Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General Winchester 94 in 30-30 or 44-40?

I presently use two levers quite often, one an M94 in .30-30, the second a Guide Gun in .45-70. I have both outfitted with Williams FP sights, but not the firesight front. I am afraid they (the firesight) would be too fragile, but the rear sight is very capable of taking rough handling.

There are two advantages, for me, to using the receiver sight. One is that I can see with it better (less target covered, suits my eyes, etc.), and the second is that on both rifles the increase in sight radius helped reduce the group size to where I am very confident of both rifles' accuracy if used within their capabilities.

I have experience with the Williams, but keep in mind there are other brands that you may like better, such as the Skinner. A good receiver sight is a worthy upgrade.

I think Winchester had/has done up a few runs of 44 WCF (.44/40s) in the Model 94s, JUST FOR THE AUSTRALIAN MARKET, and not in the distant past, either, but in the last twenty years or so. I've read about them elsewhere.

I think that Australia is second only to the US for loving leverguns, they just didn't "take" outside the US, except for Australia. Maybe some in Latin America, but very few elsewhere in the world.

I have just read that Winchester has stopped making the lever action. The only one they are going to make next year is going to be a collector's edition. Have you guys heard of that?

That's the case, yes. There should be plenty of used ones down in Oz, though, so you wouldn't have to do without one, if you want one. OR, get a Marlin, still in production, in quantity, and they have several excellent attributes.

In the early 80's Dad had a M94 that he bought cheaply. He had an Uberti .44-40 at the time, and learned that original Win parts to convert a M94 were available. He was able to make the conversion, and it seemed to work fine. I haven't seen the rifle in a long time, think my brother wound up with it.

Yeah I was after a new Win lever. I cant believe that Winchester cant get there act together and start producing awide range of rifles like they USED to. Very poor! What are marlins like? I have no idea!
I heard that Winchester went broke?

The 44/40 is just about the same as the 45 colt ,just necked down to 429 cal,but with the thin neck seals better when shot!

The 45 colt has a hard brass case that doesn;t form to the chamber,and you get dirty gas blow back that just gets AR/15 dirty!

I like a 92 in 45colt (and the 255 grain to 300 bufaloe bore)make the 45 colt harder hitting with effort!

The 30/30 Win is the standard all others have had to reach up to,
and is the king of the hill!


Bob

Yep still looking for a new win 94 30-30! not happy!

You'll probably remain that way. Winchester stopped producing anything about three years ago. Supposedly, they're producing some stuff again under some sort of reorganization. I don't know if that includes '94s or not.

Personally, I'd much rather have an older one anyway. You don't have a superfluous safety on them. If you get one made before 1964, they are of better quality too.

Winchester is now owned by FN, the Belgian firm famous for the Hi Power, and its solid reputation in military small arms.
The Old Winchester plant was closed down by FN. FN complained of quality control problems, but they refused to update the machinery, and did little to nothing to improve and streamline production.
Today, all the Winchester leverguns that bear the Winchester name are manufactured in FN's Japanese factory. This includes the new re-released model 94. In reality, these are different rifles than the American examples. Their English measurements have been changed to metric, which means that some parts have been redesigned. Stock dimensions can also vary from the originals. Still, this is as close as we can get to newly made Winchester leverguns.
The good news in all this is that the Japanese made Winchesters are actually fine rifles. I have had the pleasure of looking over at least a dozen over the decades, and they all feature excellent fit and finish, and while their triggers and actions are not as good as American made examples, they do work well, and go bang when fired.
The bad news is that these are all limited production items, which makes them difficult to find, and they carry a premium price tag. Locally, the only way to get ahold of some of these guns is to place a special order, and hope it can get filled.
Taffin recently wrote a review of the new re-released 94 in GUNS magazine. He found the gun to be extremely accurate, and the full rifle barrel added a couple hundred fps. over factory listed velocity. If you can scrape up the funds, and don't mind that its made an ocean away, it sure seems to be a nice 30 WCF.
On the other hand, it might be that much better to get a hold of a model 64 Deer Rifle, and take to the woods in grand tradition.

Just a few comments to the original posts..first of all none of these calibers has the thump of a .308, not even close. The .308 is much more potent under all conditions than a 44-40, 44 mag. or 30-30..that's just the way it is.

Also the 44-40 is a model 92, the 30-30 is a mod. 94..

If you want a lever action win. the 30-30 is the best by far than any 44 for killing hogs or deer or anything else for that matter..but the .308 in a lever action such as the Savage 99 or Browning BLR would be about twice as effective.

The 38-40 and the 44-40, even at short range with rather stiff handloads are still not the best of killers on game..They found that out with the advent of the 30-30, 25-35 and 32 Special, they voided the sales on the the 38-40 and 44-40...In my very early youth we used the 38-40 and 44-40 on our ranch Mule Deer and Del Carmen whitetail and lots of problems occurred. It was whole different ball game when we got 30-30s, 25-35s and 250-3000s and an uncle had the early day magnum a 300 Savage! wow!

Hi Ant264,

I hunt wild boars in France and Europe for long years now and i understant, as my discussions with Mick Matheson confirmed, that your hogs are a bit different as ours. But they both are tough animals. I understand you'll be hunting them in some bush and cover as i do when driving dogs in driven hunts. For that job i once used 44Mag in Browning 92 and Ruger semi auto, 30-30 in 94 standard. Both killed, i used handloads with 270grs Speer GD for the 92, 250grs Partition for the Ruger and 170grs Partition for the 30-30 at max velocity. At short range the 44Mad seemed to be better stopper but that's no science. Generally i double sometime triple the shoot cause in thick brush and animals running they were not always well placed, heaviest one was more than 225lbs. For such game the 44WCF seem a bit weak but can do. Now i often use more powerful rifles, one 7600 carbine in 35Whelen, a KR1 Merkel in 9,3x62 or my favorite 86 Winchester lighweight in 45-70 handloaded hot with 405grs bullets and heavy load of VN133.
If you have only choice between 30-30 and 44-40 better go to the 30-30. 170grs bullets seem to have enough penetration and enough expansion at short range. Note that i'm used to dispatch some boars, wounded or not, with my Cold Steel Trail Master when blocked by dogs and dangerous for them to use rifle. Can be "interesting" sometimes
Regards from down under.
Dominique