Winchester 94 Big Bore

[Sprue]

.........there will always be something that I've never heard of, so whats new.

Today my ventures lead me to a Winchester 94 Big Bore in .356 cal side eject. She was a beauty with that checkered wood. I think it was of the early 80's era.

I've learned that it also came in .307 and .375 cals. Ammo would probably be like me finding .351 for the 1907.

I can't see owing something in that price range that you couldn't reasonably feed or enjoy.

Anyone have one of these Big Bores ?

[No_1]

375 ammo is available and for this particular one I have an idea that just may work. I have a 35 rem marlin that was re-chambered with a 358 reamer, no other changes. The idea was to create a 356 Rimless round. Form and function is flawless. I would imagine that with a simple change of the bolt to a 35 Remington bolt you could use 308 brass loaded to 356 Win spec. It should work unless the barrel has a recess for the rim of the 356.

R.

[bearcove]

356 win brass and ammo is still available. bought 100 rds brass from midway last year.

[garandsrus]

Here's a link to .356 Win brass at Midway USA (http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=1390317274). There is some factory ammo (http://www.midwayusa.com/browse/BrowseProducts.aspx?pageNum=1&tabId=3&categoryId=7539&categoryString=653***690***) available also at Midway. The cost to reload would be comparable to any other similar sized rifle cartridge. Since this takes a 35 cal bullet, the RCBS 35-200 may do very well in this caliber.

What was the price of the rifle? Gunbroker has they listed for $700-800.

I have a 375 Win BB and like it very much. It is a top eject model, so it was made a little earlier than yours. Factory ammo is available, but I have never purchased any as I cast the boolits and reload for it. For the .375 Win, you can "blow out" 30-30 brass. The reformed cases aren't as strong as the 375 Win brass, but for light loads they work just fine.

John

[O.S.O.K.]

I had one and it shot very well for me. Sold it to pay bills while unemployed.... then later, I decided I needed another .356 Win and read how you could have a 35 Rem rechambered to .356 Win - so I bought a used Marlin 336 in 35 Rem and had Nonneman do the work for me - think he may have tweeked the cartridge stop too but it shoots and functions perfect!

Interestingly, the Marlin with its pg stock recoils less than the Winny did. Must be the stock design because this was with the same exact loads...

Later, I found that doing the rechamber yourself is not that hard with the Marlins - you just need a finishing reemer and an extenstion to fit into the receiver. I used this method to rechamber two other 30-30's to Akley Improved. One was a Marlin 336 adn the other a Win 94 that I was putting a new barrel on from Numrich.

[Trailblazer]

I have a 356 Win. Great rifle! I like mine.

[MT Gianni]

I had one. Graf and Son's made some speciality runs of brass yearly when Win was hard to find. Mine never say a factory rd. Replaced it with a BLR in 358 to get away from a tube feed.

[onceabull]

& if push comes to shove, 356 cases can be made from 444 Marlin brass....

[Harry O]

I have a top-eject Winnie in .375. The brass is made once a year. I have bought enough to keep me busy for a long time. You can also trim 38-55 brass a little bit and use it. As mentioned, too, you can also blow out 30-30 brass. Bullets are easy to buy. The Hornady 220gr is among the best. Also a lot of cast bullets available and it does shoot cast well.

The statement that the .375 brass is thicker is true, but somewhat overstated. I weighed a bunch of .375 brass and a bunch of 30-30 brass. The average weight of the .375 was 5% more than the 30-30 brass. However, there was considerable overlap and some of the 30-30 cases were heavier than some of the .375 cases.

[gon2shoot]

I have one in 307, brass isn't hard to find and 308 molds are everywhere. [smilie=1:

[Dutch4122]

I have a M94 in .356 Winchester also. It's a hellava deer round.

Graff & Son's currently has brass in stock.

Go for it; you won't be sorry!:Fire:

[Baron von Trollwhack]

I owned and hunted with a 356 BB for several years. It liked 180 Speers and a midrange weight of H 4895 well enough to shoot cloverleafs at 100. Very deadly on deer.

My latest is a Marlin rebore by Mr Ocumpaugh to 356, 12" twist, three grove rifling. Outstanding gunsmithing to re-bore & re-chamber and set up a shortened barrel and mag tube. First time out it shot a 5 shot 1 1/2 group with Varget under a 208 grain RCBS GC boolit @ 100.

