94 project

[model55]

LGS has a 32 winchester special with gum wood furnature,2/3 magazine,special rear sight and I'm assuming Winchester sling mounts however the barrel is a sewer pipe. Evidence of past rifling about says it.550.00 plus usual Kali BS.This is calling me but I need the enablers here to render their opinions,I've seen a factory replace barrels on GB but they are not cheap.38-55 would be nice...............Gum wood puts it in about 1910 or 1920's.

[BenT]

I like the configuration. Maybe if you send it to Jess to rebore it to 38-55.

[Malamute]

You might try a REALLY good cleaning before doing anything drastic. A friend had a US 1917 that had a horrible bore. He used the foaming bore cleaner, each time it looked better. After a half dozen or so treatments, it was a decent shootable bore. Ordinary solvent and brushing may not be whats needed. A true copper solvent and some good bronze brushes, the foaming stuff, or an electric cleaner may reveal a decent bore under years of neglect and fouling.

I have a 20's carbine that was pretty bad. A good cleaning didn't make it look new, but it shot decent. A recrown helped also.

[Pete44ru]

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+1 - Sometimes a badly-leaded bore will look like the rifling's gone walkabout.


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[elmo123]

I have a 94 in 25-35 that originally had a 26" barrel that someone shortened to 20" with a bore that looks like a sewer pipe but it shoots 2" groups at 100'. You never know how it will shoot.

Mike

[Griff]

Go in offer 'em $300 and walk out... have the cash in your pocket, tho'....
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Oh, okay.... wait around long enough to see if they counter!

[Ray Newman]

Not going to comment on value and asking price as some of what you noted may have been what justified the asking price. But as others said, you could always make an offer. Seems to me that some sellers price things high to: (a) give themselves negotiating room; and (b) make the buyer think "he got a deal" if he buys for a cheaper price and might be a repeat customer.

As for the bore, it might be worth while to try to clean it up, it just might shoot. As another posted, it could be leaded up or in need of a deep cleaning. If it does not shoot, I would have John Taylor, of Taylor Machine in Puyallup, WA, reline it. I would stick with the original calibre. John re-lined one of my rifles and did an excellent job. It is impossible to see the liner.

[BrentD]

I have a 93 Marlin that was a .32 WSP. I sent it to JES Reboring and for $250 and 11 days time, it was returned as a .38-55 (modern dimensions). This was a lot cheaper than relining, and I got a better caliber. However, there was a little bit of leading and accuracy was not quite what I had hoped, although it wan't too bad.

I was able to borrow a Hawkeye bore scope and get a good look - it turns out that the reboring did not entirely remove all evidence of the old bore and there was a little bit of roughness in the new rifling. So, I ordered up a cheap lapping kit and had a go at the bore. I did quite a bit of lapping but with finer grits and when I was done the bore was noticeably smoother when I wiped it and it cleaned much faster with zero lead. Accuracy also improved a fair bit. It is now my competition rifle cartridge lever gun for the Nationals at Raton in the summertime.

The point of all of this is that if the barrel is badly pitted, the up-sizing to .38-55 may not be sufficient to remove it to the degree you would like. Were I to do this again, I would be more inclined to hunt down a .30-30 and have that rebored to 38-55 rather than starting with a .32 WSP.

YMMV.