Winchester model 94

[jimmyjamonit]

Greetings, I run a black oxide finishing shop (machine parts by weight are my bread and butter), but lately I've had a lot of people bring me barrels and other gun parts. My buddy brought me his model 94 to refinish the other day. I've got it completely disassembled down to just the barrel and reciever. I've been given some contradictory info regarding barrel removal - One source stated that the barrel is press fitted into the reciever and that I would need a special removal tool to force it back out - another source stated that the barrel is threaded and screws into the reciever. Can anyone verify either of these methods? Also, I can tell that the reciever material differs from that of the barrel in that it appears to be some different type of steel alloy. I heard a rumor that when a model 94 reciever is reblued it turns "plum purple". If this is the case, I am curious of what type the original coating was. It was definately nice and black originaly, but it appears not to be black oxide.

 

[rcmodel]

All 94 Winchester barrels are threaded into the receiver.

You will need a barrel vice and action wrench to get it off without springing the receiver.

Post 1964 94's had receivers made out of "Mystery Metal" of some sort, probably something with a very high chrome content.

Normal hot-bluing will either not work at all, or turn out a purple plumb. Apparently Winchester had a proprietary bluing process that allowed them to do a very nice finish, but I don't know how they did it.

Brownell's offers one product that reportedly works on them, maybe.
http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=1103

See page three for more info:
http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/General/DisplayPDF.aspx?f=Inst-165+Oxynate+No.pdf

rc