94 Winchester rebuild

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KirbyLewisWV
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94 Winchester rebuild

Post by KirbyLewisWV »

First off, I am in NO WAY a Gunsmith.
Although I have built a couple of muzzleloaders over the years. So I have a rattletrap of a 94 that was built around 1974. I have been knocking the idea around of rebuilding it as a custom. Replacing the stock, adding some sites, I like a nice barrel 1/2 octagon 1/2 round, and then maybe get then do a case hardening on the receiver, maybe some engraving. So my question: can I simply replace the existing Barrel calibrated for 30-30 to a 38-55 Barrel Or are there other changes that I will have to address?

Also, can anyone recommend a place for the Case Hardening parts?

Your suggestions are appreciated.
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fordwannabe
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Re: 94 Winchester rebuild

Post by fordwannabe »

I sent my 30-30 off to Jesse at JES reboring and it came back A 38-55, so little if any additional work. As to where to send it...the best is Turnbull but to get the best you gonna pay.
a Pennsylvanian who has been accused of clinging to my religion and my guns......Good assessment skills.
Pisgah
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Re: 94 Winchester rebuild

Post by Pisgah »

I would check on whether or not the receiver of a '74 Model 94 can be case-hardened, or even blued. From '64 to '81 they went first to a sintered metal receiver, which had to be iron plated and then black-chromed, then to a cast receiver on which they used a blackening process rather than a traditional hot blue. Functionally, there's nothing wrong with the '64 to ''81 receivers, but I believe they would not be the ones you'd want for any sort of case-colored or blued fancy finish. Of course, I have been wrong before, so...
twobit
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Re: 94 Winchester rebuild

Post by twobit »

fordwannabe wrote: Tue Jan 23, 2018 4:44 pm I sent my 30-30 off to Jesse at JES reboring and it came back A 38-55, so little if any additional work. As to where to send it...the best is Turnbull but to get the best you gonna pay.
It would be a horrendous waste of money to send a 1974 vintage Model 94 to Turnbull for work. You would NEVER get the money back. You would be taking a $250 gun and spending more than $1000 to change it???!!!

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JerryB
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Re: 94 Winchester rebuild

Post by JerryB »

You can send it to JES Reboring and have it made into a 38-55. My son sent his 1974 94 carbine to them, he sent the whole rifle and they test fired it, it sure is an accurate little carbine now. I killed a big doe with that 255 grain cast bullet. It is an easy round to reload.
JerryB II Corinthians 3:17, Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

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Griff
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Re: 94 Winchester rebuild

Post by Griff »

Here is my 1978 vintage mdl 94.
Image
It has: 1 -a Shiloh Sharps globe sight with the top half of the "ball" filed flat; 2 - a Smith Enterprises tang sight adjustable for windage & elevation; 3 - a Numrich Parts bull barrel in .30-30, 26" of octagon steel that measures .850" across the flats from breech to muzzle; 4 - Fajen extra fancy walnut for the stock; 4 - curved steel buttplate from (somewhere, can't remember); 5 - commemorative style forend cap and forend of straight grain walnut that just about perfectly matches the stock; 6 - full length magazine tube from Numrich; 7 - the receiver & forend cap were color case hardened using the bone & charcoal method by a shop up in Wyoming (no longer in business). I started on the gun in 1986 and finished sometime in 1989.

When I had good eyes, it would shoot ¾" groups out to about 150 yards... and I've taken deer out to over 200 with it. (well, ok, one)!! :roll: I've won several long range matches with it... the most memorable was beating one of my best friends by hitting a tie-breaker, standing, off-hand at a 400 yard steel gong after a 40 shot string of shoot-offs, including 9 straight @ that 400 yard 18" gong! (He was the one that suggested the off-hand tie breaker; but... I'm really glad I didn't have to do it TWICE)!

Back to your gun... I'm not sure that Turnbull will do a case color on an early post '64 Winchester, unless you know for sure that it's a steel clad receiver. IIRC it was right around '74-'75 that they started doing the steel clad receivers. The post '64's will take a chemical process case coloring. The thin walls of the 94 receiver are prone to warping during a bone & charcoal process. The guy who did mine had a set of blocks that were fit to the bare receiver before it was heated.
Here's a better pic of the CCH on mine.
Image

By, the way, Turnbull isn't all that expensive if all they have to do is the CCH... the expense comes when the gun needs to be disassembled and polished. AND, your project can be piggy-backed into their schedule. If they have to a special run to meet YOUR schedule... well use your imagination. Contact them... I emailed them and then exchanged several more with the shop foreman when I was getting quotes for my most recent projects.
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BenT
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Re: 94 Winchester rebuild

Post by BenT »

Yes you can switch out the barrel. It is not that hard. To go to a octagon you will need to covert to a rifle forend. Which will require different wood , forend cap and hanger. Longer magazine tube if you want full length.

The receiver will not take a blueing because of too much nickel content. Duracoat has a sprayon blued color, that I haven't tried yet to see how it looks. You can also polish it out and it will look like it is nickel plated. I used a full octagon 38-55 barrel from Numrich years ago and it still shoots great. Start looking for parts to see how much it will cost you to do the coversion. I picked up plenty of post 64 model 94 's for next to nothing and made great conversions out of them.
Rusty
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Re: 94 Winchester rebuild

Post by Rusty »

For your case hardening you might want to check with Bobby Tyler. He is a wizard, he can even case harden stainless.
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