Question on Winchester 94

RiverRider · Mar 2, 2015

I've inherited a Winchester 94 in .30-30 in the last year. I cleaned it up and took it out and fired about a dozen rounds of ammo my dad was keeping in a shoebox, and I noticed that when fired, the lever tends to pop downward. I've had several 336s, but never a 94 so I don't know whether this is normal. I think it is not, but I'm only guessing. I'd like an answer from someone who knows for sure. I figure there's at least one or two fellers here who know. Thanks!

DrMike · Mar 2, 2015

Perfectly normal on the 94. There is a degree of play in the action. Upon firing, you are feeling the inherent looseness in the action.

RiverRider · Mar 2, 2015

Thanks DrMike. That does make sense. I guess I'll get used to it if I shoot it enough.

DrMike · Mar 2, 2015

I've owned several new Model 94s. They all start tight and are loose within a very few rounds.

Oldtrader3 · Mar 2, 2015

The rear locking lugs on the 94 bolt tend to lengthen headspace a bit after shooting many rounds of ammo. That is not an issue and is normal. Just resize to chamber length and enjoy.

RiverRider · Mar 3, 2015

I wasn't going to handload for this rifle, but maybe I will after all. I find it kind of annoying, but I think I might like to hunt hogs with this rifle. It might be just the ticket for busting through brush in the daytime.

JD338 · Mar 3, 2015

Don't overlook the 30-30 170 gr PT. It will give you all the penetration you would ever want.

JD338

Oldtrader3 · Mar 3, 2015

My .32 Special loves 36.0 gr of IMR 4064 with CCI 210 primer, 170 Speer bullet and W-W cases. Shoots groups about 2 MOA which is good for this rifle at 100 yards.

RiverRider · Mar 4, 2015

JD338":1w2mtdro said:
Don't overlook the 30-30 170 gr PT. It will give you all the penetration you would ever want.

JD338

I've never killed anything with a .30-30 other than a muskrat (might have actually been a nutria) and maybe a couple of jackrabbits, but that makes sense, JD. I've always figured the 170 would be a slammer.

The muskrat with the .30-30 is a real story though.

There was a Texas Ranger named Clayton McKinney. My uncles and grandfather knew him pretty well. He would kid around with my Uncle Fred (who was five years my senior and like a brother to me, and my handloading mentor to boot) from the time he was a kid. One morning Clayton showed up at my grandfather's Deere dealership outside El Paso. Fred was about 14 at that time and just hanging around that morning. Clayton asked him if he'd ever been handcuffed, and Fred fell for it. Clayton had just locked the cuffs on Fred and his radio started going nuts at which time he left Fred standing there in handcuffs. He showed up later that afternoon and released Fred into my grandfather's custody.

Fast forward 10 years...Clayton had been given a Ranger Commemorative Model 94, and for some reason he dropped it off with Fred and for the life of me I can't recall why (and I'll never know). I was left to my own devices at Fred's house one day and got bored, so I grabbed that 94 and crammed a few rounds in it, then walked out to the irrigation canal that was only 100 feet from the house. There swimming in the water was at least something to shoot...I'd rather have shot a jackrabbit but you just didn't see them in the daytime out in the cottonfields. So I shot the critter and took the rifle back in the house and began plotting my next misadventure.

Years later I told Fred I had done that. He just shook his head a minute and told me that everyone in the world believed that rifle was unfired. That rifle may well be in a museum somewhere now, most likely the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame in Waco. One of these days I'll drop by there and look around. If Clayton McKinney's rifle is there...well, it could be interesting.