Re: 'Winchesters' vs 'Winchesters' vs 'Winchesters'
Posted: 05 Sep 2018 12:39
I can't dispute anything Steve has said. I've had my .38/.357 R92 for going on four years and love it. I've spent countless hours tweaking, tuning, refining, and refinishing it. (After all, this is a hobby, isn't it?) And, for the $485 I paid for it, I went in regarding it as a "kit" waiting to be made into something great.
While I won't quibble over some minor design points or deviations from the original Winchester 92, I always have been disappointed that Rossi chose not to duplicate the original frame profile. I've examined countless original Winchester 92s at gun shows, but none was in a condition close to what I'd be proud to own and all were priced a good deal higher than what I'd be willing to pay.
Then, late last winter, I was lucky enough to purchase an as-new-in-box .44 magnum Browning B-92 for $930. It's absolutely gorgeous and has the correct frame profile. Fit and finish of internal and external parts is beyond anything Winchester could have done between 75 and 100-something years ago. It also is made by Miroku. Unlike the Winchester-branded 92 from the same factory, though, it does not have the tang safety or rebounding hammer. Mechanically it's as close the the original as the Rossi, both differing only with coil springs where flat springs were once used.
How do they compare? I don't bother. I'm happy to have both. They both function perfectly. I shoot only cast bullet reloads and have put thousands through the Rossi and a little over a thousand through the Browning.The Rossi has a slight edge in accuracy, but both are more than adequate for my needs.
While I won't quibble over some minor design points or deviations from the original Winchester 92, I always have been disappointed that Rossi chose not to duplicate the original frame profile. I've examined countless original Winchester 92s at gun shows, but none was in a condition close to what I'd be proud to own and all were priced a good deal higher than what I'd be willing to pay.
Then, late last winter, I was lucky enough to purchase an as-new-in-box .44 magnum Browning B-92 for $930. It's absolutely gorgeous and has the correct frame profile. Fit and finish of internal and external parts is beyond anything Winchester could have done between 75 and 100-something years ago. It also is made by Miroku. Unlike the Winchester-branded 92 from the same factory, though, it does not have the tang safety or rebounding hammer. Mechanically it's as close the the original as the Rossi, both differing only with coil springs where flat springs were once used.
How do they compare? I don't bother. I'm happy to have both. They both function perfectly. I shoot only cast bullet reloads and have put thousands through the Rossi and a little over a thousand through the Browning.The Rossi has a slight edge in accuracy, but both are more than adequate for my needs.