Winchester '94 (new) in .25-35

[trooperdan]

I just hear that Winchester was supposed to make a run of '94's chambered in .25-35; does anyone know if they actually made any? And if they did, where can I find one?

[Char-Gar]

Yes..They made em..for a review try.. www.gunblast.com I have no idea where to fine one.

[Chuck 100 yd]

A couple of guys over on Leverguns.com have them. My father in law has a 1894 .25-35 made in 1899 that I am working on getting away from him. It hasen`t ben fired since 1945.
Drool Drool!!
Chuck

[Dr. A]

:smile: I got one, and its got to be one of the two best leverguns for accuracy I've ever shot. With a healthy dose of Rel. 10 (23.5gr), I got 2300fps with the 117gr. Hornady and two deer. :smile: Unfortunately, its the only gun I have I have not located a mold for yet. The stock isn't much to look at, but the performance makes up for it. It also will do 2800fps with the Rem. 86gr. flat nose with 28gr. of Rel. 10. It also does well with Benchmark, H4895, H322, and a few others. Rel. 10 shines in this caliber.

[trooperdan]

Well, you guys that have them are lucky! I wish I had been more on the ball and paid attention when USRA started the legacy calibers. I've never had a .25-35 but it looks like a lovely caliber for varmint control and general clod bustin'!

[Bigscot]

TrooperDan,

You might want to call Ed's Guns up in Vass. He may be able to order one if there are any in the pipeline. I got one in .44 from him at the gun show in Raleigh last month. He had several but I'm not sure if he had one in that caliber.

BS

[trooperdan]

Hey bigScot

As a matter of fact, I had emailed Ed's yesterday to see if he could do that very thing! The few I've seen on the auction boards has outrageous prices attached; i don't want to pay more than retail because I am a tightwad SOB!

[9.3X62AL]

Dan--

I hear ya on the 25-35 "hungries". I spent ~5 years looking for one, after letting another one go--among the DUMBEST gun dispositions I've ever made. The example I did get in 1999 is a "flatband" Win 94, and it REALLY shoots well with the Hornady 117 RN mentioned above in this thread. I've used 27.0 x WW-760 right out of the Hornady Manual, and it shoots as well as I can hold open irons at 100 yards--1.25" to 1.5". No deer so far with the rifle, but in the environment I hunt in locally--shots at or under 100 yards--it would do fine work. It's not real challenging to build a good controlled-expansion j-word rifle bullet if impact speeds run from 1800-2300 FPS.

I have used the NEI 114 grain flatnose in this rifle, and it does fine work as long as velocities are kept below 1600 FPS. I'm assuming the 25-35 is much like the 6.5 x 55 with cast boolits--that STEEP rifling twist (1-8") does evil things to castings as speed increases. These loads are accurate and lethal on jackrabbits to 100 yards, a little bit of a rainbow trajectory.......but still very useful.

Dr. A--MANY THANKS for the Reloder-10 info--I've always thought one of those 25-20 bullets could do good work in this caliber, I gotta try that recipe out!

[Dr. A]

http://www.gmdr.com/levern/2535-86sp.htm

Deputy Al,

This is Greg Mushial's data. This is from a rebarreled Marlin. The twist is slower than the current and past 25-35's. Amazingly, the data is fairly close from my 20 in. gun to his 24 in. William Iorg's data closely resembles mine, and his is a modern gun. We both maxed out at 23.5gr. for a hunting load using Rel. 10 and the 117gr. Hornady. He bemoans the fact that the bullet is heavier than necessary. I agreed until I saw the result the two does I shot in hunting season. One was farther than I had a right to be shooting.

There is a LOOOONG thread over on Shooters forum that deals with the 25-35. I believe its under the Handloading forum.

[Bigscot]

Hey bigScot

As a matter of fact, I had emailed Ed's yesterday to see if he could do that very thing! The few I've seen on the auction boards has outrageous prices attached; i don't want to pay more than retail because I am a tightwad SOB!

TD- any word from Ed's?

BS

[trooperdan]

BigScot;

Not a word from Ed; I think he and his entire crew are at the SHOT show. I expected to see him at the Fayetteville show but they didn't have a setup.

Dan

[trooperdan]

My local gun maven says no M94 .25-35 to be had, just a few in .44 and .45 :) I refuse to pay $1200-1500 the scalpers are asking! I'll wait a while and keep on looking.

[9.3X62AL]

Dan--

You are now seeing the same phenomenon I saw while in search of a decent 25-35 WCF example--I called it "The Yukon River Canoe Paddle Effect".

This came from the idiot wind pricing on some rugged, ragged examples I looked at in 25-35 during the time I spoke of in the earlier post. One sticks in my mind especially--an absolute rust bucket with $1,800.00 price tag at the 1998 L.A. Gun Show. I was about disgusted with this sort of skullduggery by that time, so I asked to see the piece anyway. The preposterousness of the sitch was extended further by the twist-tie binding the lever in place. I stifled my laughter, and began looking very closely at the lower tang area. The guy behind the table asked, "Is there something you're looking for?"

