Winchester Model 94

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stonecutter2

stonecutter2

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Hi, folks. Picked this rifle up for $225. It's a Model 94 in 30-30 with obvious receiver issues - the bluing apparently didn't stay on the receiver very well (according to the seller). The pictures make it look worse than it is - the bluing is gone, with some very slight surface corrosion. The rest of the rifle looks great, the bore is very nice and shiny, the lever/trigger seem loose (maybe that's normal?).

My brother-in-law has been very helpful with my wife and I's first house this past year, so I figured I'd get him something he's always wanted, but he'll probably never buy himself. At a gun show last year, he picked up a new lever action and said it "didn't look right" and he'd want to throw it around in his pickup bed for awhile to bang it up and make it look well used. So, I thought this rifle would be a perfect fit for him.

Serial # is 47744XX

Here's a pic:
win94.jpg

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!

It seems to cycle just fine, no obvious issues. The trigger and lever feel loose, but again everything seems to function fine.
 
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That looks like one of the receivers (I didn't check the s/n) that had to be, IIRC, iron-plated to be blued, and the underlying plating is pretty easily damaged.

Here's an idea that I would have been pretty cool toward a month ago, but I'm now a believer. If you are not mortally afraid of spraying things, I just refinished a Win 1200 with DuraCoat using their economy airbrush. It came out amazingly well and with one or two qualifications I'd highly recommend it.

The qualifications are: 1. Surface prep is everything; you need to rough the surface up and a cheap sandblaster is best. 2. Canned air has never worked for me, but I have a hotdog compressor that I bought a $20 air/water/particle filter for and that works great with the airbrush (turn the pressure waaaaay down).

There's an article in the gunsmithing project book by Bryce Towsley on refinishing ("pimping," in his words) a 94 Ranger. It's right up your alley, perhaps. :)
 
the trigger and lever are loose on the winchester 94 so no real issue there. looks like a real winner you got there. it should do well in the bed of a pick up and still give legendary performance for many years to come.

i think he will be well pleased. i wouldn't change a thing.
 
sappyg said:
the trigger and lever are loose on the winchester 94 so no real issue there. looks like a real winner you got there. it should do well in the bed of a pick up and still give legendary performance for many years to come.

i think he will be well pleased. i wouldn't change a thing.
Click to expand...
Okay, so the looseness isn't a bad thing. That's great news :) I was shocked at how loose the trigger was when the hammer isn't cocked.

And yeah - I'm not going to mess with it too much. I'm just sitting here, getting her exterior well oiled and taken care of.

Considering taking her apart to fully clean her, just to inspect a couple of things. I've read I might need some special screwdrivers to not screw up the screw heads, though. Those are some really tiny screw heads.
 
oy... i took a 94 apart once. never again! 92's are worse still. if it aint broke don't fix it. if you do brake it down gaureteed your next post will be 'how do i put it back together' :D
 
That gun just needs a little attention. Clean up the surface rust with 0000 steel wool and gun oil or Hoppe's, and she'll look a whole lot better.
 
More than likely, sweat off the hands is what took the bluing off. They are a good rifle, I too would suggest having it carried inside the truck instead of the bed ! LOL Might get some Rennisance Wax and "lightly" go over the metal and wood, Ohhhh, it makes 'em look really nice. Good luck.
 
Hopefully this one is used enough for him to not put it in the bed of the pickup :)

I went over it with some bore cleaner, and got a lot of the rust off of it. Then I oiled it up - looks more of a "yellow" than orange in places now. The action is a little smoother now with some oil in the works, too. I might do a little light grease on the bolt to really smooth it out.
 
sappyg said:
the trigger and lever are loose on the winchester 94
Click to expand...

I'll attest to that. Mine is in great condition and the trigger is loose. Can easily hit a 5 inch circle at 50 yards with the stock iron sites all day though. Which is harder for the shooter than the gun considering the front bead completely covers about an 8 inch circle at 50 yards. Has killed a few deer well beyond 50 yards with open sites too.
 
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