Author Topic: Big Bore 94, 375 Win. (Read 3130 times)

DC · « **on:** September 28, 2008, 04:59:43 PM »

I may trade a Browning A bolt for a mint 94 in 375 Win. I have a couple of questions which I hope you all will be able to answer.
A. Most 375's will shoot 38-55s as well. The 38-55 is slightly longer but I have heard they work in Win 94's...True?
B. ON a top eject, can you mount a reciever peep sight?
C. What is the longest reasonable hunting shot one should take?

I have read almost everything I could on the round and it appears that it had great promise but never caught on. Will full power loads, 200 yards would not be out of the question or am I wrong?
By the way, the A Bolt is a White Gold Medallion 300 Wn Mag Boss....the problem is that while it is a truly beautiful rifle, I don't plan on ever taking a shot beyond 200-225 yards. Frankly, I am not in that good a shape to drag game to heck and gone anyway.

Mikey · « **Reply #1 on:** September 28, 2008, 10:47:57 PM »

A: No.
B: I believe you have to drill and tap the sideplace to mount a peep on the top eject models.
C: Depends on your capabilities. The cartridge may be capable of a 200 yd pass-through on a whitetail but I wouldn't try it with a peep sight.

? trade an A-bolt Medallion in 300 Win Mag for a 375 Winchester?

? if 200-225 yd shots are your max then why trade the A-bolt?

?what's the difference between dragging a downed whitetail 200 yds after a hit with a 375 or after a hit with the 300 Win Mag - more meat damage, less weight?? Mikey.

Rangr44 · « **Reply #2 on:** September 29, 2008, 02:58:46 AM »

[A. Most 375's will shoot 38-55s as well. The 38-55 is slightly longer but I have heard they work in Win 94's...True?]

My early .375 BB94 could/would - but Winchester specifically warned against it, and later changed the chamber(s).

[B. ON a top eject, can you mount a reciever peep sight?]

Of course. D/T will only be needed if a TE isn't already done by the factory - but BB94's are. However, the BB94 doesn't use the samo Win 94 peep, due to the rear receiver bulge, and needs a peep specific to the gun (available from Williams as the FP-94-375, IIRC).

[C. What is the longest reasonable hunting shot one should take?]

That's an open question, and can be very argumentative, depending upon one's abilities, rifle, and ethics.
Personally, I don't take any game shots beyond 250-300 yards, but YMMV.

[Will full power loads, 200 yards would not be out of the question or am I wrong?]

IMHO, a game shot @ 200yds with a peep-sighted .375 BB94 is right at the very limits of both the cartridge's and the rifle's abilities.

FWIW - I would make the trade, since I happen to like leverguns much better than Post-74 Browning bolt rifles.

.

DC · « **Reply #3 on:** September 29, 2008, 04:00:54 AM »

Why would Winchester warn against shoot 38-55's? The pressure is less and the bullet diameter is supposed to be the same. The case is very slightly longer but usually fits just fine. Conversely, the 375 is very often shot in new 38-55's like the NEF's and the Marlin 95's both of which handle pressure well.

I am confused about this. 38-55's are few and far between. I don't want an older collectable, I want a shooter, preferably fairly new.

mcwoodduck · « **Reply #4 on:** September 29, 2008, 06:17:20 AM »

Other way around. the 375 Win is a longer version of 38-55. The 375 is a high pressure round that will damage older 38-55 guns but like 38's they can be fired in 357's the 38-55 can be fired in 375's. Acording to Cartridges of the World 9th Ed. P. 91
38-55 is 2.51 over all length and 375 is 2.56 over all.
But 38-55 ammo is as expensive as the 375 stuff so why not just shoot the 375 stuff.

quickdtoo · « **Reply #5 on:** September 29, 2008, 06:34:41 AM »

The 38-55 has a longer case length and uses .377" bullets, while the 375 Win uses .375" bullets.

Tim

http://ammoguide.com/?catid=52

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DC · « **Reply #6 on:** September 29, 2008, 07:53:07 AM »

IN other word, my idea was a really bad one.

Mikey · « **Reply #7 on:** September 29, 2008, 09:45:15 AM »

Nope! In my book it was an idea that needed clarification, but at least you asked the right questions.

Now, that being said I would not trade the Bolt for the Winchester, I would just buy the Winchester outright, period. The 375 is as good a woods/field caliber as just about any lever caliber and it will most definitely do the job. You just may wish to hang onto that Browning in case you need a longer range rifle and you have someoen with you to help with the drag..........JMTCW. Mikey.

mcwoodduck · « **Reply #8 on:** September 29, 2008, 12:51:04 PM »

Ok Case is longer but the over all loaded is a little shorter. 2.12 for the 38-55 and 2.02 for the 375 with loaded lengths being 2.51 and 2.56 respectivly.

Graybeard · « **Reply #9 on:** September 30, 2008, 03:07:25 AM »

If your chamber happens to NOT be long enough for the entire .38-55 case to comfortably fit (HIGHLY LIKELY) then there will not be room for the case to expand to release the bullet cleanly. This can raise pressures to dangerous levels even in a low pressure round like the .38-55. Unless you have a chamber cast made and determine conclusively the chamber is long enough then it's a dumb idea to fire the longer round in a .375 chamber. Even if you check with a chamber cast and it's long enough light loading in a .375 case or shortening a .38-55 case is still the wise policy. There is a reason why the barrel tells you what round it is chambered to.

