How hard to find?

[Capt. John Fitzgerald]

Can't help but to notice that several posts refer to the Rossi '92 reproduction.  Are original '92 Winchesters that hard to find or are they just too expensive for cowboy action shooting?

[Tuolumne Lawman]

A Rossi will run half or less of an original.  Many originals were Stembridge or other prop rental guns, and have cr@ppy bores from them shooting 5 in 1 blanks and not cleaning.  Nice ones go for $1200 or more around here.  I got my used Rossi 44-40 for $400.

[treebeard]

Original Winchester 1892's are plentiful and can be found in abundance on the internet and any decent size gun show. They tend to be expensive compared to the Rossi's which have improved their quality in recent years. One inexpensive fix for those Winchesters with corroded bores is to rebore where the actions allow. For instance a 38-40 can be rebore to 44-40 with no action needed.  I' ve done it and it may be my most accurate lever action. The smaller frame 1892's  in 25-20 would probably be able to go up to 32-20 without action work.
Of course relining a bad bore is an option but does run the cost up. Over the years I have seen a number of 25-20 Winchesters with truly horrible bores but if you get a good one they are a lot of fun and dirt cheap to reload.
In no way am I putting down Rossi's-- if I was starting over I would go get one of the recently manufactured ones in 44-40 and have a great and fun time with it.

[Buck Stinson]

Original 92's are obviously more expensive than any of the foreign  copies. After all, they are vintage, collectable Winchester's.  Repops can never be compared to the originals.  It is true that movie companies and prop houses used many 1892 model Winchester's over a 50 year period of time, but I  have seen many these that are still in excellent condition.  In the early part of the 20th century, many movie prop houses actually purchased crates of new carbines from Winchester.

[treebeard]

There were right at one million 92's manufactured so they are not rare at all. If you are not looking to compete in CAS shooting then a lot of time you can pick up nice button magazine versions which hold 6 rounds for more affordable prices. For a long time the 25-20 92's were the step child of the standard calibers in terms of valuation but I have noticed that their prices have come up in the last year or so and do not get the discount they once had.

[Coffinmaker]

Pre-Owned real Winchester 92s are ....... everywhere.  As Treebeard contributed, around a Million of them were manufactured and are lurking everywhere.  There's still gobs of them still hiding in the back corner of a lot of closets.  Normally, a real Winchester '92 will sell or be priced somewhat higher than a Rossi or Chiappa, and you may run into the occasional El Tigre from Spain.  Although the Spanish guns can be a little rough.  Let us not forget the Japanese copy.  Oh, right, back to the original Winchester '92.  Lots of em out there.  Like anything else we play with in CAS, a little attention is needed.  Change out the springs, perhaps shim the right side cartridge guide.  Stuff like that.

A '92 will never be quite as fast as a competition tuned Uberti '73, but so what???  Unless your in the top 25% of CAS shooters, the speed of the '73 is simply academic.  Most folks would be amazed at just how fast a nice '92 can be run.  Prior to the Short Stroke '73s, the hot ticket for CAS was a tuned '92.  I had a really nice "Navy Arms" Rossi built short rifle in the WaBac (Sherman and the Professer) and have kicked myself ever since I sold it.  Say La Vee

Coffinmaker