Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General Tell me about the 375 Win 94.

Your 444 kills deer deader than a 375? Interesting! What exactly was it supposed to do? Lift the deer of it's feet and slam it against a tree?

In regards to the claim that the 30WCF was cobbled together by wildcatters, as far as I recall, the 30 WCF was designed off the parent 38-55 round, but it was not wildcatters who did this. Smokeless powder was unavailable to the general public for decades after the 30 was in production, so unless one is suggesting that Winchester ammunition itself was staffed by wildcatters, which is a stretch, the claim is not correct.
Wildcatters have indeed created a number of great cartridges, but the 30WCF is not one of them.
The confusion between the 38-55 and the 375 is probably never going to go away. It may be that some have decided to cross ammunition, for whatever reason, but such practices are not going to do anyone's gun, brass, or accuracy any favors.
I wonder how individuals concluded that just because some expert said somewhere that it is fine to shoot the wrong ammo, that this must be gospel truth. Could very well be that the reason so few have heard of the 375 is because people wrote it off after discovering that 38-55 ammo was less than precise in the .375 bore.
I can't prove it, but I do think that it was the confusion between the two cartridges that eventually led Winchester to discontinue the 375.
The 30WCF is simply put, a truly great cartridge, but I would disagree that it stops critters as well as the 375, especially when those critters start to grow big with fangs and claws. With the right bullets, the 30 can do almost anything, and it probably could be said that there is little practical difference with most deer between the two cartridges, but the advantage of larger caliber and greater bullet weight are substantial when less than ideal shots are available. Most people familiar with the 38-55 will claim it to have more wallop at levergun ranges than the 30, so by extension, the same could only be true for the 375.
One of the reasons I like the 375 is because it is truly an excellent cartridge. It represents a significant upswing in power over the 30 in a rifle of the same weight with the same great handling abilities.
It may well be that one of the reasons the Winchester big bore cartridges never took off was because the same upswing in power means a significant rise in recoil.
I have heard that the new Winchester, or whatever they call themselves now has no plan to return to the manufacture of the model 94. Probably, if they ever do, it will be through some overseas manufacturer, and thus will be a different gun. If you have a 94 big bore in the 375 you really have a moment of history that will never be repeated.

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Excellent post, MAK. Obviously I agree completely.

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I shot a Winchester 94 in 375 win for years and it was a great hog killer. I still have a full box of shells even though I traded the gun off last year.

The person that says the 30./30 was not a necked down 38-55,might well argue that a .270 is not a necked down 30-06!
Or that a 35 Rem is not a .308 necked up to 35 cal!

It is what it is!

Bob

+1

I own 2 .375 Win. 1 in the Win BB and 1 in the Marlin. Also own 2 30-30 winchesters. I probably hunt with the 30-30 and .375 more than any guns in my safe. I totally agree with MAK there.

What most likely killed the .375 winchester was price of ammo, availability of said ammo, gun writers who never even killed a thing but paper with saying it was a nothing, and lastly that 20 inch light weight barrel that heated up so fast that the 3-4 shot could go anywhere.
I have two, one that I had rebuilt with a 26 inch octagon barrel and full tube mag and it is a totally different rifle.
Most who have really used the .375 winchester will never give them up. In mine I like heavy bullets in mine 255-270 grain and use it like a light loaded 45-70.
Yes it is a most likely a 200 yard rifle but that is just fine with me as I don't like to take longer shots anyway. Its an age thing you will all get there one day. It has a heavier bullet then the 30-30, more retained energy and makes a larger hole so how can it not kill better then a 30-30? I also like my 30-30 of which I have several. I most likely will take a 30-30,.375 winchester or 45-70 out hunting before my bolt actions just because I like the levers better at the moment.

The 375 Win..is a great round ...I have owned a Marlin and two 94s in this caliber ..I handloaded hardcast and jacked in this round ...I saw no real advantage over the handloaded 35 Rem.
I sold my 375 win.'s and stuck with the 35 rem. (durning a herd thinning)

I'm knocking this round its a fine round..for me it had no practical advantage to a handloaded 35 Rem.

I'm a 30-30 guy

Bobbyjack, great post except you should have said a 358win is just a 308 necked up to a 35 cal, not the 35 rem.

And a 2nd thought...a Modern 336 30-30 can be rebored to 38-55 or 375...personally I'd rather have a 38-55 in a modern 336...
you can use 30-30 brass to in a pinch to mke 38-55 brass ...38-55 brass is thinner and a bit longer...a 38-55 in a MODERN 336 can be hand loaded to equal the 375 win....

But again have you gained a practical advantage to a 35 RemmY ?
And if a larger than .358 bore is needed ..theres the 444 Marlin and the 45/70 ....which is a total step up in power than the 356 ,375, and the 35 Rem.

in fact I cut two 356 win. out of the heard and kept my old Marlin 336 35 remmy made in 57.. The 356 kicked harder and made more noise...and brass was $$$ but I noticed no advantage on takeing White tails or Hawgs...

How do you know that the 30-30 was a neck down 38-55? How do you know that it was not a 32-40, or a 38-50 Maynard, or a 38-50 Remington? Or a 38-50 Bullard or even a 38-70? What is you source of historical data? I need references for some research.

Thanks.

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{The .30-30 goes all the way back to 1895 when it was first chambered in the Model 1894 Winchester. The original chamberings one year earlier were the black powder .38-55 and .32-40. The .30-30 is basically a necked down .38-55 or necked down and blown out .32-40 and originally arrived as a smokeless powder load. Theodore Roosevelt considered it a long-range antelope rifle and, when compared to the black powder leverguns at the time such as the .45-60, .45-75 and .45-70, it certainly was relatively flat shooting.}
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BQY/is_1_55/ai_n31006395/
Quote from Taffin

Seems like the 30-30 was derived from that family of cartridges... 38-55 or the 32-40 ...Im'm not sure which one ..I wasn't there..I'm old but not that old..

I had a very nice Marlin in .375 but it was the only Marlin I had that would not shoot good groups so I sold it only to regret it. It shot good enough for whitetail MOA groups. Congrats on a nice rifle.