So my dad recently came into possession of one of these (stock pic because getting a nice picture of the one we have would be a pain). We'd like to know the year it was made but the serial number begins with an L instead of simply being six digits like literally every other serial number I can find on one of these things.
This website (winchestercollector.org
Is the L treated differently? Like am I supposed to just enter the following 5 digits without it? Is it even actually an L and instead a 1 placeholder? I guess maybe a stupid question because the website yields a result if the L is entered, but it's just strange.
So my dad recently came into possession of one of these (stock pic because getting a nice picture of the one we have...
Other urls found in this thread:
winchestercollector.org
twitter.com
What’s it chambered for?
.38
well, ur sitting on a fucking goldmine
Heh, would be cool.. but I fucked around with that site some more. I think when there are letters, it's busted. If you head a number off with a letter, doesn't even matter what letter, it always says 1892... even if you do something like T23434242. It's very strange, because you can get it to give a "no date" answer by just doing a ridiculous number like 2394828234, but not when the first character is a letter.
If I replace the L with a 1, it says it's a 1901. I haven't found anything definitive that says that the L's were placeholder 1s though, but that seems more realistic.
Another thing, I know that later productions were dubbed "Model 92" instead of "Model 1892" for marketing reasons. This gun does in fact have "Model 1892" on it. I don't know where the cut off for that is, however.
Why couldn't they just stamp the year of production on these things..
Hang on. Lemme go grab my red book.
When you say it's chambered in ".38" does it say .38 WCF or just .38?
They changed from 1892 to 92 in the early 20s
.38 WCF
u have a big $ rifle
.38-40
Try looking up the serial number again but instead of L put a 1. It might be an inverted number punch or something
>getting a nice picture of the one we have would be a pain
i call bullshit. literally take out your phone.
Okay. According to the Red Book and a forum post by the co-author, the "L" simply denotes the start of the run and is not actually part of the serial number. Omit it when you enter the rifle's serial number to get its year of manufacture.
>source winchestercollector.org
The "L" prefix apparently first appeared around serial number 100,000 and ran consistently until serial number 200,000, when they switched to a "C" prefix for a short time. This means your rifle was made no earlier than about 1899 (1 January 1899 saw production of rifle #103329).
Not necessarily. Assuming it's the standard 1892 Sporting Rifle (round 24" barrel full length mag crescent butt straight stock), its value is between $1171 for 60% condition and $8675 for 98%+ condition. Since there are very damn few 90%+ condition 92's left, from any year, I'm gonna guesstimate his rifle is worth under $4500.
Oh ok. Yeah I was hoping it would be an earlier window than that so I could use that as evidence for one of the years the site was giving me. Appreciate it.
Well, can't sell it unfortunately. Cool to know though. But are you saying it's an actual 1892 production or is 1900-1910 big buck range too? I'm super curious what the L's actually indicate.
Gives 1901.
I said I couldn't take a 'nice' picture. Like I don't have a good gun photoshoot spot in my house lol.
Put it in the bathtub and turn on all the lights.
Bathrooms are usually the best lit room and the white of the tub helps.
Hmm, it's giving me 1896 with just the five digit number after the L (I would just give the serial number so you could see yourself but I'm not knowledgeable enough to know if that's a dumb thing to do or not).
Well I mean, there it is. Is there an actual reason for me to do that? I don't really wanna explain to my dad why I'm taking it into the bathroom.
Okay upon re-reading the thread I linked you, that "L" is actually supposed to be a 1, so your original 1901 is likely correct.
Shame it isn't in better shape though. Any cracks in the stock or big gouges? Judging by the total lack of bluing on the receiver it's only about a 50-60% gun but the lighting's way too bad to see the condition of the wood or barrel.
Receivers always lack bluing
No. It's common, especially in '92s since they tended to get used a lot and had a period where they switched to a high nickel content steel for the receiver but hadn't adjusted their bluing so it flaked, but not "always".
Hence why the 100% price increase between an 80% and a 90% gun.
No significant damage, though it has no lack of small scratches (and idk if you could see from the pic but a few of the screws on the receiver are fucked up). But uh, it seems to be fully functioning. I'm not going to try to take it apart before educating myself better, but unless the firing pin is broken, it's in perfect working condition.
I can try to take a better picture of something specific with a flash if you want, but I rly don't wanna fuck with my bathtub lol.
Yeah the fucked up screws are really common.
Pic related are three of mine, from bottom to top roughly 70%, 80%, and 95%
Also, in case you're interested, here are the values from the Red Book
And grading criteria
Mmm, yeah, it's pretty tarnished in comparison huh. The wood seems to be in good condition though, comparing it to the top and middle one.
Makes sense, it's been in an old leather carrying case sitting out in muh grandpappy's unairconditioned house extension/laundry room storage area for god knows how long. Maybe it'd look better after a cleaning..? Same thing there though, not fucking around with that until I know what I'm doing, if I ended up damaging it I'd probably commit seppuku.
