Winchester 1892 Made By Browning in Japan

[Uno Mas SASS #80082]

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I've been offered a Winchester branded 1892 on the intrawebs. It is NIB, of recent manufacture, apparently made by Browning's Miroku factory in Japan. From the pictures it looks gorgeous, with the classic forearm cap that I don't think is available on the 20" clones. There's a 44 Mag available if I want to go that way instead of the .357.

 

Anybody out there have any experience/ opinions about the Japanese '92s? Smoothness, speed, accuracy, true to the original, etc? Thoughts? And are they worth the $800+ being asked?

 

Thanks! And have a Merry Christmas!

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

Uno,

 

The guns manufactured by Mirouku in Japan are very well made. The machine work is excellent and overall quality is second to nobody. However, the '92 has lots of extras that make it a pain to tune. Rebounding multi piece firing pin, tang safety, all sorts of modern lawyer legal stuff. They look OK from 6 feet, but close up, not so swell (tang safety).

The build quality is worth the money, but not so swell for what we do. Unless you really don't care about the lawyer legal tang safety and such.

 

Coffinmaker

[Dipstick]

The Miroku's are the best reproduction 92 out there but I personally would not shell out that much for a 92. If you are going to use it for CAS there are better rifle choices, again just my opinion.

[Snakebite]

Probably the best 92 ever made.

 

Snakebite

[Henry McKenna #700L]

When I first entered the sport there were not many rifles to choose from and Browning had recently discontinued their B-92 that they had made in 357 and 44 Mag. I found one, a 44 magnum, in a gun shop in the High Desert and bought it for $300. This was 1988. It was good for many cowboy matches and digested the 44 Specials almost as reliably as the longer rounds, with an occasional hang-up on the last fired casing. This one has no tang safety.

It is long since retired from CAS in favor of a 73 repro but still remains useful.

My daughter shot her first deer with it a few years ago and took it hunting again just this week. The 92 is much stronger than the 73 and the 44 magnum is a very veritile round in and of itself.

It is fun to have dedicated CAS guns but more practical to own guns that potentially have other uses. The B-92 or its decendant Winchester, both made in Japan, are very practical and useful guns to have around.

[Grizzly Adams 3674]

The Miruku made 92s are excellent quality, and the best ever made IMHO - and I don't even like 92s! That said, the Winchester marked versions do have some features, as noted by CM, that spoil the soup for many. If you can find one, the Browning marked B92, which is was also produced by Miruku, has none on the add ons and is a superb 92.

[Driftwood Johnson, SASS #38283]

The best ever made? Not hardly.

 

Winchester Model 1892 Rifle made in 1894

 

Wincester Model 1892 Carbine, made in 1919

 

Sorry, I just had to add that. Yes, the Miroku made '92s are very good. Just not quite as good as an original.

[Guest Joe West, SASS#1532 L Regulator]

My 2cents. I have a '92 first year carbine. I had a Mirouku/Browning '92 pre tang safety.I kept the original winchester through some pretty bad times. I have worked on many of all types of 92's. The current Japanese '92 is very good.It's design is a little different. The quality is excellent. It's worth the money IMHO. But if you can find a decent price original, that's a better buy. the original has real long term value and they shoot great.

Joe

[Nate Kiowa Jones #6765]

The Miroku's are the best reproduction 92 out there but I personally would not shell out that much for a 92. If you are going to use it for CAS there are better rifle choices, again just my opinion.

 

 

Probably the best 92 ever made.

 

Snakebite

 

 

I somewhat disagree. The Browning version is most diffenetly the best 92 ever made. It was as close as it gets to the original 92 but made with modern steel. The Winchester version also made by Miruko is finely finished but with all the add-on lawyer parts, tiny little springs and a sack of other useless parts they aren't my favorite choice. They can be made to work but most of that junk has to be removed and replaced with original style parts. Sort of like trying to make a race car of a late model car with all the EPA junk in it. the first thing that gets sheet canned is that EPA junk. That's what I do. I use Rossi parts to make them race.

 

On a side note, one of the most common mistakes people do when working a 92 action is to reduce the carrier detent spring. This does allow the carreir to rise much easier but it also makes them more likely to stove pipe because the carrier will fall much easier as well. The Brownings were setup right but for some reason the Win/miruko version had detent springs that were too light making the gun prone to stovepipe.

I have had several of the Win/Miruko 86's here, too. With the lawyered up fire control parts in those right out of the box many of them would not consistantly fire.

Here's one I converted to all original style fire control parts, welded up the tamg safety and had it color-cased.

 

NEW/OLD WINCHESTER 86 EL

 

NEW/OLD WINCHESTER 86 EL

 

 

DJ,

I too have several original 92's. Over the years I've also owned and work several of the originals that were converted to 44mag and 357m. What I've learned from that is the pre WWI guns had iffy metal. The post WWI guns were much better. But none of come close to the precisely made Browning version.

[Yellowhouse Sam # 25171]

I somewhat disagree. The Browning version is most diffenetly the best 92 ever made. It was as close as it gets to the original 92 but made with modern steel. The Winchester version also made by Miruko is finely finished but with all the add-on lawyer parts, tiny little springs and a sack of other useless parts they aren't my favorite choice. They can be made to work but most of that junk has to be removed and replaced with original style parts. Sort of like trying to make a race car of a late model car with all the EPA junk in it. the first thing that gets sheet canned is that EPA junk. That's what I do. I use Rossi parts to make them race.

