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Do it tmitch, that M-94 30-30 I spoke about in Woodys link above is still leaning over in the corner, because of this thread, I'm going to send it off to JES for a 38-55 WCF rebore after I speak with him on available twist and bore diameter.

You guys are giving me a lot to think about with my grandpa's old rifle......

Just got back from the range lads with the 94 Big Bore. I loaded some of Woody's 275gr cast with 29gr of RL-7 with good results, just under 2" and MV of 1847-1862. They are a gas checked bullet, so I suppose that velocity is ok pressure-wise? This rifle really likes the 200gr Sierras, with groups ay under 1" (50 yards). I think I'm going to try the 275 cast on hogs at shorter ranges and rely on my scoped Marlin 375 with the 255 gr Barnes and 200 grain Sierras. What do you guys think?

I started out as a heavy bullet guy in the .375 Winchester. The 200 grain Sierra changed my mind. The 200 grain Sierra is a tough bullet and penetrates well for short bullet.
I always fall back to the 38.0 grains of Hodgdon 4198 load with the 200 grain Sierra which delivers 2,313fps and nice accuracy.
Alliant Reloder10x is one of the most consistent powders I have tried.
41.0 grains of Reloder 10 delivering satisfying accuracy and 2,250fps.
42.0 grains of Reloder 10 is just slightly less accurate at 2,280fps.
I have chronographed both loads many times and the SD's run right at 10 and 11 fps.

41.0 grains of Hodgdon Benchmark will just top the 2,300 fps goal with good accuracy. I am just not as happy overall with Benchmark or 322 in the .375 Winchester.

Good accuracy for me is anything in the 1 1/2" and under bracket. I have to work at it to shoot consistent 1 1/2" groups from the bench. If I slack my concentration a round will slip out of the group. Due to poor eyesight and in general close shots in the brush I use a large white bead. This does not help shoot small groups from the bench. I use large black poster board aim points.

As with all of the Big Bore Winchester cartridges we run out of case capacity at a COL of 2.550" just as we approach a maxim load..

You got it now Jorge, and not a Big Bore rifle and not to muddy the thread, but sending a M-94 30-30 AE to JES, his rebores are 15 twist and .377 inch, meaning I can shoot a .378/.379 inch cast lead bullet, be fun to have a spare thicket buster on the place.

I think you can experiment for all of us! Tell us how those hard casts do.

Guys help me out here. I have a .356 Win. Big Bore and I need some real world experience shared on the 220 grain Speer Flat Nose. Will it open up at 200 yards on a lung shot elk or moose if started at 2,300 fps mv. I hear they don't open and then I read they do and etc. I thought about filing the nose down a bit to promote expansion.

1AK, I can tell you a big 220gr Speer will open on a white tail buck at 156 yards when started at 2175 fps from a Marlin 35 Remington, I center punched both shoulders as he lay beside a giant white oak waiting for the doe to get back up, I heard the bullet hit the tree behind him too, I need to go dig it out, he never got up, just raised his back legs and looked like a football player lineman for about 8 yards, then down again with another hit through both hams.

The bullet expanded, but didn't loose much meat either, I'd shoot a moose, elk or big bear with that thing, yours starting faster will only be better.

When/if my LGS reopens from the virus scare, I'll try to dicker with them on the BB 94. They want $800 presently. A rebore by JES is a less expensive proposition if I had a post 64 M94 to send them. I won't do that to my pre-64s. Got me thinkin, I do have a cute little Savage 170 .30-30 carbine I picked up cheap. Wonder if that would handle the .375 Win? A BIg Bore trombone!

10-4, I don't know anything about the Savage 170, bet JES could answer that in a sec with a quick phone call.

Had a nice talk with JES tonight and he confirmed the 170 can be rebored to either .375 Win or .38-55, he's done several of each. I found it interesting that he said with his bore and chamber, they're pretty much interchangeable.

With the Jes rebores has anyone done a chamber cast?
I have cast three Winchesters and all have a rather gental entrance from the throat to the rifling.
The other big bore Winchesters are rather abrupt going from a short ball seat to the origin of the rifling.
The Lee 250 grain cast bullet unsized fills the throat and shoots well from my rifle. Kills our small deer well.
 

