Win 94 BB - need help on conversion parts reqd

[JFE]

Gents,

I am looking to build a wildcat on my 375BB and would appreciate help identifying internal parts required for the conversion.

Can anyone help with parts required (and ideally part numbers) I need to convert a top eject 375 BB to

(1) a 356 based case and for
(2) a 450 Marlin based case

Will I will need shell carrier, cartridge guides and extractor - anything else required to do either conversion ?

I did some measuring of various leverguns and to me it looks like there would be enough barrel thickness left after opening the chamber to a wildcat based on the 375 Ruger case. This would require 450 Marlin internal parts for the conversion and even these may need to be tweaked somewhat for proper functioning.

Appreciate your feedback and advice.

Joe

[Tycer]

Try the parts list PDF. The parts unique to each gun are well listed.

http://www.winchesterguns.com/services/parts/index.asp

[Pete44ru]

I want to wish you the best of luck, Joe, and not rain on your parade - but at the end, I fear you'll find (as I did) that you're going to have too much power for the relatively springy M94 frame (even a re-inforced BB94 frame) for anything like decent accuracy and wear/tear.

The .375 Ruger boltguns, in issue form, have had serious issues with stock breakages at the wrist - and they're not a two-piece stock as issued !
That casehead size is gonna generate terrific backthrust, no matter how you wildcat it, IMHO.

.

[hammerman]

I had a gunsmith make my top eject 375 win into a top eject 356 win. I purchased the barrel, guides and other parts from gunparts corp. The other link posted above is good too.

[JFE]

Thanks for the feedback.

I'm not actually after the most amount of power / pressures possible, though it would be nice to have 35 Whelan / 9.3X62 type power in lightweight levergun.

Pete44ru - what wildcat did you have made up and what were the problems you encountered ? I'm interested in learning from your experiments.

I like using cast and I feel that higher pressures seem to be affecting accuracy in my 375BB. Also, there are only a few powders that produce top ballistics out of the 375BB and these are fairly fast burning. If I go to a larger case and have the option to use slower powders at lower pressures, hopefully accuracy will return. I'm thinking pressures in the 35-40k CUP range, which the action can easily handle.

Joe

[Pete44ru]

I made a .450 Marlin BB94 into a .358 Marlin Belted with a rebored .307 barrel & a rechamber - which promptly sprung the action sides and link pins.

I ended up parting out what was left of the rifle and destroying the remainder.

Please don't ask me for the loads, as I have no intention of releasing them, or repeating the experiment.

If you want .35 Whelan levergun power - simply buy/make a .356 Win BB94.
It'll also be accurate - my .356 was.

.

[JFE]

I made a .450 Marlin BB94 into a .358 Marlin Belted with a rebored .307 barrel & a rechamber - which promptly sprung the action sides and link pins..

Thanks for sharing your very sobering experience.

What do you think caused such a failure.... high pressure reloads or something else ?

Joe

[Pete44ru]

More backthrust than the Model 94 action was designed to take - reinforced or not.

There was no barrel damage, so I don't believe that pressure was the whole story.

I didn't investigate any further, and simply disassembled the remaining loads, then disposed of everything to do with the project.

.

[BenT]

Even with the BB beefed up rear receiver. The week point of the angle ejects is that the side with loading door doesn't have alot of metal left on it . So that side seems to stretch under pressure, the same thing happens with Marlins.

[JFE]

Pete - thanks for your feedback. Its a real shame your project didnt work out.

Even with the BB beefed up rear receiver. The week point of the angle ejects is that the side with loading door doesn't have alot of metal left on it . So that side seems to stretch under pressure, the same thing happens with Marlins.

BenT - interesting point and your explanation makes sense. If Winchester simply cut out the ejection slot on 94 BB AE's to facilitate side ejection without then reinforcing that area, it would remain a point of weakness and likely to be more prone to collapse if over stressed.

Have there been any similar failures of factory Win BB AE's in 450 Marlin ?

Joe

[BenT]

I beleive the 450 Marlin is set at 44k CUP just like a 444. The reason Marlin came out with the 450 Marlin is because they wanted to sell off the shelf HOT 45-70 's. The 45 -70 pressure is set at 28K CUP . So if you reload the 450 M doesn't gain you anything over reloading Hot 45-70 rounds. Which many manuals list 45-70 loads for Marlins only.

There was an article floating around here about putting the same 454 Casull barrel on a Marlin, Win 94 and Win 94 BB. The casull operates around 62 k psi. Anyway the article stated that the 94 BB AE ejection side stretched like butter and that the standard 94 made from good steel in the 40's lasted the most firings before failure, with the Marlin failing first.