NEED HELP DECIDING WHICH MODEL 92 AS MY 1ST ONE!!!
Posted: 31 Aug 2012 14:37
Group, can you please help a newcomer?
I am looking to buy my first ever Model 92, in .44 mag - to use primarily as a pig hunting rifle where the brush can get pretty thick. I've hunted pigs with my scoped .30-06 deer rifle, and learned immediately that it is not an optimum weapon to use: too long for running through brush, too heavy to be holding in the hand for long periods, and too much scope to follow the herd after the first shot is fired and they scurry off. A semi-auto carbine or short lever action seems much better suited to the task.
Which leads me to these questions:
1) BARREL LENGTH SELECTION. I'm trying to decide between the 20" or 16" barrel. The 16" seems ideal for the quick-swinging action and brush-busting that pig hunters often must do. But my local Rossi dealer has tried to steer me away from the 16" and over to the 20", saying that the loss of accuracy and velocity is not worth the 4" length and slight weight savings. Having no experience with either rifle, I cannot judge his claims.
Typically, we are shooting the pigs at 100 yards or less. I'd imagine the 16" barrel should be able to maintain reasonable accuracy at that distance, or am I incorrect? And what about velocity? I imagine it would be less with a 16" barrel , but is the difference significant? If one can kill deer and pigs with a 7-1/2" Ruger Blackhawk .44 mag, I'd reason that a 16" barrel would be easily more than enough to get that bullet moving fast enough. Or again...am I mistaken?
2) SIGHT OPTIONS. As one ages this becomes a big issue(!), and here on the 92 I'm confronted with the same challenges. I'm now rather farsighted, and cannot see rear sights with reasonable sharpness - even the front sight on a short gun is somewhat blurry. Wearing my reading glasses makes the sights sharp but then the target is blurry! Such is old age! So, I have to use either a red dot or low-power scope on my turkey shotgun to see a sharp image and aim confidently. I'd imagine I'll need to do the same on this gun.
What are people doing on these guns for alternate sights, and does barrel length affect what options one has? Is it possible to SAFELY drill and tap the barrel to affix a scope mount in front of the receiver? I could put a red dot or 1.5x pistol scope up there. Or...are there mounts that bolt in place of the rear sight blade?
Another option, but somewhat less attractive from a far-sighted man's viewpoint, is that XS and Steve's Gunz offer ghost-rings for the rear. That might actually be enough sight for me out to 100 yards, but I don't want to remove the factory safety to install it - as here in CA that could land you in prison if anyone ever got hurt accidentally (no, I'm NOT fooling about that law).
-------------------------------
I realize that I've put two separate topics in this thread, but they do go hand-in-hand and affect each other when selecting a gun. Please bear with my ignorance on this subject, but I'm entirely new to lever-action guns. Any opinions, guidance, advice in selecting my first 92 will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks very much,
-TH
I am looking to buy my first ever Model 92, in .44 mag - to use primarily as a pig hunting rifle where the brush can get pretty thick. I've hunted pigs with my scoped .30-06 deer rifle, and learned immediately that it is not an optimum weapon to use: too long for running through brush, too heavy to be holding in the hand for long periods, and too much scope to follow the herd after the first shot is fired and they scurry off. A semi-auto carbine or short lever action seems much better suited to the task.
Which leads me to these questions:
1) BARREL LENGTH SELECTION. I'm trying to decide between the 20" or 16" barrel. The 16" seems ideal for the quick-swinging action and brush-busting that pig hunters often must do. But my local Rossi dealer has tried to steer me away from the 16" and over to the 20", saying that the loss of accuracy and velocity is not worth the 4" length and slight weight savings. Having no experience with either rifle, I cannot judge his claims.
Typically, we are shooting the pigs at 100 yards or less. I'd imagine the 16" barrel should be able to maintain reasonable accuracy at that distance, or am I incorrect? And what about velocity? I imagine it would be less with a 16" barrel , but is the difference significant? If one can kill deer and pigs with a 7-1/2" Ruger Blackhawk .44 mag, I'd reason that a 16" barrel would be easily more than enough to get that bullet moving fast enough. Or again...am I mistaken?
2) SIGHT OPTIONS. As one ages this becomes a big issue(!), and here on the 92 I'm confronted with the same challenges. I'm now rather farsighted, and cannot see rear sights with reasonable sharpness - even the front sight on a short gun is somewhat blurry. Wearing my reading glasses makes the sights sharp but then the target is blurry! Such is old age! So, I have to use either a red dot or low-power scope on my turkey shotgun to see a sharp image and aim confidently. I'd imagine I'll need to do the same on this gun.
What are people doing on these guns for alternate sights, and does barrel length affect what options one has? Is it possible to SAFELY drill and tap the barrel to affix a scope mount in front of the receiver? I could put a red dot or 1.5x pistol scope up there. Or...are there mounts that bolt in place of the rear sight blade?
Another option, but somewhat less attractive from a far-sighted man's viewpoint, is that XS and Steve's Gunz offer ghost-rings for the rear. That might actually be enough sight for me out to 100 yards, but I don't want to remove the factory safety to install it - as here in CA that could land you in prison if anyone ever got hurt accidentally (no, I'm NOT fooling about that law).
-------------------------------
I realize that I've put two separate topics in this thread, but they do go hand-in-hand and affect each other when selecting a gun. Please bear with my ignorance on this subject, but I'm entirely new to lever-action guns. Any opinions, guidance, advice in selecting my first 92 will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks very much,
-TH