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Saw a thread in classifieds about .357 lever action rifles...


railfancwb
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That thread made me wonder...

 

At one time, there was some what active gunsmithing involving converting Winchester 92 and Marlin 94 lever rifles to 357 magnum and occasionally 44 magnum.

 

When various manufacturers - Rossi, Marlin, Winchester, and others - started offering new made lever rifles in revolver calibers the conversion business apparently went away.

 

Also, at one time a large importer of surplus weapons, whose name I don’t remember, was offering surplus Winchester 92s from South American police departments in 45acp.

 

Anyone own or seen any of these conversions?

 

 

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My friend the gunsmith did these conversions. The last one I remember was a 92 in .45acp. Neat rifle. Sadly he passed away four years ago. I miss him. tom. :cowboy2:

Any idea how well the 45acp conversion worked? Reliability and accuracy?


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I have a friend who has an Uberti 1873 converted to .45 ACP, it works fine. Uberti and Winchester currently offer 1873s in .357, though most shoot .38 special in them. I have three Ubertis in .357, one for me, one for my wife and one for my middle son. They’re nice rifles and with a little practice you can easily run 10 rounds through one in less than 3 seconds.

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If I wanted a .357 magnum lever action, I would probably get a Henry.  I would like to find a cowboy rig for my S&W 6" .357 magnum.  The only one's I have been able to scare up are single action rigs.  I used to have one as a young man, but time scurried it away from me.

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3 hours ago, Moshe said:

If I wanted a .357 magnum lever action, I would probably get a Henry.  I would like to find a cowboy rig for my S&W 6" .357 magnum.  The only one's I have been able to scare up are single action rigs.  I used to have one as a young man, but time scurried it away from me.

The Henry is stout, but can’t be made to run fast. The Uberti isn’t as stout, but can be made very slick and very fast. There are also short stroke kits for the Uberti that significantly shorten the lever throw, there aren’t for the Henry. 

My advice as someone who shoots lever action rifles every weekend: if you’re going to shoot full house loads, go with the Henry. If you want to run it fast and set it up with a light short trigger pull, go with the Uberti. 

My Uberti has a 1.25 lb trigger pull with zero overtravel. I can run 10 rounds through it really fast and I’ve hit deer sized targets at 200 yards which isn’t bad shooting slow 38 specials out of an 18 inch barrel.

Edited by Wyzz Kydd
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That’s surprising. .38 is acceptable in all but a few categories.

Not the caliber, the design of the rifle. Acceptable in the modern category - called western movies or similar. Curiously, though, the Winchester 97 shotgun is accepted in the classic category where the 92 isn’t.


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The .357 Magnum & .44 Magnum rounds both benefit a great deal from the added barrel length of a lever-action carbine. Depending on the loads, they are as much as 1,000fps faster out of a 16” barrel, than they are out of a 4” barrel. Rounds like the 9mm and .40S&W will only gain 300-400fps out of the longer barrels. I’m a fan of .357Mag & .44Mag lever guns.

What I really want though is a Big Horn Armory .500 S&W Magnum lever-action carbine. That is some by-God firepower!

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That will knock an ursine attacker’s pecker into the peat moss.

 

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10 hours ago, railfancwb said:


Not the caliber, the design of the rifle. Acceptable in the modern category - called western movies or similar. Curiously, though, the Winchester 97 shotgun is accepted in the classic category where the 92 isn’t.


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I think your information, or theirs, is dated. There is no modern category in SASS, that’s been gone for over 10 years. Your 92 is legal in all age categories, gunfighter, duelist, B-Western, Outlaw, pretty much everything but classic cowboy which requires an older design and bigger caliber.

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On ‎4‎/‎12‎/‎2019 at 9:38 PM, railfancwb said:

I have a Rossi Model 92 (clone of Winchester 92) in .357 magnum. Sweet with .38 Specials. It isn’t eligible for one of the two classes of cowboy action shooting locally.


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The last one I had was the coveted .454 casul to match my revolver.  When  the recoil from the revolver went from fun to pain, I sold the pair.

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