"Attic" found 44-40 1892 advice needed

[58cal]

This antique Winchester has a dark bore but strong rifling and no pitting.
(I slugged a soft bullet and saw deep rifling-of course 6 lands and grooves)

The rifling has a light coat of rust. I am going to be shooting it,
but wanted thoughts on if accuracy would be improved by cleaning
up the rust coating.

Thanks....

58cal

[St. George]

Get a 'Big .45 Frontier Metal Cleaner' pad and good oil - it'll remove the rust and save what remains of the original exterior finish.

Then, get an oversized bore brush - at the very least get a brand-new one - and 'thoroughly' clean the bore.

After you've done that, un-wind some of that 'Big .45' pad and wrap that around your now-used bore brush, and scrub away.

That should do a credible job of cleaning your weapon in preparation for firing.

Though you'll want to fire a couple of 'fouling rounds' before zeroing- starting with a properly-cleaned bore will help your accuracy.

Scouts Out!

[Shotgun Franklin]

Is it a smokeless or black powder gun. To be truthful I don't know if early '92s were just BP or not?

[KirkD]

All Model 1892's can safely fire modern factory smokeless ammunition.

[58cal]

Black powder

[w44wcf]

58cal,

Nice find!  As Kirk indicated, all '92's are safe to shoot with smokeless powder. Winchester even made higher performance WHV (Winchester High Velocity) ammuntion intended for '92 Winchesters.  The cartridge headstamp even has '92 impressed on it.
I know you will likely be using b.p. and that's fine too.

If it were me, I would definitely clean the barrel before I fired it. I would start with a brass bore brush and solvent and there was still some visible rust, I would use some  fine steel wooll on a tight fitting patch to finish the job.  St George has a good recommendation as well.

w44wcf

[58cal]

Thanks all. ,w44wcf, it seems that 0000 steel wool is very useful do many ways!!

58cal

[St. George]

'Big .45 Frontier Metal Cleaner' is different from steel wool.

It won't scratch your existing finish - nor will it leave marks.

Steel wool will.

Good Luck!

Scouts Out!

[KirkD]

I should add that I have a repro 1896 Winchester Catalogue. In that catalogue, they list smokeless 44 WCF (44-40) cartridges. The only rifles Winchester had available at the time chambered in the 44 WCF were the '73's and the '92's. The factory loads today are loaded to original BP velocities. As far as I am aware, no company makes the High Velocity loads anymore. w44wcf can correct me on this, as he is an expert on the 44 WCF cartridge.

[Trailrider]

Given today's product liability concerns, and the existance of Henry/'66/'73 repros I doubt any commercial ammo manufacturer would take a chance on producing the .44 WHV rounds, unless they could tailor the pressure-time curves to match BP performance. They'd probably have to use lighter bullets, as well.

The original M92's in .44-40 were often converted to .44 Magnum back before the repros were produced. BUT, the gunsmiths that did that used modern steel barrels. So far as the action is concerned, the M1892 is basically a M1886 scaled down, and the '86's from 1903 until about 1930 (when they were discontinued) had nickel steel barrels, and were available in .33WCF, which was produced ONLY in smokeless loading. I am NOT saying that I would try to make a .44 Magnum out of that original '92 you found, simply because the barrel might not produce descent accuracy if loaded really hot. AND, the .44-40 brass, being thinner than .44 Magnum isn't meant to take the pressures of the maggie round.

As always, have the gun checked by a gunsmith who is knowledgable in the '92.

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

I have a couple of original 1892s, one made in 1894, the other in 1918 if I remember correctly. Frankly, I would not worry too much about a dark bore. I have lots of old guns with all sorts of old bores in all sorts of conditions. Scratched, pitted, you name it. I usually just run a few patches though the bore with a good solvent like Hoppels #9 or similar before shooting them, to clean out any loose stuff. Then, if I intend to shoot them only with Black Powder I will follow up with a patch soaked in Ballistol, then follow up with a dry patch to mop up most of the excess. Then I go off to the range.