Tell me about the Winchester 1892 in 32-20

[mole]

Greetings folks, I'm looking for information about my latest addition. It's stamped " MODEL 1892 -WINCHESTER- TRADE MARK REG. IN U.S.PAT OFF." The Barrel near the receiver is stamped "32 W.C.F.". The middle of the barrel is stamped "MANUFACTURED BY THE WINCHESTER REPEATING ARMS CO. NEW HAVEN CONN.U.S.A PATENTED OCTOBER 14, 1884" The underside of the receiver has the serial number 73XXXX. The barrel is octagon shaped.

Since I'm such a good grandson my grandfather gave me this rifle today. He was given it by his father sometime in the early 40's I think. It has a little surface rust and has a deep dark brown patina. The wooden furniture is very very dark. The hammer and trigger is very clean and crisp, but the action has some old grease in it that makes it a little sticky. I'm looking for information about how to take it apart to give it the cleaning it deserves. A resource to look up the date of manufacture would be nice.

Any advice regarding the 32-20 would be welcomed. I've only seen this round briefly mentioned and it seemed to me like it was more of a play round then anything else. Maybe good for rabbit? How does it compare to a .32 H & R Magnum?

How do you guys recommend cleaning off the surface rust without messing up the bluing or patina? Rub with a soft cloth and 3-in-1 oil?

Thanks in advance,
mole

 

[Sistema1927]

You need to hold your mouth just right when re-assembling an 1892. Other than that, they are great guns.

The best 92 gunsmith in the country is Steve Young. He can make your 92 sing. I would, however, ask him not to place his stamp on your piece of history. On my Rossi this is a badge of honor, and raised the value should I sell it, but you probably don't want or need this.

Can't help you regards the caliber since my 92 is chambered in the non-historic .45 Colt.

 

[mole]

According to http://armscollectors.com/sn/winlookup.php
it was made in 1913. That would fit because he was also given an Ithaca double barrel 12 gauge made in 1914 by his father which I also own.

Thanks for the heads up sistema. Anyone else have advice? Any ideas as to the pressures it can handle safety?

 

[bhk]

I have a Browning 53 in 32-20, which is essentially the same as your rifle only with a half magazine and a pistol grip stock. I love it. The 32-20 is a great cartridge. In the 'old' days, it came in two loads - one for revolvers and one for rifles. The rifle cartridge had ballistics similar to the .30 carbine. You can probably figure that it is no longer available due to lawyers in combination with some stupid people who wanted to use the rifle loading in their handguns. The commercial 32-20 loads available today are really anemic (the old pistol loading), but still fun to shoot and entirely suitable for small game (up to coyote size up close). It is also popular with 'cowboy' action shooters.

If you handload like I do, you can bring the 32-20 back up to respectable levels entirely suitable for rifles or TC handguns. RIFLE magazine hand some loads a couple of years ago that had 100 grain soft point ammo going around 2100 fps. Still probably good only up to coyote size, but at much longer range. This loading also beats most self defense handgun loadings.

 

[griz]

This might help:

http://www.leverguns.com/articles/taylor/field_strip.htm

It says rossi but since that is a winchester copy it should work.