M-1892
Question for Burt (other's opinoins welcome as well). I have an 1892 winchester saddle carbine in 44-40, serial # 40XXX. My father bought the gun in 1957. He had it reblued and a smokless powder firing pin installed. He was on of the original stunt men from the Universal Studios stunt tour. The gun was used there and on some movies and TV shows during the 60's and early 70's. Lots of black powder use. Then it was given to me in 1977. I put a saddle ring on (it was missing) and a ladder sight (Dixie Gun works) in 1980. I have hunted with the gun ever since - primarily deer. It has aprox. 90% of that bluing. Looks like more until you look closer. Black powder use shows in the bore but rifeling is intact and it shoots true - I only do head shots and in 35 years I have only missed once. Last year my ladder sight broke on a test fire (sighting it in) just prior to deer season. I bought another one but I was having a little trouble getting it on the gun. The old one would seat right but the new one was not going on flat to the cut, kept rising on one side. I ran a small flat file to clean things up and tried again, no good. then I tried another old winchester sight and it would work well so I desided I needed to find and old ladder sight if that is what I really wanted on the gun so I wiped her down and went to put her away and that is when I noticed a slight bulge on the barrel right at the sight.[:(] I am assuming it is no longer safe to fire. So here is my qustion(s); with its age, known history etc. would I destroy the value by replacing the barrel? Find a good old barrel? See if this one could be relined? Have a custom barrel made? Or hang it on the wall? This last one hurts as the rest of the gun works great - action is smooth as butter and no play what so ever! I could load photos but would need some instructions on the how to. Thanks.
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IMHO as this is a refinished rifle and not a High dollar collector Item I would try to find an original barrel . But first try it as is you might be surprised Most guns with BULGE with suffer on accuracy but NOT ALL 0 -
while I do realize, it has provenance, it lacks originality. That said, I would do what ever you wish with it, as far as rebarreling it. Just do realize, that there is a greater chance of not being able to get your investment back out of it. I would think it had more sentimental value, belonging to your father, than monetary value anyway.
If I were in your shoes, and you enjoy shooting it, I might even venture into the thought of getting it totally restored, by Turnbull. It would look like a masterpiece, of a work of art, and be functional to shoot, while making people drool.
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Thanks Perry and TSR. Yes the gun is worth more to me for its personal history with myself and my family. In its current state (minus the not very visible bulge) it is a drool magnet. Who ever did the reblue did a fantastic job.[img][/img]/Users/jpronto/Desktop/Pic040.JPG I will attempt to attatch a photo, if it takes it is the bottom gun. the top was a totally rusted (found in flooded basement) early rossi that I restored - it had been greased inside so only suffered externally. Thanks for your rplies, I will most likely look to making it functional again. 0 -
I am somewhat concerned with the bulge. Do you think it happened when the sight broke? How much metal did you remove trying to fit the replacement. I doubt that you can successfully reline that barrel economically.
An aftermarket repo barrel would be my choice if the original is truly unsafe to shoot.0 -
Thanks for your input and questions charliemeyer007. It is possible that the event that caused the bulge also broke the sight although the sight did not break at the bulge it broke at a thin spot in the metal at the hinge pin. I have 3 other ladder sights on 92 repos and one on a browning 1886, they are all much thicker at the pin hinge. I shoot rife loads in this gun so while it does not kick like a mule you do need to shoulder it and it does feel like it has good authority so when the sight broke I did not notice anything in particular with the round that was fired. As for the amount of metal that was removed, I was using very fine jewelers files and just rmoved the milling marks in the center of the dovetail. Like I said before the old ladder sight and a couple of old whinchester sights fit properly into the dovetail. I have tried to look down the bore but the location of the bulge is too far down to see, I will have to remove the bolt to get a look at it from that end. If I ge repo who is making the best for this gun? 0
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