winchester 94 30/30

Thebear_78 · May 14, 2016

I was at a buddies today and his neighbor was having a garage sale. I happened to notice a rifle buttstock sticking off the edge of one of the tables. I wondered over and saw an older Winchester 94 sitting on the table. It was pretty rusty across the reciever but the bore was brite and shiny and the insides where rust free and looked very good. At $250 dollars it seemed like a no brainer. I had been half way looking for one to get bored out to 35/30 or possibly 375 Win.

I was on my way to the range to shoot some sporting clays with my son so I picked it up. It came with a couple boxes of winchester silver box 150s. After we shot several rounds of sporting clays I swung by the 50 yard berm to test fire the 30-30. First thing I noticed was it had a surprisingly good trigger. Probably the best trigger I have felt on a lever gun. Second thing I noticed was it shot a nice tiny little cluster of bullets at 25 yards. The next several rounds chased around chips of clay pigeons on the 50 yard berm.

Its kind of like the 1911, there is something just right about a winchester 94. Its no surprise that they built a million of these things and they were such and icon.

This particular one was build in 1975. Nothing special but just feels right. Since its in pretty rough shape anyway I think I will parkerize the metal, stick a Lyman 66a appeture sight on top of it and a skinner partridge front sight. If nothing else it will be nice to stick in the closet of the truck in that odd chance I run into something worth shooting on the road. I could have used one to shoot a nice blackbear the other day.

With the cows starting to drop calves the bears have really been on the move this week. I have seen four bears just this week incuding one dandy black bear and an adolecent brown bear.

Guy Miner · May 14, 2016

Looks good! I like having a .30-30 around.

Guy

DrMike · May 14, 2016

Sounds as if you stumbled onto a bargain. Congratulations! I do love the Model 94, which does just feel right when hefted by the shooter.

RiverRider · May 14, 2016

Right place at the right time, good for you.

I've got one that was made in 1946 and belonged to my dad's brother-in-law who dropped dead at the ripe old age of 39. My dad kept it in a closet with his old Remington 17, and when we had to place him in assisted living they became mine. I think I'd rather have found them at a garage sale and my dad still be in his 50s.

BretN · May 15, 2016

That's a nice find for sure. Good luck with the project.

JD338 · May 15, 2016

Nice find, congratulations.

JD338

preacher · May 16, 2016

Nice find Uncle bear! I grew up in a "Winchester 94" family in East Texas. Pre-64s were the rule until I bought my first in '68 a Mod 94 Classic carbine. My dad called the 30-30 "the big gun" for deer and hogs. He was a WW2 vet and said the 30-06 was for "killing japs and ruining too dam- much meat on game", ha. He also got mad at me if I shot either critter through the shoulders ( we all used the 150gr). Some ranchers even shot a few rogue Brahma bulls with the '94! I never killed anything with it, but a few years ago I loaded the Hawk 190 FN in my 30-30 with a stiff charge of H335. I was getting a solid 2150 fps. I wanted to "match or better" the old Savage .303 (their 30-30 with the 190gr at 1900fps) Lots of old timers liked this bullet up North. made sense to me. Good luck to you Pard.

Thebear_78 · May 16, 2016

I've got a bunch of 170gr partitions and some lever revolution powder, should get close to 2300fps out of that combo. I imagine it would be up to the task on a blackbear or caribou. Probably wouldn't bounce off a moose either [emoji6]

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preacher · May 20, 2016

The 170 Speer Hot Cor is another great game bullet! It may as well be a Premium bullet, does a great job on hog. However, since you live "up North"...I'd like to see you work up a good load with that Hawk 190fn! ha

SJB358 · May 21, 2016

Thebear_78":1r3f0pi6 said:
I've got a bunch of 170gr partitions and some lever revolution powder, should get close to 2300fps out of that combo. I imagine it would be up to the task on a blackbear or caribou. Probably wouldn't bounce off a moose either [emoji6]

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I get 2290 out of my little 94 with combo. It's fun to carry as well.