Min. lengrh of 38spl to work in Win/Miroku 92

[Saltcreek]

Anyone know the minimum OAL of a 38 Special to get it to reliably feed in a 357 Mag Winchester/Miroku 1892?

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

This comes up often.
OK, The thing to keep in mind is these modern straight wall pistol caliber ammo leverguns (all, not just the 92’s) are a lot like semi-auto handguns. There’s just some ammo they aren’t going to work well with.
All leveraction, pump action and semi-auto guns (long guns or handguns) are ammo length and bullet shape sensitive. Some more than other. For example, you don't think about it much if you are dealing with a rifle cal. like 3006, 308 or 223 and even 30-30. Those are bottleneck calibers. Bottlenecks always feed better than straightwall ammo, whether it is a rifle cal or a pistol cal. That's because you have a small diameter bullet going into a really big hole by comparison, the bottleneck chamber being much like a funnel.
The original Winchester 92's were designed to work with bottleneck ammo in the 1.5" to 1.6" OAL with round nose flat point bullets. Ammo like 44-40, 38-40, 32-20 and 25-20.
What that means is they may not work well with really long 357’s. (They tend to hit the top inside of the chamber before they make the turn into the chamber) or really short 38’s.
The most common problem with the shorter 38's is the gun will throw out, flip or stovepipe live rounds with the empty's. This is because the shorter 38 coming on to the carrier from the tube can bounce forward enough that the rim is too close to the rim slots in the guides and when you lever it fast the carrier just catapults them up or out with the empty. (One of the things Rossi did years ago was redesign the cart guides by changing the angle of the rim slots so the back end comes up sooner. So they tend to be less ammo sensitive than other pistol cal 92 leverguns)
Also, bullet shapes can make a difference. Bullets other than the round nosed flat point profile they were designed for can cause issues. The truncated cone or TC style bullets will work but can end up too long for some guns. As for SWC, the cutter bands tend to hang going in the chamber.

For 38’s, this is what I have found to cycle best. A 158gr elongated round nose flat point seated above the crimp groove and just crimped into the side of the bullet just above the lube groove. This allows them to be loaded to a 1.5” OAL. You can do the same with the 44 spec. too.



For years there were commercial reloaders that offered CAS ammo, offered 1 1/5" long loaded Cowboy leveraction 38's.
I directed my rifle customer to "T" ammo for his 1.5" cowboy 38's. But, Roy retired so I was recommending Ammo Direct.
Well, they are out of business at least temporarily. (had a fire I believe)
Here is the new source.

Contact
CUSTOM AMMO & RELOADING SERVICES,LLC
817-326-3855
Email; landjb7@charter.net

Larry Benningfield
3110 Marble Court
Granbury, Tx 76049.

they sell this ammo and will also reload your brass.

[Saltcreek]

Thanks Steve. The OAL you gave me and bullet info are just what I needed. Thanks for the sources, they will help others. I have cast and loaded since 1973 for many calibers so I can load mine thankfully. Don't have the same problem with the Win/Miroku 1873 357 but it feeds differently than the 1892. Well, off to the loading bench.