New Browning 92 in 357

[Ryushin]

My first post is coinciding with purchasing my first center fire lever. I spent a lot of time researching on which 1892 clone or original that I wanted, I found out that most of the community agreed that Browning's 1892 had the tightest tolerances and was the 1892 to have. So then it came down to caliber. I was wanting either a 357 or 44 Mag. After looking at reloading bullet costs, I decided on 357.

Then came the harsh reality of even finding a Browning 92 in 357. Much less a NIB 92 which is what I was wanting. Lots of 44's around. Very few 357s..... Umm... Pretty much none. After spending sometime waiting and searching, I found brand new inbox B-92 in 357 Mag, made in 1982 on Gunbroker with a buy it now for $2099. Auction came and went with no winner as no one had hit the reserve. So more searching. I checked every auction site I could find along with checking Cabela's library online. Still nothing. Another week went by, and that same 92 came up again on Gunbroker with no buy it now option. 12 days until that auction ended. So I kept looking and finding nothing (No 357 Brownings in general, much less NIB). Day by day creeps by on the Gunbroker auction. I wait until the last 15 minutes to start placing my bid..... errrrr bids. I still did not reach the reserve. Auction ends. Disappointed. Even then, I ended up bidding more then I wanted. My wife was sitting next to me the whole time during the bidding and it was too much for her as well.

The next day my wife and I talked it over. If I went to Cabela's and found that B92 in the Library, what would I pay. So I messaged the seller and we eventually came to an agreement and he sold me the rifle. 12 days later, I have the rifle. Wife says its the nicest gun I've ever bought. So that means she will shoot it. I'm hoping she does not say it's "hers" from that point on.

So I shoulder the rifle, and something is wrong. Hmmm.... I shoulder my other Browning Lever, a BL-22, and find the same problem. I try my Winchester 9422M, still the same problem. I can't focus the rear sight any longer. Bloody getting old. Stupid presbyopia. My wife's son is less then sympathetic. He said now maybe he would finally be able to out shoot me. I think it might be time for a shooter mod. Time to start looking to find out if I can get the the PresVIEW Scleral Implants surgery done yet.

So now that my eyes are broken, time to look at an aperture site. Pickings are kinda limited for the 92. I'm not one for tang sights as my hand goes there. I like Big Horn Armory's sight. Anyone know what brand it is? Though, I'm not thrilled in the slightest about drilling a brand new B-92 Lever. So maybe I will look at that Marbles 1892 Tang Sight that I think will only use the single screw.

Hmmm.... 1892 made in 1982. Lucky number I guess.
Pics. Well, I have not taken any pics yet. I guess I can give the [url=http://www.gunbroker.com/item/602434379]Gunbroker[/urll] link.

Took a few tries to become a member here. Had to read the fine print to finally get approved.

Reading the forums, the community here looks like my kind of people. Glad to be here.

[Grizz]

welcome to you and your new gun. it's a humdinger, and you will marvel at it every shot...

there are eye-fixers around, I am going to check out that option. although the idea of a laser carving up my eyeball isn't encouraging.

well done on the patience to get the right one right now. it is a shooters dream. have fun, it's a good start.

[soon 2 retire]

Ryushin, welcome aboard. Turnbull Restoration makes a plate that replaces the front sight (no drilling required) on a Winchester 1892 which is machined to accept a small Burris Fastfire red dot sight. It may help you hit the mark. It is not estheticly pleasing but is removable and leaves no drilled holes. You would have to check with them to see if it will work on a B92.

Bob in Friday Harbor, WA

[ollogger]

Hi & Welcome!
sounds like it turned out well for you on a fine gun!



ollogger

[JerryB]

Welcome to a really great levergun lovin' bunch. Lots of great gun know how here too.
I have a bunch of levers, but I sure do like my old 1892 Winchester 32wcf rifle and my Rossi 92 SRC .357 carbine.

[earlmck]

Welcome to the stump, Ryushin. I've got a couple of the Browning 92's and also some danged old eyes that can't see open sights. I put the Marbles Bullseye sight on 'em and that seems to work out OK (it is a kinda' peep that installs in the rear sight dovetail). But I don't think some holes to mount a receiver sight would be considered anything but a worthy addition on such a weapon, if you would prefer that style.

[OldWin]

Welcome from Maine. The 92 is my favorite Winchester to shoot and the .357 is way more fun from a rifle than a handgun.
The Turnbull Fastfire mount and the Pearson mount are probably your best no-drill options.

[Griff]

and Welcome to THE Forum.

BTW, tang sights are great. The small discomfort of wrapping your thumb around the sight will be far outstripped by the improved sight picture. Some folks just lay their thumb along side the tang. It doesn't require a death grip on the wrist to control the .357. Good luck with the docs.

