Unusual 1894's Followed Me Home!

[TXGunNut]

Found a very unusual 1894 the other day, was finally able to bring her home tonight. She was born in about 1899 and she has a number of unusual features, pretty sure she's a special order rifle. Barrel is standard length but is half round. Short mag, same length as the standard rifle fore end. Rear sight is an intact three-leaf model. Butt stock is of the pistol grip variety and it wears a hard rubber shotgun style butt plate. She's chambered in 30WCF and bore is quite good. Finish is about 50-60% but a solid gun overall. Butt stock has been refinished, may have even been checkered when she was new. Receiver is possibly case-hardened but will have to look into that a bit more.
While I was fondling the above rifle I found out she had a little sister. She's also an 1894, circa 1910. She's been used pretty hard but bore is quite good and mechanicals are solid. Here's the good part: she's a short rifle with an octagonal barrel! Wood is solid, finish on steel and wood about 50%.
Cody letters could be very interesting.
Yep, adopted both of the little orphans on the spot. :bigsmyl2:
Sorry, no pics tonight. Maybe this weekend. ;-)

[osteodoc08]

Very jealous of your ever growing adoption of Winny Orphans.

[DougGuy]

I would know better than to come go on a pig hunt with you.. I'd never make it past gawking and drooling over all the Winnys!

[dikman]

Nice couple of finds! From my meagre knowledge of such things it certainly sounds like the first one is a customer-order job? I gather that the short button mags weren't very common in the US, unlike here where they seemed to predominate.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Nice couple of finds! From my meagre knowledge of such things it certainly sounds like the first one is a customer-order job? I gather that the short button mags weren't very common in the US, unlike here where they seemed to predominate.

I think that is true about the button magazine being commoner in Australia. Perhaps more hunting was done on foot, and fumbling around with cartridges was easier. My .32-40, with the wasp and "Stinger" stamp of the Perry Brothers importer, has one, and I suspect that it is more conducive to accuracy than the full length magazine. Rosiers of Melbourne tried to persuade Winchester to produce lighter models for the Australian market too.

All of the features the OP mentions were available on special order from Winchester. In the 1899 catalogue there is a "Winchester Express" sight with a plate perhaps slightly smaller than the standard elevator sight behind the dovetail piece, bearing a fixed notch and two highr leaves. It cost $1.50, I think to buy separately. There was also a Winchester Four Leaf Express with a much longer plate at $4, which must have been around a fifth the cost of a standard rifle. It had a fixed 100 yard notch, lifting leaves for 200, 300 and 400, and a hinged ladder for up to 800. The sights look to be stamped "WRA CO" in the catalogue, but aren't on my 94 or 86.

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At least for the 86 I believe the change from case-hardened to blued receivers came in 1901, but I wouldn't count on this. With luck the original finish will show inside the receiver. I have dismembered my reprinted 1899 catalogue for scanning some pages, and I have foolishly mislaid the pages referring to the 92 and 94. But for the 73 case-hardening is mentioned only for the Special Sporting Rifle with checkered de luxe walnut, and for the corresponding model of 86 only case-hardened trimmings are specified. Case-hardened receivers are in the extras list for the 73 and 92 alone, suggesting that at that date the 94 either always was or always wasn't. I would think the latter.

[northmn]

As to button magazines. I still go by the advice of an old 30-30 shooter that told me that just because a 30-30 hold 7 rounds does not mean you have to laod 7 rounds. He would put 2-3 in the mag and one in the chamber. Back when some did a lot of deer driving and would have to load and reload the rifles going from site to site. I still take that advice and rarely carry more than 3-4 shells total in the rifle. Saves on bullet tips also. I am sure once the rifle became less important for holding off hostiles and more of a pure hunting rifle the idea of a shorter mag got more popular. Custon rifle like the one mentioned was a hunting rifle. In those days "standard length" barrel was 26". Because of that, even today 30-30 ballistics are printed out of a 26" barrel as in the 2220 for a 170 grain bullet. While I would drool over using a rifle with a 26" barrel today every one seems ot want to saw them off.

DP

[cliff55]

local women inherited Same rifle minus express sight.
Mint bore. But some one had used it. Possibly extra finish wood

[021]

Pictures!!!!!!

[TXGunNut]

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[TXGunNut]

Yes, 26" rifle does have an Express sight. Long day yesterday.
DougGuy the old Winny's don't go hunting much but some range days it looks like we robbed a museum. ;-)

[TXGunNut]

I agree on the mag strategy, DP. Every now and then I need a second round. Generally load three, chamber one.

