Shooting a Winchester Commemorative in .44-40?

dragoon7214

dragoon7214

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I've seen a few Winchester 94 Commemoratives lately in .44-40 for sale at reasonable prices ($500 to $700), I was just wondering if anyone has any experience with them as shooters? Does the 94 action handle the round very well or does it jam? I realise all the Winchester collectors are probably going nuts with ruining the value of the rifle, since most of them are unfired, but I can't be the only one doing it, because I've seen at least two .38-55s for sale that had been fired. Considering that a run of the mill 94 in .30-30 or .32 Special is only worth around $300 -400, and true old antique ones are worth much more (and still bought and used as shooters), I just thought this might be an interesting way to try out the old .44-40.
 
Just to clear up one thing. It is not Winchester collectors that want them new in the box. They can't stand the thought of a new, made to order "antique."
 
The '94 was designed around 30-30 length cartridges. So, without trying or owning one, I'm going to guess it will handle the cartridge just fine, as long as you don't want to use it for speed shooting at an action event.
It may work well for that too, but that was my educated guess.
I have avoided buying commemoratives for one major reason. I know that if I owned one it would be fired. No question, probably before the first week was out.
So don't look to me to argue with you about not firing it. I would.
 
I'd shoot and enjoy it, they made way too many diff. comm. 94s, I don't believe their value will rise any faster then a reg. '94...IMHO
 
I would tend to agree with Ben. Keep shootin em and usen em. The more they get used, the more chance some day that the unfired ones will be worth something. There's allot of commemoratives out there.
 
Buy one that's already been shot. You won't pay a collector's premium and won't have to worry about being the first to shoot it.

Cheyennes can sometimes be bought very reasonably...;)
 
As far as actual hunting goes, wouldn't he 38-55 be a better round?

I remember some old timers that liked the 38-55 for deer and moose for brush hunting (before we had 9 mile clear cuts)
 
I own both oringinals and commemoritives that I shoot. The 44-40 was originally designed for the model 92 action.However the commeratives are all 94 actions.
You are right the commemoritves are not worth much so that's why I shoot it.
If you are thinking of getting one I would do as they say above and buy a used one.
cooner
 
I have a couple, and I've shot one of them.

It's fun to blast away at a pit! The guys got a charge out of it.

I don't think I'd hunt with it...but great plinking.
 
Thanks guys. I've got a line on two different ones in 44-40 that have been shot before, both Little Bighorn Comemoratives, both for $650. I'm not planning on using it for hunting, just plinking for my own amusement. I was just concerned that the short 44-40 cartridge might not cycle too well through the 94 action. My thoughts were that if Winchester had never intended for them to be fired they might not have worried too much about adapting the action to cycle them properly.
 
In the past I had a Winchester Model 94 in .44 Magnum.The .44 and .44-40 in the Model 94 both had modified actions that allowed the shorter cartridges to be used in the longer action Model 94.

The .44 that I owned worked well.
 
I have a cheyenne and it shoots great. Only once did I have trouble feeding and it was when the gun was levered while tilted on a pretty good angle. Now I try to keep it upright when I am in a hurry.
 
I've got a couple Cheyenne in 44/40. It was shot when I got it and I've run pails of wheelweights through it since. It functions just fine. I've never given a bit of thought to collector value, mostly because I don't think these things really have any.
If you want to shoot your's, slug the barrel. Mine comes out a lot closer to .429 than .426 or whatever the originals were supposed to be. It won't shoot worth a crap with the smaller bullets.
 
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