I have an old Winchester 94 in .32 Winchester Special that looks as though it spent a few years in the woods. And by that I do not mean someone carried it in the woods hunting but someone left it in the woods for a couple of years. It is quite heavily pitted and the bore is pretty rough ( I can just make out some rifling) but it still cycles okay and the gum wood stock is fine. Many of the pits on the receiver can be removed with some draw filing but some will have to remain and so while it will never be a pretty rifle again, it could still be used again after it gets a new barrel. 38-55 was a thought or maybe a wildcat based on the 30-30 case (isn't there a 7mm cartridge based on that?) I guess I while I might consider a wildcat, I might tend to to avoid them - reloading die costs are a bit steep. Then there are pistol calibers like .45 Colt and .44 Magnum or maybe even .454 Casull or perhaps one of the newer S&W big bore magnums. Would the pressures of those handgun rounds be to to much for this rifle? What is involved in getting the rifle to function with the shorter pistol rounds? Or is there anything that needs to be changed other than the barrel? I got this rifle about 25 years ago and it has been hanging out in a closet. I had to get it out to compare it with another 94 that I am trying to fix and it got me thinking. Thanks for any comments.