Picked up my 1971 vintage Model 1894 "NRA Centennial Musket" that I had on layaway at my local gun shop. A neat rifle, 30/30 caliber, musket wood all the way to the muzzle, long range vernier sight, straight stock and steel buttplate. Got it for $495, box and literature included.
I don't place a lot of value in the Commemorative nature of the rifle, but the sights, musket wood and 26" barrel do interest me.
The rifle is like new, probably unfired as most commemoratives are. I resolved that by taking it to the range today and running some rounds through it, shows promise to be a good cast lead shooter. Unfortunately, the cast lead rounds that I have loaded and tailored for another Winchester 94 (an 80's vintage "Ranger") wouldn't chamber in this rifle, guess I'll have to mess with the seating depth to tailor some cast lead rounds for this rifle. I did have some jacketed 150 grain reloads that shot well, sights were regulated dead on at 100 yards, here's ten rounds fired from the prone postion at 100 yards:
The trigger is a little on the heavy side as are most Model 94 rifles, this one is a top eject, emptys form a little pile just behind you. The sights are better than most model 94's, blade front and square notch rear, long sight radius for aging eyes to focus on the front sight, and no bead to obscure the target.
Long range vernier sight, this is what is going to make this rifle a good long range cast lead shooter:
I'm looking forward to experimenting and finding a good cast lead round to target shoot with this rifle....