[35 shooter]

Nice. Very nice 94's.

[modified5]

Very nice! I'm getting green with envy!
I have been trying to figure out what my 1898 stripped receiver would look like with the 20" octagon barrel I just ordered and I think I found it.
That is a sweet set of 94's you have there. Glad someone got them that appreciates them.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I don't see a thing there to suggest that the special features aren't original. Most likely the Cody letter will list them, although I doubt if it will say where it was sent. That's why, as my 86 is the commonest kind in every way, I have never felt it worthwhile having it lettered. It is a pity I have no proof of its travels, for it has been and it has seen. A Norwegian immigrant from the US retired in the 30s, and the rifle didn't, in Norway, where the elk is a moose. It was hidden under the floor of a mountain cabin through their invasion of gun control enthusiasts, but I am sure it was never intended as a weapon of resistance. There was a regular weapons and agents run, fishing-boat to fishing-boat, from the Shetland Islands, so I think it was more the principle of the thing.

The pictures are a bit dark, but it looks very much like the receiver of the pistol-grip rifle was case-hardened. You see a lot of people posting their own otherwise beautiful stocking jobs on this site, and yet they haven't dared undertake the checkering. On a modern rifle would call that a sign of amateur restoration. But I would draw no such conclusion about this rifle. Winchester usually didn't checker other than their special models, although even the Belgians would. Maybe it was because so many were carried on horseback, where the checkering would soon show wear.

There might be more point for an Australian owner springing for the Cody letter when no special features require documenting. My guess is that the Australian importers are more likely to be listed than an American retailer (they might well tell you the usual practice before you part with the cash), and that tells you which colony, or the Federation of Australia when it was created, your rifle started life in.

[TXGunNut]

Yes, Ballistics in Scotland, there will be a Cody letter. Headed up there in July for the WACA show but hope to get a response sooner. I'll (very gently) clean that special order rifle this weekend but I agree, it could be a case hardened finish.
I agree with you about your 86, the story started after it left the factory and like many old guns I'd love to hear it.

[TXGunNut]

Very nice! I'm getting green with envy!
I have been trying to figure out what my 1898 stripped receiver would look like with the 20" octagon barrel I just ordered and I think I found it.
That is a sweet set of 94's you have there. Glad someone got them that appreciates them.

I have the Madis book if you want suggestions on where to put the sight dovetails. Let me know if you need more pics.

[TXGunNut]

Nice. Very nice 94's.

Thank you, Buddy. I keep meaning to explore 92's, 73's, even 95's but I keep coming back to the 1894. I've been very fortunate to acquire some very interesting rifles. Very few are collector grade but most are shooters. I'm pretty excited about cleaning up my latest orphans this weekend. My pics won't do them justice but I'll try.

[TXGunNut]

Not good news, but not really bad either. Did an initial cleaning today and found pretty substantial pitting in both rifles but rifling is strong even if not especially sharp for 99% of the barrel length. Copper fouling was hiding a fair bit of the pitting in both rifles but considering the era and the hazards of corrosive primers it's not that bad. Bore cam also showed me I still have a bit of copper to remove. :sad: Still need to gently clean the exteriors. Receiver on the 26" rifle may indeed be CCH, saw a bit of color on the receiver today that doesn't look like patina or blue. One odd thing is the loading gate appears to be bright blue and it's not a recent replacement.
Bottom line, I suspect they're both going to be good shooters. Pretty sure I need to cast a few 311041's and 311165's tomorrow to verify my theory. :bigsmyl2:

[TXGunNut]

Wow, magic day at the range today. I feel like the former owner(s) of these old rifles were there with me and wanted to show off a bit. First round from the fancy 94 hit a 50 yd target less than half an inch from POA, all the rest inside of 2". Not bad for my eyes and express sights. Not to be outdone the short rifle put it's first shot 1/4" from POA, second shot less than 1/4" away. I almost packed it in at that point.:bigsmyl2: I managed to open that group up to about two inches but I couldn't stop grinning. Short rifle has feeding issues and a few cosmetic issues but it's obvious this old rifle was someone's favorite rifle for quite some time. Unfortunately the owners didn't have a decent set of screwdrivers or brass punches but that's OK, I like a little character in an old levergun. Fixes shouldn't be any big deal, it went home with my shooting buddy for a little TLC and maybe a trip to a gunsmith to address a headspace issue. My shooting buddy was having a good day at the range as well with his old 38-40's; one 1876, the other an 1892.

[35 shooter]

Glad you had a good day at the range with your 94s. Sounds like they're going to shoot well for you.