Make: Winchester

Model: 1892

Serial Number: 249907

Year of Manufacture: 1903

Caliber: .44-40 Winchester Center Fire (WCF)

Action Type: Lever Action Carbine with Side Loading Gate fed by Tubular Magazine

Barrel Length: 20” Round

Sights / Optics: The front sight is a beaded blade pinned in a slotted base fixed to the barrel above the muzzle. The rear sight is a folding ladder-style sight, presenting a "V"-notch when down and with a "V"-notched slider on the ladder. The top tang is drilled, tapped, and filled for a tang sight (none present).

Stock Configuration & Condition: The stocks are two-piece smooth wood featuring a banded forend, straight grip, straight comb, and steel carbine-style buttplate. The stocks have some infrequently scattered small compressions and superficial lines. The grain lines have become slightly more pronounced with age. The LOP measures 12 3/4” from the front of the trigger to the back of the buttplate.The buttplate has mostly worn to white or gone to a light patina with scattered nicks and scratches. Overall, the stocks rate in about Fine Plus condition.

Type of Finish: Blue

Finish Originality: Original to the parts. Based on the condition of the surrounding parts, we suspect the mag tube is a replacement.

Bore Condition: The bore is gray and the rifling is sharp. There is scattered light erosion and pitting in the bore. In this writer's opinion, the bore rates 6 out of 10.

Overall Condition: This carbine retains about 60% of its metal finish. Most finish is in the bottom of the barrel and the magazine tube with some other finish in protected areas and around raised features. Most exposed surfaces have worn to white or gone to a light patina. There are scattered nicks, dings, scuffs, and scratches. There is defined wear around the saddle ring on the left of the receiver. There is some scattered light surface oxidation and infrequent minor erosion. The action shows operational wear. The screw heads range from sharp to disfigured with usable slots. The markings are clear. Overall, this carbine is in Good to Very Good condition as not parts-original.

Mechanics: The action functions correctly. We have not fired this carbine. As with all previously owned firearms, thorough cleaning may be necessary to meet your maintenance standards.

Box, Paperwork & Accessories: This carbine comes with a letter from the Cody Firearms Museum from their Winchester factory records archive. 

Our Assessment: The Winchester Model 1892 was introduced as the successor to the iconic “Winchester ‘73”, and replaced the toggle link action of the Model 1873 with a breechblock locked with two rectangular locking bolts that made the action much stronger. It was designed by gunmaking genius John Moses Browning, and was essentially a scaled-down version of his Model 1886 rifle, the first he designed for Winchester. The Model 1892 was small and light, and ideal for the classic .44-40 WCF round and similar pistol caliber cartridges. The Model 1892 rifle was popular with ranchers, and later was the lever action of choice for many Western movies and TV shows. John Wayne famously used both M1892 rifles and carbines in many of his iconic Western roles. The M1892 rifles again became popular in the 1980s with the advent of Cowboy Action shooting, as they were smooth and dependable.

This Winchester Model 1892 Saddle Ring Carbine was made in 1903 and is chambered in .44-40 WCF, the premier Old West frontier caliber. The carbine is in Good to Very Good condition with a replacement mag tube and the overall honest wear that the passage of over 120 years and some use in the field imparts.