Recently inherited 1892. Advice on maintenance?|Restoration, Repair and Maintenance|Forum|Winchester Collector

Wood looks pretty worn around the tang (or missing) and may have been sanded already once in its life. Most here are going to advise you to just put on a coat of wax or wood feed ‘n wax (it looks dry to me), a thin rubbing of oil on the metal and a couple drops inside on the action bits and hang ‘er back up or go shoot her!

Teasip here, so you may want to discard the advice, although our daughter is an Aggie.  

I disagree with most of the advice you just got about shooting your Model 1892.  If you value it and your fingers and eyesight,  show this fine old rifle the respect it deserves by taking it to a gunsmith KNOWN TO BE SKILLED AND REPUTABLE and ask him to do the following: 

1. Disassemble the gun, check the barrel for obstructions and the breechbolt assembly for headspace. Determine whether the gun is safe to shoot and whether any internal parts have excess wear to the point they MUST be replaced.

2. Verify the action and feeding assemblies are functional.

3. Clean and lubricate the working parts, reassemble and test fire. [Provide the ‘Smith with several rounds of ammunition for test firing.]

I can recommend Nagel’s of San Antonio, if they still maintain a working gunsmith operation. Others on the forum who live in Bexar County can also give some names. 

Resist having any refinishing done until you fully understand the consequences. Hard core collectors recoil in horror at removing a single flake of “patina” also known as rust, or disturbing blackened wood. Your rifle’s stock and forearm may have been refinished or it may have just shrunk from age and low humidity. The wood finish, whether factory original or a refinish, is probably varnish, or linseed oil with sufficient drying additives to make it act like varnish. Either way, leave it alone for the time being.

You have some options but, for now,  follow the physician’s rule:  Primum, non nocere.  First, do no harm. 

By “almost anything” Chuck doesn’t mean petroleum-based, like 3-in1.  He’s done more of this than I have and linseed oil is the favored, traditional oil for gunstocks. It is very slow to dry and, as he has suggested to me, boiled linseed oil – which contains a drying agent – might be best. 

Another harmless alternative is Renaissance Wax, which is a brand of museum-safe wax designed for preserving the finish of antiques. 

I’m not knowledgeable enough about ammunition to know whether the cartridges you showed us are antiques loaded with black powder or modern smokeless. The rifle (once cleared for shooting) is safe with either but, if one of our knowledgeable guys says it’s black, get his advice on cleaning the gun after shooting it. My advice on a good gunsmith still stands. 

The ammo is fairly new.  The older cartridges did not have a jacket nor the tinish primers.