[GunnyMack]

Welcome! You will enjoy the forum.

I hate to say this, on the Classified page a member has a pair of B92's for sale. One of which is a 357.

Curious to see some range reports on you new gun!

[Ryushin]

welcome to you and your new gun. it's a humdinger, and you will marvel at it every shot...
there are eye-fixers around, I am going to check out that option. although the idea of a laser carving up my eyeball isn't encouraging.
well done on the patience to get the right one right now. it is a shooters dream. have fun, it's a good start.

I'm already marveling at it. Hard to not find an excuse to go take it out of the box and look at some detail that "I forgot."
The PresVIEW Scleral Implants uses four implants the size of a grain of rice that goes into the whites of your eyes. It lifts the muscles to allow them to focus again close up. No messing with your cornea or lens. 100% reversible.

Ryushin, welcome aboard. Turnbull Restoration makes a plate that replaces the front sight (no drilling required) on a Winchester 1892 which is machined to accept a small Burris Fastfire red dot sight. It may help you hit the mark. It is not estheticly pleasing but is removable and leaves no drilled holes.

That would be interesting. I don't know of I want to ruin the lines of the lever yet. I like the traditional look for sure. Still, something to think about.

I've got a couple of the Browning 92's and also some danged old eyes that can't see open sights. I put the Marbles Bullseye sight on 'em and that seems to work out OK (it is a kinda' peep that installs in the rear sight dovetail). But I don't think some holes to mount a receiver sight would be considered anything but a worthy addition on such a weapon, if you would prefer that style.

From what I understand, the Bullseye sight will not behave like an aperture sight with the way your eye focuses because it so far away. The day may come that I drill the receiver. Just cannot bring myself to do it yet.

BTW, tang sights are great. The small discomfort of wrapping your thumb around the sight will be far outstripped by the improved sight picture. Some folks just lay their thumb along side the tang. It doesn't require a death grip on the wrist to control the .357.

I may be trying the tang sight first as it seems to be a no drill option.

I hate to say this, on the Classified page a member has a pair of B92's for sale. One of which is a 357.
Curious to see some range reports on you new gun!

Now you tell me. That 357 has a bit more wear then what I would like. Seems the B92 357s are a premium no matter what. You want to see range reports? You and me both.


Thank you everyone for your welcomes and well wishes. My eyes have not gone to total stuff yet. I'm "only" 47. But I only have worsening eyes to look forward to.

Anyone ever seen that Big Horn Armory sight? I find it almost ideal in it's design. Maybe I'll give them a call.

Well, I have my new 357 Starline brass, one pound of Lil'Gun and bunch of Longshot powder, CCI400 primers. Now I'm just waiting for Xtreme to ship out my 158gr RNFP bullets. I ordered them November 28th and they still have not shipped yet.

The Lil'Gun is going to be for the long range cowboy loads at the Ben Lomond club in Colorado. Going to hit that cow bell at 220 yards in the six inch hole of a life size desperado and I'm going to lob them into the life size buffalo at 500 yards. Hoping to find an accuracy node above 1900fps. Cannot find any BCs for the Xtreme bullets. The Hornady 158gr XTP has a BC of .206 which gives me a nice BC Chart to 500 yards. Once I work up a load, I'll see if I can figure out the BC of the Xtreme bullet.

The Longshot loads should still move pretty quick and be good for plinking at shorter ranges. Should see 1400-1500fps from that powder and I have about 15 pounds of that. I'll use standard small pistols primers with Longshot.

I have not slugged the barrel yet. But a really nice surprise was to find out the B92 357 has ballard rifling compared to the microgroove on the .44. So slugging it may not be needed. I'll see how the .357" plated Xtreme bullets do.

Glad I'm here. Afraid I have caught a case of levergun'itus. I hope there is no cure.

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

welcome to you ..................
Anyone ever seen that Big Horn Armory sight? I find it almost ideal in it's design. Maybe I'll give them a call.

Well, ..........................................

It appears to be a modified WILLIAMS GUN SIGHT - "WGRS" RECEIVER SIGHT With the bottom contoured to fit the bolt top.

[Les Staley]

The Bighorn sight is a Marble Arms. They have their logo on the side of the sight base. I'll take a picture later and post it. Too busy plowing snow this morning, but will need a real break a little later.

And Ryushin, welcome to the insanity!

[Pete44ru]

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Welcome to the forum, AND congrats on your new B-92 (of which I've had a few).

A few points, regarding all the previous posts:

1) The Turnbull/Burris FastFire mount lets the red-dot/reflex sight (which needs no front sight) get installed onto the rear end of the left receiver sidewall (like a receiver peepsight) - which means the Browning receiver (unlike the factory-prepped "Winchester" receiver) will need to be D&T'd for the Turnbull base.