I'm reloading after molding today and additionally made 12 cases from 270 W range pickups. Ready to load, the 270s are 1 1/2 thousandths larger in diameter than WW 356 brass in neck diameter, and the base is perfect. They eject as empties in the marlin, and the BB I had would eject 308s, although I never necked any up for shooting. I'll load a few for trying. Perhaps this info will intrest a few readers. BvT

[helice]

Sprue,
If my memory holds (which is asking a lot) I believe that Paco Kelly was using mil spec 308 cases that were necked out to 358. I guess that the rimless 308 in military form was able to be grasped by the BigBore Winchester's extractor even though it didn't have a real rim. I have no experience here so I'd recommend testing this approach on your rifle with an empty case before trying it out. Just thought I'd relay this information. Paco wrote a few articles on the BigBore Winchesters. He liked 'em. After reading his articles I bought one in 444 Marlin and mounted a scout scope on it. I like 'em too. Helice

[MT Gianni]

The 180 gr Speer over a max book load of AA2015 gave me 2750 fps and a sure whitetail killer.

[StarMetal]

The 180 gr Speer over a max book load of AA2015 gave me 2750 fps and a sure whitetail killer.

That's a right nice load alright. It's a shame the 358 Winchester didn't become more popular. It may be the best of the cartridges based off the 308.

That load of yours sure makes the leveraction a killer rifle.

Joe

[Lloyd Smale]

I love my 356 and i havent had problems finding componets to keep it going.

[James C. Snodgrass]

Man you guys know how to make a fella jealous .I want one but ain't found it or the loot for it yet . Congrats on the BigBore . James

[sharpshooter3040]

.........there will always be something that I've never heard of, so whats new.

Today my ventures lead me to a Winchester 94 Big Bore in .356 cal side eject. She was a beauty with that checkered wood. I think it was of the early 80's era.

I've learned that it also came in .307 and .375 cals. Ammo would probably be like me finding .351 for the 1907.

I can't see owing something in that price range that you couldn't reasonably feed or enjoy.

Anyone have one of these Big Bores ?

I had a 356 and let it get away. I loved it. I am in the process of building one from a marlin 336 action. Different twist to this one though, its going to be an octogan barrel in sporting rifle length. I just finished a 375 win. the balance is perfect, it matches my 45-70 cowboy and it is a tack driver to boot


Doug

[shdwlkr]

I have 2 bb both in 375 winchester as I was after a straight walled case because I couldn't afford a 1886, Well one of them got almost totally rebuilt except for the action which was all that was in good shape anyway. It now has a 26 inch octagon barrel on it and it shoots just fine. Oh and after I had the custom built bb I found a 1886 that I also picked up thanks to the wife.
She has even said I can have one more custom made rifle, now to choose, I am leaning towards a 256 win mag just because there aren't many and put it on a model 92 action. Should be a fun thing if I can just find the funds now to start the project.

[sharpshooter3040]

I have 2 bb both in 375 winchester as I was after a straight walled case because I couldn't afford a 1886, Well one of them got almost totally rebuilt except for the action which was all that was in good shape anyway. It now has a 26 inch octagon barrel on it and it shoots just fine. Oh and after I had the custom built bb I found a 1886 that I also picked up thanks to the wife.
She has even said I can have one more custom made rifle, now to choose, I am leaning towards a 256 win mag just because there aren't many and put it on a model 92 action. Should be a fun thing if I can just find the funds now to start the project.

I built my 256 mag out of a model 94 marlin 357 it works slick as a whistle

Doug

[shdwlkr]

I am thinking about doing that with a more modern action myself but then I have a winchester model 92 to build something out of so most likely will use what I have as my old smith thought it was good enough shape to make a 256 mag out of. If he hadn't died I would have had him make it but things just didn't work out that way.

[johnny356ER]

I had both an early pre crossbolt safety montecarlo stocked Winnie, and the Marlin in 356. I personally prefer Marlin rifles so when times got tough I sold the Winnie and kept the Marlin. Nothing wrong with the Winnie though....sure is a hammer on whitetails. You'll be glad to have it!

good luck
johnny

[Jaeg]

Hi

I have a 94 BB 375 Winchester, it's one of my favorite rifles, I cast wheel weight with the RCBS 37 250 mould. Once sized and gas checked they weigh 270 grains.
My current load is 25 grains of ADI AR2207 which I think is Hodgon H4198.
I've used a lathe to make hollow points that finish at 250 grains, it's slow going but they seem to shoot better than the 270 grainers.
Can anyone tell me if they think my 270 grain load is a bit hot?

Regards, Jaeg

[shdwlkr]

Jaeg
I have two big bores in 375 winchester one with a 20 inch factory barrel and one with a custom 26 inch octagon barrel. I shoot a heavier than 250 grain bullet but can't find my loading data.
First what is the sized diameter of the bullet you are using? Second from everything I can find online from others who have the caliber they are using much smaller loads I am guessing as they are in the 1400-1800 fps range.
I would go back to 20 grains and work up until I find them not working and then to say that is my max load.
Let me know what you find out as I will be shooting that weight bullet well in that area at least. I think my loads are for a 250-260 grain bullet and I have just gotten a new mold that casts around 265-275 grains. But have no load data yet.