Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General Puma 92 rifle in .454 Casull

Hey guys what do you think about this rifle? If they are any good than i would get the blued/walnut 20" barreled version. I wouldnt mind the one in .480 Ruger, but availablilty seems to be lacking. What do you guys think about ammo for the .454 Casull? I would probably get the Winchester factory ammo, and then start reloading as soon as i got components.

NH_Hunter

I haven't shot one. But I saw a review in Calif. Hog Hunter that was quite favorable. The publication does not accept advertising, so the review should be less biased than most gun rags.

Essentially, the reviewer was pleased with it as a lightweight hard hitting rifle. The cartridge is easily a good Elk cartridge up to 150 yards or so. I would buy one if I had unlimited funds and unlimited shooting time.

If you are looking for a thumper in the brush it should be a good choice.

BMT

I believe I would spend my bucks on a Marlin Guide Gun in 45-70 first. The new Puma's don't seem to have that good of a rep places I see.

I am fortunate enough to have an original 1886 Winchester 45-70 in the family that started with my Great Grandfather in 1889!

T LEE

Yep go get your Marlin and spend all those big bucks!! When you can have the same power in a Rossi 454 for about $400! What's a Marlin 45-70 going for now? I have the Rossi 454, blued in 20" barrel and it is a great gun powerful and easy to carry-deadly accurate. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I have an early Rossi '92SRC that I dearly love, have killed many a hog and a few Florida deer with it, but the newer Puma's coming out of Brazil, like my Rossi did, are very iffy on QC from what I have seen. If they can get them like my old Interarms Import, then I'll be a believer. Till then I only want to have to spend my money once! With no send back or Gunsmith visits.

Some of you here have heard this lament before but since NH Hunter hasn't, I'll do it again. I have a Freedom Arms .454 so I jumped at the chance to get the same cartridge in a lever gun. The first two shots out of my Puma 92 required almost hydraulic pressure to eject the fired rounds. Inspection showed very rough brass with a pronounced ring about half way up the shell indicating a rough finished chamber. The fired brass would barely go into my .454 revolver. I sent the rifle back to Puma with the two fired rounds and a note explaining the need to rebarrel instead of refinishing the chamber. I got the rifle back with a note telling me it had been rebarreled. Now the receiver has some kind of a vise mark on it and while the fired shells come out of the chamber ok, they will not fit in my revolver--indicating a now oversized chamber--and there is still a faint ring around the fired cases.
That they did not rebarrel the rifle as they said they did is obvious and their quality control in their repair department is as lacking as in their factory output. They have lost a customer and I will continue to advertise for them as I just have. Steve

I've yet to hear very many positive reports about these Pumas. Most seem to want the power of the .454 or .480 from them. Well, I'm not 100% sure but some reports I've heard of were that the rifles were unable to chamber some of the heavy bullets that may have been microns over SAAMI spec. Not great news for a handloader.
If I need a brush gun of that nature, I too would go for a Marlin. Hmmm...now that I think of it, I think Winchester in chambering the 94 in .480. Hmmm...

Can you get 1800 fps out of a 405g bullet in your Puma? I've never handloaded the .454 so I don't mean to sound condecending, just curious. In my Marlin Guide Gun I get 1800 fps with the Remington 405g SP with the STARTING load (28,000 CUP) in Marlin section of Hodgdon's #27 data model.



I paid $399 for my Guide Gun NIB.

I paid $405.00 out the door for mine, money well spent as I did not want to keep shooting 1886 Winchester any more than as an occaisional trip down memory lane remembrance thing time to time. It had served the family for well over 100 years and deserved a rest. I would still not feel uncomfortabe with it in the woods however, but the Marlin is a bit shorter and lighter, can easily put a scope on it without wrecking the value ETC, that means a lot to us old duffers!

That's a good price. Mine came out to right at $420 with tax. As you said, money well spent. Did you get the ported or unported one? Mine doesn't have ports and I can vouch for a 6.5# .45-70 wacking you pretty good with stout loads.

I love mine. I put a Leupold 2.5x Compact with a Premier Reticles 4A in a set of Talley Fixed Rings. Solid setup <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

It will be in the hardwoods with me Saturday!

Mine is the unported version as well, I hate ports and muzzle brakes. The son is gonna take it hog hunting later this month, so I loaded up some "soft" rounds for short range. I used a Speer 400 grain flat point over40 grains of reloader 7, this gives about 1400 out of the short tube without too much shoulder abuse.