Having several scoped guns, I decided I could use a faster action open sighted gun for closer ranges (less than 100 yards) to make a quick second shot if needed to help my kids when hunting. I use to own a fairly recent production Marlin Cowboy in 45 Colt and liked that I could mount a scope on it over the bore, but was very unsatisfied with the poor fit and finish it had, the drastically over sized chamber that lead to swollen cases, and the less than desirable accuracy I got from it.
While I still liked leverguns, I stopped messing with them in terms of a hunting rifle since I was not satisfied with what was being made today, although I still enjoy my older Marlin 39A which I like...but now that I wanted an unscoped gun, what better gun could one use than a levergun? I didn't want to try another 45 by Marlin. My research began and I understand Rossi is making some nice lever actions that can be reworked into very nice guns. Visiting our local shop, they had two of the new Winchesters 1892 (Miroku) in stock in 45 Colt. Both were take-downs. I worked the action of the Trapper (16" barrel) and the other one (a 24"er), and found both to be very nice, but the 16" Trapper was just perfect. This dealer has both of these fine guns in a special gun room (not his normal display area), so very few people have seen or handled either of them. According to Winchester, this particular model has produced in 2010, so after some talking, we worked out an agreeable bargain and I brought the 16" Trapper home. While I may be mistaken, I figured the fast and light weight 16" version of this rifle would harness most of the ballistics the pistol cartridge could offer...so why go with 24". Plus, I wanted this gun for fast action shooting should either of my children have a less than perfect primary shot on game. I believe this large diameter bore and short barrel combo weighs less than 6 pounds, so hopefully I should be able to swing this rifle onto its target plenty quick when the need arises. At only 32" from tip to tip, it is certainly the lightest and smallest adult rifle I own.
Fit and finish is OUTSTANDING. In fact, that may be an understatement. This gun is assembled just as nice as ANY lever action I have ever seen. Yes, it does have the tang safety and rebound hammer, but as long as they work reliably I am ok with that. I would prefer the half cock safety design as that design was flawless, reliable, and safe...and only required full cocking and pulling the trigger to go into action instead of this more recent "safer" three step process (disengage safety, cock hammer, pull the trigger). As long as this "improved safety" seems to be free of major inconveniences proves to be functional, reliable, and safe...as they have been so far...I can accept these newly designed safety features just fine. If not, I will have a competent gunsmith replace them with the older half cock system. I would like to say I do however prefer the tang safety over the cross bolt safety that is now seen in the Marlin leverguns. The trigger pull on this 1892 is nice and breaks cleanly, although I would prefer it be a bit lighter in pull (as expected on a new rifle).
Shooting some full house Ruger loads (H110) I was very pleased to see the chamber in this gun is not over-sized like my Marlin was. I have more accuracy testing to do, but was very pleased with the grouping in terms of windage. From 30 yards, all my shots would have been able to touch a vertical line, as a string hanging below the bull-eye. The gun seems true and consistent. I made some adjustments to the elevation rear sight to bring my point of impact up, which brought the bullet's impact closer to the bullseye, although still a little low (again dead on in terms of windage). I still had room to raise the rear sight another two positions, but instead of doing so I modifying my sight picture some by altering where I placed the front bead in the rear semi-buckhorn sight when obtaining my sight window...but doing so brought the impact up to bull's eye. Backing up to 50 yards, the firearm still hit dead center in terms of windage, and I am learning how to use the buckhorn to control my elevation by placing the front bead at different levels relative to the little V in the bottom of the buckhorn rear sight. This guns is showing promise, and I am very pleased.
Recoil with this very light weight and fast action levergun with the crescent steel butt plate and full house loads can be stout after a few rounds if just wearing a T-shirt, so I made a leather shoulder pad and leather strap. Inside the leather is a 1/2" piece of soft rubber, which does not contact the firearm as there is a piece of leather in front of the rubber pad as well.
More shooting and pictures to come (including take down photos). This gun is VERY simple to take-down and clean.
