Winchester 95 update

[Guncase]

Finished the stock repair tonight. The wrist was cracked, chunks missing at both sides of the heel, sling swivel hole, chunk missing at the wrist that enters the end of the action. The forend screw hole was broken and repaired at some point with plastic that had long since deteriorated. The .35 WCF barrel and bolt face were completely rusted out so I replaced the bolt and had Jesse from JES reboring bore it to .405 WCF. Jesse said that the barrel had already been rebored to 38-72. That explains the black powder rust in the barrel and on the bolt. I still need to work on the lifter timing, the rounds hang up on the ramp when feeding from the magazine. I think I'll shoot it some now to see if everything works before I spend more time on the metal and refinish it.

[JReed]

New life for the old girl.

[C. Cash]

Looks great!

[BenT]

Cool project!

[kimwcook]

New life for the old girl.

Yep and looks like a good job. Goon on ya for the resurrection.

[M. M. Wright]

Good job Guncase!
Always love to see an old Colt or Winchester given new life.

M. M.

[crs]

Good project and keep us up to date with progress.
Interested to see how it shoots .405WCF for you.

[Guncase]

I fired five rounds through the .405 today. I decided not to shoot more because it was around 12" high at 25 yards, and, since I couldn't find any brass, I am shooting factory rounds at $2 each. The chamber is big and very rough from all the rust and extraction is a little stiff, but I think I can live with it. The fired brass is UGLY! It looks worse than it really is, but I may only get one or two reloads out of it. The unfired brass measures .459 at the head, and my fired brass has a bulge to one side and measures .470-.472. You can see the rust pattern imprinted on the brass as well at the head, and up where the neck was when it was a .38-72. All in all, not too bad for a 106 year old rifle that is on its third life. Now for a taller front sight and a re-finish of the metal. I still haven't decided, but I'm thinking just rust blue everything. The metal is so pitted that I would have to remove all the lettering to polish it enough for case colors. The lettering on the barrel is all but gone now so I'll just finish removing it and polish it up. I'm always open to suggestions, so let me know what you think, and if I'm on the right path. I just couldn't leave the poor old thing in the rack when I found it, it was too sad. I had to give it a new life.

[Bob Winchester]

Wow! That looks great! I take it that this is not your first repair?

[Mike D.]

I can't believe the Jess opened up the bore and didn't ream and polish the chamber.

[Guncase]

Jesse did ream the chamber, but there was already too much material gone due to rust to make a good clean chamber without setting the barrel back.

[M. M. Wright]

Have the barrel set back and re-chamber. You want to be able to shoot this one.

M. M.

[Tycer]

Have the barrel set back and re-chamber. You want to be able to shoot this one.

M. M.

Amen!

[geobru]

+1

This will now always be an altered gun, and in this case is a very good thing. One more alteration will have little effect on the value of the piece, but will add value by making it an excellent shooter. I wouldn't pay much for a redone gun that you can't shoot! JMHO

[Ysabel Kid]

Great work!

[missionary5155]

Good morning
Yep that is a descent stock job.
I would give it a go with the chamber as is. Worse thing you can do is stick a piece of brass. But I sure would put at least one round down range before sending it of.