Heavy Barreled Winchester 94

[Gibbs44]

I was at Cabela's today and was perusing their rifle racks. I came across an interesting little rifle. It was a Winchester 94 in .32 Winchester Special, that was not the interesting part.

The dang thing had a barrel thick enough, that I looked at it to see if it had been lined. It had not, the barrel was stamped appropriately, and had a target crown on it. The sight was some sort of a custom sight that was attached to both the barrel and the magazine tube, and the rear sight was an old Lyman peep sight. I'm not sure if it even had a space for the old buckhorn sight. The rifle did have a crescent steel butt plate. It was the same length as the other more typical 94s on the rack, just a lot heavier. It did say smokeless powder, and I think it said "Specially made for Smokeless Powder".

I think I may have to go back and waste some money, or at least take a closer look at it and maybe take some pictures. If anyone had any ideas, please clue me in. It was kind of pricey, but I'd never seen one like it. If it was a little cheaper I might would have had a hard time leaving without it, then again if it was cheaper I may not have seen it.

[georgerkahn]

You have piqued my curiousity; a few years back I also saw a similar .32WS, with the barrel quite short, as well as thicker than I had ever seen. I neither measured barrel length nor actual thickness, and wasn't savvy enough to jot down its serial number. Perhaps, if you ring or again visit the Cabela store, you might at least get its serial number? A nifty site, where you can type in the s/n and get the manufacture date is http://winchestercollector.org/dates/ -- at least that will get you a start.
BEST!
geo

[Gibbs44]

Thanks, I'll probably make a run over there in the morning.

[ReloaderFred]

I've never seen one with a heavy barrel, but I've got a Canadian Centennial model with a 26" barrel in .30-30. Somebody used it for a hunting rifle, but it's still a good solid gun.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[bob208]

thing to remember back in the day Winchester was in business to sell guns. if you had the money you could order anything you wanted.

I have a 86 with a barrel so big they had to mill a slot for the mag tube.

[Nueces]

I took a look at the Cabela's Gun library for Garner, NC, but didn't find this rifle. Is that the right location?

[Gibbs44]

Yup that's it. It's not in the "special" room. It's out on the floor with a bunch of other used rifles. It looks like I'm not going to make it hunting this afternoon no matter what, so I'll try to stop by there today and get some pictures and other info. Who knows, it may already be gone.

[square butte]

You can find that rifle at the website for the Gun Library. The search criteria to find it is "32 WS". It's 4 or 5 guns down from the top on the 1st page. Pictures show the odd front site setup. Pretty sure it was cat down on the front end because it does not show evidence of the usual magazine tube retaining ring that would be dovetailed to the underside of the barrel. That dovetail is usually at about the 20 inch mark on a Winchester with a 24-28 inch barrel. What little markings show up in the photos seem to indicate a Winchester made barrel. Also take note of the oddball receiver site, It is mounted in a cockeyed fashion. All of these issues would normally detract from the value of a nice Winchester - Even a rarer variant like a heavy barrel. Doesn't mean it wouldn't make a great huntin rig.

[JHeath]

That's a coincidence. A Cabelas near me has an appealing 94 rifle in .38-55, "rebuilt and rebarreled." It's a round 26" barrel with the largest diameter that would clear the mag tube. The action was tight. Some smith made handsome shooter out of an old 94. Better to own a rebuilt shooter than be responsible for a museum-quality original.

. . . which reminds me of the old motorcycle racer visiting a collection. He saw a crate-find vintage racing bike of rare make/model. He asked the collector how it handled. The collector said it was NIB, unstarted, too valuable to ride. The old racer said, "That's okay. One of these days you'll be dead and gone, and somebody will ride that motorcycle."

The collector couldn't stand it. Took it out and rode it the next day.

[Gibbs44]

The barrel was a nickel steel barrel. It did still have the buckhorn sight. I'll see if I can't post a very few pictures of the muzzle against a later 32 winchester special. It was priced at $800. Just not going to spend the money on it, neat rifle though.

[Gibbs44]

You can find that rifle at the website for the Gun Library. The search criteria to find it is "32 WS". It's 4 or 5 guns down from the top on the 1st page. Pictures show the odd front site setup. Pretty sure it was cat down on the front end because it does not show evidence of the usual magazine tube retaining ring that would be dovetailed to the underside of the barrel. That dovetail is usually at about the 20 inch mark on a Winchester with a 24-28 inch barrel. What little markings show up in the photos seem to indicate a Winchester made barrel. Also take note of the oddball receiver site, It is mounted in a cockeyed fashion. All of these issues would normally detract from the value of a nice Winchester - Even a rarer variant like a heavy barrel. Doesn't mean it wouldn't make a great huntin rig.
That's the one. It's neat to me and had never seen one with a barrel like it. I'll still see if I can post the pictures later.

[John Taylor]

I have seen a few odd Winchester come in, some with rapid taper barrels and some with heavy barrels. A few 1873 were made with extra heavy barrels that seem to bring a good price from collectors. Standard barrel length on a 94 was 26"for the rifle with the dovetailed mag tube ring 3.750" from the muzzle. You could get longer barrels that usually came in 2" increments but Winchester would make almost anything you wanted back in the day. Short rifles had a 20" barrel and still used the mag tube ring. Carbines used a 20" barrel but did not have the mag tube ring or forearm cap. Trapper models had some barrels that were very short and ATF says they are not legal. Best to have a factory letter on a trapper to prove it came from the factory with a short barrel. In my collection of odd Winchester is an 1890 with a 29" barrel and extra long mag tube, holds 23 long rifle in the tube. Collectors like anything that is rare from the factory but it must be in good shape.

[ajjohns]

I have a 1873 Winny with a 24" heavy barrel. It's just the barrelled action, but the barrel is also as described above being milled for the tube to fit. Don't know if that was very common or not?

[45-70 Chevroner]

Here's a good one for you. The father of one of my wife's best friends had a 30-30 94 Win. (He died 25 years ago) and had willed it to a nephew. I saw the rifle a few years before the old man died. It was new in the winchester box and the info on the end of the box said it was a special order 12" barrel model 94. The old guy look it out of the box to show it to me it looked brand new, the old guy said it had never been shot and that he had ordered it in 1920 he was working for the southern pacific railway and thought it would be handy to carry on the train but never did. I offered to buy it but he wasn't interested. If I had bought it it would have cost me 300 dollars for a federal stamp of some sort to legally have it.

[Mytmousemalibu]

I've never seen one with a heavy barrel, but I've got a Canadian Centennial model with a 26" barrel in .30-30. Somebody used it for a hunting rifle, but it's still a good solid gun.

Hope this helps.

Fred

I've got that exact same gun, 94' Canadian Centennial of 1967 in 30-30 and it is in pristine condition. It has had exactly 3 rounds put through the gun. It is beautiful! Nice heavy octagonal barrel, feels great!

[John Taylor]

Just worked on a 94 that had a "rapid taper" barrel, this is an octagon barrel that looks very small at the muzzle and is 26" long.