Me--"The nameplate."

Him--"The what?"

Me--"The nameplate. Looking at its price and condition, I'll bet either Robert Service or Jack London used it for a canoe paddle." The rust depth suggested Chris Columbus or maybe Leif Ericsson, but I went easy on the guy.

He seemed at a loss for words, but I wasn't--"NO THANKS."

I looked at a couple dozen such examples with depressed condition and inflated pricing. At the next L.A. Gun Show (Spring '99) I took a buddy of mine from backwoods Minnesota to see his first gun show, which he enjoyed immensely. So did I, it was almost as much fun as taking your kids to their first Disneyland trip. I took another disgusted look at a 70% 1894 in 25-35 with a $1500 tariff, and gave it back to the vendor. An onlooker hit me up, asking if I was looking for a 25-35. I told him I was, and he gave me the phone number of a guy in Northern California who had one for sale. Long story short--I got a flatband 94 in about 90% or better shape, Lachmiller dies, and 200 pieces of new brass for 600 bucks.

I think you have to sort through a number of Canoe Paddles before finding a gem.

[MT Gianni]

I spent an hour or 2 one afternoon with an old Montana outfitter, Howard Copenhaver, at his home in Ovando. In between an elk push with his daughter-in-laws' brother we traded some stories and I rested my back against a Grizzly bear hide draped over the couch. He had shot it with his 25-35 as he shot most game, he was about 135 lbs and sensitive to recoil he said. This may be more than a varmit gun if you find one. As I recall he said the bear went down with 1 shot at 15 ft. Gianni.

[onceabull]

Gianni: I'm thinking that if Mr.Copenhaver has thought to announce himself,The grizz.would have Sxxx.himself to death on the spot..!! Onceabull

[LIMPINGJ]

This may be like salt in a wound but here goes. A friend at work talked for years about an uncle who had a Browning Auto-5 12ga in 3in mag. This guy is a duck hunter. The uncle dies with no sons and daughters do not want guns. My friend buys his guns to get the Browning, the other gun is a Win. 94 in 25-35 made in 1923. My dad was born in 23 so I had to have the Win. I swaped him a 1903A3 barreled action from an ROTC drill rifle for the Win. She had been hunted hard but the boys at Turnbull made her a silk purse. Just the thing for the Texas Whitetails and someday we are going into camp where all the boys are talking about their latest Remchester UltraShortFatSomethingMag and get us a Desert Goat.
Jim

[waksupi]

Gianni, old Howard has some good stories. I'd like to spend some time with him, and get educated.

[MT Gianni]

I think he passed away last year but a great guy. I no longer see his Daughter in law often of her brother hardly at all. Howard was as fine of a storyteller as I ever heard and he just kept rolling 'em out. Gianni.

[onceabull]

Howard C. has been gone since '04.. you will have to read the stories you missed in one of the books.. onceabull

[farmbif]

ill revive this thread as I like most am not rich and simply cannot afford the outrageous prices that hustlers are asking for many times mediocre rifles. if your like me and have more time than money i scour the computer for reasonably priced usable guns. When I have funds to add get another shooter. i was able to find a winny 1894, 25-35 SRC for $425. I was amazed when i placed a bid on it and a week later no one else placed a bid on it.serial number dates it to 1907 but i believe it has been rebarreled. but it is in good functional condition. a month ago i was able to find seiller belot 6,5x52r ammo for $20 box. I guess the thing is you have to be patient and keep looking. What really blows me away is that the new jap made winchesters are $1000 +

[9.3X62AL]

Love some of these resurrected threads. Since I was a co-conspirator within the earlier texts, I should add some more to the story and get onlookers up to date.

The story is a mixed bag, actually. I soldiered on with this little flatband carbine in 25-35, not finding any deer with it but strafing jackrabbits and a few ground squirrels from time to time. Both Hornady 117 RN and the NEI 114 FNGC figured in these depredations. Some time c. 2011 I noticed that extraction became balky all of a sudden while shooting the cast bullet loads using dacron filler. On the third such balky extraction, I took a better look at the fired brass I had just created, and saw that the barrel's chamber had been ringed at the neck/shoulder junction. I was sick over this, and it took a couple years of palavering around to finally arrive at the conclusion that there was no way to "salvage" performance of the 25-35 in anything like an affordable price or in a practical manner, so I had the barrel rebored to 38-55 by JES Reboring in Fall 2013, and have enjoyed it as a Brush Thumper ever since. I got out of the 25-35 caliber entirely after having the rebore finished, and likely won't return to it again. Dies, brass, and ammo went down the road in a down-sizing move that continues today with some of the other esoteric calibers I have entertained myself with over the years. I won't delve into the wherefores and whys here, but hobby vendor intransigence and arrogance for the past 6-7 years figures highly among the reasons.

