Winchester 1894 question

[David LaPell]

A friend of mine called me with a question about his Model 1894 Winchester rifle. The serial number puts it at 1926 and it is the full length version with an all round barrel. It has a trapdoor in the crescent buttplate, but he is not sure about it being factory. The hole for the cleaning rod measures slightly over 6 inches. I had read that the rifle only had 4 sections of rod but how can 4 sections equaling 24 inches in length work on a 26 inch rifle? Can anyone shed some light on this subject?

[TXGunNut]

Factory letter could be enlightening.

[pietro]

IDK what you've been reading, but the optional trap-door buttstock with jointed Winchester cleaning rod, for the Model 1894/94 Rifle included a 6-piece rod. (barrel lengths of up to 30" were readily available, on order)
What usually occurs, though, is that some Winchester owners with guns that have shorter barrels discard un-needed sections of the rod - go figure.

Your friend would be well advised to obtain a Cody letter for his Winchester.
Although the buttstock with sliding trap-door buttplate, for access to the cleaning rod has been found on both Rifles & Carbines, it was definitely a Special Order item ( a $0.90 option in 1916, BTW ) - rarely found on Rifles, scarce on Carbines.

If his Rifle is authenticated as having that factory option, it would add immensely to it's value - a lot more than the expense of the letter.

.

[hydraulic]

The Winchester Book by Madis, page 375: "No trapdoors were provided on the '94 except on special order, but a hole was drilled to reduce the weight of many guns which do not have trapdoor buttplates."