.356 Winchester question

[jager]

I recently traded for a Winchester 94AE "Big Bore" in a .356Win.  Can anyone give me their "first hand" opinion of the rifle and caliber? How about some favorite reloads? Your learned input will be appreciated .

[hawken54]

hello jager i too have acquired a model 94 big bore and you pretty much took the words out of my mouth as i was wondering the same sort of things. just curious does your model 94 seem to have much trigger flop as mine seems to have quite alot, this is the first post 64 94 ive had so i really wasn't sure if this was normal or not. my older models have a little but nowhere near as much as this rifle. thanks Donnie

[Rangr44]

What's not to like ?  This is a big bore, powerful brushgun, that also has the ability to reach out across a field or powerline right-of-way and touch something.

This group is representative of what mine normally does at 100yds with factory JSP's and a peep sight:


(the target rings are 1'' apart)

.

[Sweetwater]

Love mine!! It's a Big Bore 94 and has a long take-up on the trigger, but no flop. My old 1927 Model 94 trigger has flop like a rebound spring is weak or some such thing. My Big Bore will feed all rifle bullets, but doesn't feed pistol bullets which require shorter overall length. They seem to all want to stovepipe.
I shoot a lot of cast bullets and use H4198 and h4895extreme for most loads. It is not finicky for powder charge, just requires bullets long enough to meet the OAL requirements. Recoil is very manageable and much less than anticipated. I mounted a 2.5x Leupold scope in Redfield Jr mounts and found it shot much better when I could really see the sights!! Guess my open sight days are about behind me. This rifles makes me wish it were a one-rifle battery rather than one of a dozen. Too many choices! LOL

Regards,
Sweetwater