El Tigre 1892?

I have one, a 44-40. I've never fired it, so cant tell you anything about this one, other than it's a nice looking little gun. What I have read is that they were made in Spain, in violation of the Winchester patent, for sale in South America.
 
Yeah, a Spanish rip-off of the 1892 design. Not up to the quality of Winchester but not junk either. Never heard tell of one in .45ACP only 44WCF. Can't see it working what with the .45's rimless case.
 
Are you sure that lhey said/meant .45 ACP and not .45 LC? the .45 long colt is a rimmed case that is chambered in many a lever rifle.
 
Prime said:
Are you sure that lhey said/meant .45 ACP and not .45 LC? the .45 long colt is a rimmed case that is chambered in many a lever rifle.
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No it was .45ACP - as a "high cap" rifle to complement the 1911 for some SA country's police force. I am intrigued with the possibility to convert an 1892 in 44-40 to .45ACP - obviously changing the barrel - but I think the only other problem would be making an extractor with a longer claw to fit the rimless case????
 
superted said:
Yep - now we're on the same track - what kind of "mods" were required and the big question - DID IT WORK??????
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The biggie would be getting the length adjusted correctly on the cartridge lifter, so that when the mag feeds a cartridge that it does not get 1 and 1/2 cartridges fed onto the lifter to jam the works up.

Cheers
Trev
 
I've got an El Tigre in .44-40 - I've read references to them being made in .38-40 but never seen one. They were by Garate starting in 1919, originally for the Spanish Civil Guard railway detachments and later for some of the urban police forces. Surprisingly light barrel on mine - shoots fine but it heats up fast!
 
superted said:
No it was .45ACP - as a "high cap" rifle to complement the 1911 for some SA country's police force. I am intrigued with the possibility to convert an 1892 in 44-40 to .45ACP - obviously changing the barrel - but I think the only other problem would be making an extractor with a longer claw to fit the rimless case????
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Nope, they didn't change the barrels. Just left them the way they were and rechambered them to 45acp, didn't even bother to clean up the 44-40 chamber. All they modified from what I could see on the one I had, was the extractors and then, only with a bit of grinding.

They added a huge front sight cover as well.

Oh yeah, both of the rifles I've seen, including the one I used to own, had bulged barrels about six inches, 12 cm from the muzzle.

Mine was atrocious accuracy wise but functioned without a hitch.

At the time, I wasn't particularly concerned about their rarity and felt they were junk so I got rid of it pretty quickly.
 
Thanks for the input guys - it was really interesting HOWEVER I think converting a 92 to .45ACP will be a project I may THINK about doing in the next lifetime (or the one after that)! Still it does have intriguing possibilities ......!
 
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