Cimaron 1894?

[indian joe]

Mine was made 1980 (according to the experts - I googled)
Oliver F Winchester - its a real nice shooter - I use the LEE 250 grain mold - blackpowder and a juice box wad - and if I be bothered sizing it gets .379.........................

Not in love with the gold finish but there are enough brass guns around the blackpowder shoots that nobody takes much notice anymore.

[Maine1]

Handled a cimaron carbine at a LGS today. Appeared well made, nicley fitted, and overall a quality rifle.
Also handled a 20" winchester 94, a newly manufactured model. Was..OK. my jets were cooled due to the safety, and the appearance of the receiver. If it had been 24"....id have bought it anyway.
Cimaron is taking top slot in my search now...

[FergusonTO35]

In any event, if i ever buy another new lever action it will probably be a Henry. They make excellent products at a very competitive price and their customer service is second to none.

[Maine1]

Well...after the Winchester crazy horse commemorative rifle i was winning on went for 1700 or so...and the carbine i handled was pretty nice, i took the plunge and ordered a CA2903: 26" full mag, 9 shot 38-55.
Picked it up yesterday, and ran dummy rounds though it in the shop. If at max COAL, it did not want to feed. The shorter rounds cycled fine. No worries, looking at it, it seems like it may be due to some burrs on the internals.

Shot it this AM, with a load of 3031 and 260 gr .379 bullets. No group at all. My thoughts got to 1) bullet diameter 2) COAL and 3) length of brass, this is the shorter starline brass.
Ive got some gas checked .379 bullets to try out for S&G's, then im going to slug the bore.

Overall, though i have not yet done a teardown on it, this is a niceley made rifle, bore is clean and bright, looks sharp, cycling is a hair tight, nor really rough, and i'm sure it will smooth out nicely the more i shoot it. The bluing seems very well done, but I'm not a refined connesuer of finely blued weapons.
No safety, just the old half cock system that we all grew up with. Sights are semi buckhorn, and are okay, once i get a load dialed in I'll see if i really like them.

overall, if i can settle on a good load for this rifle, and i'm thinking that will largey be a function of bullet diameter, i' be quite happy, this it a great looking rifle that handles well. The only thing that i'd do to improve it is taper the barrel some, as it would make it feel better in hand, though this is not as heavy as i feared it might be. Its a 94 so its pretty lean in profile, but the extra 6" make it more front heavy than your 20" round barrel 30-30, as one would expect. By no means too heavy for a day in the woods though.

[Maine1]

Well, I thought i might share some of the cimarron saga...

Ive been shooting it with 3031, and 270-280 gr bullets, .379 and .381 dia.
379 did not group at all- shotgun pattern.
380 gas check bullets were a little better, 3-4" group at 50 yards....not what i was hoping for, but not a shotgun anymore,
The bore slugs right at .380". Got some .381" gas checked bullets in from maplewood bullets in VT, and loaded six up. from 50 yards i got about a 3" group, but some of that may be due to the failing light.
My load is that 280 gr .381 bullet, 30 gr 3031, at about 2.5" as that feeds and chambers well.
Going to try 10 more rounds when ive got better light, but thinking about changing powders, as there seems to be some good results from unique in 38-55.
So far im not thrilled with the accuracy, but i'm also still developing a load, hoping to find a combination that will stay tight at 50 yards, so then we can get on with the longer ranges. Then i get a mold..

Any other ideas always welcome!

[Just plain Bill]

I bought a Cimarron 1894 in 38-55 back in the summer of 2020 I slugged the bore and mine was .380 as well. I purchased some bullets from Volmer precision and loaded up 20 and at 50 yds they shot 3" high with the rear sight all the way down. I ordered a taller front sight and never got a chance to shoot it again. I may break it out soon and start all over.

