More lever pics ** GAUDY ALERT**

[mroliver77]

I have never been much for engraving and or plating on a firearm. Commemoratives turn me off. Why I picked this up I dont know. Weak moment?
Oliver Winchester commemorative "94" rifle model in 38-55. Oct. barrel, full length magazine,engraved and gold plated receiver, beautiful dark bluing and very nice checkering on stock and forend. Riufle is in original box with paperwork and unfired.
The price was right and I had thought to shoot it. That was befor I picked up the Marlin 1893. I think this is the only weapon I have ever had that I have not fired. The darned thing is growing on me! If it were only all blued, not the gold.:( Mebbe I could spray paint it?:kidding: I have seen this asked before, what would you do with it if'n it were your'n? Shoot it? Keep and not shoot it? Sell it? Draw file receiver and reblue?Mount tactical scope, flashlight, laser and bipod?
Jay
http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo189/mroliver77/OliverWinchesterCommem001.jpg
http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo189/mroliver77/OliverWinchesterCommem008.jpg
http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo189/mroliver77/OliverWinchesterCommem011.jpg
http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo189/mroliver77/OliverWinchesterCommem006.jpg
http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo189/mroliver77/OliverWinchesterCommem009.jpg
http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo189/mroliver77/OliverWinchesterCommem002.jpg

[rob45]

Do not shoot. Keep as is.

You bought the gun during a weak moment, fully realizing that you needed a safe queen.

Safe queens seldom do well in the kitchen. Send the 'ol girl to me and I will provide a new home for her.

[Jim]

Personally, I have no use for ANY firearm that I can't shoot, regardless of the reason. I think it's a beautiful rifle and if it were mine, I'd load that boy up let and 'im talk!

[jr545]

Sure is nice to look at but I'm with Jim.
I have absolutely no use for a firearm I can't shoot.

[jlchucker]

This one was made a while back. More recent 38-55's seem to be finicky as to case length, overall length, bore diameters, and all kinds of other factors that occasionally make handloading difficult. But maybe I only think so just because I got stung on an H & R single shot a couple of years back, and discovered on this websight and others that that particular gun had to be practically re-manufactured by the owners before they became useful with cast boolets? Then, others see, to have occasionally run into difficulties with newer rifles in 38-55 as well. Your Winnie was made before most new 38-55's had been re-introduced. It could be that Winchester used some blueprints from back in the old days when they made this one. If that's the case, you may actually have a shooter with cast boolets just like they made back in the day--right out of the box. If so, too bad they didn't offer it in a plain jane and blued version. It probably would have sold.

[Pepe Ray]

1st-Mount a good receiver sight on it. (it's all D/T'd)
2nd Load test loads with a 250-275 gr cast BOOLET to velocity ranges from 1500to1700 fps.
3rd. Shoot it at 100 yd. target.
If I could get consistantly, 3" or less groups
Then,
I'd spray paint all the metal furniture in FLAT BLACK and hang it in my gun rack over the kitchen door. Gradually ,over time, as I handled it, I'd use a rubbing compound on the wood to reduce glare.
And I would smile each time I looked at it.
Pepe Ray--------You asked!

[izzyjoe]

a very good friend of mine owned pawn/gunshop. he took one in once,and the man never came back for it. it was not in the box,but had not been fired. we said that one saturday we'd go shoot it, but we never did. he sold the rifle latter on. i 'd thought about buying it,but at the time $600 was a lot of money to me, still is.:( those rifles are beutiful, if i had one i'd shoot the fire out of it. good day!

[Mumblypeg]

Unless you bought it just for an investment, I'd SHOOT IT. You might want to knock that silly gold coin off the stock first...:mrgreen:

[EDK]

I feel your pain. The local shop just got an almost identical gun in...I didn't ask the caliber or drool on it much. It sure would look nice hanging on a wall in "the man cave." If you can swing the $$ for an investment, get it and then go visit a few larger Cowboy Action Shoots....you could make a few dollars....the CAS people ain't shy about reaching for their wallet if they see something that strikes their fancy. Cowboy shooters usually have some discretionary money for something like this.

