Winchester 94...hell, Win levers in general...

How do you think the .38-50 kick would compare to the .44-40 in these guns? Also out of those of you that have these old chamberings that have a dash in the size do you shoot black powder? If not how do you load to limit the pressure?

Based on my very limited percussion revolver experience I'm guessing that a .38-50 would have a little more snap and crack to it than the .44-40. This is based on my .44 round balls pushed by 30 grains of black having a kick pretty much like a standard or slightly stronger .38Spl using smokeless.
 
How do you think the .38-50 kick would compare to the .44-40 in these guns? Also out of those of you that have these old chamberings that have a dash in the size do you shoot black powder? If not how do you load to limit the pressure?

BC you mean the 38-40 right? I find it about the same as the 44-40, but I am not loading BP or to the max.
 
No, I was thinking .38-50. But I'm new enough to this shooting stuff that I'm not surprised that there's a .38-40 as well. Especially since to keep BP safe the only way to do it was make the same bore in a number of different case lengths. Sort of like the whole .45-70 and .45-90 situation.

Mind you I don't know which chamberings the old '94's came in in total so perhaps they didn't chamber any in .38-50.

Edit- Errp.... It seems like I was thinking about the .38-55. There was a .38-50 but it seems like it was the .38-55 that was offered with the Winchester 94.
 
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that is pure BS

Virtually everyone has a horror story about 1 or more firearms that they have owned. He's my lever horror story;

In '94 I was looking for a lever in .357 because I was doing alot of .357 shooting out of my M66 and wanted a cheap and easy round that I could reload in abundance. After looking around for about 6-8 months I couldn't find one, I even phoned Winchester! The nice lady said that they didn't have enough calls to start manufacturing them again. Remember this was before Cowboy Action got bigger.

I finally gave up on .357 and found a Winchester Wrangler in .44 Magnum. Shades of John Wayne that large loop lever was kewl! Little did I realize that with 2 years, I'd start shooting Cowboy Action. I did lots of testing and came up 7.2 grains of Unique pushing a 240 grain LSWC bullet as an accurate target load.

Within the first 20 rds down range, the pot metal feed ramp broke. Off for warranty work! Eight months later I get the rifle back. After every 50 rds the rear sight elevator would fall off. So we have to install a Williams rear sight! Shooting again after every 50 rds the screws in the receiver would work loose. Locktite!! After 1,500 rds the tubular magazine spring gave up the ghost! Wolfe Gunsprings to the rescue. After this the Lever Link broke, 3 months and 5 nasty letters later, Winchester told me they would sell me the part but without warranty! They wanted me to send the gun to the warranty centre again!

That was the last straw, I found a sucker to buy the Winchester and bought a Marlin M1894S, after 8,000 rds through it, it broke a firing pin. I love the quality Marlin builds in. Mind you I have a 1906 Winchester M92 re-barrelled to .44 mag that is as sweet a rifle as you can find.

P.S. My Wrangler was one of 4 Wranglers in town with the same problems.
 
Within the first 20 rds down range, the pot metal feed ramp broke.

There was a local gunstore that during the 80's sold Winchester lever guns for what I was told, $50 each brand new. The reason was the feeding ramp was made out of VERY cheap metal and was known to break and/or bend VERY easily. They were cheaply manufactured and many people got shafted by these guns. The husband of a cousin of mine owns two of them, one near new and never fired, the other with a broken feedramp. Both he bought at the same time new.
 
Here is my new toy:

PDR_0923.jpg
 
Minimum you want is one of each model, then one of each cartridge, one of each variation......
Sound expensive? It is. But it's fun!
The only limitation I've put on myself, is that I have no wall hangers or safe queens. They shoot, or they are gone.

My sentiments exactly! I'm catching up to huntinstuff, only 62 more to go. Not too long ago, I picked up my favorite lever gun, a model 71 Winchester and it's scheduled to get a field workout this fall.
 
Actually, the 38-40 is very close to the 44-40. Just a smaller bore and the case tapered. The 38-40 just didn't get the early fame of the 44-40. If there was a 38-40 revolver, it certainly wasn't very popular.
 
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