Cosmoline
Member
Sometimes the rifle gods smile upon me. Usually they just point and laugh, but sometimes they give be a break. So it was with this recent acquisition. At base it's a unique Winchester Big Bore 94 from the pre-USRAC days. You may know these as the odd ball beefed up 1894's designed to shoot some mid-range brush cartridges with more oomph than the old .30-30. They were not a major success, perhaps because the 94 action could not handle the big rims of the ever popular .45-70. Instead they came in proprietary cartridges such as .307 and .358 Win.
Well back in the 80's gunsmith and writer John Traister decided to build a brush-busting levergun in the wildcat chambering of .458x2, which is just a .458 Win Mag elephant cartridge chopped back to levergun length and loaded with FN rounds at stout power levels. This was before Marlin's 1895 had taken off as the rifle of choice for such projects, so he opted for a Big Bore frame. A lot of smithing and an extra heavy custom barrel later he had produced this beauty:
As you can see it's not a normal levergun. Aside from the chambering it accepts a Thompson-Center .45 choke so it can fire handmade shells loaded to about .410 power levels. It also shoots roundball very well from what Traister says, though I have not tried that yet. Here's some patterns at about fifteen yards:
The rifle ended up in the hands of a local collector who subsequently had it rechambered to .450 Marlin--the successor to the .458x2. It's a finicky shooter but really likes Hornady 350's. This is a 50 yard group I got today after installing a new front sight:
It's very well balanced and a notch lighter than a Guide Gun. It feels just like my Win 94 in .30-30. Except it recoils rather more stoutly, of course.
Well back in the 80's gunsmith and writer John Traister decided to build a brush-busting levergun in the wildcat chambering of .458x2, which is just a .458 Win Mag elephant cartridge chopped back to levergun length and loaded with FN rounds at stout power levels. This was before Marlin's 1895 had taken off as the rifle of choice for such projects, so he opted for a Big Bore frame. A lot of smithing and an extra heavy custom barrel later he had produced this beauty:
As you can see it's not a normal levergun. Aside from the chambering it accepts a Thompson-Center .45 choke so it can fire handmade shells loaded to about .410 power levels. It also shoots roundball very well from what Traister says, though I have not tried that yet. Here's some patterns at about fifteen yards:
The rifle ended up in the hands of a local collector who subsequently had it rechambered to .450 Marlin--the successor to the .458x2. It's a finicky shooter but really likes Hornady 350's. This is a 50 yard group I got today after installing a new front sight:
It's very well balanced and a notch lighter than a Guide Gun. It feels just like my Win 94 in .30-30. Except it recoils rather more stoutly, of course.