.375 Winchester chamber cast



 

Bullet factory



Meplat for Sierra and Bullet Factory



Lee 250gr

The bullet factory has disappeared. They were from Oz. The 225 grain bullet was as accurate as any and opened up well while retaining weight. The. bullet did not leave a lead trail and did not wad up into a ball as the Hornady FTX bullets tend to do from the .307 and .356 when you take a shoulder and cross the body cavity with a close in shot.

Nice TMitch, I've even heard of folk shooting the hot Buffalo Bore 38-55 load in their 375 Winchesters, I need to get my lever action sent.

I'm still undecided on whether to go .375 or .38-55. I'm probably overthinking it. After speaking with JES it seems the only difference in his rebores is the caliber stamp on the barrel.
When I was doing a search of .375 vs .38-55 I ran across this from Buffalo Bore

Here's part of it:
"Our 38-55 ammo is also designed to work in ALL 375 Winchester chambered rifles. ALL means ALL. Winchester, Savage, and Marlin all chambered rifles in 375 Winchester. All 375 Winchester rifles utilize chambers long enough to accept the 2.085 inch 38-55 brass, even though 375 Winchester brass is only 2.020 inches long. By using the longer 38-55 brass, we accomplish two things:

1. We get the bullet closer to the rifling’s and this creates a generally more accurate load.

2. The longer 38-55 brass, with thinner case walls than 375 Winchester brass, gives much more case capacity and this allows chamber pressures to drop immensely. i.e. our 38-55 loads give the same performance (a 250gr. bullet @ 2000 fps) as the original 375 Winchester loading, but at only 38,000 CUP instead of the industry max. pressure of 52,000 CUP that the original 375 Winchester was rated at."

I have always thought the Buffalo Bore load used A.A. 1680. Even with the long (2.125") .38-55 case there is just not enough room to push the 250 grain bullets to 2,000 fps in the 20" barrel. The Lee 250 grain bullet is seated .525" deep. This leaves a theoretical capacity of 31.5 grains of Alliant Reloder 7 and 31.0 grain of Hodgdon 4198. This leaves room for35.4 grains of A.A. 1680. Things don't quite work out like this in real life but close.
With the 250 grain Lee bullet Alliant Reloader 7 reaches maximum 34.0 grains and 1,880fps - I run out of powder capacity.

With the Lee bullet 25.0 grains of Alliant 2400 will top 1,900 fps from the 20"barrel.
28.5 grains of Hodgdon 4198 will do 1,925 fps or a little better depending on the day.
I run out of powder capacity before I reach to 2,000 fps goal with the 250 grain bullets.

Marshall Stanton used A.A. 1680 and with the weight forward advantage of the LBT style bullets 30.0 grain delivered 2,050 fps. Marshall is the only one I have seen post of consistently getting over 2,000 fps with the 250 grain bullet from the 20" barrels.

Back in the days when you could purchase them the 250grain factory loads would deliver a pretty consistent 1,850 fps. I never thought they were loaded to maximum pressure.

Several things I've always liked about 5744 are its low bulk density and clean burn with mag primers either CCI 250 or Fed 215 makes no difference....There's always plenty of bullet room with max loading either the long Highwall or short '94 case. I can push my 275 cast to 2K but only in the High wall however stopping at 1850 ish for the '94 Win. At this velocity slight pressure is evident however cases just fall out with excellent accuracy which I value more than some hyper foot seconds..

While what Buffalo Bore states is true of 38/55 brass over 375 brass, ie it has greater capacity, that comes at the expense of strength in the head area. If you goggle 375 vs 38/55 brass you’ll see images of sectioned 375, 30/30 and 38/55. Sure 38/55 provides greater capacity but I’ve found 38/55 brass shows pressure signs quite quickly too and prefer not to use 38/55 brass for high pressure loadings.

If you really want a case capacity increase and strong brass, then the next logical step is ream out the chamber to 375/356. This provides a considerable increase in case capacity. You also need to work the internals to feed the wider case. To my mind this is the big bore that Winchester should have released. For dies I use Redding 375-308 dies and a 30/30 shell holder. This would be a practical alternative for those of you considering a re-bore. Even the 375Win Lee FCD works on the 375/356 case.

The 375-356 would be quite a round but the charm of 375 is in it's low recoil to power ratio and old school design. It's pretty great as is for it's niche which is moose in heavy timber.

I prefer the 375 when using cast bullets.