Wartime Winchester 1894

[Cosmoline]

Like the feller says, what goes around comes around. I traded off my last '94 to my former cabin-mate a year and a half ago. It was a nice late pre-Olin model from about 1980. She actually pegged a boar brownie with it last month. It was hip-fired in reaction to an ambush charge. Gut shot so it didn't kill him, but it ran him off. A neighbor finished him. Anyway back to my good karma.

Since I traded off that '94, the Winchester prices have spiked and I haven't been able to find a '94 .30-30 to go with my backstock of ammo and about 400 rounds of primed brass. Then this pup practically falls into my lap from an estate, sold for a very reasonable sum. It looked good and possibly like a pre-64. The appearance of what looked like an "L" prefix got me thinking it must have been considerably post war. However it turns out the "L" was just a worn down "1". This is apparently an issue with some older Winchesters.

Further assistance from the fine folks at Paco Kelly's levergun forum confirmed it was from the '43-48 period. Those particular factory records were destroyed in a fire so there's no way to be absolutely sure about the date. But by comparing the SN to other wartime and early post-war 94's it looks to be about a '44 or late '43 make. The barrel was made in 1942, but the SN is later than another 1894 with a '43 dated barrel.

Action is a wee bit stiff but it looks to be more from dust than anything else. Very little rust other than some mild patina spots. Some blue wear on the edges but I actually prefer that to mint. Doesn't look like it was ever shot much. Prior to finding this one I had no idea Winchester continued to turn out a supply of '94's during WWII alongside the Garands. Apparently the government needed a small number to resupply stateside agencies like the forest service and such. Anyone with more or better info on that feel free to chime in.

 

[paintballdude902]

very nice what did u pay if you dont mind me asking

 

[Cosmoline]

$320 including 60 rounds 170 Nos. partition and 40 rounds Remington accelerator sabots.

 

[Sylvan-Forge]

Hot dog, sounds like a deal! Very nice!

 

[davera]

For $320 I believe you have stole that rifle.

 

[rcmodel]

The barrel date is the date the barrel and receiver were mated together.

The receivers were made in batches, and could have been in a parts bin for some time before it was assembled into a complete rifle.

It is not at all uncommon to find old Winchesters with the receiver serial number date all out of whack with the assembly date under the forearm.

I have some .22 pumps that have assembly dates off by several years if you go by the serial number dates in the charts.

rcmodel

 

[Cosmoline]

Thanks for that info. I wonder if that means it would have been issued to some government agency, assuming it was put together in 42.

 

[rcmodel]

It is possible it was a civilian police or prison guard gun I suppose.

Normally however, they would be stamped on the receiver with the initials of the organization they belonged to.

The "Spruce" 94's from WWI used to guard the Sitka Spruce forest's in the northwest were marked U.S., and had an ordnance bomb acceptance stamp.

I'm wondering if your gun could possible have been barreled in 42 from existing parts, then finished & sold right after WWII ended, before they got back in civilian firearms production again.

Your rifle, in the condition it appears to be in, would be well worth the $60 charge for lettering to see what more info might be available on it.

You might contact the Cody Museum and see if they feel your serial number & barrel date would be worth the cost of further research. They might know "something", even though the records were destroyed.
http://www.bbhc.org/firearms/records.cfm

rcmodel

 

[Cosmoline]

That's an excellent idea. I guess Winchester's records burned but maybe the museum has some records of SN's issued to particular troops. I believe the forest service and whatever agency protected dams and such were issued these 94's. To actually have one of the very few leverguns issued by the feds to uniformed units would be quite a coup. I expect it was simply sold after the war, but even then it's the coolest levergun I've owned.

I'll check for any additional stamps when I do a cleanup on it, though frankly there's not much to clean up. Just some dusty oil on the parts.

 

[rcmodel]

Well, the "Spruce" 94's were all WWI guns, and were clearly marked U.S., and "Ord. Bombed.

I don't think there were any in uniformed military service during WWII, and if there were, they would be marked U.S. and "bombed" too.

That's still not to say they couldn't have been some issued to civilian guards at ammo plants, prison guards, etc.
Still, I would expect to see organizational markings stamped on those receivers, indicating who they belonged too.

rcmodel

 

[outerlimit]

That's a very good deal, a gun like that could easily fetch twice as much.

 

[Cosmoline]

Yeah they're running about $600 to $625 on completed gunbrokers, with some agency marked examples priced much higher. I won't make it a safe queen.

 

[chaim]

Good job on that gun. Nothing like a nice 30-30 lever gun (even for someone like me who doesn't hunt) and to have a gun with some history as well. Quite a coup.

 

[Claymore1500]

I have one of those too, The one on the bottom was made between '43 & '48 accordind to the SN, but I just checked for the barrel date as in your last pic, And it has none.

 

[Bill2e]

WOW what a deal, yes you stole it (to us) but I am sure the party that sold is happy with the cash the got for it.

Enjoy

 

[Cosmoline]

He knew little about it and I believe based the value on price data from a few years ago. Anytime you buy one of these estate guns it's a risk. There's not much inspection and the innards could be complete trash. Still I trust my spider senses and in this case they said POUNCE.

Clarymore yours looks near 100%. But where's Shemp?

 

[Claymore1500]

Cosmoline, If you look at it in person,you can see that it may be 80% But it still looks good for it's age.(actually I hope I look that good when I get that old, Hell I am going to have to improve considerably to get there as it is)

It does have bluing wear on the edges and one minor ding in the stock, but inside is like new.

As for Shemp, I am somewhat of a purist when it comes to the stooges, and Curly was "THE MAN"

 

[Cosmoline]

Hey now, remember Shemp was the ORIGINAL. It was Moe, Shemp and Curly--the three Horowitz bros. Larry came in later after Shemp pursued a solo career. I don't know of any surviving film versions of the three bros together, though Shemp did come in later to replace Curly after his untimely demise.

Back to the rifle, though. I finally took it out to the range today. Shot some X-bullet handloads, some cast 170 handloads, and some Nosler partition factory rounds. The handloads were nothing special. I've been using 3031 and I may switch to something else. The Noslers were excellent, and gave me a solid group at 75 even with tired eyes. I need to do a few sight adjustments and they'll be hitting dead center.

The action was fully functional but a bit stiff. It has some old dusty oil in it that I need to clean out. Plus I got the feeling nobody had ever fired this thing much, if at all. I'm actually having to break in a rifle from the 1940's.

One interesting thing--the riser on the rear factory sight is set for a surprisingly long distance. By my calculations the first notch takes you all the way to 100 yards, the second out to 150 and the third and forth to points beyond. If my memory is correct, the more recent USRAC 92's have less optimistic sighting. They also don't have quite as nice quality irons or a nice sight hood.