1949 Winchester 94 rebuild

[Washington1331]

So, a few months ago I spotted a pre-64 Winchester model 1894 in 32 special hanging on the wall of the neighborhood gun shop. Internally it still had good teeth, and action but some one had seriously hunted hard with the gun as the finish was trashed. They had actually used some kind of lacquer on the metal pieces. They also attempted to refinish the stock and applied a rubber shotgun pad the the butt stock.

So I like a challenge, and my grandfather worked for Winchester security prior to and following WW2... So winchesters hold a special place in my heart. I bought the thing, and brought it to the range the next day. Shot nice, about an inch at 50 yards.... It probably could do better but my eyes aren't what they used to be. :( thus the scout scope as seen below.

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So after the rifle languishing in my safe for the last few months the admiral (aka my wife) gave me clearance to rehab the gun.

Since this is not a pristine Winchester example I have no problem with making it a functional hunter. So I'll be using some Duracoat to refinish the metal work and protect it from becoming another exhibit in the wonderful world of corrosion.

Tonight I broke it down, and oh my. Somebody hunted with it in the rain on multiple occasions and never broke it down to clean under the wood.

So after much cussing, and punch banging I finally broke it down to the major components.

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I was originally thinking that I might be able to get away with some sanding to even out the finish before applying the Duracoat.... I found some good areas that may require blasting.

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If anyone has any experience with Duracoat and could lend some advice, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks ahead of time,
Washington.

[G. Blessing]

Great find! Looks like a fun project, I look forward to seeing how you do with it!

[Washington1331]

Update #2

So I got the rifle back from the bead blasting shop. They did a great job in getting rid of those pitted areas.

The metal has a nice even finish and I was warned that the metal was now bare and would rust.

So I rushed home and got home early enough to play.

So here is what I got back from the shop:

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I apologize for the poor picture. I needed to get spraying before I lost the light.

So I followed the directions on the can of Duracoat and decreased again before roughing up the metal with the included pad. I then applied 3 coats of ACU Gray Green.

So far so good. Now starts the hardest period. Waiting for the 2-3 week cure period before I put it back together. :(.

Here's my results:

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More to follow...

[atr]

nicely done so far,,,
just wondering (out loud) if the duracoat will make fitting the pieces back together more difficult.
good luck with this project...
atr

[Washington1331]

Yeah, I was concerned about that too. I avoided coating the surfaces that interlocked with another part. My biggest concern as of now is getting the front barrel band back on.

The rear was no problem taking off, the front required two beers and a bit of dirty talking to get over the front sight. Either way, I'll be waiting the length of the cure period so the coating will be more resistant before I start what I hope is not another process of cussing, talking dirty to it and finally smacking it with a rubber mallet to get in back into place.