Checklist for bringing an old Winchester back to life

[Cowboy_Dan]

My late grandfather was a gun show vendor, and before he passed a few years ago, he said that he wanted the grandkids to split up his collection. Each of us got a Winchester rifle, mine an 1894 in .30 WCF. The serial number traces it to 1897, and I would love to get the old girl shooting again, if only cat-sneeze loads.

I have done a detail strip, and all of the parts in the action are still rock solid (I will check magazine parts later). Bore is beautiful and slugs at factory spec. So what else should be on my check list before I start loading? I know I need to check headspace, but is there anything else to look into?

Oh yeah, I'll post pictures tomorrow.

[Hickok]

Sounds like a real treasure!

http://www.castbullet.com/misc/hspace.htm

I would just look the butt stock over carefully where it attaches to the tangs, for cracks, or punky wood.

Brass shim stock can also be cut and placed behind the case head to get a rough idea as to head space.

[Zouave 58]

94's of that vintage tend to be a bit "springy" so I would not be surprised to see the rifle accept a field gage. You might check the lifter tension spring, the bearing surface is supposed to be knife edged but they tend to wear round. If that happens then the lifter will get sluggish and you will get failures to feed. Hickok's point about wood condition around the tang is very well taken, lubricating oils destroy the integrity of the wood causing the wood to soften and spread. Eventually, the stock will split. Look for a black staining where the wood meets the receiver, that's usually the first sign of trouble. Bad wood can be repaired with fibre glass resin but you need to get all the oil out of the wood. We take and soak the tang area of the stock in a can of acetone and we frequently change the acetone until there is no more oil to leach out. Depending how bad the damage is you might tackle the repairs yourself or if the damage is severe then you might need the services of a gunsmith. It would be a very rare stock that can't be stabilized and saved- but you shouldn't let it go as the damage will only get worse with time. One more thing- be sure to inspect the hammer notches and the tip of the trigger/sear for damage. Sounds like a grand old rifle well worth bringing back.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Full marks to those who mentioned checking out the condition of the wood, for other than the rust that doesn't appear to have happened in your case, that is the one that can creep in through long storage, and may get worse quickly through shooting. Cyanoacrylate superglue (th cheapest kind rather than the gels) will penetrate better into a crack or softened wood than epoxy, and if it is a longitudinal crack, binding the stock tightly with rubber tubing or tape (and quickly, for superglue) will draw the sides of the crack together. You do need to remove the oil, grease or dirt.

For a really bad crack at the rear of an action tang, which can't be properly closed or cleaned, I have undercut the wood around the base of the tang with a Dremel tool, without touching the surface, and epoxied in a U-shaped piece of 1/8in. steel rod, bridging the crack.

If everything checks out correctly, the rifle should be just as usable as any modern 94 Winchester, and better made than most. With some other models there is an issue of the barrel steel - not for safety, but for the speed at which the bore would erode with smokeless. But the 94 was designed with smokeless in view. Winchester hadn't developed smokeless loads in its first year or two, so at first it was available only in .32-40 and .38-55. Correct me if I'm wrong, somebody, but I think all .30--30 Winchesters use their smokeless nickel steel.

[Cowboy_Dan]

Here are some pictures of the rifle.

Here is a close-up of the buttstock. I do notice some black stickiness near the reciever on the stock and the forend. I thought that it was from a previous owner's hands.
Also, you may notice a small strip of stock missing near the lever. It was glued on when I received the rifle and came off when I removed the stock.

I would wager acetone would remove the finish. Is it just a linseed oil job or more involved to put a traditional finish back on it?

And the barrel is stamped that it is nickel steel "especially for smokeless powder".

[Ballistics in Scotland]

That seems like a pretty good-looking early 94, not pristine but unabused. I have always liked the button magazine rifles, like my own .32-40. They don't allow you to do quite as much missing as a full-length magazine, but I have always imagined them as being less likely to interfere with the barrel vibration. I think you most likely won't need any magazine parts, which might be hard to come by in that length, but most likely the full-magazine tube and spring could be cut.

Even if you no longer have the stock splinter, it wouldn't be hard to plane or file a flat surface there, and glue in a piece of walnut which wouldn't be conspicuous in that position. The stock seems to have shrunk around the upper tang, though, and that is harder to deal with. The black streak to which I think you are referring might also have been used to fill a crack, in pre-epoxy days.

You can buy butts for these early Winchesters, including from Brownells last time I looked, and I believe a firm called Treebone Carving does them well. Then the original could be kept with the rifle for future generations to worry about.

I think the original finish would be varnish, although there probably isn't enough of it to gladden a collector's heart. Yes, I think acetone, at least when used liberally, might harm the finish. I believe I would tape over the surface of the stock, and try to confine the acetone to the tang recess itself.

