35 Whelen
01-05-2020, 09:51 PM
For the 20+ years of my marriage I've off and on seen an old '94 Winchester in my father-in-laws gun cabinet. All I'd really noticed about it was that it was HIDEOUSLY rusted, probably from spending most of its life in humid SE Texas. Well, my FIL is in a nursing home now and asked if I wanted any of his guns. I'm pretty well set for firearms, but have always kid of sort of wanted a '94 in 30-30, and I like beat up old guns. So he said I could have it.
So I picked it up today and right away noticed that the heavy surface rust was even worse than I'd remembered. The buttstock is cracked lengthways and has been repaired with brass screws, and judging from the battered wood, it appears to have been thrown from a bucking horse (Don't ask me how I know....) but what really caught my eye was that the rear sight was a ladder-type sight. I flipped it over and noticed the 6-digit serial number began with "8". Turns out it was made in 1915.
So out to the shop we went and I began the judicious application of 0000 steel wool and Break Free CLP. Much to my surprise, none of the metal is pitted, so I lightly scrubbed until the rust could no longer be easily seen, although one can still feel it.
I expected the barrel to be hopeless, but I plugged it and filled it with Ed's Red and left it soaking while I fed the cows. When I returned I poured out the bore cleaner and began brushing it with a .30 caliber brush with a few strands of Copper Chore Boy wrapped around the brush, then dried it. To my complete surprise the bore is in relatively good condition; shiny with just a smidge of roughness and a few light pits.
Not much time before dark, but I hastily threw together a load of 17.0 grs. of AL2400 and seated some forgotten 311291's I'd cast looong ago. Man....this ol' girl can shoot! This is the first three shots at 100 yds.-
https://i.imgur.com/ttn3tVc.jpg
I found some bullets I'd cast several years ago from an NEI 308-145 mold; 155 gr. plain base FP's. I used to shoot these bullets subsonic out of a Swiss K-31 in our local reduced course High Power matches and they have always provided great accuracy.
https://i.imgur.com/gwbNOFF.jpg
Today I loaded them over 7.0 grs. of Unique in the 30-30. I had to flip the ladder sight up to get the bullets on the steel at 100 yds., but 9 shots went into a pretty decent cluster especially considering it was dusky when I shot-
https://i.imgur.com/xniX81R.jpg
Can any of you 30-30 guys suggest an good loads? As far as moulds go I have a couple of Lyman 311291's and a 311041.
Thanks!
35W
So I picked it up today and right away noticed that the heavy surface rust was even worse than I'd remembered. The buttstock is cracked lengthways and has been repaired with brass screws, and judging from the battered wood, it appears to have been thrown from a bucking horse (Don't ask me how I know....) but what really caught my eye was that the rear sight was a ladder-type sight. I flipped it over and noticed the 6-digit serial number began with "8". Turns out it was made in 1915.
So out to the shop we went and I began the judicious application of 0000 steel wool and Break Free CLP. Much to my surprise, none of the metal is pitted, so I lightly scrubbed until the rust could no longer be easily seen, although one can still feel it.
I expected the barrel to be hopeless, but I plugged it and filled it with Ed's Red and left it soaking while I fed the cows. When I returned I poured out the bore cleaner and began brushing it with a .30 caliber brush with a few strands of Copper Chore Boy wrapped around the brush, then dried it. To my complete surprise the bore is in relatively good condition; shiny with just a smidge of roughness and a few light pits.
Not much time before dark, but I hastily threw together a load of 17.0 grs. of AL2400 and seated some forgotten 311291's I'd cast looong ago. Man....this ol' girl can shoot! This is the first three shots at 100 yds.-
https://i.imgur.com/ttn3tVc.jpg
I found some bullets I'd cast several years ago from an NEI 308-145 mold; 155 gr. plain base FP's. I used to shoot these bullets subsonic out of a Swiss K-31 in our local reduced course High Power matches and they have always provided great accuracy.
https://i.imgur.com/gwbNOFF.jpg
Today I loaded them over 7.0 grs. of Unique in the 30-30. I had to flip the ladder sight up to get the bullets on the steel at 100 yds., but 9 shots went into a pretty decent cluster especially considering it was dusky when I shot-
https://i.imgur.com/xniX81R.jpg
Can any of you 30-30 guys suggest an good loads? As far as moulds go I have a couple of Lyman 311291's and a 311041.
Thanks!
35W