[Maine1]

I bought a Cimarron 1894 in 38-55 back in the summer of 2020 I slugged the bore and mine was .380 as well. I purchased some bullets from Volmer precision and loaded up 20 and at 50 yds they shot 3" high with the rear sight all the way down. I ordered a taller front sight and never got a chance to shoot it again. I may break it out soon and start all over.

I'm making a bit of progress, loaded and shot some 3031 loads, as well as some with Unique. Groups were better with unique, and improved with both powders once i started shooting without my reading glasses.
Though i'm not satisfied with the accuracy yet, it seems i'm slowly dialing it in.
Loading up 20 more 30 gr 3031 loads with the .381" boolits, loaded to max length the gun will cycle.
If this does not improve things, i'll try 4064.
I'm thinking i might need the longer brass, mine is the 2.080 starline. The longer stuff is out of stock, so finding some to try is hit or miss.
Had two primer pockets loosen on me , never had that happen with starline before.

[veeman]

When you can, try some IMR 4198

[Maine1]

When you can, try some IMR 4198

Thats a bit faster than 3031. what is the idea behind it?

I drifted the sight a bit to the right as the gun was printing left. Best group of the day today was 2 1/2" or so, with two in the black. It would likley be much better with a rest and better daylight, but i'm going to get this dialed in at 50 with a good tight group before burning powder at longer range. Had to single feed these rounds as they were too long to feed, tonight i'll load up some more with a slightly shorter length that will feed, and see how they do.
I'm thinking i might need to find some of the longer brass.
Think i might make some crossed sticks for a rest

[koger]

Pics please.

[Maine1]

Pics please.

working on it! gotta remember my password so i can log in on my phone

[Maine1]

I’m
I’ll try a pic of the rifle, but it will not upload.
This is todays group.
Pic is flipped, the flyer was on the left in reality.

[Just plain Bill]

I'm making a bit of progress, loaded and shot some 3031 loads, as well as some with Unique. Groups were better with unique, and improved with both powders once i started shooting without my reading glasses.
Though i'm not satisfied with the accuracy yet, it seems i'm slowly dialing it in.
Loading up 20 more 30 gr 3031 loads with the .381" boolits, loaded to max length the gun will cycle.
If this does not improve things, i'll try 4064.
I'm thinking i might need the longer brass, mine is the 2.080 starline. The longer stuff is out of stock, so finding some to try is hit or miss.
Had two primer pockets loosen on me , never had that happen with starline before.

I used the longer brass without any issues

[Maine1]

I plan on trying the longer brass once it comes in stock. Its evidently pretty precious, and people will not sell it or are asking 2.50 each. Though it seems that the shorter brass shoots pretty well.

What rifle are you shooting Bill?

[Mint]

My only Cimarron is an 1873, but I will add my .02 about your first question... The build quality I would say is good. The action is a lot different than an 1894 so I can't comment on that, but I suspect considering they all come from the same place in Italy it's about the same. The biggest thing is that Cimarron/Uberti/Taylor feel more like guns you can shoot and not feel bad if they scratch, etc. The quality leaves just a tad to be desired. Just _something_ about it feels slightly cheaper.

If you never fire anything else you wouldn't know it though. It wasn't until I got a Winchester/Miroku 1873 where my mind was blown wide open. The quality of the Miroku guns are astronomically awesome. My Miroku 1873 and 1892 are such high quality that I would be buried with them... I wouldn't be buried with a cimarron.

https://www.winchesterguns.com/produ...-sporting.html

If you can stomach the price I would just get that. The miroku is hands down THE most accurate gun I own out of 12+ lever guns. Every single part of it is beautifully crafted and precise. I'm also not a benchrest shooter or extreme marksman so take that for what it's worth, but it's absolutely noticeable when compared with Chiappa, Marlin (the good years), Winchester pre/post 64, Uberti, Henry.

I'm certain Miroku quality would be in that 1894 as well. After I held that gun I stopped looking to buy anythign else really and completing my whole Miroku collection