No, NOT a Savage 99 take-down either!

Well, at least everything has gone together so far... Have yet to fire it, but I believe it's gonna be okay!
I recently acquired a Winchester model 94 XTR angle eject in .307 Winchester. I jumped on it like a duck on a June bug. The price was right (uh,ah, well-ITWAS$200!!!) , and I thought the .307 would be a step up. The condition of the rifle is like new! After reading some ballistics tables, the 307 really isn't significantly more cartridge than is the venerable old .30-30. I guess you can only put so much pressure behind a .30 cal. bullet in this platform - regardless the case size or shape! Duh!
That led me to start looking around for something to do with this rifle. It is just too nice to make a few bucks on, and send it down the road. I found Numrich had a few choices in barrels for the post-64 AE. I could do .30-30 (got one), 307 (hmmmm), .356 Winchester (Very Tempting), or .375 WINCHESTER-- YEAH BUDDY! Wanted one for a while! A few calls to some local smiths and buddies let me know no-one around here had done a similar barrel swap... Oh, what the heck! $50 for a barrel and, at the worst, I would have to put the old barrel back on. I'll go for it. In retrospect, I guess I could have wound up with two $50 model 94 barrels and maybe $200 worth of 94 parts, but it didn't go that-away.
A week later, I have the barrel. It is listed as "NEW", but it has some finish issues. It has a wax-like preservative, and some RUST blooms on the outside. Luckily, the bore is pristine. I scrub it up with Bullfrog & 4/0 steel wool, and decide it is useable - barely. The worst of the rust is on the bottom of the barrel where it won't show. The rest cleaned up pretty well.
Now to get the old barrel off. Clamp it down in the barrel vise and... No go! I can't budge it. Finally with the help of a bud, and some judicious TAPPING on the 15 inch Crescent wrench with a hammer, off she comes. Threads are the same... Hope it indexes! Screw the new barrel in and line up the front sight base by eye & feel - THE BOLT FITS! YAHOO!!!
I put all the bits & bobs back together and it resembles a rifle again. Moment of truth... YAAAAAYY!!! it cycles & feeds like it was built that way. Extractor groove/clearance looks great. Lock-up is nice & tight, I have a new rifle. In a cartridge I've lusted after for years.
Usually stuff like this just doesn't work out for me. Some little glitch - or some small (I Hope!) amount of dumbass - rears its head, and I'm out of the race. This one came together in spades! Moral: don't be afraid to try. Sometimes things work out! Now I guess I have the only switch-barrel model 94 in the county! But I ain't gonna be switchin'!
Here's the start.


After she was done.



and finally, That's more like it! That's a hole!

Look up the "Copilot" by guns of Alaska, I think.

They've been making takedown lever guns for over 15 years.

in a gunsmithing book by the nra, they have a procedure to make a win 94 a takedown. i'v done 2. one was a standard carbine. the second one had a rifle barrel fitted and a carbine barrel fitted. sold them both years ago but it was a neat idea.

max(hm2)
Been thinking about doing what you did for several years. How well are the directions and how good are the drawings for hole spaceings is it in that artical? NRA Gunsmithing Guide-Updated book.

any chance you have that article still? was it a lot of machine work?

Red

yes i still have the book. it was a long time ago but i do not recall any real problems with the dimensions in the drawings. the spacer plate was actually the hardest thing to get contoured right to fit the receiver nicely.

Thank you for your reply!

So what caliber did you finally wind up with on your canoe paddle?