Bobson
Member
I was in Cabela's today, just checking out the goods and seeing if there was anything new, and lo and behold, a Winchester 94 on the used rack that looked to be in pretty decent (not great) shape. It's the first time I've ever seen a used Winchester 94 at Cabela's, so I was pretty excited to learn something.
Found the serial number and got on my phone to date it. SN was 460###, giving it a manufacture year in 1907 or 1908 ('08 seems more likely, given the information on page 9 of this link).
Price was only $450, which surprised me. Like I said, it was in respectable shape for a gun over 100 years old. Heck, it would have been pretty good shape for a gun manufactured 25 years ago. A couple minor rust spots on the barrel and especially on/under the rear sight, a nice, even aging of the metal (but no rust) all over the receiver and action, and the wood was all great. I would have expected it to be much more expensive. It was chambered in .30 WCF, which from what I understand is exactly identical to .30-30, and it's perfectly safe to fire even the hottest .30-30 loads in a gun chambered .30 WCF.
They had another Win 94 inside the gun library, and the SN on this one put it around 1903. It was in better shape, but not pristine. If this one was a 9/10 as far as condition, the first one couldn't have been worse than 7/10. And the one inside the library was up for $1400, IIRC. Not sure what the deal was as far as the major gap in price. Maybe something was wrong with the one I handled for $450, but I gave it a good look-over and didn't see anything.
Figured I'd share. I had always heard pre-64 Win 94s are shooting up in price and it's very rare to find one in good condition under $700 or so. If I had the money, I probably would have jumped on it. The only thing I wasn't crazy about was it didn't have a full-length magazine/tube under the barrel; it was only about half as long. Just made the aesthetics much different, and for me, less desirable than the "classic" looking Win 94 we're used to seeing in movies.
Found the serial number and got on my phone to date it. SN was 460###, giving it a manufacture year in 1907 or 1908 ('08 seems more likely, given the information on page 9 of this link).
Price was only $450, which surprised me. Like I said, it was in respectable shape for a gun over 100 years old. Heck, it would have been pretty good shape for a gun manufactured 25 years ago. A couple minor rust spots on the barrel and especially on/under the rear sight, a nice, even aging of the metal (but no rust) all over the receiver and action, and the wood was all great. I would have expected it to be much more expensive. It was chambered in .30 WCF, which from what I understand is exactly identical to .30-30, and it's perfectly safe to fire even the hottest .30-30 loads in a gun chambered .30 WCF.
They had another Win 94 inside the gun library, and the SN on this one put it around 1903. It was in better shape, but not pristine. If this one was a 9/10 as far as condition, the first one couldn't have been worse than 7/10. And the one inside the library was up for $1400, IIRC. Not sure what the deal was as far as the major gap in price. Maybe something was wrong with the one I handled for $450, but I gave it a good look-over and didn't see anything.
Figured I'd share. I had always heard pre-64 Win 94s are shooting up in price and it's very rare to find one in good condition under $700 or so. If I had the money, I probably would have jumped on it. The only thing I wasn't crazy about was it didn't have a full-length magazine/tube under the barrel; it was only about half as long. Just made the aesthetics much different, and for me, less desirable than the "classic" looking Win 94 we're used to seeing in movies.
