Winchester M94 Trapper .44 Mag, Groove Diameter .432"

[nicholst55]

The title kind of says it all; I have this unfired Trapper .44 Mag with a .432" groove diameter barrel. Following popular wisdom, I need to use boolits with a diameter of .433-434" - assuming that: 1) I can find some, and, 2) cartridges loaded with them will chamber.

I bought this gun to use as a companion with my Ruger .44 Mag Blackhawks - you know, ammo commonality, and all that. Not so sure that's going to work now. I guess I'm looking for suggestions - if it was your gun, what would you do?

I can screw around with various molds and alloys, trying to find one that casts large enough to be useful, I can try beagling or lapping a mold, or I can have a custom mold made that throws a .434" boolit, and hope it will work. Alternately, I can have the gun rebarreled, either in .44 Mag or .45 Colt, or I can sell it. Of the last two, I'd be more inclined to sell it.

I see where NOE has a grease-groove clone of the RD 432-265 RF available here; that might be an option.

Other suggestions?

[MakeMineA10mm]

You and I are standing on the exact same ground, sir. I have a Win. Trapper 44 Mag. I shot it the other day with my Keith GB mould which comes out fat, at around .433", and it shoots just fine. My issue with it, and this is something you may not have experienced yet, since it is unfired, is that cycling is a pain in the butt. I've been spoiled by Marlins. Occassionally, I've had to double-clutch my Marlin, but most of the time, even with Keith boolits, I get really reliable feeding. Not so the Winchester... I've decided that, although I like the SRC Trapper config. I'm going to hunt for a Marlin version. Marlin made some limited edition 16" carbines in several calibers in the mid- to late-90s, and that's what I'm going to trade up to...

As far as what would work good for you, I'd look hard over in the group buy section. There's always group buys going on for fat boolits, because of the problem you describe. I'd be willing to bet there's a fat 44 buy going on right now, but it may be for a Keith, WC, or RNFP. That said, for feed reliability in that Winny, you're going to want to restrict yourself to a good RNFP. I have two that I bought through GBs here, one by Catshooter, which is a 225gr and one by Boomer Mikey which is a 285gr. They feed great in levers.

[missionary5155]

Howdy
What are the bore and cylinder size of your Rugers ? Maybe they can stand shooting fatter boolits.

[nicholst55]

Both Rugers have .430" bores; one has .431" throats, the other has .432" throats. I'll definitely try 'fat' boolits in all three guns to see if I can settle on one boolit diameter. I'm just looking for ideas right now.

[MakeMineA10mm]

With those three guns and those measurements, I'd seriously look at a .432" sizing die and a fat boolit mould (something that casts around .433"-.434" in a RNFP shape. With that combination, the fit should be just right, so you don't have to worry about heavy loads to slug up to bore size. Although they're fat, it's actually good that the throats are bigger than the bores, and overall, everything measures out right to run your boolits at .432".

[johnvid]

There was a group buy for a Mihec 429640 that just finished. I received my mould that cast .434. Miha ran some extra moulds and has them available. It sounds like this is just what you are looking for.

[izzyjoe]

if your on a buget like me, then you might take a look at the lee 430-310. i have a marlin and it loves them. i had to beagle the mould, but it did'nt take much cause they dropped at .431 to start with, now they drop at .433. the mould is about $20 and it's rnfp. and it cycles real well in marlins. you might also consider a lyman 429640, alot of people recomend it to.

[nicholst55]

if your on a buget like me, then you might take a look at the lee 430-310. i have a marlin and it loves them. i had to beagle the mould, but it did'nt take much cause they dropped at .431 to start with, now they drop at .433. the mould is about $20 and it's rnfp. and it cycles real well in marlins. you might also consider a lyman 429640, alot of people recomend it to.

That sounds like an option that I can afford! I would expect that you could even lap one of them out by .002-.003", and have a permanent mod.