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I was cruising auctions looking for a decent 92 chambered for 44-40, and saw this one chambered in 25-20. It looked clean and wasn’t getting much attention, so I tossed what I thought was a stupid low “fire and forget” bid at it. A few days later my phone dings, and I get the “congratulations” email. It has a bright shiny bore, blueing has turned mostly to plum with some case coloring inside the finger lever and hammer, minimal buggery on the screws, tight wood fitment all around. Serial number dates it to 1910.
I’m wondering why it went for what I consider a low hammer price of $1,000. Did I get lucky, is that pretty much the right price,or is there some fatal flaw about it that I didn’t notice? 🙂
Online
It’s got an octagon barrel, which is certainly advantageous, but, otherwise, it’s a mostly brown non antique non takedown rifle in .25 – 20 with no other features. The third of three photographs you provided appears to depict an upper tang that is proud to the wood, indicating a previous sanding and refinishing. So, market conditions dictate that this is possibly, at best,a $1000 rifle in today’s market.
Shoot it and have fun with it!
November 7, 2015
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John-
In my world a clean 25WCF with a nice bore is pretty special, congrats! I love shooting my 32-20 so much that I’ve been looking for a nice 25-20 but so far a nice example with a shootable bore has evaded me. Just as well, I don’t have a quarter caliber mould in the house! Your 44WCF will come along in good time, meanwhile enjoy that sweet 25WCF.
Mike
mrcvs said
The third of three photographs you provided appears to depict an upper tang that is proud to the wood, indicating a previous sanding and refinishing.
I appreciate your response and evaluation, thanks.
Looking at the butt-stock finish and fitment, I’m not sure I agree on the sanding and refinishing. The tang may appear proud in the previous photo, but it does not appear so in person. Perhaps a optical trick of the cell phone flash?
TXGunNut said
John-In my world a clean 25WCF with a nice bore is pretty special, congrats! I love shooting my 32-20 so much that I’ve been looking for a nice 25-20 but so far a nice example with a shootable bore has evaded me. Just as well, I don’t have a quarter caliber mould in the house! Your 44WCF will come along in good time, meanwhile enjoy that sweet 25WCF.
Mike
Mike,
Yes – finding a 25-20 with a good bore seems to be a challenge. Most all I see have rough bores for some reason. I also have a 32-20, and it has won me more than a few lever gun silhouette matches. These smaller caliber Winchesters are quite a pleasure to shoot. 🙂 I reload, but do not cast. 25-20 bullets are getting hard to come by unless you buy cast lead, and the bullet I favor (Speer Hot-Cor) has been discontinued for years. I have about a thousand squirreled away, but after those are gone…… 🙁
John D. said
TXGunNut said
John-
In my world a clean 25WCF with a nice bore is pretty special, congrats! I love shooting my 32-20 so much that I’ve been looking for a nice 25-20 but so far a nice example with a shootable bore has evaded me. Just as well, I don’t have a quarter caliber mould in the house! Your 44WCF will come along in good time, meanwhile enjoy that sweet 25WCF.
Mike
Mike,
Yes – finding a 25-20 with a good bore seems to be a challenge. Most all I see have rough bores for some reason. I also have a 32-20, and it has won me more than a few lever gun silhouette matches. These smaller caliber Winchesters are quite a pleasure to shoot. 🙂 I reload, but do not cast. 25-20 bullets are getting hard to come by unless you buy cast lead, and the bullet I favor (Speer Hot-Cor) has been discontinued for years. I have about a thousand squirreled away, but after those are gone…… 🙁
I know how you feel – a 1000 bullets sounds like a lot, but if I had them, I would hate to use them up on paper targets. If I were using them to hunt something with, I would feel much different.
I think you got a fun and decent rifle. It’s not reblued, not cut, drilled and tapped, has an octagon barrel, the bore is nice… you did just fine.
John D. said
TXGunNut said
Mike,
Yes – finding a 25-20 with a good bore seems to be a challenge. Most all I see have rough bores for some reason. I also have a 32-20, and it has won me more than a few lever gun silhouette matches. These smaller caliber Winchesters are quite a pleasure to shoot. 🙂 I reload, but do not cast. 25-20 bullets are getting hard to come by unless you buy cast lead, and the bullet I favor (Speer Hot-Cor) has been discontinued for years. I have about a thousand squirreled away, but after those are gone…… 🙁
I’ve been having problems finding bullets too. Been using 60gr hornady XTR .257 dia but they seem to be out of stock everywhere. I do have lots of missouri cast bullets but they don’t shoot the best in my .25-20.
John great looking Win. 1892. The bore of mine is shaky at best.
joe45c said
John D. said
TXGunNut said
Mike,
Yes – finding a 25-20 with a good bore seems to be a challenge. Most all I see have rough bores for some reason. I also have a 32-20, and it has won me more than a few lever gun silhouette matches. These smaller caliber Winchesters are quite a pleasure to shoot. 🙂 I reload, but do not cast. 25-20 bullets are getting hard to come by unless you buy cast lead, and the bullet I favor (Speer Hot-Cor) has been discontinued for years. I have about a thousand squirreled away, but after those are gone…… 🙁
I’ve been having problems finding bullets too. Been using 60gr hornady XTR .257 dia but they seem to be out of stock everywhere. I do have lots of missouri cast bullets but they don’t shoot the best in my .25-20.
John great looking Win. 1892. The bore of mine is shaky at best.
