Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General New to Me Winchester 1894 XTR Big Bore

Very cool. Congrats man. I love my 375 winchester. It was one of my grandpa's favorite lever actions. You will enjoy that one. Good luck on finding components. I know starline was making brass there for a while. You may still be able to find some of that.

I found a guy on GB with new Starline Brass I ordered 25 pieces just to get me started. I'll probably order another 100 when I can and leave 20 for hunting only once I find a load I want to hunt with. Right now I'm down to the Vortex Venom, Burris FF3, FF4, and Crimson Trace for a sight. I can get any of these for a really good price through a pro deal.

Buffalo Arms and Graf both have them fairly reasonable (by todays standards) once in a while. I got some from both sources last fall. They were well under a buck a pop.

Graf has some QualCart 375 brass in stock, but that stuff is pretty salty. Only time I ever buy QC is if I can't find any alternative for brand.

Just got done trying the Shock Hammers.

As expected, velocities were fairly low. Turned out, that was where it was happy, anyway. 1500-1550fps was about the sweet spot. The groups all turned to buckshot much beyond 1600. Lower than 1450fps were pretty lousy, too.

N130 was the best powder, far and away. IMR3031 was decent, and R7 was essentially terrible across the board.

Got myself a winner for deer season that I'm pretty happy with. I'm not going to be shooting a mile, and it's very pleasant in terms of recoil. 27gr N130 CCI200, mean velocity of 1502fps.

That will definitely ruin Bambi's date night.

I'm pretty happy with the results. I hate heavy recoil, so the rifle favoring lower velocites really doesn't bother me. It's a lot flatter shooting than the 45 Colt while still slinging a big bullet, which is all I was really looking for.

I have my 300 Blackout for occasions I want/need to reach out a bit farther.

Anschutz - welcome to the 375 win club. You’ll find quite a few threads on this cartridge if you do a search. Those top eject Winchesters are light, handy and were well made. I like using heavier cast pills at 1800-2000 fps. If you cast your own it’s cheap to run.

zcm82 - It’s surprising to hear of your poor performance using R-7. It’s been the best performing powder for me and many other users. Another good powder is AR2207 / H-4198. There aren’t many powders that provide good velocity and accuracy in that small case.

The best group (if you want to even call it a group) I got with R7 was about 4"... not so good at 55 yards. 😬

I saw H4198 listed, but I don't have a lot of it left, and the bit I do have is reserved for use in my 300 Savage. That rifle loves the stuff, but it's like finding fairy dust now. H4198 and H4895 have both been near unobtanium for quite a while here in the states.

N130 is actually one of the powders I started messing with looking for an H4198 alternative last year and it has worked out pretty well for me in a few cartridges now.

That’s really strange. I have the opposite experience. My groups at 50 mtrs using open sights and loads with R7 in both the 375W and 45/70 are generally 1” or less and mostly one ragged hole.

I’ve only got 1.5lbs of R7 left and I’m leaving it for the 375W. There are several powders that work well in the 45/70.

I have not done any casting in a few years but I may pick up a mold for it and my .375 H&H. I shot some cast loads out of a Chapuis .375 double owned by a guy at the range and it was very pleasant.

It was probably the velocity more than the powder specifically. The R7 loads were all on the faster end of what I tested, and those bullets did not like speed at all. Accuracy went right out the window above 1600fps with N130 and IMR3031, too.

If they were cast, the bullets need to be a little large in diameter. The 375W does have a long, large throat for a levergun rifle cartridge - most levergun rifle cartridges have little or in a lot of cases, no throat at all. I find that to get the best accuracy out of straight wall cartridges you need a fat bullet to centre the case in the chamber, especially given the long throat in the 375W.

Definitely not cast 😏



Not my first rodeo with straight wall rifles, I've owned a dozen or so over the years. I presently load 32 S&W Long, 32 H&R Mag, 327 Federal, 375 Win, and 45 Colt for rifles.

In the past I've had 44 Mag, 357 Maximum, 45/70, and 444 Marlin.

I've encountered a couple bullet/rifle combos before that were kind of velocity sensitive, too. The 357 Maximum I had was a good shooter with Barnes XPBs, but only between about 1700-1900fps. Above or below that it just threw patterns instead of groups.

[quote=T_Inman]I've got a 98% condition pre-safety big bore in .307 Win.

Does yours have the front bridge drilled/tapped parallel to the bore, or perpendicular? The perpendicular ones are a total PIA to find mounts for, as the common Warne mounts labeled "1894 Big Bore" won't fit. I got lucky and found a correct set of mounts for mine, which is a perpendicular model, here on the 'fire.

Radial or I line bases available here.

[img]https://www.midwestgunworks.com/page/mgwi/prod/W94FSB[/img]

Congrats and Enjoy as I know you will.
One of my Favorites.

HS 58

Big hand for wiam iorg his post led me to the bases I needed..mb

Big hand for wiam iorg his post led me to the bases I needed..mb[

Got the dot in earlier this week and got it mounted up. Sits a little high for a good cheek wild but that's to be expected. It comes up very nicely. Now to find some time to load and shoot it.

I picked up a .44 mag. version in the late 80's. So far I only shot one coyote with it that was enticing my female German Shepard. One 240 grain XTP thru the lungs at 40 yards rolled it and then it hopped up and ran about 50 yards into the brush. Tracking was easy in the snow and I was amazed at the amount of blood loss. Tough SOB!

My wife packed it on our fall moose, caribou and blue berry safaris. I shot two caribou with the factory Rem. 240 grain soft points. Good for lung shots.

With some 280 grain cast LBT's I would be ok shooting any of our Alaskan critters at under 50 yards. The 10 round magazine tube gives lots of quick follow up shots. But unless pass shooting at raptors or fighting off the Taliban I doubt any one needs 10 rounds.

I thought about having a gun smith setting it up for 300 grain or heavier cast bullets, but not needed for lung shots on any critter up here.

I have and aversion to scopes on a tube fed lever gun with and exposed hammer. But during moose season it wears a Leupold 1.5-5x20 with a German #4 reticle. Other then that I like XS peeps n their post with white line in the middle up front.

Couple years ago I bought a beautiful 94 Big Bore in .356 Win. and my wife made a gorgeous scabbard for it from a very large river otter. Modified some 225 grain Partitions for it and it is a more better big critter slayer.