Winchester 94

First off welcome to the wonderful world of lever actions.

Now...as far as the side mount goes, you can't really do much with the older style 94's as they are top eject...the newer Angle Ejects allow a scope to be put on top...not ours...you can always try to find a "scout scope" mount and go with a pistol scope with a long eye relief, but on a lever this isn't my choice...and NO such thing as a stuipid question...except the one that isn't asked...

Now, as far as the front sight hood, you can take it off...it simply allows for quicker target acquisition...Lyman has diffrent types of sights you can install, both front and rear, to make it more ergonomic for you...including peep sights and the like.

Me, I had a side mount on my 94, but decided to take it off...in my oppinion, they weren't meant for scopes, therefore took away from their natural appeal. Is it a pre-64?

Mine was born on the year as me...1972...therefore I don't think I will part with it.

Hope you enjoy it!

D

Ditch the scope and get a good reciever sight.

Sometimes called a "peep" sight, it's an adjustable aperture sight that can be mounted on the side of the receiver (hence the name) or some Model 94 owners install a tang sight, which as it sounds mounts on the tang behind the hammer. I never really cared for these and prefer the simpler frame mounted sight. The advantage is a longer sight radius and a more precise sight picture than possible with the issue rear sight. Many military rifles have come with these types of sights since at least WW I.

Lyman and Redfield make a variety of receiver sights and I have bought several off ebay for $15-$30 each. Your rifle should already have the mounting holes drilled and tapped.

williams makes a good reciever sight for win 94's.the 5D is a little cheaper($34.00) and then the FP (fool proof) $54.00.I have both installed on my win's.the 5D you have to slide the peep sight to make az and el adjustments and the FP uses screws(click adj.).the FP is a better sight but if bucks are tight the 5D works just fine.
my 1965 win 94 (1965) with a williams 5D.

If the serial is under 2,700,000 it's a pre-64. The new models began at that number. The biggest noticable difference is the steel used for the frame didn't blue very well and they wear very quickly. Some other minor changes to the lever linkage, etc. I have pre and post 94s and I wouldn't pay a lot to have an older one.

Is there a way to check year mfrd.???

Reason I'm asking, a co-worker JUST obtained his brother's Mdl. 94 tonight- the ser# is 1331868. By what thatguy says, this is a pre-1964 rifle, so is there a way to pinpoint it's manufacture date more closely? Thanks!

Karate:

I am thinking of removine the scope also...I think it will just look more apealing with out it...and make try to improve the iron sites

Click to expand...

As others have said, Lyman and Williams make excellent aperture (peep) rear sights.

I have experience with Lyman's #2 tang sight which gives excellent accuracy on my '94. Adjustment is elevation only after windage is set with shims and that's solid on my rifle. This sight gives me excellent accuracy with the target and hunting apertures- one of each- included with the sight.

I also have experience with Williams' Foolproof with target knobs. It's an excellent sight as well and will bolt right up on your rifle, provided your's has those two little screws back by the hammer on the left side of the receiver. This sight does have positive click adjustment for windage and elevation.

Front sights... now that's the fun part... mine has the original gold bead, and I'm guessing that's what your's has. Am I right? My rifle gets real good accuracy for me with this front sight, but you might like a Lyman 17A which comes with post inserts as well as aperture inserts. The drawback to the aperture front sight is it won't give you a definate aiming point on a deer or other game animal where a solid dead-on hit to the vitals is a necessity. However, I have seen plenty of match shooters use an aperture front and rear sight combination to real good effect, just that most of them ain't shooting '94 .30-30's like I did.

ser# is 1331868


According the "The Winchester Book" by George Madis, this gun was made between 1942 and 1949. The records from the factory are not clear during this time, and we only have the serial number made at the beginning of each of those years.

Beware of internet Winchester date of production information. It is not very accurate.

The Blue Book confirms that date range.
The Winchesture manufacture date website does also

With a little imperfect deduction, probably 1944 or 45

I don't think any civilian guns were made 1942-1945 since all the gun companies were turning out military arms.

For manufacturing dates of Winchester arms try here http://armscollectors.com/sn/windates.htm

Winchester made quite a few civilian guns during the war years they just didn't keep records for that period apparently

Where I can find this info because I have always read that no civilian guns were turned out during the war. This is the first time I have heard anyone say that any American gun maker made civilian guns during WW II and I'd to learn more about this.

Winchester 94 serial number 1221289 was the last gun recorded in 1942 1500000 was the first in 1948

Granted 150000 was an artificial number but that is too much of a gap

plus the fact that many 94s with serial #s in between those two keep popping up.

The one mentioned in this post is 133000 a friend has one numbered 142000 so that tells us that at least that many were probably made in that time frame

My info comes from The Blue Book of Gun Values but several other resources confirm these numbers and it seems to be common knowledge amongst collectors ( not that that really means anything)