Winchester 1894 ?

[raljr1]

Stopped in a shop today that had an Winchester 1894 takedown in 30 WCF. The gun was tight but not all original. Receiver bluing was decent but browning and the barrel had obviously had some touch up bluing at some point. The gun had a Lyman aperture sight mounted to the receiver and a replacement front sight with an aperture style.

I dont have pictures. I could get the gun for $800 OTD. Seems like an ok price for a nice 115 year old gun. Knowing this is not completely original, what are opinions on this?

Robert

 

[dwh]

Robert, In my area hunted with 1970's-1980's 94s are going for $700-900. A TD 94 with no extra hole, $800 seems ok. An original front sight is easy enough to find. I might even have a one in my parts box. I not the best to ask either. I'm a sucker for takedown firearms.

 

[raljr1]

Robert, In my area hunted with 1970's-1980's 94s are going for $700-900. A TD 94 with no extra hole, $800 seems ok. An original front sight is easy enough to find. I might even have a one in my parts box. I not the best to ask either. I'm a sucker for takedown firearms.

It does have a hole for the lyman...

Robert

 

[erikpolcrack]

If it checks out mechanically and the bore isn't too bad, I sure wouldn't hesitate! That would be a $1K+ gun around here.

 

[30-30remchester]

I was a student and collector of 1894's a few decades back. Have owned and studied quite a few. Prices can be all over the place. The thing about takedowns is they are easy to tighten up but after just a few shots they are loose again. Having owned many takedowns, they seem to be a hobby aspect about them. Shoot it once, take it apart ten times. Myself and other have experience the lack of accuracy of 1894 takedowns. The late great Ken Waters was famous for saying that a standard 1894 had deer killing accuracy of 200 yards but the takedowns were only capable of 90-yard accuracy. I had similar results. That aside they do have a cool factor about them.

 

[alwslate]

With an old rifle like that you can't judge it by the external condition. If you expect to shoot it take a very good look at the bore before you buy it.

 

[Charlie Foxtrott]

I would have to look at it to say,

That might be a decent deal or not. I collect them.

 

[raljr1]

Yeah, I think I'll let this one go by....

Robert

 

[Yendor357]

I'm a shooter, not a collector. If it's not a Miroku Winchester 1894, I wouldn't even consider it. And Pre-64s are overpriced as well. I Mirokus are expensive, but worth it. If you want a cheap deer zapper get a Ruger American.

The '86s, and the 92s are a lot cooler, if you ask me.

 

[sigp220.45]

The Lyman would be a plus for me. I don't see takedown 94s often. I think I'd be all in at $800.

 

[TIMETRIPPER]

That's not a bad price. If it has a tight action and a good bore, I'd say its a great price.
It's not all that uncommon to see older Winchester 94s with unoriginal sights.
I've owned three TDs over the years: a model 94 38-55 from the 1920s, a model 55 32 Special, and a Miroku 1886 45-70. All were tight and shot well. I disliked the Miroku because of the tang safety and rebounding hammer. Had many misfires due to light strikes. And the safety mades it a PIA to mount a tang sight. Otherwise it was as good as any Winchester I've owned.
The take down models often get a bad rap for working loose, but I've never seen an example of one.

John

 

[Drm50]

To me $800 is too much for a "parts" gun. If it's not original it's got little collector value and not much utility as hunting rifle. I've had several TD rifles and the best ones are those who were never utilized. I had a couple that took great effort to TD after never been apart. The only reason for me to do this was for sales purposes.

 

[2152hq]

The Winchester orig design on the rifle to tighten up a loose TD is kind of flimsy IMO, for lack of a better word.

Take the forend wood off. Then tighten the 3 small screws on the muzzle side of the Bbl Extension just enough so that they dimple the flat surface on the breech side a little.
Those 3 pushed out metal contact surface points produced by the screws dimpling the metal are what then gives you a tighter TD joint when the frame and bbl assemblies are put back together.

It does 'work', but will quickly get loose again from shooting and using the TD procedure again and again.

Some have been pushed so far out from eachother that the bbl assembly actually sits slightly pointed upwards in it's threaded juncture.

The TD feature seems to be as much a novelty to show off as useful, ast least in these times.

I usually tighten the joint by carefully peening the bbl thread 'V' towards the muzzle. Going around the entire thread with a punch that fits the thread and angle and with careful educated light taps, the thread is swaged forward just a couple .000 at most.
That makes the bbl assembly take-up a bit quicker when screwed together/assembled and it will tighten up as firmly as needed.
Sometimes you will need a vise and wrench to bring it up to 12o'clock.
But then,,leave it there and use it as it is..don't TD it any more.
Admire the Winchester L/A TD feature from arms length.

Swaging the bbl threads can be used to tighten most any bbl that over clocks it's position on a frame/reciever.

I don't know if $800 is a decent price for the rifle or not.
As said,,they seem to be all over the place in values. It's certainly only a shooter in the condition it's in inspite of it's mfg'rd age