Win. model 94

[Justin1974]

I was lucky enough recently to inherit a Win. Model 94 (.30-.30) from my father-in-law. Its been on a gun rack in a sunny room for 20 years collecting dust. It was his "spare" deer rifle that just never made it out during hunting season. I'm no stranger to rifles but this is my first lever action and oh boy are these things cool. In a world full of semi autos now, the lever action is just John Wayne cool. I spent some time cleaning the dust off of it, first with a quick wipe of WD-40 and than Murphy's Oil Soap for the stock and forearm. I shot 20 rounds through it to make sure the action was working well and the bore was bright and shinny. However, being in that sunny room all those years left the wood sun bleached on one side. Its actually really obvious that one side is rich and darkish and the other side is dried out and blonde faded wood............so here is my question; would it decrease the value of the gun if I refinished the wood ? I want to dismantle the furniture from it and sand and re finish, but not if there is some sort of value in the wood remaining original. My understanding is that there are millions of Win. model 94s out there, so it should be no difference right ?

 

[capnrik]

I have a Model 94 that I bought new about 30 years ago. If I wanted the stock re-finished, I would do it. I would not care that the gun's market value would change one way or another. Whoever sells it after my death can worry about that one.....

 

[Moondancer]

I'll be the first to admit that I'm no expert on gun values, but if what you've got is just a run-of-the-mill '94 then I can't see any reason NOT to refinish the wood. It seems that there isn't any emotional reason why you'd want to leave it the way it was when you got it, so that's no reason to leave it.
I'd vote to go ahead and do it.

BTW, my first Father-in-law had a Model 94 that I lusted after mightily. I had hinted on several occasions that I was interested in getting it if it ever became available, but unfortunately divorced his daughter before his death. Seems the son got it. Damn shame as he probably sold it for beer money, but realistically I had no dog in the fight at that point.
Same thing about my Mom's second cousin's husband. He's the guy that got me into handguns at a young and tender age. He had a S&W .41 Magnum that he bought immediately after Smith started making them. When he died I immediately contacted his widow about buying it but she said the boys had inherited it and immediately sold it as neither one of them were into guns at all. :banghead: Ah, well. Such is life.

 

[Justin1974]

Win model 94

I hear you Moondancer, he had quite a few Deer guns that have been snagged by his two sons, I consider myself very lucky to have at least score the model '94 ! I know he also has a Model 94 in .32 as well.....which is on his varsity squad when deer season starts.

 

[RoadkingLarry]

IIRC you can do a serial number search on Winchester's website (or maybe US repeating arms now) and find out year of manufacture.

 

[Jayb]

Welcome to the world of the levergun. That rifle should be able to stay in your family for a long time.

Dampen a rag with Corrosion X, CLP, or any quality gun oil, and wipe the metal parts down. WD-40 is great for displacing water, but it ain't much for protection/lubrication.

 

[jd46561]

If it were mine, I would refinnish the wood by adding Walnut stain to the bleached side and see if it blends in good. If it does ?,then let it dry overnight and use a good wood paste wax and call it done. DO NOT SAND THE STOCK!. If it dose'nt blend in?, there are many safe ways to refinnish it. Just do some resurch BEFORE you jump in. Please post picts if you can?.

 

[DC3-CVN-72]

About 12 yrs. ago I bought a new WINCHESTER M-94 Trapper with a 16 in. bbl. in .357 MAG. I took it shooting and it was haveing feeding problems. As I'm looking over the rifel I noticed that one side was noticeably lighter than the other. This rifel sat on the verry end slot in the rack and the left side of the rifel was exposed to direct sun light. I did'ent notice it when I bought it & maby that's why it was on sale. when I took it back to the shop I bought it from I pointed this out to the owner. along with the feeding problem he wrote in the remarks section " stocks are off color" When I recieved the rifel back about 2 weeks later, not only was the feeding problem fixed, but WNICHESTER put on a new set of " HIGH-GRADE WALNUT STOCKS" I wrote that in caps because it was underlined on the return ticket and they are ! They are alot darker than the ones on my twin brothes M-94 in.45 COLT. and seem heaver. I like it alot and I know this realy dos'ent help with your question, but I've never had the chance to tell this story. Thank's.

 

[7mmRemMag]

Here is a good site. See how much he paid to have his done. http://www.gunblast.com/FiringPin.htm Thats crazy. I just bought a 94 couple days ago for 300, was manufactured in 1984 and looks like new. some kid was selling of his grandpas collection.