[Malamute]

It has more to do with keeping the next rounds in the magazine from coming onto the lifter/carrier and tying up the action. Most lever actions are somewhat sensitive to overall length of the cartridges to feed properly. There are some things that can be done to change the relationship of the aprts, is the 92, there' a cartridge stop that keeps the next rounds in the tube, allowing the carrier to raise. The carrier length can be tinkerd with, in this case, it may need to be lengthened. It's a combination of the length of the cartridge on the carrier, and the interaction (timing) of the cartridge stop that determins the allowable length of the rounds it will feed. In one gun, it may have been assembled with the parts "functional", and works with the major named cartridge its chambered for (357), and they didnt care if it fed 38 spls. Some checking, and tuning of the catridge stop (having it come out to catch the next round slightly sooner, but not too soon and hang up on the cartridge on the carrier) may allow it to feed shorter cartridges. If it was set up strictly for the shorter rounds, the longer ones would hang up with the tip of the bullet still in the magazine, and unable to move up when the carrier raised. So yes, it's probably possible to get the 92 action to feed different length catridges, but the factory may not have done it, and simply not cared if shorter rounds worked. It may work OK in some guns, it may be just the luck of the draw in what parts were fitted, and how they happened to work with the shorter rounds. Some guys report their 92 copies work with spl rounds, some say they don't.

Steve of Steves Guns can likely do it, or may sell a video on how to do it. Careful examination may tell you what needs to be done. Watch the action function when operated slowly, and you may figure it out. The cartridge stop is the small spring loaded thing in the left side inside the action. When the bolt is forward, its pushed in, when the bolt opens, it comes out to stop the next round from trying to come onto the carrier, alowing it to raise without interference. When the bolt is closed, it pushes the stop in and the next round snaps back onto the carrier, ready to feed. If you decide to change anything, work very slowly and check it. It's easy to take metal off, it's harder to put it back.