Winchester 1892

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Hey all,

Hopefully you guys can help. My dad has a 1892 he was given at one point. The other day, he was talking to someone about it and now the other person is interested in buying it. Neither of us have any idea what it is worth or even when it was made..

It is a .32WCF and is a Winchester Model 1892. Any ideas on value would be greatly appreciated. Here are some pics...(What is the hole in the stock for?)


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The 32-20 (32WCF) was initially a small game up to deer cartridge, and considered fairly accurate. (Deer, was, and is, pushing it, although it accounted for many deer over the years)

At a guess, a retail shop would sell it, depending on condition, between $400 and $800.

It obviously has a few issues, the stock has been repaired at the tang, the carbine ring has been removed, and the hole in the stock is not original. The finger lever looks unusual to me, and may have been bent.
Gun owners sometimes do stupid stuff, like drilling holes.
 
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I doubt that it is the original buttstock either. The gun looks like a saddle-ring carbine, but that's a rifle U-shaped buttstock.

Still a nice rifle, and I wouldn't sell it, unless you want to sell it to me, but as a collector piece, it's not original enough.

Based on what I have bought them for, and I have a few, $400-600 would be fair to both sides. US prices are irrelevant in Canada. But with old guns, like with women, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
 
The gun is not in original condition, as pointed out above. I would estimate it is worth around $Cdn 600, and that may be on the high side, given the non-original buttstock.
 
The gun is no where original. the stock looks like a 94 stock and had to be altered to the tang confirmation by "dutching " in wood on both sides. No ring , bent lever, extra screw hole drilled in the tang...I would only go to the very low end at $250 -$300 ( but interest wanes). Original parts costs to get it back to original would be astronomical and still the action is damaged beyond repair. and the gun would not really be in collectible shape. what a pity it was treated like that.
 
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That was originally a rifle with a longer barrel. It's been cut back for saddle scabbard use. The hole in the butt? I'd bet it rode in a saddle scabbard of the short type that left most of the butt exposed. Possibly a cavalry style. The rifle slid out of the scabbard on a hill and that may have been when the lever loop was damaged and the stock broken and needed a patch inserted. The butt may not be original to the rifle as well. After that the owner drilled a hole through the stock to push a saddle string through to keep it from falling out again. Something like that bit of conjecture at any rate. If the bore is good shoot it. It doesn't have much value as a collector given all the changes it's been through.
 
Winnipeg Toymaker said:
The gun is no where original. the stock looks like a 94 stock and had to be altered to the tang confirmation by "dutching " in wood on both sides. No ring , bent lever, extra screw hole drilled in the tang...I would only go to the very low end at $250 -$300 ( but interest wanes). Original parts costs to get it back to original would be astronomical and still the action is damaged beyond repair. and the gun would not really be in collectible shape. what a pity it was treated like that.
Click to expand...

:agree: a lot of issues :(

but would go as high as $4-450 IF it has a real good bore.
 
The more I look at it I'd guess that the barrel and possibly magazine tube are not original to the rifle. Everything about the rifle says saddle ring carbine except the shortened barrel and the dovetailed magazine retainer was used on rifles in both long and short barrel configurations. A true saddle ring carbine uses another band near the front sight similar to the one on the forward part of the fore end. In one picture there are marks on the barrel reminiscent of a pipe wrench.
 
The action is decidedly carbine, the barrel, and stock, rifle.
It's likely that there has been some swapping in it's history. However, i will note that Winchester allowed a lot of custom ordered guns in the early years. You could get it pretty much any way you wanted.
 
That barrel is indeed an original carbine barrel. For the Winchester model 1892, the barrel band was installed only on the 38WCF (38-40) and 44WCF (44-40). The magazine tube for both the 25WCF (25-20) and 32WCF (32-20)s was secured in place by the same magazine tube retaining bands used on rifles. The placement of that band is correct as is the front sight.
As noted above though, that buttstock is possibly incorrect (though a carbine could have been special ordered with a crescent-style rifle buttstock if the customer so desired), and is hurting. If I recall from the pics, I think there was also an extra holed drilled in the upper tang.
Here's a pic of a nice one on Cabelas, which as you'll note, was ordered with a cresent buttstock. The wood of both your forearm and buttstock are pretty close in colour, so they could have came together. Hard to tell for certain with what's been done to the buttstock though.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/c...s/buda/win_rifle/1004164_win92c32_01l_bud.jpg

Cheers,
Matt
 
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The extra hole in the top tang is also drilled off-center and thru the stamping.. Meaning it was probably an after market "mistake". The damage this caused makes it a very rough shooter. I would keep it and shoot it, if the barrel was good. Restoration impossible and collector interest..questionable. Value in the eye of the beholder not the knowledgeable. A closer look at the barrel also shows a discrepancy in the rear sight placement of the dovetail compared to Matts cabelas Picture .

If the gun shown is worth that much $400 - $500...what would a 1892 rifle in 25-20, original condition be worth? DOM 1911.
 
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Matt : You are correct on the magazine retainer for the 25-20. The front sight location is not correct for an original carbine barrel and the rear sight is not original for a carbine either I believe and that may make the dovetail seem out of place. Barrel has either been bobbed a bit (and magazine tube) or another barrel fitted to match the tube. It's been kept working without regard to form.
 
That's right...don't know how I didn't see the missing length of barrel / magtube in front if the sight...duh! I've seen many SRCs with rifle rear sights though, so that's not a stretch. The rear sight dovetail on a carbine barrel was located 2 3/16 to 2 5/16" from the front edge of the receiver to the rear of the dovetail slot. For carbines fitted with semi-buckhorn rifle-type rear sights, the dovetail was cut 2 13/16" to 2 15/16" from the front edge of the receiver to the rear of the dovetail slot. My guess is original barrel and rear sight, bobbed in front of the front sight. I'd keep it and shoot it. Great little caliber to shoot from my understanding.
Matt
 
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