That explains why it prefers those jacketed Hornady bullets 
steve004 said
John D. said
TXGunNut said
John-
In my world a clean 25WCF with a nice bore is pretty special, congrats! I love shooting my 32-20 so much that I’ve been looking for a nice 25-20 but so far a nice example with a shootable bore has evaded me. Just as well, I don’t have a quarter caliber mould in the house! Your 44WCF will come along in good time, meanwhile enjoy that sweet 25WCF.
Mike
Mike,
Yes – finding a 25-20 with a good bore seems to be a challenge. Most all I see have rough bores for some reason. I also have a 32-20, and it has won me more than a few lever gun silhouette matches. These smaller caliber Winchesters are quite a pleasure to shoot. 🙂 I reload, but do not cast. 25-20 bullets are getting hard to come by unless you buy cast lead, and the bullet I favor (Speer Hot-Cor) has been discontinued for years. I have about a thousand squirreled away, but after those are gone…… 🙁
I know how you feel – a 1000 bullets sounds like a lot, but if I had them, I would hate to use them up on paper targets. If I were using them to hunt something with, I would feel much different.
I think you got a fun and decent rifle. It’s not reblued, not cut, drilled and tapped, has an octagon barrel, the bore is nice… you did just fine.
Hunting, they’d last for the rest of my life. Regular silhouette competition – not so much. 🙂 Plus – no one is making 25-20 brass any more, and reforming it from 32-20 has an unacceptable loss rate. Since the Hornady XTP bullet for 32-20 is still available, I’ve switched to that for our regular pistol caliber competitions – that, and a nice little Winchester 9422M
Good morning John,
You did well for $1000. I watched LOTS of 1892 auctions in line with my survey and have seen many POS rifles sell for a bit more than that! I would tend to agree that the butt stock may have been lightly sanded at on time but certainly nothing real obvious. Could I please get the serial number and a photo of the barrel address stamp so that I can add the gun into my data.
Thanks
Michael
Model 1892 / Model 61 Collector, Research, Valuation
I think you did very well. With only $1000 invested, the question of whether the stock has been sanded and refinished is mostly moot. You have a very nice example of a model 92 at a reasonable price.
The response from Michael (Twobit) is especially meaningful and for me, carries a lot of weight. Mike was very helpful to me in helping verify the authenticity of all of my 1892 collection. I had tried to buy ‘all original’ and authentic examples of all calibers in both rifle and carbine, keeping within my budget (no museum quality in my life). After becoming familiar with this forum, I feared that some of my early purchases were less than original.
Mike came to my aid, and through a long exchange of emails and photos, Mike convinced me that all of my collection were in fact, original. Like you, some of my early purchases from 20-30 years ago were done at $1000-$1400. My most recent 1892 acquisition was in excess of $4k! But it filled out the collection and was the hard-to-find (for me at least) 38WCF carbine.
I shoot and reload for all of my collection.
I suggest you follow through with Twobit with his request of serial number and photos. You’ll be helping in Mike’s research, which is priceless. And it’s fun!
NP
Nevada Paul
Life Member NRA
I’ve always had a love affair with the model 92’s. I bought my first carbine when I was 13 years old. It was a very fine .25-20 and cost me $40.00. I think you did well on a very nice gun at $1000.00. Worth twice that in my opinion. I know you couldn’t find that gun in Greeley or Cody at that price.
twobit said
Good morning John,You did well for $1000. I watched LOTS of 1892 auctions in line with my survey and have seen many POS rifles sell for a bit more than that! I would tend to agree that the butt stock may have been lightly sanded at on time but certainly nothing real obvious. Could I please get the serial number and a photo of the barrel address stamp so that I can add the gun into my data.
Thanks
Michael
Sure thing – Serial number is 533128 Pic is below – BTW, I have a total of 8 92’s in my collection. If you want info on them for your survey let me know.
John D. said
twobit said
Good morning John,
You did well for $1000. I watched LOTS of 1892 auctions in line with my survey and have seen many POS rifles sell for a bit more than that! I would tend to agree that the butt stock may have been lightly sanded at on time but certainly nothing real obvious. Could I please get the serial number and a photo of the barrel address stamp so that I can add the gun into my data.
Thanks
Michael
Sure thing – Serial number is 533128 Pic is below – BTW, I have a total of 8 92’s in my collection. If you want info on them for your survey let me know.
Good morning John,
If you could send me a series of photos of each of your other Model 1892’s I would LOVE to add them into my data. My email is [email protected]
Thanks so much for the help
Michael
Model 1892 / Model 61 Collector, Research, Valuation
twobit said
John D. said
twobit said
Good morning John,
You did well for $1000. I watched LOTS of 1892 auctions in line with my survey and have seen many POS rifles sell for a bit more than that! I would tend to agree that the butt stock may have been lightly sanded at on time but certainly nothing real obvious. Could I please get the serial number and a photo of the barrel address stamp so that I can add the gun into my data.
Thanks
Michael
Sure thing – Serial number is 533128 Pic is below – BTW, I have a total of 8 92’s in my collection. If you want info on them for your survey let me know.
Good morning John,
If you could send me a series of photos of each of your other Model 1892’s I would LOVE to add them into my data. My email is [email protected]
Thanks so much for the help
Michael
Sent you a gallery link of another one of mine. I’ll get the rest ASAP. Any specific things you want photographed?
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