DC · « **Reply #10 on:** September 30, 2008, 04:37:58 AM »

You all have convinced me that it is a bad idea.

Mike Britton · « **Reply #11 on:** September 30, 2008, 05:01:50 AM »

I own both cartridges, and shoot both, interchanged. Keep the thread going, I'm interested in everyone's opinion. Thanks, Mike

DC · « **Reply #12 on:** September 30, 2008, 11:52:01 AM »

The whole idea started with me wanting to aquire a mint 94 BB in 375. I have around 200 loaded 38-55's and another 100 empty brass. I thought that I could be in fat city having a rifle that would shoot both. I know that guys shooting modern single shots do it all the time. They have 38-55's and shoot 375's through them.
I didn't think that the small difference in bore diameter would be an issue because what I have loaded are light loads meant for an old rebarrelled Stevens single shot. Greybeard however brought up the case length issue. I can shorten all the cases but I was hoping I could shoot the existing 38-55's that I have.
Generally, I thing the 375 is a great and very versitile round in a great rifle.

DC · « **Reply #13 on:** October 11, 2008, 10:16:11 AM »

Wahoo! My little experiment worked like a charm. I got the 94BB...like new and tried a few 38-55's. They shot great a close range and no signs of excessive pressure and they fed like a dream. I can't wait to try it at 100 yards and load up some 375 horse power loads as well!

dpe.ahoy · « **Reply #14 on:** October 12, 2008, 04:46:44 AM »

Don't ya love it when a plan works out. My Marlin CB has had a bunch of warm 38-55's thru it as well as a few 375's I do like the cartridge, well enough I got a Handi-rifle in the same caliber. Still doing some work up on that one, too many toys, not enough time. DP

Mike Britton · « **Reply #15 on:** October 12, 2008, 06:07:20 AM »

Quote from: DC on October 11, 2008, 10:16:11 AM

Wahoo! My little experiment worked like a charm. I got the 94BB...like new and tried a few 38-55's. They shot great a close range and no signs of excessive pressure and they fed like a dream. I can't wait to try it at 100 yards and load up some 375 horse power loads as well!

29 gr. of reloader7 under a 200 gr. bullet. My .375 Marlin AND my original HI-Wall shoot this load in .375, .38-55, and blown out .30-30 brass, and both love it. I've never noticed any signs of pressure from this set up in either rifle.

crossfire · « **Reply #16 on:** October 16, 2008, 04:08:46 PM »

How do you "blow out" a .30-30 case into a .375/.38-55? Use an expander and full-length sizer? Wouldn't the brass get awfully thin?

Mike Britton · « **Reply #17 on:** October 17, 2008, 06:47:43 AM »

Quote from: crossfire on October 16, 2008, 04:08:46 PM

How do you "blow out" a .30-30 case into a .375/.38-55? Use an expander and full-length sizer? Wouldn't the brass get awfully thin?

The brass I have came with my HI-wall, and they were "Fire Formed", .30-30 fired in a .38-55 chamber. And the brass doesn't seem too thin, it reloads just fine, but a little short.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #18 on:** October 17, 2008, 08:03:21 AM »

had one , was alot of weight for a 200 or less yard gun . IMHO
ammo over $ 40.00 a box of 20

crash87 · « **Reply #19 on:** December 03, 2008, 06:34:48 AM »

Here's a little bit of information that just might help with this subject. I have 2 375 WCF's, a Ruger #3 and a Win Big Bore. I recently purchased and received from LBT, a .379 bevel base WFN, to use in both of these rifles. On slugging the bore on the Ruger to find the right sizer die, I found it to slug @.3770"! So I was going to wait with messing with the B.B., but went ahead and slugged that one too, .3772"! WOW so much for the 375 dia. Although I will say that the ruger is a very accurate rifle shooting 375 dia. Hornady 220 FP, my jacketed bullet of choice. It would seem to me that Winchester might have figured that people just might want to either on purpose or just not knowing fire a 38/55 in there big bores, speculation on my part to be sure. Just my 2 penny's. CRASH87

Hank08 · « **Reply #20 on:** December 13, 2008, 06:48:27 AM »

FWIW here's my 38/55 experiences, I have the Wesson and Harrison, The marlin 336,
Browning Traditional hi wall in 38/55 and a 1972 Win. 94 top eject 30/30 rebarreled with a .375 BB barrel with nothing done to the chamber. I shoot the same load in all of them, consisting of a 275 FNGC at 1900 fpc using Win. 38/55 cases, all are very accurate especially the HI Wall. I used it for competition shooting from 300 to 600 yds. for 5 or 6 yrs. with iron sights, shooting steel targets (usually a buffalo but about the size of small deer) the hi-wall was accurate enough to go for months and months with never a miss. At 600 yds. that bullet has plenty of power to punch thru a deer
if you could hit one that far. The 94 with the .375 BB barrel will shoot 2" at 100 yds.
have never seen any signs of pressure in any of them. I size my bullets .379. I add 1/4 lb. of tin to 10 lbs. of wheelweights in Lyman mould .378296 (not currently manufactured but Lyman makes 375449 now that is the same bullet)
H08

flintman · « **Reply #21 on:** December 14, 2008, 10:19:42 AM »

Have you thought of a tang sight?

Hank08 · « **Reply #22 on:** December 18, 2008, 05:39:13 PM »

I have a tang sight on my Hi Wall but don't care for them on the levers. OK for long range but too slow for speed shooting IMHO.
H08