Taylor’s & Company 1892 Alaskan Takedown

Shooting

The photo rifle was supplied with a red dot sight but my rifle only had the irons. This is fine though because it’s how I’d carry a gun like this. I shot a few groups at 50 yards and found the .357 Magnum to be easy to handle in the rifle. I’ve found the .44 Magnum tends to thump a surprising amount so this was a nice change. I ran some .38 Special loads through it also and found they fed just fine. Often .38s will toss one out of the top since they are shorter, but the Alaskan handled them nicely.

Some sample velocities were 1,112 fps for a Black Hills 125-grain JHP .38 Special load (919 fps from a 4″ revolver I had handy); 1,723 fps for a Hornady 125 Critical defense .357 (1,354 from the revolver); 1,518 for an interesting Federal 180-grain Castcore FP .357 lead load (1,114 out of the revolver) and a very fun 810 fps from a Black Hills .38 Special wadcutter (683 fps from the revolver). I shot other .357 loads too and the rifle managed things just fine, with groups hovering in that 1.5″ to 1.75″ range usually with velocities 200 to 300 fps faster in the rifle than in the revolver with most .357 loads. With a bullet constructed for higher velocities (like a Barnes or hard cast), this is an effective deer or pig rifle.

Great accuracy came from most loads, with the Black Hills 125-grain JHP .38 Special with a 1.35″ 50-yard group among the best. It also liked the BH 148 wadcutter and it was easy and great fun to shoot them into consistent 1.5″, also at 50. What a great rabbit load it would be, or used to teach new shooters about lever guns. I also found I could wang my 80-yard torso gong in the center chest easily off-hand with any load, and the heavy 180 Federal load really thumped it.

In typical lever action fashion, I did find the loading gate to be a bit nippy and had I kept this rifle, I’d likely have stoned a couple of sharp edges down. But, you can avoid issues by pushing in a round but leaving it sticking out a bit, then pushing it into the magazine tube with the next round — repeat as needed. I use my little finger to push the final one in.