncranks,
Thanks big time for all of the nice remarks. It really is a blast shooting guns at long range, especially one that is 117 years old with bullets that I made from lead that used to be stuck on tires.

Jason,
The 250 gr Hornady RN. It shot great last year and I was making sure it was good for elk season next month. It shot the 250 gr. Lyman cast bullets great.

Could have been me as before I shot the '95 I pushed out several hundred rounds of 45-70 and I had a case of the jitters from the recoil. In my mind I knew the cast bullets in the 35 WCF would have no recoil but those 250 grainer jacketed at 2250 will belt you.

George, Trajectory on the 40-65? Don't know the measurement in feet but it takes about 1 turn of the vernier screw for each 25 meters, up to about 300 meters. After that, its about 5, 6 or 7 turns for each 100 meters. It was a total of 32 turns to hit the 500 meter ram But once I was on, it was like lobbing artillery rounds. You just have to experiment.

Funny thing----As I had no spotter, I had to improvise on the steel targets from 400 meters on. I loaded the gun, then shot, waited a split second for follow through, then glanced through my spotting scope and watched just as the bullet was making it's impact. Ha! I was having a one man party at the gunclub ----------------------------------Sixgun

[Nicknack]

Thanks sixgun My little 32-20 if I could sell it to you, my to young boys and my older daughter would disinherit me as they all want my model 92, and to really make you envious my friend has the same rifle that he had for 40 or so years.he bought it off one of his workers but it was a 24'' octagon -STAINLESS STEEL- short magazine (even rarer as it didn't have the magazine tube dovetail cut under the barrel)but he was young and stupid and didn't know any better and took it to a gunsmith(butcher) and got him to add a long magazine.Of course he didn't cut the dovetail in the right place or use the proper magazine ring and cut it too close to the muzzle.It doesn't look right.he regrets what he has done.He has promised it to me it also has a perfect bore.(99% of old Winchesters in Australia have less than good bores
Sixgun I have only seen about four of the -STAINLESS STEEL- barreled model 92's but I have heard about another two in OZ.
A gun shop here in Brisbane has or had a model 92 25-20 -STAINLESS STEEL-but he wanted around $5000 for it.
I don't know if you saw my posting of my Low Wall that I have acquired this year, it has a rare barrel marking.
http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewt ... =1&t=27580
I swapped a brand new 26'' original 38-55 replacement Winchester barrel short magazine the bore is pristine for two old Low walls.i don't know if i have done the right thing but old clunker low walls are rare in Australia and bring around $500 for a clapped out one
Keep in touch regards, Dallas

[Sixgun]

Nicknack,
I checked out your Lo-Wall with the 28" octagon barrel. I have it's twin --.22 L.R. shipped in 1909 with a set trigger and a 36" Stevens scope.

I understand on your '92. Somethin' 'bout those old Winchesters--once you find you have a good shooter, its a keeper -------Sixgun

When I was saying the stainless steel barrels were rare, its the octagon ones. I've seen plenty of the round barreled jobs.

[KirkD]

You've got that '86 dialed in alright. Any '86 that can shoot like that at over 300 yards must be liking that load very much. Excellent.