[Zouave 58]

Yes acetone will remove the finish in the soak area but the finish can be patched by a gunsmith experienced in collectible gun restoration or you can refinish the stock using tinted varnish to mimic Winchester finish. (Brownell's sells several brands of varnish specifically for that purpose). If the wood is badly worn then you won't affect the value very much if you do refinish it. I have used CA for cosmetic repairs to wood but to mildly disagree with Ballistics in Scotland I have not found it to be as strong as resin/glass floc mixtures for structural repair in areas that are subject to the stresses of recoil when the existing wood has become rotted or oil burnt as to have little or no structural integrity left. Sometimes you have to go inside to remove the internal damaged wood and replace it with fiberglass and done correctly it will be stronger than when the wood was new. I've gone as far as making the wrist a hollow shell and casting a new core out of glass. One of the ways that you can increase resin penetration is to thin it with dedicated thinner such as Brownell's sells for Accra Glass. You can also drill small holes into the wood to increase penetration and surface gripping area. We commonly also use brass or mild steel staple shaped thin rods to reenforce thin areas to prevent the wood spreading apart if the glass repairs might act as a wedge under recoil. You can even replace missing wood on the surface using resin/glass mixtures tinted so as to mimic the color and grain of the wood. There is a product called Transtint sold through woodworking supply houses that works well with Accra Glass and does not affect its structural integrity. If you're a handy kind of guy you can do this work yourself or you could probably find a gunsmith in your area that does good wood work who will have his own way of fixing things up to be strong. Although it sounds complicated it really is a lot of fun.
The long black streak is most likely oil damage along a hairline crack.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I have used CA for cosmetic repairs to wood but to mildly disagree with Ballistics in Scotland I have not found it to be as strong as resin/glass floc mixtures for structural repair in areas that are subject to the stresses of recoil when the existing wood has become rotted or oil burnt as to have little or no structural integrity left. Sometimes you have to go inside to remove the internal damaged wood and replace it with fiberglass and done correctly it will be stronger than when the wood was new. .

That is unquestionably true, if we are talking about a lot of severe deterioration, or a fracture in which the stock actually comes apart. Cyanoacrylate has minimal gap-filling properties and sets almost instantly, so even a few fibres out of place will stop the joint from closing up as it could with epoxy. If you are right there could well be something of the kind under that black streak.

But I had in mind the sort of crack which it would be a shame to risk levering open, and which only requires a little attention to stop it extending. For that cyanoacrylate may be just the thing.

[Cowboy_Dan]

Thanks for all of the replies, guys. The black streak on the stock is not quite as well defined as it is in the picture. It's more like the black stain on the forend. There was more like it on the other side of the butt which came off with a wet finger and a little bit of fingernail. This makes me think that it is just oil damage as suggested above. I'll have to take a closer look at the inside of it and the edge to be positive.

[MtGun44]

I suggest cleaning the mating surfaces of the wood with acetone and a Q tip several times and then
gluing the piece back with Titebond II wood glue. This is extremely strong and waterproof glue with
excellent strength. Oily wood will not permit a highest strength bond, so removing the oil on the
mating surfaces should be done as well as you can. Wiping off excess glue and then buffing locally
with 0000 steel wool to remove any visible glue after cure, and re-oiling with boiled linseed oil should
get you back in business. Wrapping the joint area with a piece of surgical rubber tubing stretched
as you wrap it will very tightly clamp the joint without any local pressure points. Probably want the
stock in place so the steel of the lower tang is an accurate support to ensure proper location in
the direction perpendicular to the side of the frame.

As far as loads, any moderate loads with powders in the slow end of the burning range like
4064 and W748 should be perfectly safe if the headspace is within a reasonable range. Modern
powders with slower burning rates than were available in the 1897 time frame will produce the
same velocity with substantially lower pressures, so will be easy on the gun, even though
developing normal velocities, or even a few hundred FPS lower, if you wish.

Cast boolits with modest loads of Unique or 2400 will be more gentle on the bore and have a
high likelihood of good accuracy. I suggest the 311041 mold and a .310 or .311 sized diam.
with wheelweight alloy, air cooled, for moderate loads. Full power loads MAY require harder
alloy for best accuracy.

Bill

[Cowboy_Dan]

Thanks again for all your suggestions everyone. Another few questions.

As far as acetone goes, should I get some from the hardware store, or could I just steal some of my sister's nail polish remover? I know it at least used to be acetone, but maybe not anymore.

MtGun44 suggests using the 311041. I don't have that mold, but I was planning on using the Lee C312-185 in my Mosin and was going to try it (sized smaller) in the '94. Is there any reason it won't work or would work poorly?

Finally, he suggests a specific glue for the broken splinter. Are there any other good (or bad) choices if I can't find that one?

Sorry for all the questions, but she's an antique and this is my first restoration project.

[MtGun44]

I think nail polish remover has oil added to keep from drying out nails, but not sure. I'd
get it from the store to ensure good cleaning.

Stay away from Gorilla Glue. I used it once and it was a foaming mess where the glue foamed
up and pushed the parts apart, THEN set and ruined the item. I have used Titebond II
on home construction, furniture making and repairs and a few gunstock repairs.

Give the mold you already have a try is ALWAYS a good idea. Could work just fine. I do know
that 311041 works, but no reason not to test what is in stock.

Bill

[Goatwhiskers]

It's a crying shame that our forefathers would wipe down a gun with whatever oil they had, often motor oil, and then set the gun on its butt in the corner. The oil would, over time, flow downward and soak into the wood, sometimes ruining it. I saw a M11 Rem with the butt split from one end to the other, the wood was black all the way with oil. Seems as tho we would be better off to stand our guns muzzle down. GW