2) The Big Horn Armory/WGRS/Marble's/whatever bolt-mounted peepsight will also require D/T the bolt to to mount it.

3) A tang peepsight is designed to be secured to the tang by the use of a longer rear tang screw (which holds the buttstock onto the receiver) AND a 2nd/small screw about halfway between the tang screw & the hammer - BUT FWIW, I mounted a Marble's tang sight (screw adjustable for W/E) on a .45-70 Winchester Model 86EL (ExtraLight) via just using the single tang screw.

That single-screw tang sight work well for me during 5 years of hunting with it, because of two things:

A) I physically snugged up the tang screw EVERY time I took the rifle out hunting, in case to had loosened (it never did).

B) The top of the rear tang profile is slightly convex; the underside of the tang sight base is slightly concave - ergo, those faces interlocked when the tang screw held the sight base tight to the tang, preventing any sideways movement.

In any event, If you install any type of peepsight, it would behoove you to remove the rear barrel open/iron sight for a clean sight picture, and replace it with a dovetail slot filler blank (bought, or filed up from the male dovetail section of an old longleaf rear barrel sight).

Someone might suggest a Skinner or Marbles "peep" sight which replaces the rear barrel open sight, but I feel that the mid-barrel positioning drastically reduces the most effective use of a peep sight for fast shots - which needs the peepsight's aperture to be as close to the shooter's eye as possible (far enough away to avoid an eye injury during recoil).


Good luck with it, regardless of your choice - an also for your pending surgery.


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[Blaine]

My eyes are getting worn out, too. I've found two easy solutions that work amazingly. A Ghost Ring w/a HiViz, or FireSight is just like a red dot sight. Just look thru the ring, you don't have to focus on it as your eye will automatically find the exact center, and put the bright front on the target. Or, you can just skip to a Red Dot Scope. Bushnell makes affordable red dots that work just fine. All the red dot sights are priced from about 60$ to "OMGosh I ain't payin' that much!"
Some like a regular scope, but I don't care for them all that much.

[Ryushin]

The Bighorn sight is a Marble Arms. They have their logo on the side of the sight base. I'll take a picture later and post it. Too busy plowing snow this morning, but will need a real break a little later.

And Ryushin, welcome to the insanity!

Wife already thinks I'm insane. Marble Arms it is. Very nice. I actually think that would keep the lines of the rifle looking correct. So I may consider drilling the bolt for that.


Pete44ru: Isn't this Marble's Tang Peep Sight Browning 1892 a single screw? I will have to put in a sight blank when I remove the buckhorn.

My eyes are getting worn out, too. I've found two easy solutions that work amazingly. A Ghost Ring w/a HiViz, or FireSight is just like a red dot sight. Just look thru the ring, you don't have to focus on it as your eye will automatically find the exact center, and put the bright front on the target.

Yea, ghost ring / aperture sight is what I think would best for me.


So yea, about the surgery. Its something I've been looking at for the last couple of years as soon as my eyes started changing. I think the FDA is still putting it through its paces so it's not generally available yet unless I want to fly to Europe, which I'm not planning on. So it make take another couple of years until it's approved.

So until then, the longer sight radius of a good aperture sight seems to be the best of both worlds.

My next project, and the reason I bought a brand new B-92, is I'm hoping to clone it. I think there is a market for a .327 Fed and perhaps even a .357 Maximum. We'll see what the future brings.

[soon 2 retire]

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Welcome to the forum, AND congrats on your new B-92 (of which I've had a few).

A few points, regarding all the previous posts:

1) The Turnbull/Burris FastFire mount lets the red-dot/reflex sight (which needs no front sight) get installed onto the rear end of the left receiver sidewall (like a receiver peepsight) - which means the Browning receiver (unlike the factory-prepped "Winchester" receiver) will need to be D&T'd for the Turnbull base.
.

Pete, the Turnbull adapter plate I mentioned is a new offering by Turnbull as far as I know. It is a barrel mount and is for the 1894 and the 1892. It requires no drilling and tapping. The Turnbull website shows 3 plates; 2 are receiver mount and 1 is a barrel mount. I do not know if it fits the Browning dovetail though.

Bob in Friday Harbor, WA

[Shasta]

Welcome Ryushin! You have found the best lever action rifle forum on the internet.

The Browning 92 is in my opinion the very best 1892 Winchester carbine reproduction there is out there. They are hard to find because they are so good that owners tend to hang on to them.

