Winchester 94 trapper in .44 mag - opinions?

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Dave3006

New member
I have the Winchester 94 trapper in 30/30. I am very happy with it. I am thinking about the same gun in .44 mag. I know most people like the Marlin better. But, I am interested in knowing if there are any problems with the 94 design in .44 mag? Does it feed well? Accuracy ect.?

Thanks,
Dave
 
It is a nice lil gun. Mine was accurate but got sold during a downsizing binge. The only con I remember was the doofus safety.
 
I have a Trapper in both .44mag and .45 colt. Great litle guns. I prefer the .44 mag over the .45 colt, but admit it's mostly because I prefer the .44 mag in general. It's been reliable and accurate, and with my own handloads using cast or swaged lead SWC's, it's an affordable plinker. Feed with .44 mag cases has been 100% with factory ammo, but I've had a few hangups with some SWC handloads. Stoked with 9 .44 special Winchester Silver Tips, it makes a great HD gun.
 
I have one of the pre-crossbolt saftey mod. 94 trappers in 44mag. It is very reliable. However mine has a pretty light barrel on it and accuracy with full loads past 50yds. is not that great. I think the newer one may have heavier barrels on them. I use mine for the occasional cowboy shoot and for a selfdefence house gun so the accuracy past 50yds. is not a big deal for me, and since it is quite reliable I have hung onto it. The Marlins are more accurate in general in my experience but do not buy an older one because they had a reputation for jamming and I used to own one and it too was a jammer. The newer cowboy Marlins have a slightly different carrier and seem to be more reliable.
 
I've got an older one without the unnecessary lawyer-inspired safety. It has never jammed or failed to feed any flavor ammo that I recall. Accuracy is good, not great. I have no complaints.
I keep a bucket of hardcast, low vel, practice reloads around. The 94 is a popular toy here.
 
I had the Wrangler, in .44 mag, you know, the one with the 16" barrel and large lever loop? Bought it for that John Wayne look. But less than 100 rounds into it, the shell lifter (whatever they call that part) broke. It was made out of some cheap pot metal (maybe a melted down Raven?) and was very thin. I wouldn't have thought much of it, but 4 other guys I know that have had similar .44 Winchesters had the exact same thing happen. Took it back, and got a Marlin. No complaints since!
 
Win 94 Trapper

I have two of these and like them a lot, they have been 100% reliable and pretty accurate to boot. I shoot a lot of cast bullets out of mine and they do fine. 240gr. truncated cast work very well but semi- wads also have worked well. Mine really like 250gr. cast Kieth style semi-wadcutters. They really HATE 214 gr cast anything. light bullets have not performed well in either one.
I like these rifles so well that I have one in 357 mag and one in 30-30 also. Marlins may not do as well with cast bullets because of the Micro-groove barrels.
My sons can ring the 300yrd. gong with reularity with the 44 mags. Get one and have fun. :) :)
 
I've got one in .44 mag it's a great little gun. As far as the ignorant cross bolt saftey goes. (A get killed switch if there ever was one) Most gunsmiths can take care of that little nasty in about 3 minutes and make it look like it was never there.
 
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