I went to a gunshow today looking for something " interesting". I ran into a nice older fellow with a Winchester 1894 chambered in 25-35. It has a 26" octagon barrel and was made in 1911. I looked it over and it has a pretty good bore, nice wood, smooth even patina, not beat up or messed with ar all. He also stated he had another 1894 just like it chambered 38-55 in his car made in 1897 and asked if I wanted to see it. I said YES! The bore on the 38-55 looked a little on the rough side, dark but I could see rifling. To make a long story short we struck up a deal and I bought both of them!
After spending some time with the 38-55 after I got home the bore isn't quite as bad as I had thought. It's still dark with scattered pitting but the rifling is strong. Hopefully I can get it to shoot. After doing a little reading it seems the 38-55 Winchesters the bores are a bit over sized. What diameter bullets should I order to get me started? I'll load some photos of the rifles later as I know we all like photos.