Winchester 94 questions

[Monkeyleg]

Two of my brothers and I have been in the process of moving my 90 year-old parents into assisted living. We're also getting rid of stuff.

There's a Winchester 94 that belonged to an older brother. It was decided that I should keep the rifle in my safe until we figure out what to do with it.

Anywho, I can't tell if it's original. The serial number is L10677X. If I use one of the Winchester sites (oldguns.com, etc), it won't let me enter the L. Without the L the sites say the year of manufacturer is 1897.

There's no bluing left on the receiver, faint bluing left on the lever, some bluing on the rear of the hammer and no bluing whatsoever on the butt plate. The barrel and tube, though, have a decent amount of bluing. The rear barrel band has no bluing, but the barrel band just behind the front sight has most of the bluing on it.

This suggests to me that the barrel and magazine tube have been replaced. I don't think they've been reblued, as the stamping is nice and sharp.

Caliber is .30 WCF.

Any ideas as to where I can find out more info on this?

Thanks for any replies.

 

[jmr40]

Try asking at www.leverguns.com

 

[Zouave Rifle]

Isn't .30 WCF another name for 30-30?

 

[ImARugerFan]

The barrel and mag tube probably weren't replaced, for some reason all of the old 94s seem to lose finish much more easily on the receiver than the barrel. Mine sounds like yours in that it has virtually no bluing on the receiver, but pretty good bluing left on the mag tube and barrel. And yes, it is a 30-30, they used to call them WCF back in the day. I think 1897 is the correct year according to http://armscollectors.com/sn/winlookup.php

 

[Monkeyleg]

Thanks for the replies. I made a mistake, though. The first symbol in the serial number wasn't an L, it was a 1. So the rifle was made in 1940.

I'm thinking that my brother, or a previous owner of the rifle, removed what little bluing there was on the receiver. Either that or there were white receivers available as an option.

It's not my rifle to keep, although I suspect I'll have it in my safe for years, if not for the rest of my life.