Rebuilding my 1973 Win 94....

[redhawk0]

I started a 1973 Winchester 94 rebuild two weeks ago its almost completed. Here are a few before pics of the receiver. I wish I'd have taken more.

More pictures to follow.

redhawk

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[redhawk0]

Here are some more...just receiver (stripped)...then after I was finished with it. I just got done reassembling it today. It's not perfect but its prettier than it was. I didn't want to remove the plating from the sintered metal receiver so I had to leave some of the scratches alone with the exception of a bit of steel wool buffing.

redhawk

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[john.k]

I got one new the same year, it still looks like new,except the blue has come off the lever......never bothered with a scope ,just extra weight.

[redhawk0]

I got one new the same year, it still looks like new,except the blue has come off the lever......never bothered with a scope ,just extra weight.

Got any pics?

I got mine from a friend who got it second hand...I'm sure it was passed around a bit. I bought it just for the nostalgia of having a Win94 and I knew it was NEVER going to be a collector's piece, so I figured it would make a good project gun. I think it turned out alright.

I'm happy.


redhawk

[Elroy]

looks great !

[veeman]

Whats that funny looking growth on top in the middle? That like a boil or sumtin? ;)

[redhawk0]

hahaha....its just a red dot. I haven't decided what I'm going to do with it yet...red dot, scout scope, or open-sights. I'm thinking I may go back to the fiber optic open sights. (these old eyes aren't what they use to be)

redhawk

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Redhawk-- what did you refinish the receiver with? Doesn't look bad at all. I had many in that condition come through my shop to be refinishedand very few of them would satisfactorily reblue -- usually turned plum color. I used black baking lacquer on most of them.

DG

[redhawk0]

I went with Brownells Oxpho-Blue creme formula. It seems to work the best. I used Birchwood Casey blue remover on just the receiver first. It took almost all of the bluing off. A buffing with #0 Steel wool, then #000 Steel wool cleaned the metal very nicely...but there was some black shadowing of the old bluing. The Brownells covered it and made it a uniform color.

https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/metal-prep-coloring/metal-bluing/paste-cold-bluing-chemicals/oxpho-blue-creme-prod1108.aspx

[EDIT] - The plating wasn't put on the Sintered receivers until 1972...so if you tried to refinish a 1965-1971...then that's why it wouldn't blue up for you.

redhawk

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[Der Gebirgsjager]

Thanks for the information. Although liquid Oxpho Blue is my most frequently used cold blue, I've never tried the crème formula. I'll have to get some and have it on hand for future reference.

DG

[Texas by God]

I browned a post 64 model 94 once and it turned out pretty good. I heated it up afterwards and sealed the warm brown steel with TruOil like I was rubbing a stock. I have no idea what it looks like 20 years later but it looked good then. I had first tried to blue it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[rking22]

Anyone rust blued a 65to71 vintage? If so did it have a purple cast like the hot blue on one?

[Kegcaissy]

Anyone rust blued a 65to71 vintage? If so did it have a purple cast like the hot blue on one?

this!!

[Bazoo]

Personally I like the look of the finish loss. My 70 made 94 looks similar but not as bad. I've seen a few pics of a 94 that's had the receiver hard chromed and it looked good.

[redhawk0]

Personally I like the look of the finish loss. My 70 made 94 looks similar but not as bad. I've seen a few pics of a 94 that's had the receiver hard chromed and it looked good.

Yeah...I usually don't mind the finish loss...but this one to me looked especially bad so I made it my project...I've seen the hard chrome plating as well, I've also seen nickle plate, cerecote, and that funky plumb color mentioned on the 65-71s that just didn't blue well. Actually...the hammer on this rifle must not be plated...it was that funky plumb color as well when I started...but it got to a darker plumb color after the second application of the Oxphor....it never really got that deep blue/black color like the receiver. The inside of the receiver is definitely plumb from its original finish....I didn't redo the inside of this receiver. I figured why bother....it would be just more cleanup for a mediocre finish that won't be seen.

redhawk

[nekshot]

Very nice job! I took one that looked like yours before your work and I sanded reciever till perfectly stripped and then buffed it lightly. Got a dull stainless type color so I sprayed the receiver with mag wheel clearcoat and it is a sweet looking gun. Awesome cast shooter to boot.

[john.k]

Do these recievers black phosphate OK.........or does that go funny colours too.?...........I think I would like mine in nickle ,probably electroless nickle ,cause I got a lot of other stuff to spread out the cost of the kit........Still,I quite like black phosphate ,too..........IMHO ,these recievers are NOT sintered metal,they are investment cast.......the levers may be sintered,and the triggers and hammers for sure........my 1973 has a very plain gate pad from the casting just under the tang......I m sure the sinter story comes from someone confused about metallurgy......like the average gunwriter.

[Bazoo]

I like the plum colored bluing from investment cast parts. Call it plumming.

[redhawk0]

I don't know where I got this but it is where I got the idea that it was a sintered receiver....I have it in my notes as "Winchester Model 94 Rifles" It's Dated 2014.

redhawk

1964: The receivers changed to sintered metal alloy and the screws and pins changed along with stamped steel parts replacing the forged steel ones.

1967: The .44 Mag chambering is introduced

1968: The formula in the sintered alloy changes again

1971: The cartridge lifter/elevator is changed from stamped steel to a cast steel one.

1972: The formula in the sintered alloy changes again, this time requiring iron plating before the receivers could be blued.

[john.k]

I have seen the sinter claim time and time again.....and yet an experienced forum contributor has confirmed the recievers were investment cast.............the other parts are sinter...yes,including the lower linkage that the small rim stop wears .....The whole process of sinter make a complex hollow reciever near impossible to make economically......it would have to be made as a solid lump and the inner machined out.........or complex internal formers included in the sinter pressing.......maybe some future Winchester book will look at this process.......The problems of bluing investment cast are well known,the irons need metals added to make them flow freely,plain carbon steel is suitable only for massive castings like railway bogie frames,and wheels.