:cbpour::redneck::Fire:

[Uncle R.]

Winchester commemoratives have been generally bad investments. If there are 25,000 made 24,000 remain unfired in the box and value in inflation-adjusted dollars has a nasty habit of going down instead of up. I wouldn't buy one as an investment - but if you got it for a good price you might consider shooting it. If I wasn't going to shoot it I'd sell it to a collector and use the money to buy a real gun - one that I could shoot.

[DLCTEX]

I'd be inclined to sell it at a nice profit if I could and buy a shooter. I am also one of those who have no interest in owning a gun I can't shoot. If it doesn't sell at a nice profit, shoot it.

[cheese1566]

Here this ammo to go with it...

19377

[longhorn]

I'd try to sell it for what I had in it (good luck on a commemorative!) and buy a shooter. OTOH, if I ever see another Teddy Roosevelt with the nickeled receiver, pistol grip, and long barrel in .30-30, it's coming home as a definite shooter!

[Crash_Corrigan]

Pretty guns don't shoot worse than their plain jane cousins. I fell into lust with a pristine Browning 9 a few years ago. I could not find a mark on the gun. It was bought in '85 and a few rounds were fired and then it was cleaned and put away and admired from time to time. It had an eight lb trigger when I got it and after firing a few mags of ammo thru it I invested in an after market trigger and had the gunsmith remove the mag disconnect.

It now will shoot inside one moa at 15 yds and looks really nice on my belt. The other weapon is a BRNO 98/22 8 MM Mauser action which I had as the guts of a milsurp rifle that I was messin with. The sights stunk and the long tube was just too ugly for words. I had local gunsmith, Ray Lynn, build a custom rifle on the action. A Douglas match barrel, Buhler safety, bent the bolt, jewelled the bolt, did some work on the bolt face, welded the bottom etc and put the whole shebang into a custom thumb hold laminated stock with sling studs and a recoil pad.

It is now a 6.5 x 55 MM Sweede and it has a permanent place in my battery. It will shoot less than one MOA with 140 gr J word's all day long and I am following Larry Gibson's experiment on loading this caliber for further learning. So far the 119 grn lead boolits I have cast are all over the berm. I have a Cruise Missile mold that throws 170 gr boolits but they are too long for me to run thru my lubricizer. I have more work to do with this load.

However I do shoot both of these pretty guns as there is no gun in my safe that does not earn it's space within by giving me pleasure shooting it.

[Blammer]

if you paid an average price for it, I'd shoot it. OR sell it make money and buy something you can shoot.

that's just me.

[jh45gun]

Shoot it most of those are not worth squat as mentioned.

[No_1]

Put it on Gun broker as "Vintage, Unfired, NIB" at some ridicules price and see if someone bites. If it does not get a hit after a 10 day run then shoot it.

Robert

[Buckshot]

..............My friend bought one from a mutual friend and it too was a Winchester commemorative in 38-55, but his was done in French grey, coin in the buttstock and all. I don't recall now what he paid but he shoots it. A local gunshop has one also and I think (IIRC) they were wanting $13/$1400 for it.

I'll add that it's economics for me. I cannot afford to buy a gun I can't afford to shoot.

............Buckshot

[ammohead]

There is another NIB on gunbroker now with a buy it now price of $999.99 for what it's worth. If you bought it to make a profit and can make one at $999.99 you could try to sell it. If not go have some fun with it. It is probably a shooter. I have a 38-55 legacy and it shoots like a house a fire. I have been having a blast with it. With 18 gr of surplus 4759 and cast boolits it is cheaper to shoot than a 223.

Or you could keep it pristine and pass it on to a relative someday....and they'll shoot it!

ammohead

[Marvin S]

I have the Legendary Frontiersman in 38-55. I bought it in a already fired condition and mounted a receiver sight. It is an outstanding shooter. Don't see why yours would be any different.

[Bloodman14]

Is the receiver gold plated or gold toned? If plated, I'm sure someone could de-plate it for the gold. You might check it out; I would.

