Winchester 1892

[Ivor Biggun]

I have recently been given A Winchester 1892 lever action rifle in 44 40 ( 44 Winchester) unfortunately it is in poor condition, it has recently been checked by a gunsmith and has been judged safe to fire.
Bore is dark with a little pitting exterior has some surface rust and very little bluing I would like to clean it up without ruining it's "Patina"
It is currently disassembled and all metal parts are soaking in a tray of Jet A1.
The serial number is # 819656.
I was wondering If any one was able to tell me when this fire arm was made. or would be able to direct me to a site where I might find this information.
My google skills are not strong
I will post some pictures when I pull the gun from the soak tray.

Cheers from New Zealand

 

[rcmodel]

http://oldguns.net/sn_php/windateslookup.php?file=win1892.dat

See this about rusty old Winchesters:
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=633232&highlight=1890

rc

 

[murdoc rose]

As rc posted your looking at around 1916. Personally I would give it a coat of oil and leave it be. Though it sounds like you may have past the point of no return already.

 

[ridgerunner1965]

pics by all means as soon as yu can. i think you did the right thing in cleaning up a piece of history and moving forward on making it a good shooting gun.