 

On a side note, one of the most common mistakes people do when working a 92 action is to reduce the carrier detent spring. This does allow the carreir to rise much easier but it also makes them more likely to stove pipe because the carrier will fall much easier as well. The Brownings were setup right but for some reason the Win/miruko version had detent springs that were too light making the gun prone to stovepipe.

I have had several of the Win/Miruko 86's here, too. With the lawyered up fire control parts in those right out of the box many of them would not consistantly fire.

Here's one I converted to all original style fire control parts, welded up the tamg safety and had it color-cased.

 

NEW/OLD WINCHESTER 86 EL

 

NEW/OLD WINCHESTER 86 EL

 

 

DJ,

I too have several original 92's. Over the years I've also owned and work several of the originals that were converted to 44mag and 357m. What I've learned from that is the pre WWI guns had iffy metal. The post WWI guns were much better. But none of come close to the precisely made Browning version.

 

I have a B92 pre-safety in 357 and its certainly made of superior steel but DJ's are more pleasing to the eye.

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

Hey UM, that is the same factory that made the '86 that I had to PRY out of your hands at RRV

Those '92's are sweet. If you get that .44, you WILL have to pry it from my hands when I get ahold of it

Cheers,

LG

[Dawg Hair, SASS #29557]

I got one in .45 LC. Got it in 1999, NIB for less than $600.00 which is considerably less than what they want for one now, and, I believe, is no longer offered in .45 LC.

 

The rifle is absolutely flawless. Definitively shoots better than I do. After several thousand rounds it is just a tad slicker than when brand new. The metal to wood fitting is very smooth, the blueing is very deep and even, and the only thing that detracts from its looks is the many dings caused by my manhandling it.

 

Miroku, as well as Howa, so the experts say, have built a reputation for very accurate barrels and smooth actions.

[Dawg Hair, SASS #29557]

Uno,

 

The guns manufactured by Mirouku in Japan are very well made. The machine work is excellent and overall quality is second to nobody. However, the '92 has lots of extras that make it a pain to tune. Rebounding multi piece firing pin, tang safety, all sorts of modern lawyer legal stuff. They look OK from 6 feet, but close up, not so swell (tang safety).

The build quality is worth the money, but not so swell for what we do. Unless you really don't care about the lawyer legal tang safety and such.

 

Coffinmaker

 

I (permanently) disable the tang safety on mine because I got tired of "accidentally" bumping it on "safe" in the middle of a match. I would like to install a tang sight in its place, but that is just one of the many projects I got on the list. I definitively agree it's just a copy of the original but compared to everything else I've seen in the matches I've been to (excepting, of course a '73), I think I got a winner (not of the match, of course).

[Driftwood Johnson, SASS #38283]

I got one in .45 LC. Got it in 1999, NIB for less than $600.00 which is considerably less than what they want for one now, and, I believe, is no longer offered in .45 LC.

 

Oh, I can't help rubbing it in. I paid less than that for my nice little Winchester Saddle Ring Carbine. And who needs 45 Colt in a rifle? Winchester sure didn't.

 

Better steel? Better, shmetter. How good does it have to be to shoot cowboy? Mine have that nice Winchester proof mark on the barrel. Good enough for me.

 

I guess I better shut up now or I may tick somebody off.

[Grizzly Adams 3674]

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, huh, DJ.

[Grizzly Adams 3674]

By the way, there is a B92 in 357 on Gunbroker now.

 

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem....?Item=207059653

 

Not mine.....

[Dawg Hair, SASS #29557]

Oh, I can't help rubbing it in. I paid less than that for my nice little Winchester Saddle Ring Carbine. And who needs 45 Colt in a rifle? Winchester sure didn't.

 

This is true. I can say that about many guns I thought about buying, could afford at the time, but can't now, like a new '94. I remember going to an old hardware/gunshop in the Back Bay area of Gulfport, Miss sometime around April 1980, and the owner had a slew of old Winchesters cheap, and I mean cheap. But I wasn't interested. No CAS then. I also remember picking up a mint condition Luger for $46.00 in Gainesville, GA in 1955 (this one I bought) and the man also had a few Civil War pistols and was asking less than that for them. My cristal ball was kinda foggy then!

You are also right about the .45 LC, but, then again, that's all I shoot in CAS, 'cept 12 GA, of course.

 

Oh, before I forget Merry Christmas and A very Healthy and Prosperous New Year, Y'all

[Boss Hoss Fly #63711]

.

I've been offered a Winchester branded 1892 on the intrawebs. It is NIB, of recent manufacture, apparently made by Browning's Miroku factory in Japan. From the pictures it looks gorgeous, with the classic forearm cap that I don't think is available on the 20" clones. There's a 44 Mag available if I want to go that way instead of the .357.

 

Anybody out there have any experience/ opinions about the Japanese '92s? Smoothness, speed, accuracy, true to the original, etc? Thoughts? And are they worth the $800+ being asked?

 

Thanks! And have a Merry Christmas!

 

 

Only one i had was a B-92 in 44mag back in the very early 80's

Cost i think bout $350

Worth ever bit

[Mustang Gregg]

LOVE THEM JAP MIROKU B-92 CARBINES!!!!

We have four of them M-1892 Miroku's in .44 mag cal (but not marked Winchester).

No one has a tang safety.

All have working half-cock hammers. No rebounding hammer system on any of them.

 

They are probably as fast as any other maker's M-1892's for SASS shooting.

 

Mustang Gregg (2)

Commissioner Gordon (1)

Amy Oakley (1)