Old Winnie Range Report

[TXGunNut]

Took a few of the old girls to the range today. Newly acquired 1892 in 38WCF has a new tang sight and I have some new shooting glasses. 73, also in 38WCF, has a terrible bore but it really seems to like my latest loads. 1894 in 38-55 was a bit disappointing, think I was using the wrong aperture.

176935

[shoot-n-lead]

Nice looking girls...:D

[nagantguy]

what a trio of beauties! there will always be that difficult one in any crowd.

[wcp4570]

Very nice old Winchesters. Looks like the old 94 has some age on it as well. Nothing like owning a slice of history.

I just posted about an old 92 in 25-20 that I looked at this morning. I would like to own a 73 or 92 Winchester in 25-20 but the prices they are bringing are out of my range. If you are interested in a 25-20, its located just south of you in Hewitt. Hey I just notice you are about to break the 10k post level.

wcp

[northmn]

Really a lot of info on the 38-55 on the Marlin forum. Bores on the old ones really tend to vary. Some over 380. Also the loading data from manuals is not very usable. Good loads are generally about 9-10 grains Unique or about 21-22 grains of 4198. You probably know all that but I just thought I would mention it. My 38-55 did not shoot well until I realized that the belling die I was using did not replace the expanding die. Bullets were getting seated cock eyed. Generally using bullets of the right size and keeping the velocities within reason mine shoots very well. One manual listed a minimum load of 4198 at 25 grains and about 1500-1600 fps. My Marlin kicked out a 258 grain cast bullet at 1650 with 23.5 grains over my chronograph. I was having problems following the manual and getting too hot of loads.
38-40 would be a lot of fun. May spend the kids inheritance and get one.

DEP

[TXGunNut]

Thanks for the kind words, guys. Yes, broke above 10K last night. Interesting milestone, hope at least a few posts were helpful.
I don't think my old 94 was being difficult, she's a work in process and in spite of her rough looks she's mechanically better than most of my old rifles. She's been refinished and re-barreled. She started out as a 32-40 but was R&R'd at the Winchester factory in 1907. I'm inclined to believe the 38-55 barrel was installed at that time. As mentioned she's been refinished but her finish was apparently badly damaged before someone decided to polish out most of the damage and re-blue her.
She came with a target aperture and that's a little smaller than I can use most days, she now wears a more practical aperture. Load needs work, just scored some Unique but will try a bit more with the 3031 as well. Bore is a bit generous but the Lyman 380681 was designed with guns like her in mind.
Naw, she's not being difficult. She's patiently waiting for me to figure her out. ;-)
Still can't get over that 1873, I've posted her bore cam pics and had pretty much written her off as a shooter. Deep pits in the first several inches and the edges of the rifling are well-rounded and poorly defined for much of the length of the bore. She'll never keep up with the 1892 but will hold her own as a plinker.