Bought a 94 trapper

G

glockorama

New member
Well, I finally broke down and bought a Winchester 94 trapper in .44mag. I have a coupla questions. Even though the action feels pretty strong, it move and rattles a bit. Is this normal? The firing pin is free in the bolt. Do these guns not have firing pin springs? And, finally, where is a good place to find peep, or better, rear sights for this rifle? Thanx.
 
Go to http://www.ashleyoutdoors.com

There you will find the best available peep/post sights for your gun.
They have a great ghostring peep, and a nifty white line front sight, as well as some new tritium frontsights.
I use them on my Marlin .44 mag carbine, after switching from the williams "Foolproof" sights.
BIG improvement in quality, accuracy, and looks.
 
Glockorama,
I hope your 94 is more accurate than my buddy's; he traded his for a Ruger .44 lever action.

Mad Dog, I have a Marlin .44, too. Any favorite loads yet? I've just been stuffing my pistol loads into it for plinking, but I want to make a good hunting load.

[This message has been edited by Ipecac (edited April 10, 1999).]
 
glockorama - I can answer 2 of your questions.

Yes, the breechblock will feel a little loose when fully locked. But, it should be loose only in a side-to-side motion, not in a front-to-back motion.

There is no firing pin spring. The FP is "free floating". This seems odd at first, but it's been that way for over a hundred years and no one's found any problems with it. When I first saw this, I, like you, questioned it. I was wondering about a round going off if the FP was dirty and failed to retract when it hit the primer. But, a smith I know said it has never failed as far as he knows, even when the FP gets really dirty.

I think you're going to enjoy your Trapper.
 
I shot it tonight and HOLY JESUS what a great little gun. Ipecac, I guess I got lucky 'cuase it is VERY accurate. Did your buddy have an older model? I hear those had some accuracy issues, but this little hummer is great. Now my question is: How the hell do you clean a lever action?!?

[This message has been edited by glockorama (edited April 11, 1999).]
 
Glockorama -"How the hell do you clean a lever action?" ... With great difficulty. :) Actually, cleaning the barrel is simple, but you normally have to do it from the muzzle. Just be careful and you won't harm the muzzle or crown.

After a short while, however, you will probably want to take the action apart. I highly recommend Winchester's manual "Sequence of Take-Down and Assembly Operations" for the Model 94. This is actually a collection of engineering drawings and typed instructions put together by one of their old timer armorers - A. A. Arnold. Brownell's carries it. It's fairly expensive (I recall it was around $17) for how thin it is, but when you need it, it is worth it's weight in gold. It's not caliber specific.
 
My favorite carbine load for .44 mag is as follows:

WARNING: THIS IS A MAXIMUM LOAD, AND SHOULD BE APPROACHED WITH CAUTION. BEGIN WITH 23 grains of 296, and work your way up .1 grains at a time!!!

25.8 grains of Winchester 296, behind a 240 grain Hornady XTP Hollowpoint. This sits atop a magnum large pistol primer, usually a Federal or a CCI. I use Winchester or Remington brass.
I get a little more than 1900 fps out of it. Plays hell on pigs, and shoots pretty flat for a bullet shaped like a brick.

I have shot the 24 grain/296 load out of 6" revolvers, and they are VERY difficult to eject from the cylinder. They are also painful in recoil.
They are NOT pleasant to shoot out of a handgun, nor are they recommended for such. Accuracy suffers badly in the shorter barrel, and recoil is FIERCE.

For 6" wheel guns, use about 12 grains of Unique, and the same primer and bullet. Very controllable, and accurate. Not a lot of flash.
For the short barrel guns like my 29-3, I use
about 9.5 grains of Blue Dot with the same bullet and primer. This gives about 850 fps, and manageable recoil, with very little muzzle flash. Pressure is about 1425cup, so it is actually in the .44 Special range.
I have tried and tried to get .44 magnum loads to shoot accurately in the short barreled guns, but they do not print well, and the recoil and flash are horrendous.
Impressive to watch, but useless in any practical sense.
 
Glockorama,
Glad to hear yours is a shooter. My buddy's gun was new when purchased about 2 years ago; he was getting 8-10" 'groups' at 100 yards using a variety of handloads.

Mad Dog, thanks for the loads. Will have to give them a try as soon as possible.
 
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