What does your book say about the 25-20 models? I’ve got a 1920 produced 25-20 Model 92 that has seen better days
Your receiver isn't "tarnished", it's patina'd because there's no bluing left. As I said previously, this is common with 92s due to a combination of hard use and their bluing formula flaking off the high-nickel-content receivers. I have a couple in similar shape as well.
Don't use anything actually caustic or abrasive to clean it. No brass brushes on the outside, no bronze/steel wool, no Butch's Bore Shine/Sweet's 7.62/etc. Stick with a CLP you trust, and finish with some form of preservative (I use either Snake Oil or Birchwood Casey's Barricade since both have wax in them that provides a phsyical barrier to the elements)
>.25-20
My man, that's my favorite levergun round.
>barrel band
Saddlering carbine, I'm assuming? Gimme a sec and I'll snap a pic for you.
Bah, that's a shitty format.
Hopefully this won't rotate.
Yep, saddle ring. Do you reload 25-20? I want to get into shooting this thing but don’t want to pay $1.25 a round
Previous owner scratched his drivers license number in the stock and on the other side of the receiver
Cool, appreciate the advice.
I do. You looking for plinking tier or full power? Bullets are a bitch to cast because they're so small and you're a bit limited on commercial options, but they are available and the brass lasts a good long time even with full power loads.
god damn fudds ugh
This is my new shooter/Cowboy Action load. 65gr Lyman #257420 mould homecast. They're slow as shit but very quiet with basically no recoil.
Regardless of its condition it only cost me $50 for the rifle and $30 for some aluminum foil and ballistol to soak the rifle in, and after three or four days submerged all of the rust and grime was either gone or had stopped actively rusting
I don’t reload anything at all currently but I’d like to start with just some mild plinking loads. The bore of this thing isn’t bad but there is some pitting near the muzzle that might affect accuracy. I just want to be able to shoot it to experience it and if it’s accurate enough it’ll be fun to put holes in paper and dirt
I’m a brainlet, what do the numbers on the chart mean?
>forgot pic
god damn fags ugh
>Previous owner scratched his drivers license number in the stock and on the other side of the receiver
Dear lord why.
Why any personal identification of any kind and then why his lisence number of all things? I'm fuckin shook, I can't conceive any reason anyone would ever do that.
You're like a child protective services agent for this gun dude.
>I’m a brainlet, what do the numbers on the chart mean?
Value, in USD, per grade. The small numbers in between represent the price jump between grades.
So, let's say your rifle is roughly at 60% overall grade (which may be a bit of a stretch). Your gun has no special/rare/special-order features. So you'd find the 60% column and run down to the .25-20 entry, for a value of about $2180.
Personally I'd rate your rifle as somewhere between 40-55% grade, so I personally would value it somewhere between $1600-1850. But since we jump from 30% to 60% due to the book being mainly about collector value and 30% is there mainly to be a baseline, that's a ballpark guess.
The book's also been out about 3 years now and the '92 market has kinda gone flat, so it may be lower than that. But, as always, it's a collector gun so it's worth whatever someone's willing to pay for it. If you were to throw it in the next RIA regional auction it may go for $800, it may go for $3800.
>it only cost me $50 for the rifle and $30 for some aluminum foil and ballistol
>I personally would value it somewhere between $1600-1850
Nice score user!
Cool, thank you. I’m going to save this info so that once I get around to it I’ll have a base of something to start with
I don’t know, he was the father in law of a guy who was already like 80. It would be cool looking up the number and learning about the guy
Ah ok, it makes sense now. And 40%-55%? Really? That even seems high, I was thinking like 10% or something
As much as I think it’s cool and like it I’m not gonna lie and say I haven’t considered flipping it for something else. I briefly thought about a .218 Bee conversion but I don’t think that’s smart. Maybe if the barrel was absolutely trashed but it isn’t
Read what constitutes the 30% here Basically as long as it's functional and isn't missing like the entire forend, it's at least 30%.
Oh also, you said you have pitting in the bore near the muzzle. Don't use bare lead bullets, or you'll spend the rest of eternity trying to get the lead fouling out.
Hornady makes a 60gr jacketed flatpoint that isn't too expensive. Speer also has a 75gr FP bullet, though it's a little more expensive, and published load data gets it to over 2000fps from a 20" barrel if you're looking to actually shoot animals with it. And then Remington produces the OG 86gr jacketed flatpoint as a reloading component as well.
>Why any personal identification of any kind and then why his lisence number of all things?
In the 50s and 60s, that was the recommended way of marking your property. Police department used to have a scratch-up-your-possessions day, where you could bring in anything you owned to get your license number engraved on it. Back then, engravers were serious pieces of industrial machinery that took skill and nerve to operate. Not an undertaking for the fainthearted.
But, on the other hand, anybody could walk into a hardware store and buy a pound of powdered calcium cyanide for killing gophers.