First trip to range with Puma '92 - 16" .38/.357

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evan the cdn

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I bought a Puma '92 in .38/.357 with the 16" barrel from Frontier Firearms over the weekend and got out to the range with it earlier tonight. It was a LOT of fun. I had one box of .38SPL and a box of .357MAG (both American Eagle) and I didn't have any trouble with either calibers. It holds 9 rounds of .38 or 8 rounds of .357.

I can't say much about it's accuracy since this was my first time shooting a centerfire rifle. The target in the picture was 9 rounds of .38 from 20 yards. I had both elbows resting on the bench. From center to center on the furthest two hits was 2-1/8".

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freddyfour said:
Right on, she's a fine rifle. How much less recoil did you feel from to .38 to the .357?
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The difference was bigger than I thought it would be. I shot a few .38 before trying the .357 and the first one had me grinning from ear to ear. :D I'm obviously not the voice of experience here but it felt like I could shoot .38 all day but maybe not .357. I'm sure that once I've shot it a bit more it will feel quite reasonable.
 
NO extra Safety

The best thing about the new Puma's is that they DO NOT have an extra B.S. safety device added onto them. I can't stand those useless, extra crossbolt or tang safeties on most new lever actions.
 
I'll take a few more pics and try to elaborate a bit on it tonight.

OSOK said:
The best thing about the new Puma's is that they DO NOT have an extra B.S. safety device added onto them. I can't stand those useless, extra crossbolt or tang safeties on most new lever actions.
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You're right, most of them don't. Apparently the only one that does have an added safety is the 16” Stainless .454 Carbine w / HiViz Sights.
 
Like I mentioned before I don't have a bunch of experience so there isn't a lot for me to compare it to. On my way home from work I stopped at Wholesale to look at some scopes so I handled the Marlin 336 they had on the shelf to compare the action. As soon as I got home I picked up the Puma again and it felt smoother than the Marlin did. I noticed last night that after firing there was a bit of resistance at the first bit of movement of the lever when it was extracting the casing. That was the only significant difference between working the action while loaded and unloaded.

I can't find any imperfections in the blueing. The wood is basic. The only cosmetic peeve for me is that the wood butt stock is slightly larger than the frame where the two meet so there is a bit of a ridge. It's caused by the wood being more round and the frame being more of an oval shape but it's not really significant.

Here are some more detailed pics. Please excuse the dust. I swear it looked clean when I was taking the pictures.

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The bit that looks like bubbling of the finish here is actually oil.

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Here is the whole gang for size comparison. The other rifle is a CZ 452 Varmint.
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I've been looking at the henry and marlin. Never looked at the puma. It looks nice. Is it side ejection and can you put a scope on it?
Also do you find the over all length too short?
 
jojo said:
I've been looking at the henry and marlin. Never looked at the puma. It looks nice. Is it side ejection and can you put a scope on it?
Also do you find the over all length too short?
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The casings eject out the top and seemed to be pretty consistently landing at around my 5 o'clock (I was probably turning it slightly while I worked the lever). I don't think you could get a scope on it.

Too short for what? I don't have any big plans for it other than plinking. I might go out to a CAS event to see what that's all about but I'm happy with it so far. Once I got my elbows off the table and started shooting standing up I really had a blast. It seems to aim quite naturally for me.
 
Hey evan I have the exact same little rifle.
its probaly my favorite I own
Im gonna guess the resistance you felt extracting is from a slight amount of powder fouling from the shorter 38 spl
 
Nice pics! :D

Looks pretty good to me. Do they make a 16" stainless 44?

edit: yup! Cat no. PUM55018 .44 Mag. Stainless Steel 16" 8 Rounds
 
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The wood being slightly larger than the metal, is historically correct. That's the way Winchester made them originally. The wood was supposed to shrink to fit I think. On most, it didn't, including my original 92 Carbine.
Beautiful rifle.
If that was your first center fire, beware, others kick slightly more :D
 
John Y Cannuck said:
The wood being slightly larger than the metal, is historically correct. That's the way Winchester made them originally. The wood was supposed to shrink to fit I think. On most, it didn't, including my original 92 Carbine.
Beautiful rifle.
If that was your first center fire, beware, others kick slightly more :D
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Very cool info! Thanks.

I'm sure the kick from this one won't feel like much after a couple trips to the range. When my friend got me interested in firearms he let me shoot his two pistols, a CZ40P and a Norc 1911 in .45. Both of them were intimidating at first, the 1911 especially. Now that I've been shooting my my M&P for a while they seem like a piece of cake.
 
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