I had a question about a 1981 Winchester model 94 trapper that I recently picked up, and I know this isn't a Winchester forum, however, I figured someone here could respond. The inside of the action on this gun seems to have a red color to it as if some sort of coating was sprayed onto it (looks like anodized aluminum even though the action is steel). It appears to be professionally done, and I was wondering if anyone else with a model 94 of that era could look at the inside of the receiver on their gun and see if it exhibits this same condition (you may need a flashlight to really see what I am talking about). Mainly, I want to know whether or not this was applied at the factory, and what exactly it's purpose is? It is definately not rust, and solvent like Hoppes does not remove it.

Thank you

I'll take a guess. I think you are looking at the normal tint of steel
that doesn't retain a blued finish very well. After 1964 Winchester used
castings for their receivers in the 94 and the late md 12's with the Y
prefix on the serial numbers. They sometimes didn't retain the original
finish very well and were notorious for being hard to reblue. I seem to
remember 94's that were painted rather than blued when Winchester
quality dipped. Some steels gradually turn a reddish plum color as
they age even though orginally blue. One notorious offender is the
1934 Beretta. Many of the older ones have slides that are a solid
reddish plum color. I wouldn't worry about it. My own 94 is a pre 64
model but the sides of the receiver show a faint bronzing under a
bright light.

I have also heard that the metal used in the post-1964 M94 receivers was of some odd composition that didn't blue very well. You might be seeing a natural discoloration of the alloy. They probably all look like that.

__________________
No life story has happy end.

Well the odd thing about it is that only the inside of the receiver exhibits this. If I put a flashlight to the outside of the receiver, the blueing retains that perfect blue/black color. I assume if it was just to do with the tint of the blue, then you would see it on the entire receiver. The only other odd thing that I noticed about the gun is that the barrel seems to be much more smoothly polished than the magazine tube, however, none of the markings are washed out and under light it even exhibits a slight bit of "browning" in areas indicating to me that it is probably an original finish, however, my goal here is to determine whether these conditions are original or the result of someone messing with the gun.

Maybe a rust bluing? I've heard of that. I've even seen guns that were rust blued before.

I have three (3) Model 94's from that era (pre-safety), 2 of them are XTR models in the box; a 30-30 and Big Bore 375 with 20" barrels. Neither one has any residue like you described. The factory lubricants can still be found in the nooks and cranny's of these guns and it's light brown in color. Hope this helps...
Jeff

Naw, certainly NOT "rust bluing" on that recent manufactured M94 Winchester.

It's true that the post 1964 Winchester M94 rifles and carbines had difficulty with bluing solutions, and many will be found with a reddish or purple tint to them. I believe one of the many solutions to the bluing problem was to iron plate the receivers before bluing. That seemed to give the most consistent desired blue/black finish. The plated commemorative models did not have this problem.

As for the barrels and magazine tubes having different levels of polish, please keep in mind that these are standard production guns, and the polishing was kept to a minimum to reduce costs. The finish variations are due to the parts being polished (spun, buffed, etc) in large batches, blued in large batches, and then assembled. You can expect variations, and sometimes LARGE variations in detail when you build guns like that.

Selectgear, that is interesting that you say this doesn't exist on your guns, and it makes me wonder. The lower part of the bolt rails are the most noticable part on this gun and under a mag light it will appear to be a dull reddish color. Did you put a light to your guns? And they show absolutely no red/purple hue inside the receiver? In response to John Traveler, do you know if they only iron plated the outside of the receivers? How was the iron plating accomplished, were they hot dipped or was it sprayed/brushed on? Also, this gun is not a commemorative but it was part of a specially made run of 94 trappers that were made exclusively for members of the Winchester Arms Collectors Association, and thus has their logo engraved on the left side of the receiver and stamped on the right side of the stock and on the original box. In addition, the rear sight was an upgraded ladder style as opposed to the standard buckhorn that was on the regular trappers.

I have a 1979 Trapper in front of me, and it has a definite plum cast down inside the receiver. It looks like my HK P7 that has the same thing going on. I think it's a relic of the bluing not taking hold as well on parts of different hardness, and changing color over time. I wouldn't worry about it at all.

My circa 1979 94 also has a distinct plum cast

__________________
Forum consigliere

I have another question about this gun. While inspecting it closer, I noticed that three receiver screws (hammer screw, carrier screw, and link plate screw) appear to have been ground flat on their ends to approximately fit the width of the action before they were blued. This looks to have been done by manual methods (fine grinding wheel or belt sander). I looked at about 4 other post 64 model 94's at the local gunshow this weekend and the screws on these guns had a slightly "rounded" end that protruded slightly from the flat surface of the receiver. I have not been able to find another gun online in a picture that appears to have ground ends on the screw, so I am starting to wonder if this could have been done at the factory or would have been done later on. Has anybody else ever seen this before or have m94's that exhibit this trait? Also upon closer inspection, the WACA engraving on the left side of the receiver doesnt look to be symmetrical and appears to have been done after the gun was blued (because it has sharp edges and is "in the white" on the bottom where some of the gold washing has lifted up"). It doesnt look to have been done at the Winchester factory, so I would appreciate any more info on this WACA trapper if anyone can comment.