As for your rear sight problem you would do well to switch to either a tang sight or a receiver sight, depending on how you will use the carbine. If it is to be a hunting gun where elevation adjustments are unlikely, a receiver sight is less fragile and easier to use than a tang sight. But if it will be primarily a target gun, the tang sight provides a longer sight radius and more precise elevation adjustment.
I am an avid lever action rifle silhouette shooter who just turned 66 years old. My eyes stopped seeing barrel mounted rear sights clearly over 20 years ago, so now nearly all my leverguns wear a Marble's tang sight. I simply put my thumb either behind the sight or along side it, depending on the amount of recoil. Yep, I really like the Marble's sight:




Shasta

[Pete44ru]

Pete, the Turnbull adapter plate I mentioned is a new offering by Turnbull as far as I know.

It is a barrel mount and is for the 1894 and the 1892. It requires no drilling and tapping.

The Turnbull website shows 3 plates; 2 are receiver mount and 1 is a barrel mount.

I do not know if it fits the Browning dovetail though.

Thank you for the education, Bob ! .

IME, Browning dovetails are the standard 3/8" size, but they're usually cut so deep that if a sight base has lips that rest atop the barrel ahead & behind the sight base, they will have to be filed off before whatever can be slid into the female barrel dovetail.


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[soon 2 retire]

Pete, the Turnbull adapter plate I mentioned is a new offering by Turnbull as far as I know.

It is a barrel mount and is for the 1894 and the 1892. It requires no drilling and tapping.

The Turnbull website shows 3 plates; 2 are receiver mount and 1 is a barrel mount.

I do not know if it fits the Browning dovetail though.

Thank you for the education, Bob ! .

IME, Browning dovetails are the standard 3/8" size, but they're usually cut so deep that if a sight base has lips that rest atop the barrel ahead & behind the sight base, they will have to be filed off before whatever can be slid into the female barrel dovetail.


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It looks like the plate is milled on the bottom to match the round barrel (they will not work on a octagonal barrel). I don't know about lips. Here is the link:

http://www.turnbullmfg.com/product/fast ... 8941892-2/



Bob in Friday Harbor, WA

[Warhawk]

How about the Skinner barrel mounted sight?

http://www.skinnersights.com/henry_rifles_18.html

[Pete44ru]

Wife already thinks I'm insane. Marble Arms it is. Very nice. I actually think that would keep the lines of the rifle looking correct. So I may consider drilling the bolt for that.


Pete44ru: Isn't this Marble's Tang Peep Sight Browning 1892 a single screw?

No, that Marble's tang sight is still a 2-screw mount ( like all Marble's tang sights, with the screws sold separately - see the ad to the right in your link), but with a short base made expressly to avoid covering the tang safety on newer Winchester/Miroku Model 92's

If you decide to go with a top-mounted or bolt-mounted receiver sight, due to their much higher line-of-sight, a new front sight blade much taller (.10") will be required to zero the rifle.

BTW: any rifle with a tang peepsight installed can be set up with dual zeroes via the simple expedient of switching out the rear barrel open sight for a folding rear bbl sight.

When that's done, the barrel sights can be zeroed for relatively short range (say, 35yds-50yds) shots on game suddenly presented, and the tang sight for longer range (say, 100-125yds) deliberate shots on game seen further away.

With a little practice, it's simple to hunt with the rear barrel sight "up" and the tanger "down" for jump shots; then simultaneously fold the barrel sight & raise the tanger if/when game is spotted further away.

It looks like the plate is milled on the bottom to match the round barrel (they will not work on a octagonal barrel). I don't know about lips. Here is the link:

http://www.turnbullmfg.com/product/fast ... 8941892-2/

Thanks for the link, Bob !

IME, that type of sight is usually mounted via a small male dovetail adaptor that fits into the bottom of the barrel female dovetail, well below the top of the barrel.
The adaptor is D/T'd in it's center to accept the screw that secures the sight base to the barrel.

When the mounting screw is tightened, it pulls the adaptor upwards to make a tight interference fit with the tapered front/rear inside surfaces of the barrel dovetail, at the same time it pulls the sight base downward tightly against the barrel top.

Although Turnbull says it fits only round barrel, it might fit an octagonal bbl if the bottom's filed flat, or mayhaps Turnbull can supply a flat-base upon special request.

FWIW, having long used reflex red dot sights like the Fastfire, I can tell you that one mounted at the rear barrel sight location is IMO awkward-looking at best.



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[rwt]

I just got my B92 back from having a Wiliams FP sight installed.

Looking forward to taking it to a local indoor range soon and seeing how they help my old eyes.

[JerryB]

My 78 year old eyes was hitting good at the 100 yard targets the other day. My Rossi 92 SRC .357 has a William's 5D on it, it sure does help the sight picture.

[Nath]

I use to shoot my 357 over long distances for fun. I found 180grn copper washed types held on over distance great. To be honest I preferred 357 for distance shooting to 30wcf!

My powders of choice were h4227 and 2400. I could not get h110 to dial in. Win94 legacy!

N.