[MtGun44]

Actually, the commemorative ammo seems to be a far better investment than the
guns, from the little bit that I have heard.

The primary issue with .38-55s is bore diam. Slug the bore and then you can decide
what it will do as a shooter. If it is .381 or bigger ( a friend has a very late non-commem
Win94 that is .382!) you are in for some fun. Not that you cannot get it to shoot, but the
molds are usually too small, sometimes the chamber is too tight to let you chamber a
round loaded with a .382 diam boolit, let alone the .383 or .384 you'd like to use if you
could. If it were mine, and I refuse to purchase guns that I don't shoot, I'd decide based
on whether it was going to be easy to load for, meaning a bore in the .376-.378 range.

I like no_1's idea, too. This will give you an idea what the market considers the value of
the fru-fru to be. I would, however, leave it out there longer than 10 days as there may
not be a large number of folks that are looking for exactly that rifle, may take a while to
find the right person.

Good luck. :-)

Bill

[Jon K]

I had an OFW 38-55, and just recently sold it to finance another project. Shot great, and I would still have it, if not for financing the other.

Jon

[HPT]

I have the exact same gun

http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z41/VonN_photos/IMG_1634.jpg

So I did the only thing that made sense - shoot blackpowder!

http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z41/VonN_photos/IMG_1606.jpg

Don't waste time trying the Lyman bullet, had bullets completely sideways @ 50 yds. Amazingly, the LEE bevel base 250 grain bullet shot great! Here's my friend shooting it with barrel sights - easy to keep 10 shots in 3"

I recently added a Marbles rear peep sight & 1/16 ivory beed front sight and shot my best BP group ever: 2.35" @ 100 yds

Long Starline Brass
CCI BR2 Primer
42 gr Goex FFG
.060 LDPE wad
newspaper wad
Blowtube between shots
LEE 250 gr 30:1 Alloy
Homemade Lube
1225 FPS

[Heavy lead]

Mount a free float handguard with picatinny rails (4 sided), flash hider, scout mount with reddot, camo paint job and see about retrofitting a Pedersen device on it, just keep your hand away from the lever when you pull the trigger.:bigsmyl2:
All kidding aside, I'd shoot it, I've seen these Winchester collectables sell for what a new blued one would. If you can find a good shooter in 38-55 it'll probably cost you what you would get for this one.

[Charlie Sometimes]

You have the box with it. Trade it to someone who collects the gun and box commorative sets, for something that doesn't have a box and then shoot that one.
The Canadian Centennial comes in a blue 30-30 rifle or carbine version with octagon barrels. Get one of them, bore it out to 38-55 and go bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang........!

[mroliver77]

I went to GB. Looks as though I could do all right if I wanted to wait on the right guy.
Does anybody know how thick the "coin" err medallion is? Is there a depression for it to sit in? I dont know who to ask about the gold. Some of them for sale on GB state that it is a plating. If the medallion could be removed leaving the stock ok to refinish and oil, and the gold removed I sure would be inclined to keep it as a shooter.Be even nicer to loose the engraving!
There is a zip tie preventing the action being cycled. I was told it is from the factory but no others on GB seem to have them. All our gun shows here demand actions be "secured" with a tie, so I do not know from whence it came.
I would consider trading it for a nice shooter also. Something not run of the mill.
Thank all for comments sugestions and lets see some of your levers.
Jay

[Charlie Sometimes]

I went to GB. Looks as though I could do all right if I wanted to wait on the right guy.
Does anybody know how thick the "coin" err medallion is? Is there a depression for it to sit in? I dont know who to ask about the gold. Some of them for sale on GB state that it is a plating. If the medallion could be removed leaving the stock ok to refinish and oil, and the gold removed I sure would be inclined to keep it as a shooter.Be even nicer to loose the engraving!
There is a zip tie preventing the action being cycled. I was told it is from the factory but no others on GB seem to have them. All our gun shows here demand actions be "secured" with a tie, so I do not know from whence it came.
I would consider trading it for a nice shooter also. Something not run of the mill.
Thank all for comments sugestions and lets see some of your levers.
Jay

Yes, the stock has been bored for the medallion to be press fitted. Ain't enough gold on it to fool with, or the coin. Sell/trade it to one of those collectors that have tons of those boxed "safe queens", Keep the tie on it, and don't cycle it, or even put a round in it if you are going to part with it. It's worth to the "collectors" in mint condition, especially with a box- the box is key! Matching numbers, etc.- they go crazy.

