Modifying the 92 for Longer OAL help.

[LeverGunner]

I have a Winchester 92 made by Miroku, in 44 Magnum. It is just about .030 shy of feeding the bullet I want to use, the RCBS 44-240-SWC. I forget the OAL measurements of what my gun will accept and the length of the loaded cartridge, without digging for my notes.

I remember once before someone had instructions on altering the 92 action to accommodate a longer OAL. The tab at the rear of the lifter will need to be ground down, but I can't recall what else.

Does anyone have a link to that thread/post?

If I modify my rifle to take a slightly longer cartridge, will it still feed Specials?

I'm just mulling this over, thanks for the help all.

[Scott Tschirhart]

I’m curious if this is possible. This is a fairly standard modification for the 94 Marlin but I don’t think I have heard of anyone doing this with a 92 Winchester pattern rifle.

[veeman]

Be safe, not sorry. Use a different bullet. That, or set your bullet deeper with a Lee FCD.

[Tycer]

On the Win94 all I needed to do was file the slot in the cartridge guides a bit further to the rear.

[Malamute]

Its relatively simple to modify the carrier for longer cartridges. The Lyman 429421 in 44 spl cases feeds fine in a stock browning 92, I wanted them to feed when loaded in magnum cases. The triangular stop on the carrier needs to be cut back slightly. Presumably the same amount as the OAL difference between the two rounds measured side by side, but I checked mine before I had that much cut back and it worked, so i stopped there. The entire task took about 15 minutes of slow work with a coarse double cut mill file with the part in a vise (one safe edge), cleaned up with a fine file. I mainly wanted to keep the cut square with the plane of the carrier shelf and square sideways, then inside corners and edges cleaned up and deburred. This did not include the removal and replacement of the carrier, which isnt that difficult.

Keith mentioned Ward Koozer was modifying Winchester 92s to 44 mag and tuning them to function with his load in the 1950s, so it wasnt exactly pushing any boundaries to do.

Cartridge length feed ability isnt changed for shorter rounds, thats done by the spring loaded cartridge stop in the left side of the receiver in front of the cartridge guide. The bolts rearward travel allows the stop to catch the next round coming out of the magazine, I havent seen any information specfic to that, but believe it can be tuned somewhat as to when it moves so shorter rounds could feed. the reported wide differences in various 92s and their ability to feed shorter rounds is what leads me to this conclusion. Steve would know for certain. At rest, the cartridge coming out of the magazine isnt against the stop on the carrier, its against the lever. As the lever and bolt move rearward, the cartridge starts moving back until it hits the stop on the carrier, the next round in the magazine having been caught by the stop in the left side of the receiver. Standard cartridge OAL is what the guns were set up for at the factory. Theres room to tune them a bit, but the factory doesnt care about some relatively obscure cast bullet and its ability to feed.

Part II. Once the stop on the carrier is adjusted to allow for a longer cartridge, we discover that the top of that longer bullet hits the top of the chamber. The cartridge guides may possibly be able to be tuned to work, though one of our guys here figured it out several years ago, forgive my not remembering who it was, but I saved the pictures. the other modification that allows longer/fatter nosed bullets to feed is making a shallow groove lengthwise in the front part of the carrier, allowing the nose of the bullet to ride slight lower. I dont believe it requires much, I havent done it to mine yet, but it was obvious the instant I tried the longer rounds in the gun after modifying the stop on the carrier. Looking at the carrier of a 94 shows a similar groove to let the nose down slightly, so its not an entirely radical concept.

As in all modifications, try to work on the least expensive or hard to replace part first. Intending to do this from way back, I bought a spare carrier for the 92 back when the gun parts company in Canada still had Browning parts. Turns out I really didnt need it, but until I started actually modifying the part I wasnt sure how much work was needed, which is very little.

My notes as I modified my Miroku/Browning 92. Dont use my numbers as anything other than an example, measure your own and figure out approximately how much change yours needs to allow the longer round to feed.

92 carrier cart length modification.jpg

Poached images of one of our esteemed members here showing modified carrier for fatter(and longer) nosed bullets to enter chamber

92 carrier 1.jpg

92 carrier 2.jpg