Winchester 94

treebutcher

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I have a winchester leaver action 94, no barrel or mag tube just the action. It was chambered in 30 30 so I want to build a rifle around this action (Just to be different). I have been thinking about using a different caliber but most information I have found on the web warns against this. Ideally I would use 357 mag but I'm not sure it would cycle without rebuilding all the internals.

Anybody ever try a build on a winchester 94?
 
I believe the elevator that moves the cartridge from the tube up to the chamber would be a bit too long. Also the bolt may not fit the cartridge rim. If I were you I would just go with the 30-30 and if wanting a 357mag then sell the 30-30 and buy a 357mag.
 
Winchester chambered the 94 in .44 Magnum for many years, so you should be okay. It has a case length of 1.285" and an OAL maximum of 1.610", vs the .357's case length of 1.290" and OAL of 1.590". The .30-30 is quite a bit longer, which is why Winchester made the 94, as the 92 action wasn't long enough.

Due to the substantial difference in rim size (0.506" for the .30-30 and .444 on the .357 Magnum), you will also be making a new bolt, extractor, and cartridge stop.

If you are up to the challenge, I say go for it!
 
Many of the parts in the action are specifically for that caliber round. You can get all of the parts to put that gun back together, there are tons of parts on EBAY. I bought an abused Marlin 30/30 last year for almost nothing, got the crazy idea to build a CAR(Cowboy Assault Rifle) out of it. Added a black synthetic stock, shortened the barrel and mag tube, and added a tactical rail and optic to the top of it. Completely impractical, but it was a fun project.
 
Many of the parts in the action are specifically for that caliber round. You can get all of the parts to put that gun back together, there are tons of parts on EBAY. I bought an abused Marlin 30/30 last year for almost nothing, got the crazy idea to build a CAR(Cowboy Assault Rifle) out of it. Added a black synthetic stock, shortened the barrel and mag tube, and added a tactical rail and optic to the top of it. Completely impractical, but it was a fun project.
Did you do a thread on your build? I would love to have seen pictures as it developed.

Thanks guys right now I'm going to turn a 44 mag dummy round and see how difficult it would be to make it feed properly. I'm now thinking sticking with 30-30 might be the best option
 
Did you do a thread on your build? I would love to have seen pictures as it developed.

Thanks guys right now I'm going to turn a 44 mag dummy round and see how difficult it would be to make it feed properly. I'm now thinking sticking with 30-30 might be the best option

The .30-30 is a very good round! I'm more of a Marlin guy but I still keep the long actions long and short actions short. I'm thinking of converting a .45 Colt to .45acp. A bit of work but it has been done before.
 
Did you do a thread on your build? I would love to have seen pictures as it developed.

Thanks guys right now I'm going to turn a 44 mag dummy round and see how difficult it would be to make it feed properly. I'm now thinking sticking with 30-30 might be the best option

Didn't do a very good job of documenting what I did, tried to post a pic here and couldn't, suspect I'm too new(low post count).

The .30-30 is a very good round! I'm more of a Marlin guy but I still keep the long actions long and short actions short. I'm thinking of converting a .45 Colt to .45acp. A bit of work but it has been done before.

Love my Marlins, have a .44 that is a tack driver, the 30/30 CAR, and picked up a stainless .410 they built for Cabelas.
 
The .30-30 is a very good round! I'm more of a Marlin guy

I grew up with a 94 in my hands so its 90% biased on childhood memories. My hope was to build something hotter than a 22lr but less than the 30/30 however if it is too much trouble that I will leave it 30/30. I like a challenge to a point
 
30-30 rim is 0.506 dia; 357 mag is .440. This means extractor needs to be able to move 0.033" or half the difference.

I'm rebuilding a Marlin 336 into a take-down rifle in my own caliber, which is based on a .357 MAX case necked down to .30 cal. I've cut down the barrel, re-chambered, timed it and cut the extractor slot. To be honest, I've only extracted dummies, and haven't fed anything from the mag tube, but the extractor will move in far enough to engage the dummies. Live round? Don't know yet.

My long term plan is to have multiple take-down barrels. The first, as described above, will be in 30-357 DGW chambering. The second will have an octagon barrel and be in .357 Max. I will find out if it will feed .357 Mag/.38 spcl. That way, I can use the ammo I load for my revolver.

If the .38 spcl feeds, I'll build a 3rd barrel in 32-20 Win. This would enable me to shoot the loads I use in my other revolver, an old S&W hand ejector build in 1906.

If you want to save a bunch of time and want more punch, you can go with .358Win. It is basically a 30-30 necked up to take a .358 bullet. Really only a barrel change and you're off and shooting!
 
Now thats cool you should post some pictures of that. Did you do an interrupted thread for the takedown?
 
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