In retrospect, if I was to take up the 25-35 "cause" again I would locate a Marlin 336 or Win 94 30/30 of some sort and have a gunsmith re-barrel it to 25/35. I would have it made up as a rifle--24" barrel and 2/3 magazine, shotgun or carbine butt profile. (Purists can go suck rocks--crescent rifle buttplates are as uncomfortable as a hair shirt and not half as practical). I would avoid the Ackley Improved version like the plague--it performs well, but cases won't fire-form and forming them is an unalloyed PITA--the form die set and custom reloading die set cost the earth, also. 1-8" 25 caliber barrels don't exactly grow on trees, either--1/10" will likely stabilize the 117 Hornady J-words (once you find the things.....) and 1-10" is much friendlier to castings. FWIW

[vzerone]

So 9.3x62AL can we make the assumption you won't be fancying the use of Dacron in many of your cast loads any longer? Many advocate it's use, I'm not so sold on it. Sorry you lost a fine 25-35 because of it.

[OverMax]

I found a most unusual 25-35 at a gun shop out in the middle of nowhere's kind'a cheap 15 years ago. Its a 1894 long barrel model having a factory pistol grip stock and a working original winchester tang mounted peep. It's barrel is half round and half octagon and I have only shot it twice in all the time I've owned it. Its in decent 80% condition. Just one for the wall is all.

[9.3X62AL]

So 9.3x62AL can we make the assumption you won't be fancying the use of Dacron in many of your cast loads any longer? Many advocate it's use, I'm not so sold on it. Sorry you lost a fine 25-35 because of it.

NEVER AGAIN. I broke down 25/35 loads and some 243 Win loads (cast bullets) that were so assembled, and that material won't see light of day on my loading bench--EVER. Its use spoiled a very nice rifle in a rare variant--made during WWII timeframe, flatband......don't get me started. Thanks to Jesse Ocumpah at JES it is still a very nice and quite serviceable hunting and shooting tool, and not to put too fine a point to it.......the 38-55 is about 10 times as useful as the 25-35 and at least 20 times more lead-friendly. For a number of reasons my shooting has dwindled over the past 18 months or so, but one of the toys I do play with and carry afield frequently is this 94 x "37-55" as Buckshot has named it. It is fast-handling and compact bear medicine, and it wouldn't do a meth zombie a lot of good either if his/her course of conduct prompted its deployment.

As an aside here.......the longer I am away from cop work, the more prone I become to carting around revolvers and lever rifles instead of bottom-feeders. Both systems are the tools I grew up on, got comfortable with, and can use effectively. They may not be the most tacticool war toys ever fielded, but I like them and can make them work for me.

[TXGunNut]

Nice thread, have very little knowledge of this cartridge but any thread about nice old Winchesters is worth a read.

[GooseGestapo]

Quote: The longer I'm away from cop work....

Me too! Though I have taken up CMP Highpower at CMP Talladega, and is taking away from my boolit casting and hunting!
But, colder weather is coming and have freezer space needing filling...

[VA Shooter]

ill revive this thread as I like most am not rich and simply cannot afford the outrageous prices that hustlers are asking for many times mediocre rifles. if your like me and have more time than money i scour the computer for reasonably priced usable guns. When I have funds to add get another shooter. i was able to find a winny 1894, 25-35 SRC for $425. I was amazed when i placed a bid on it and a week later no one else placed a bid on it.serial number dates it to 1907 but i believe it has been rebarreled. but it is in good functional condition. a month ago i was able to find seiller belot 6,5x52r ammo for $20 box. I guess the thing is you have to be patient and keep looking. What really blows me away is that the new jap made winchesters are $1000 +

I would love to see a photo of your gun. Congrats on a great deal.

[Wrestler67]

I just hear that Winchester was supposed to make a run of '94's chambered in .25-35; does anyone know if they actually made any? And if they did, where can I find one?

I just purchased the 1894 Sporting Rifle (24 inch barrel) in 25-35 on Gun Broker.com. Since my purchase a couple days ago another few Sporting Rifles in 25-35 were listed. Also, the Short Rifle and Carbine were both widely available on Gun Broker, all NIB.

[trooperdan]

Yep, several listed there and most priced at &999 and up. Just can't see that price, guess I am just too old!

[clum553946]

Maybe some brass becomes available sooner or later!

[earlmck]

Maybe some brass becomes available sooner or later!

Hornady is making it now. I got a bag from Graf's a few weeks ago.

[earlmck]

After Wrestler87's head's up I drifted over to "gunbroker". Sure enough there are a batch of 25/35's listed in various configurations. I went for the "sporter" configuration: 24" half-round half-octagon bbl. Should arrive here early next week.

Natchez Shooter's Supply had both Hornady brass and Lee dies in stock (the other outfits seemed to have either one or the other on back order) so those are on the way also. Looking forward to playing with the new baby -- hope she likes at least one of my three casties -- 70, 90, or 100 grainers.

[MT Gianni]

If you google "Savage 340 repairs" there is a retired gunsmith that rebarreled a 30-30 to 25-35.