Not my First 92, but my First .357
Posted: 06 May 2022 21:55
Greetings.
The last couple years I've been wanting a lever carbine in .357, especially since I got a S&W M66 a couple months ago and have been handloading for it.
Most places I've lived (Alaska, Montana, Wyoming ) had grizzlies and other large critters, so I stuck with calibers like .44 Magnum, .45-70 and .338 magnum.
Now that I've retired to the desert (and gotten older), I've found more use for the .38 Special and .357.
A guy was selling a stainless R92 with 16" barrel. I met up with him and bought it.
He is 77, and had a broken collarbone that doesn't like the metal buttplate on the carbine, and eyes were bad too.
He bought a Triple Black and mounted a red dot on it, and likes the rubber recoil pad it came with, so he decided to sell the stainless carbine. He said he only shot it a few times.
He had ordered an anodized mag follower, a SS saddle ring, stainless filler screws ( for when you remove the rear sight to mount the rail), and the short 1 slot rail, but he never put any of that on.
Saves me from having to order a mag follower.
I was hoping that this was one of the new CBC Rossis but it is marked BrazTech.
It is so much smoother cycling that the other two .45 Colt Rossi's I've had, I doubt I'll meed to do any work on it.
The ejector spring and hammer spring aren't overly heavy either which helps it seem smoother.
The old guy said all he did to the gun was push the gate in and smooth around the gate with some fine sandpaper.
Trigger is good, as is the wood to metal fit, except for where the wood is shy along the upper tang.
I fired a few dozen of my "Lite" .357 loads on the drive home, cycles great, sights were dead on and fun to shoot except for the short LOP and deep buckhorn.
The stock finish needs some help though. You can see where the stock is lighter in color where hands have been holding it.
Gonna strip (shouldn't be too hard, there's not much there)) and use Watco Danish medium Walnut and then BLO.
You can see some grain, straight dark tick marks like a Marlin Black Walnut stock has. I want the stock to be darker, but not so dark that the dark grain disappears.
And when I take the tube apart to put in the new anodized follower, I'll clean and polish the inside of the tube and check the spring length. One of these days I'll order an aftermarket SS spring.
The only other thing I don't like is how square the leading edge of the barrel band on the fore end is.
When I have it off I'll radius that front edge of the band.
I'm looking forward to working up some loads with this Trapper.
I've been using W231, Universal, HS-6 and A#7 in the 4 inch handgun, I'll need to get a slower powder now that I have a "long" barrel.
The last couple years I've been wanting a lever carbine in .357, especially since I got a S&W M66 a couple months ago and have been handloading for it.
Most places I've lived (Alaska, Montana, Wyoming ) had grizzlies and other large critters, so I stuck with calibers like .44 Magnum, .45-70 and .338 magnum.
Now that I've retired to the desert (and gotten older), I've found more use for the .38 Special and .357.
A guy was selling a stainless R92 with 16" barrel. I met up with him and bought it.
He is 77, and had a broken collarbone that doesn't like the metal buttplate on the carbine, and eyes were bad too.
He bought a Triple Black and mounted a red dot on it, and likes the rubber recoil pad it came with, so he decided to sell the stainless carbine. He said he only shot it a few times.
He had ordered an anodized mag follower, a SS saddle ring, stainless filler screws ( for when you remove the rear sight to mount the rail), and the short 1 slot rail, but he never put any of that on.
Saves me from having to order a mag follower.
I was hoping that this was one of the new CBC Rossis but it is marked BrazTech.
It is so much smoother cycling that the other two .45 Colt Rossi's I've had, I doubt I'll meed to do any work on it.
The ejector spring and hammer spring aren't overly heavy either which helps it seem smoother.
The old guy said all he did to the gun was push the gate in and smooth around the gate with some fine sandpaper.
Trigger is good, as is the wood to metal fit, except for where the wood is shy along the upper tang.
I fired a few dozen of my "Lite" .357 loads on the drive home, cycles great, sights were dead on and fun to shoot except for the short LOP and deep buckhorn.
The stock finish needs some help though. You can see where the stock is lighter in color where hands have been holding it.
Gonna strip (shouldn't be too hard, there's not much there)) and use Watco Danish medium Walnut and then BLO.
You can see some grain, straight dark tick marks like a Marlin Black Walnut stock has. I want the stock to be darker, but not so dark that the dark grain disappears.
And when I take the tube apart to put in the new anodized follower, I'll clean and polish the inside of the tube and check the spring length. One of these days I'll order an aftermarket SS spring.
The only other thing I don't like is how square the leading edge of the barrel band on the fore end is.
When I have it off I'll radius that front edge of the band.
I'm looking forward to working up some loads with this Trapper.
I've been using W231, Universal, HS-6 and A#7 in the 4 inch handgun, I'll need to get a slower powder now that I have a "long" barrel.