Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 1892 Short Rifle?

Posted this on the collectors forum but no answers. Hopefully, someone here can help.

Gentlemen, Friend has asked about buying this rifle and I want to be fair to both of us, but not 100% sure what I have. Based on things I have read, think it is a short rifle and know that can change the valuation. Details as follows:

Serial # 9031xx
Octagon barrel 19.4 inches to receiver. (understand this is 20", as measure by the factory)
Forearm is 8 1/4 inches from receiver to steel end cap. 9 1/4" from receiver to end of cap
32 w.c.f. and Manufactured by The Winchester Repeating Arms co. New Haven Conn USA Patented Oct 14, 1884 on barrel
Tang has 3 lines MODEL 92 top line, WINCHESTER second line, Trade mark reg pat off & FGN
Top of receiver front has a proof mark circle. Hard to read but looks like maybe a star over A 3 1?????? Not clear at all to these old eyes 8 in a diamond on bottom of receiver, close to where the lever attaches.
Crescent butt plate
N Hughes is scratched on tang beneath the lever
Barrel and magazine have decent color for a 100 year old rifle, although different shades
Suspect the receiver and fore end cap have been polished at some time as no coloring on them. Slight patina on it so not real recent.
Wood is good but assume refinished/replaced at some time as it is just too good.

Any help/advice most appreciated. Especially on establishing a value.

I am terrible with pics but can do phone shots if anyone wants to see them. Just let me know where to send.

Need some pics

TTT

Pictures really help to see how it all meshes.

Lots of Winchesters sold nowadays as "Short Rifles" were the 24" bbl rifles cut down to 20", then sold as the rarer short rifle.

Beware and be sure.

It looks like the receiver has been run over a polishing wheel front to back. It looks brushed.

You need to measure the distance from the front of the barrel to the front sight dovetail and the magazine tube against factory measurements...

Might be worth 400 to 500 bucks

That would be a good candidate to send to Turnbull, and have him do his stuff to.

It would be worth it.

How many can you find for that price?

Thanks to Hanco for posting the pics. No comment on the wood? Just looks too good to me.
And oh yeah, I will keep it for 400 to 500. Just too much fun to shoot.

Wood has been redone.

The rifle has been rebarreled. The receiver has had much too much sanding or polishing.

It does appear to be a short rifle from the pics. But Winchester and Colt values are dependent on condition. A lot rides on that, as far as value.

As I said earlier, you can send it to someone like Turnbull, and he'll make it look new for you. It'll cost you... But it'll be a beauty, and will be worth far more than you pay him.

Rockinbbar, Thanks. Just the kind of information I was looking for. Question though. How do you determine it has been rebarreled? Would much like to know for future reference.

Thanks again.

Barrel bluing, receiver bluing and magazine bluing all react different with age and handling. It isn't uncommon to see different colors on those parts. The action on the left side does look polished, but that may be due to the light and angle against how you photographed it. Receivers tend to lose bluing before any other part of the gun. Without a better picture is is tough to say, but the right side looks unpolished.

From your pictures, it appears that the bluing is O.K. If it had been cut, the dovetail to the front of the magazine would be too far forward, which it appears is not the case. The wood doesn't look too bad and the one picture of the wrist looks like good metal to wood fit. The length of the barrel is measured to the rear where the action comes in contact with it, so your measurement is O.K. too. The proof marks need to be identical and in line to reassure you that it hasn't been rebarreled. If that isn't the case, the barrel has been removed and changed for some reason.

My assessment is that too little value is placed on your gun and too much on Turnbull. Why people think Turnbull is a solution to anything but a complete basket case is beyond my comprehension. You can refinish a gun 100 times, but it is original only once and yours doesn't look that bad. Other than the possible issues I mentioned with polishing the receiver, if it isn't polished, you do have a decent gun. You won't find any that are priced near $500.00 in that condition...

I don't see any mention in the description on bore conddition and if the rifle is guaranteed to function properly ( feed, fire and eject).

Based on condition alone- to most people it's value as a shooter is as much as a collector...

The bore condition and function will make a differnce on that gun.

Put it for sale here in the classifieds. It probably wouldn’t sell for much more than 500.00. Guns are soft now. I could damn sure be wrong! I would have bet the house this pig would have went 225, but I’d be homeless. Weighed 195

JK 16, I do not know how to judge a bore but the rifle is nice and tight, lever works easily with no slop and ejects perfectly. Used it for one season doing SASS, where you would shoot 40/50 rounds per session as fast as you could. Do not recall any jamming, etc. and if I did my part it hit where I was aiming.

http://www.merzantiques.com/

A Little comparison could help.

Mike

Front sight looks a bit to far back to me.

Not that I wouldn't love to own it.