90s Winchester 94 30-30 lever with catastrophic damage

[Hooper]

Anything made by man can be repaired, it's just a matter of how much effort and money you're willing to put into it.

You will have to take it to a gunsmith for a proper evaluation.

My first reaction based on very limited information.

It looks like the extractor blew out.
That means the case did not seal properly in the chamber and pressure got where it should not have. Possibly a hot hand load, case head separation, or something else entirely.
The hot load/ barrel obstruction scenario is what is concerning.

The damage to the barrel can be addressed two ways, assuming the barrel has no other issues, replace the barrel or set it back and rechamber it.
Both are a fair amount of work. Replacement, if done correctly will be almost undetectable, setting back will cost less, but the trained collector will probably spot it.

The damage to the receiver - A gunsmith will need to decide if its terminal. I don't see a lot of damage to the actual receiver, but without a through in person inspection we don't know if it was damaged in the incident.

The bolt is not shown, but I expect the extractor is missing or at least damaged. I would guess your looking at replacing the bolt and most of its inner workings.

Repairs will be a fair amount of work and expense.
If you decide it's not worth repairing and you want to get rid of it at a parts gun price, PM me.

Not trying to get ahead of any one.
But I might be interested in the stocks.
I have a 94AE 30.30 and my butt stock is cracked, I have been looking for replacement set,
I do hope if you want to fix it, you can get it repaired.
I would pay around $130.00 for a set of Minty stocks.

I just attached AHAll because as far as I can tell he asked first.

I seen some barrels on Midwest Gun Works, like AHall said your bolt may also be damaged.
As far as collector value, they almost have to be pre 1964 to start having collector value from what I know.
Except to the owner, if it is a Family Gun. I have a 1940's Remington Sportmaster my Grandfather owned, it is priceless. Actual value $300.00.

Thanks

 

[stick enjoyer]

Anything made by man can be repaired, it's just a matter of how much effort and money you're willing to put into it.

You will have to take it to a gunsmith for a proper evaluation.

My first reaction based on very limited information.

It looks like the extractor blew out.
That means the case did not seal properly in the chamber and pressure got where it should not have. Possibly a hot hand load, case head separation, or something else entirely.
The hot load/ barrel obstruction scenario is what is concerning.

The damage to the barrel can be addressed two ways, assuming the barrel has no other issues, replace the barrel or set it back and rechamber it.
Both are a fair amount of work. Replacement, if done correctly will be almost undetectable, setting back will cost less, but the trained collector will probably spot it.

The damage to the receiver - A gunsmith will need to decide if its terminal. I don't see a lot of damage to the actual receiver, but without a through in person inspection we don't know if it was damaged in the incident.

The bolt is not shown, but I expect the extractor is missing or at least damaged. I would guess your looking at replacing the bolt and most of its inner workings.

Repairs will be a fair amount of work and expense.
If you decide it's not worth repairing and you want to get rid of it at a parts gun price, PM me.

Very thorough and useful response, I'm going to have it looked at but as it stands it's probably not a worthwhile repair as much as I wish it were

 

[stick enjoyer]

I was wondering if there was an obstruction in the barrel, and someone squeezed one off and blew the action open. Does the action work at all? By the way, I'm no gunsmith; I'm just curious.

Yeah the action runs perfectly fine, locks up, ejects hard, cycles rounds.when they seat though you can barely see the side of the casing from how deep the blow out is into the barrel

 

[red dirt shootist]

You know I think Hooper is right about sending it back to Win. I don't think they will fix it, but they might replace it. I don't think they will want that rifle out there where it might be fired again. So, you will have to decide if the nostalgic value is worth more than a new rifle. I have a 1895 and it's completely different, and I started noticing what I thought was a headspace problem, the primers were backing out, after some research I found out some of the bolts were soft and could be pushed back by some of the newer higher pressure ammo. You would never know by looking at it. So, if Win won't do anything, make sure you get a guy well versed in levers, your rifle will require a very thorough inspection. If you decide to make a wall hanger out of it, make sure that rifle won't fire again. I wish you luck on your journey.

 

[CHenry]

It's toast. Best give it to me, I need a kool walking stick

 

[mtngunr]

Is this kind of damage repairable? What would you do with it if not?

I know they aren't the most desirable of Winchester lever guns, but it was a family rifle and I just want to see if it can be helped.
I don't know what caused the damage, I just inherited it like this.

Any thoughts would be appreciated

Although inclined to agree with others that it perhaps a hot round or fired out of battery, it really hard to say from photos. It could be something along the lines of action stuck closed and pried/beat/gouged open. You say bolt is intact, no damage, extractor present and in good shape? Extractor should be blown were it a pressure/battery thing, including erosion of bolt face at extractor location. There is never much metal where extractor cut knife-edges in barrel stub. Where it mine, I'd tie to an old tire, tie string to the trigger, and fire it from a distance and behind a tree or something, see it it held, examine fired brass, look for further damage to barrel/chamber/receiver, function, etc....again, all depending on it appearing to me, in person, to be a prying/gouging effort...if I were convinced it was from a pressure excusion or firing out of battery, I might still do that hoping the gun blew just so nobody else got their hands on it later.