Model 1892 SRC "Policia de Santa Fe"|Winchester Rifles|Forum|Winchester Collector

Maybe the third time is the charm for this post!!

Hello all,

In my research of the Model 1892 rifles I have found several instances of repetitively marked rifles which apparently belonged to various entities across the planet.  Some examples are the Stinger and Daisy rifles shipped to Australian retailers.   The “China Navigation” marked carbines are another.  This thread will deal with the “Policia de Santa Fe” which apparently were re chambered and altered fro use by the law enforcement department in the province of Santa Fe in Argentina. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Fe_Province  Over the years I have assembled a small subset of 35 SRC’s which are uniquely marked and altered.  From work so far I have found that many of these were eventually imported into France and can be found around Europe.  I have also found a number of examples here in the US and in Australia.

What I know so far is that they all started as 44 WCF chambered SRC’s.  The rifles were re-chambered for the 45ACP cartridge which apparently was done to match the side arms caliber of the law enforcement departments.  Some of the French rifles were subsequently stamped .45 LC since the .45 ACP is considered a “military caliber” and its use is restricted.  The re-chambering necessitated altering the tail end of the magazine and the receiver internal parts.  The barrel and magazine are shortened to a 16 inch configuration.  Sling attachments were added to the left side of the butt stock and the rear barrel band on the fore end.  The muzzle end of the barrel was turned down to a smaller diameter so that the barrel band would still fit and the front sight was repositioned.

The serial number range is from 15479 all the way up to 996101.  The early guns have very large SN gaps between them but later examples are much closer in numbers and may have been purchased directly from Winchester.  The “rack number” stamped on the left side of the receiver does not sequentially follow the SN progression.

I am very interested in growing the data base of examples of these rifles and building up any further factual information regarding them.  If you have one PLEASE post here or send images of them to me at [email protected]  I need the full serial number, image of the left side of the receiver,  the caliber stamp (44 WCF, .45 ACP, .45 LC), an image looking down into the open chamber, a detail of the last 4 inches or so of the muzzle end of the barrel, and of course any other images also will be happily received. 

Here are some dimensional differences between the 44 WCF and .45 ACP cartridges for comparison.  

Thanks so much for the help

Michael