I was looking at the Legacy Sports page and I saw they were making The Puma in .454 Casull and I was wonderin how this rifles action can stand the pressure of the .454. Anyone here know Because if I think it would last I might look at purchasing one of these beasts Legacy Sports

I have owned one of these since they first came out and I love it. But here is an article by Paco Kelly on thhis rifle:

Legacy 92 .454
by Paco Kelly
photography by Paco Kelly

December 15th, 2002



Would you like a 45-70 in a light, easy to carry carbine lever gun? Say six pounds...a working gun...a truck gun...a gun which is extremely versatile, unlike the 45-70? I am not knocking the 45-70...wouldn’t trade mine or its brother 45-90, for any other gun or cash! But even the Marlin 45-70 is a good size lever gun and the Winchester/Browning 1886 45-70 lever actions are very fine, but expensive, and extra large and heavy. So what is this light, compact, and powerful, wonder lever action?

It is the Legacy 92 chambered for the Freedom Arms 454 mega magnum handgun cartridge. Legacy also markets Howa bolt action rifles and other products. The Legacy lever actions are the basic John Browning 1892 design...which I have been writing about for years, especially about their strength...since they are basically a Winchester model 71 but scaled down in size, which was chambered for the very high pressure .348 cartridge (A 1930s reworked Browning 1886 design in modern steel). The 1892 was the action John Browning developed, actually scaling down the 1886 design which fired the long and powerful 40 and 45 calibers on cartridge cases that held from 60 or so to over a 100 grains of black powder. Scaled down for the old black powder 44-40/38-40/and 32-20 cartridges, the model 71/.348 came in the 1930s and was a modern high pressure, flat shooting lever action rifle. The design is sound and strong.

It was discovered when smokeless powder was introduced to the public, how strong these designs really were. As steel became better and better, stronger and more resistive to pressure, the 92 became an eventual mini-powerhouse. In the late 1970s a company called Rossi, had been reproducing the 1892 designs in many calibers and for a number of cartridges...like the .357 magnum and the 44 magnum. And for Christmas 1998 my wife bought me a Rossi rifle model ‘92 in 45 Colt, with a 24 inch barrel. Which I have been running 50,000 psi pressures in ever since. Nary a problem except one....the loading tube kept cutting the retaining screw off at the muzzle from recoil generated by the heavy loads.

I guess I am big enough to admit that I didn’t think the 92 design would take the 62,000 psi+ pressures of the Freedom Arms/Casull 454 cartridge over a sustained amount of shooting at that pressure. And I have stated that many times in print.

But so far my Legacy Puma 454 is still tight after 500+ rounds of 60 to 65,000 psi pressures, and another 250 rounds of my heavy handloads. This 92 is a little different than the others Rossi used to manufacture, now Legacy. The biggest change is what they did to the loading tube. No more screw cutting! Like the 22RF rifles that have a loading tube that has a spring rod that goes over the cartridges into the tube to give the rounds tension, so the cartridges will cycle, a scaled up version of this is on the new 454 Legacy. It opens at the muzzle with a twist and the rod is withdrawn to the loading port cut into the tube itself, so you can just drop the rounds in. I was able to get 10 .45 long Colt rounds in the tube and still close it, and it allowed nine .454 rounds. But short of getting into a war, nine rounds is certainly enough.

Also the rifle has the normal loading gate in the side of the action for loading, that way if you like the traditional approach...you have it. Obviously this is the same action Rossi used and Legacy uses now in their model 92s in other calibers, like the 357s and 44 magnums and such. Otherwise they would have left the side loading port off. That’s extra machining and cost you don’t engage in. Unless of course the actions for all calibers are made at the same time on auto-cutting machines. Also the 454 action comes from the same injection molds as the other calibers. I hear there is a special, extra heat treating, done on the 454s’ steel. But I don’t believe that either. All I can say for sure is...the gun withstood 500 very heavy loads (much better than my shoulder over 4 days). And more handloads in the 454 and heavy 45 Colt class.

It is well built...the wood is the same dark South American alter ego walnut-finished type Rossi used...and the bluing on the 454 is very, very nice. But so is it on my Legacy 357 magnum, 24" octagon barreled mod.92, with the case colored action. After all the shooting over a week and a half, we re-measured the locking lug mortises in the bolt with a 10,000ths digital capability readout, and it was absolutely the same, as with the lugs themselves. The trigger is too heavy, but if I keep it (buy it) that’s easily changed, as is slicking it up. Lets face it, this is no Browning 92! But it’s price is less than half what the last Browning I purchased in a model 92, (a .32-20). A check of the gun stores in the Tucson and Phoenix areas gave an average price for the 92/20" plain Jane 454 carbine at $400. I couldn’t find a store with the 24" mod. 454 Legacy, though the Legacy book states it has them on the market.

Overall this is a fine little carbine...it uses a cartridge that uses 30 grains of powder and under, can give on the low side power, or the power of a well handloaded 45-70 from a modern rifle. It is short, with a 13 � “ stock, 20 inch barrel, and a needed shock eating rubber recoil pad. It has a 2+ inch drop at the heel. And overall length is only 2 inches longer than a yard stick. Short, very powerful...it would take any thin-skinned animal on earth with the right load, and since every heavy skinned animal has been taken with the 454 pistol loads, the rifle will do the same and better....with the right bullet for those animals. It is fast reloading, a fast action for the second, and third, and so on shots. It fits very well in the hidden overhead in my Ranger. Mayhaps I just talked myself into keeping it.

Paco Kelly

According to my sources, the Puma has been fully tested by H.P. White labs, and came through all tests, including pressure tests, with flying colors. It just "does not compute" that any corporation would market an unsafe design in the USA in this day and age of litigation at the drop of a hat. I intend to have one as soon as I can scrape the coins together........(According th P.O. Ackley, in the 1950's, the early days of the .454 Casull, some were made on old M92 Winchester actions. It was discovered that barrels made of standard Winchester barrel steel tended to develop expanded chambers from high pressure. These barrels were then replaced with ones made of stronger steel, and no further problems ensued. Even the ones that had swollen chambers showed no signs of action damage or excessive headspace. Upon firing, straight-cased rounds tend to grip the chamber walls, and don't seem to try to move to the rear out of the chamber, even under high pressure.

[ 02-07-2003, 20:29: Message edited by: eldeguello ]