.35/30-30 Reboring

[65bee]

Howdy all! Recently picked up a near mint pre-war Win. 94 carbine in .30 WCF. It is 100 % original and untouched, made in 1930. Only fly-in-the-ointment is the fact the bore has a section of severe rust damage about 1" or so from the muzzle. My guess is as good as yours as to what might have caused it. The rest of the bore is mint. Anyway, I took a chance on it, as the price was right, and hoped that it still would should O.K. No such luck! It shoots patterns of about 12" at 50 yards. No key-holing, but no grouping either. Because of this, I am considering a rebore to the .35/30-30 caliber. Any members have experience with this cartridge? Recommend a good smith to do the work? I found a JES Rifle Reboring on the net. He is located in Cottage Grove, Oregon. Many years ago I had Randall Redman rebore several Winchesters for me and he always did outstanding work. I imagine he is retired by now. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

[J Miller]

65bee,

I don't have any info on reboring but if I had a 94 in that condition, I'd turn it into a trapper with an 18" barrel.

Just for my curiosity does that one have the ramp front sight or the carbine type sight?

Joe

[3leggedturtle]

I'd do the 35/30 jus cuz I have a 245FP .35 cal mold and nothing to cast for. Sounds like to nice a rifle to cut up. Brass is a easy 1 step resizing. YMMV jus my opinion 3leg

[El Chivo]

I have considered that very thing, only variation is I'd request a .357 bore rather than .358. Then you could shoot pistol bullets in it.

[Mainehunter]

65bee,

I don't have any info on reboring but if I had a 94 in that condition, I'd turn it into a trapper with an 18" barrel.

Just for my curiosity does that one have the ramp front sight or the carbine type sight?

Joe

+1 On making it into a trapper.

Mainehunter

[O.S.O.K.]

What exactly did you do to the rust patch? Did you lappe it? Did you try fire lapping?

The other thing is that I think I would rebore to 32 Special instead - a standard caliber of the same length as the 30-30, so it'll cycle perfect.

[Hobie]

Mr. Ocumpaugh has an excellent reputation.

Looks as though you have a couple of options. You can rebore or cut it back. Reboring might be simpler. Cutting it back means you keep the .30 WCF chambering. If it were mine I'd have Jess rebore/rechamber it to a .375" .38-55 Winchester.

[damienph]

Mr. Ocumpaugh has an excellent reputation. If it were mine I'd have Jess rebore/rechamber it to a .375" .38-55 Winchester.

I agree, .38-55 Win and keep the rest of the rifle as is. I would like to have that one myself.

[M. M. Wright]

You could just bore out the end of the barrel to a point that cleans up the rifling. .375 would clear it out just fine and leave it as 30 WCF.

[Old Savage]

I am with Hobie.

[JerryB]

My son sent a 94 30-30 (1974) to Jess and it turned out to be real fine 38-55. I have it here at the house right now.

[TedH]

If it were mine I'd have Jess rebore/rechamber it to a .375" .38-55 Winchester.

Me too.

[jtaylor1960]

I have a gun rebored from 30/30 to 38/55.The work was done by JES.The bore is excellent.It shoots about a 1" group at 100 yds. with my cast bullets.I have heard many stories of work done by JES and have heard nothing but praise.

[65bee]

Thanks for the feedback. The carbine has the old-style pinned front sight. I did give some thought to having it cut back to 16.25" and made into a 'trapper', but am not sure how much of a problem re-attaching the front sight set-up would be? I am sure somebody like Doug Turnbull could do the work. I thought the .35/30-30 would be something a little different, and a great hunting cartridge to boot. I wouldn't rule out the .38-55, however, I am afraid it might involve more guide and feeding alteration. This carbine is a collectors' dream, and if someone was looking for a specimen to just keep in the gun safe, it is a beauty. The walnut stocks, screws, etc. are perfect. The receiver just shows some flaking. It has the old-style carbine ladder rear sight, and curved carbine buttstock. It is an Eastern Carbine with no saddle ring.

[Hobie]

Many people do no alterations to the feed guides...

It is YOUR gun. Nobody with any sense is going to fault you for what you do with that gun.

[65bee]

Do you have contact info. for Mr. Ocumpaugh?

