Range Report for 106 year-old Winchester carbine 44-40

Win 38-55

Win 38-55

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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A month or so ago I received in the mail an original Winchester Model 1892 Saddle Ring Carbine 44-40 from northern British Columbia. The photos showed a carbine that had been up the creek and over the river .... a lot. It was probably a trapper's rifle, judging from all the history silently spoken in its appearance. It was made in 1913. I figured the bore would look like a corroded sewer pipe, nevertheless I liked the look of the old 44-40; it had never been refinished or messed with. Imagine my shock when it arrived and I cleaned the bore only to discover that it had sharp rifling the entire length of the barrel, with only very slight pitting just forward of the chamber. To help out my 65 year-old eyes, I mounted an original Marbles tang peep sight. Today I finally got to try it out at 100 yards. Photos of my vintage carbine and target are below. (For those who might get worked up because there is no cable lock on the carbine ... I took it off before setting up the photo. Don't worry, it doesn't normally hang there and there is cable lock.)


Load: 20 grains of 5744 under a 207 grain Accurate 431200B cast bullet sized to .429". Velocity is about 1,310 fps.


Results at 100 yards: Resting my carbine on my shooting bag, I got a 5-shot group at 100 yards of 2 & 3/8" with Winchester brass. I shot a total of 3 groups, two 5-shot groups and one 3-shot group. Measuring the 13 bullet holes on the paper backing, I got a 13-shot group at 100 yards of 2 & 5/8". For you fellows with modern scoped rifles, this is nothing special at all. But for a 106 year-old 44-40 carbine shooting soft cast bullets, this is outstanding!


The old saddle ring carbine is definitely a keeper. I love it's history and it's accuracy.
Carbine-44-40.jpg

Carbine-100-Target.jpg
 

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That’s some mighty fine art work you hanging on the wall.
Fine looking target too.
Wished I could shoot my irons as good as yours,lol.
The model 92 still functions fine here, not as fine as your though.
Thanks for sharing.
Rob
 
Very cool gun, and it's obviously very accurate. Any good story to how you tracked it down? Or was it just off the EE here or something?

Personally, I think it looks perfectly at home on that wallspace. :)

Any plans to hunt with it?
 
I have an early rifle version .Try 24gr of RE#7 and a 220gr GC [Jet Bullets] Starline brass and LP primer Velocity 1600 fps and .680" @ 50 yards.
 
Gatehouse said:
Very cool gun, and it's obviously very accurate. Any good story to how you tracked it down? Or was it just off the EE here or something?

Personally, I think it looks perfectly at home on that wallspace. :)

Any plans to hunt with it?
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I got it from a CGNer after posting a WTB on the exchange. As for hunting, we shall see. It makes a great wilderness canoeing trip gun.
 
Congratulations on that very fine shooting rifle! It's funny the small things that we focus on, but what I really noticed and appreciated about your rifle were the overlapping marks on the receiver from the saddle ring. That's character and makes me wonder what kind of trips it took to make them.

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