There are plenty of them out there that have been shot, so find one of those, and go for it!

[Warhawk]

I have a Wells Fargo commemorative. I bought it to shoot, and I do shoot it. I bought a Buffao Bill commemorative years ago when my youngest was about 2 years old. He wouldn't sell it for love nor money and killed his first deer and first hog with it.

The Wells Fargo is the one with the silver receiver
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/0000001_sm.jpg
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/0000002_sm.jpg
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/0000006_sm.jpg

[Irascible]

I'm very curious about the chamber length. Fo safety reasons, I don't think any production gun was ever made for the short W-W length brass, but that short brass came out with the commemorative winchesters. That includes the 32-40 as it's brass is the same length. Longer than a 30-30, but shorter than original 38-55 brass.
Thanks again Starline, it took 3 years of letter writing/Email sending, but they did finally produce the proper length cases.

[Warhawk]

The Hornady leverlution ammo has short brass too. I've got some of it in 45-70 and the brass is quite a bit shorter than standard.

[451whitworth]

Winchester made 19,999 of those models. as to what people are asking on Gunbroker, hey a fool is born everyday. i have a Chief Crazy Horse 38-55 i bought in 2004 NIB, unfired with all paperwork and box, Crazy Horse stamped post card canceled in Crazy Horse South Dakota Jan. 15,1982. the gunshop i stopped at in IL had two of them exactly the same take your pick $495. they also had a bunch of other Winchester commemoratives they couldn't give away. i wanted a '94 in 38-55 to shoot. i mounted a reciever sight as it was factory drilled and started banging away. the bore measured .380" and i shoot .381" cast out of it. the cases barely chamber with those size bullets. anyway i have followed those Win commemorative prices on Gunbroker since buying that one and all of a sudden two years ago people started trying to get double what they were going for NIB previously. they aren't worth it, there were too many made. i don't see them selling at higher prices, they just go through auction cycle after cycle. if you paid very little for it you're not going to hurt it's value much if at all.

[phatman]

Art takes many different forms.
Custom Cars
Boats that have such wood that you hate to put them in the water
Rifles that are pure eye candy

Yep, I'd drive the car the boat and shoot the rifle :bigsmyl2:

John

[tomf52]

Oil paintings were made to look at, guns are made for shooting.

[Heavy lead]

Oil paintings were made to look at, guns are made for shooting.

hehehe, SOME oil paintings were made for shooting too!:redneck:

[FromTheWoods]

Seems you don't like the medalion nor the engraved/gold receiver--sell it. If you don't like the looks of the rifle now, shooting it won't change much of that.

Sell it and buy something that is more appealing to you.

Or find something you want, and trade this one for it--even if you have to add cash from your pocket. Might leave a bad taste in your mouth for a bit, but shooting the rifle you really want will change everything for the better.

I have two rifles that I've never shot, even though my trigger-finger is quite itchy. I'm saving them for wedding presents for one of my sons and his future bride. Otherwise, KerPow!

[mroliver77]

Art takes many different forms.
Custom Cars
Boats that have such wood that you hate to put them in the water
Rifles that are pure eye candy

Yep, I'd drive the car the boat and shoot the rifle :bigsmyl2:

John

I liken "safe queens" to marrying a hot, young, gorgeous sweety, you know the ones that make you say "Good job God!" and then keeping her in the house and never even consummating the union.
It really is a nice gun. The fit and finish are pretty nice for a "modern" gun.
muleequestrian; now that is funny, if I ever take a pimp out hunting! I wonder if there are any redneck pimps with big ole pink 4 door F 450 with gold wheels and trim. This gun would look good in his rifle rack!!! Are the commem ammo gold plated also?
Jay