[junkbug]

You can also have it counter-bored. A modification that has worked on countless VZ-24 and Moisin Nagant rifles and carbines. Some people dislike the look of a counter-bored rifle. But it is the most cost effective, least intrusive solution. If that fails, re-boring could still be an option, as long as the counter-bore is not too large.

[TedH]

Do you have contact info. for Mr. Ocumpaugh?

http://www.35caliber.com/3.html

[20cows]

If it were mine I'd have Jess rebore/rechamber it to a .375" .38-55 Winchester.

I Jes do mine several years ago. I made no changes in the cartridge guides or anything else.

NO problems.

Jes does a great job and I definately recommend using his services.

[smokenrust]

"I would rebore to 32 Special instead "
I am with O.S.A.K. on this one unless the rust did not clean out and then I would consider the slow, lower velocity, faster dropping 38-55.

[J Miller]

The choices are varied I guess, but I like the 30-30 and I think I'd work with it a bit and try to get it to shoot.
It doesn't sound like the 1950 I've got with a bad chamber.

Joe

[65bee]

After consideration of all the options, I am beginning to lean toward the .38-55 rebore. I have two Lyman moulds and RCBS dies for that caliber. I also have a partial box of ammo and shoved one of the .38-55s into the magazine of the 1894 and it levered up perfectly through the action. My last .38-55 was a Winchester 1885 High-Wall that I had re-lined by Redman from a .32-20 about 20 years ago. It sure was a great shooter! A friend(?) talked me out of it in a weak moment, and still teases me about to this day.

[J Miller]

65bee,

Did you deliberately choose this vintage of carbine or is it just the one you came up with?

Joe

[65bee]

My brother-in-law works in a large local sporting goods store and he keeps me posted on what comes into the shop. He told me that a couple of older 94's had been traded in so I stopped by to check them out. I almost fell over when I picked up the pre-war carbine from the rack, it was the best one I had seen for a long time. My enthusiasm was dampened, however, when I took a look down the bore and spotted the damage. When I pointed it out to them, they were willing to negotiate the price and I got it RIGHT! When I got it home I scrubbed the bore good, but there was no salvaging it. Its another case of no matter how good the outside looks, you have to check out the bore carefully. I once picked up a really nice Colt Lightning rifle in .32-20, that 'appeared' to have a near perfect bore. It wouldn't throw a bullet point on through the target at 25 yards! Every round key-holed. I couldn't figure it out until I really examined the bore carefully and discovered the muzzle area was expanded so bad a bullet would drop right out of sight. It had probably been fired with snow in the barrel at some time. There was no obvious hint of damage from the outside.

[J Miller]

I tripped over a really near new 1950 vintage 94 in 30-30 about 8 years ago. The action was very tight from no use, no signs of brass on the loading gate or carrier or bolt face, and at a really great price. I've got less than a 100 rounds through it and it's split over 20 of them. Something's wrong in the neck of the chamber. It will need a new barrel or to be re-bored. Thing is, I'm not really interested in the other calibers at this time.

So what to do with it? Trade it or re-barrel it is about my only choice. I've got a newer barrel to put on it, but I don't have a gunsmith around here and I'm not wanting to ship anything out of state either unless it's for a trade.
I don't have the funds to buy a barrel vise and wrench right now so it sets, unused.

Just curious again, is your gun a SRC?

Joe

[65bee]

Joe, My carbine is not a SRC. It was made in 1930, right about the time that Winchester decided to make the saddle-rings an option. Not many 1894s after that had rings. Also, my carbine has the original type curved steel buttplate and pinned front sight. Both of these features were soon dropped from the model. They went to the model 55 style shotgun buttplate and ramp-style front sight sometime in the early 1930's.

[J Miller]

Joe, My carbine is not a SRC. It was made in 1930, right about the time that Winchester decided to make the saddle-rings an option. Not many 1894s after that had rings. Also, my carbine has the original type curved steel buttplate and pinned front sight. Both of these features were soon dropped from the model. They went to the model 55 style shotgun buttplate and ramp-style front sight sometime in the early 1930's.

Those features are what my very first 1894 SRC had. Even had a trap door in the but stock. I didn't know when they phased them out.
That sounds like a nice carbine. Too bad about the barrel.

Joe