Well this past weekend I finally got out to try my first reloads for my Grandmother's old Winchester 94 in 25-35. Not much for shooting rifles, and generally didn't care about leverguns, but got fascinated with the caliber. Like I said I rarely shoot rifles, and when I do it is usually from a bench, but never shot this gun before so I went out as far as I could clearly see the center dot of the target through the factory buckhorn sites. This is a picture of the 6 rounds I reloaded.


This is the target, circle is 2" in diameter.


I am not a fan of recoil, and this round was a pleasure to shoot, and as you can see I am still a horrible shot. I used factory new Winchester brass, and Hornady 117gr. BTSP--fed the BTSP in one at a time from the top to avoid primer detonation in the tube. I used Federal Large Rifle primers and 19.0 grains of Benchmark. Was amazed at the lack of carbon residue and tarnishing on the cases after firing. Next range trip I will try from a rest at 100 yards and load up some batches in with some slightly increasing powder charges to get the POI aligned with POA.

Unless you are a Marine, I think that's pretty good shooting while standing. You could see if a sling would help you any. Classy old cartridge by the way.

Thanks for the compliment. I didn't posted the distance but did write it on the target. Was only shooting from approximately 15 yards. Going from the 2 rounds outside it's probably a 3" group. See so many other posted targets from 100 yards and beyond, with sub 1" groups makes me feel kind of lacking in the accuracy department. My only concern with moving out to 100 yards, is being able to actually see the target with the factory iron sights. Where the gun is not an angle eject I don't want to mount a side scope on it, and not sure I want to make any changes to the gun. I've actually only long term borrowed it from my father to get it out of the safe and puts some rounds down range. Hopefully it'll put a smile on his face when I have him try it out the next time we go.

Although using the BTSP's are kind of a pain to load individually, I am very pleased with the accuracy.

If the gun is that old I wouldn't change a thing on it. Not so much that it's a "collectable" piece but because if you do anything to it it just won't be the same ever again. You could try some easy to apply and remove white paint and with some tape get a white diamond on the rear buckhorn with a white or orange spot on the front sight and that might help. If you really don't mind swapping the sights out then Marbles, Skinner, and a few others that would make for far better sights that make longer distance shooting easier.

Nice going , thats a great group.
If you don't care for recoil try some cast bullet loads. I got a 94 in 30-30 thats a hoot to shoot with a 170 gr. cast bullet over a charge of Red Dot powder that goes about 1600 fps. Cheap , accurate and fun shooting with receiver sights. Lever guns don't look right with scopes.

My club provides targets from EZ2C Targets for practice, sighting-in
etc. They have an orange bull with a white center on a white background. They live up to their name. I've been using them for the past few years.

You might get some of those for your 100 yard attempt.

YES!!!! Cast bullets in .30-30 are awesome over my favorite powder to hate, Trail Boss. I really dislike having to measure that stuff out by hand to make sure it's a good charge but I sure love the loads it makes.

Well I do own a Marlin 336 in 30-30, that I bought from my brother (mother's gun he was going to sell). Only reason I bought it was to keep it in the family. A Winchester 94 in 30-30 was the first levergun caliber I ever shot and hated the recoil of factory bullets when I started shooting it in my teen years. Last one I fired a couple years ago (father-in-law's gun) I gave up after 5 or 6 shots standing from 50 yards, as it was a complete waste of ammo for me. I'm sure that if I had been shooting from a bench I would have been more content, but with the recoil and me being lucky to even put holes in the target I just gave up on it. The Marlin I bought from my brother even had a box of Remington Core-Lokt bullets, and both have been sitting in my safe since I bought it from him--figured one of my sons might be into hunting so one of them will get it. Even ended up with a set of reloading dies for it, in some recent wheelin & dealin, along with over a brick of Large Rifle primers.

If you can point me in the direction of where to find some quality cast boolits in .30 cal, I might give it a whirl with some reloads--see some lasercast 170grs from Oregon Trail. Although I have recently picked up casting equipment, I'd have no desire to buy a mold.

I meant shoot the 25-35 with cast bullets. Get a bullet mould, cast your own, get a 25 and 30 cal. mould and cast bullets for both rifles. If you allready have casting equiptment you are halfway down the road to making your own bullets. It's fun and your cost for bullets is next to nothing. Also cast bullet loads are very light recoiling...I have had detached retina's in both eyes and can't shoot factory loads , even 30-30...but cast bullets at 1600 fps are just fine ...no recoil. A couple bullet moulds and Red Dot put me shooting again...try it.

gary

for loading in the 25-35, check out the hornaday 117 grain RN. This bullet in my gun is a tad too long so I had to trim the case down .040"

I had meant to get the Hornady 117gr. RN, but ended up trading in a box of 7mm bullets, I picked up in a bunch of used reloading stuff I bought, for the Hornady 117gr. BTSP. Will probably pick up a box of the RN next to try, so that I can take advantage of the magazine tube, and not have to use it as a single shot. So I'm not into the box of BTSP I have and will just shoot them up first--although I am very happy with the accuracy of the reloads so far.

You could also try plated bullets if you really refuse to cast your own. Plated will NOT take the same charges as jacketed as the plating will just shear off in the bore. But some Unique, Trail Boss, and maybe a few other powders will push them just fine. I bought some from X-Treme and like a dummy loaded them with BLC2. Mistake. A call to the company and a face smack later I loaded them with Trail Boss and now they shoot great. I bought a bullet mold from Ranch dog Outdoors and that's now my go to .30-30 bullet but sadly Ranch Dog has closed his doors to better spend time with family and loved ones. All of his products get a huge thumbs up from me and he is a huge loss to the reloading and casting community. All the same I wish him nothing but the best and am thankful that he got me into casting for rifle.

Another plus for cast and plated bullets is they will not wear older steel barrels and are gentle on the family heirlooms that we don't want to abuse with full power factory loads.

gary

I think I have a box of 25-35s a fellow gave me. It almost makes me want to dig them out--but not quite.

Haha! I don't know why I got the fascination for loading this round, as I already have enough irons in the fire. Started loading 2 years ago with 45acp, added 9mm last year, the year I started 38 Special and .223 Rem. and the 25-35 WCF. This year I have added a second press and more reloading equipment to my bench, and a bunch of casting equipment. I know reloading saves money, but trying to catch up on so many components and equipment it's making my head spin. Spending more time at the reloading bench instead of the shooting bench. Oh well, the snow will start flying soon and the reloading bench will be the only option, and might give me some time to catch up.