Win 94 Rescued from the Basement

Recently my son went to a coworker's mother's house to check out some basement water issues with him and while there saw a lever action hanging on a darkened wall. He asked if it was for sale but it had belonged to the coworker's late grandfather he and his mother lived with while he was growing up so wasn't going to be selling it. Noting the condition of of it my son asked if he wanted it cleaned up and volunteered my services and then sent me these pictures of a moldy and rust covered but otherwise unaltered 1950 Win 94 chambered in 30 WCF.

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When I picked it up the visible mold had been wiped off and this is what it looked like to start.

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I gently removed the surface rust with a 3M pad and Kroil to preserve the receiver patina and remaining bluing on the rest of the metal. The internal mechanism was free from rust as was the bore that appeared to have been cleaned and oiled before being hung on the wall. The only internal rust was in the magazine tube and wherever wood met metal as could be expected.

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Earlier the buttstock had been taken off and wiped down with 90% Isopropyl Alcohol to clean off any remaining mold but which easily and unexpectedly also took off the somewhat gummy finish. It reminded me of cleaning the cosmoline off my rough cutdown Krag as the pile of rags looked the same. Once cleaned down to stained wood I put it in a dark closet while working on the rest of the rifle to see if the mold would grow back. Had an issue getting the forearm off and that was covered on the Gunsmithing post about removing the screw from the upper barrel bracket but eventually got that off and had to replace both bracket screws.

After a couple weeks the mold didn't return so I began the refinishing which was the most time consuming part of the clean up. Wasn't expecting to completely refinish the stock but when it came to that I wanted it to look closer to original than new so I used my 1954 Win 94 stock as a model to match. I wiped on multiple coats of TruOil cut 50/50 with thinner and then worked it with 0000 steel wool and finished it off rubbing it on my new blue jeans. I think it came out looking quite close to it.

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It's always fun to handle and work on a different rifle even if you don't get to shoot it and eventually have to hand it back. It was by pure chance that my son saw this rifle and started the conversation about it so wonder how far its condition would have deteriorated otherwise. The current owner is not a hunter or shooter, didn't live at that home, and had relocated out of state while this project was ongoing so the rifle was out of sight/out of mind. He moved to a more firearm friendly state so hopefully will get the urge and a chance to shoot it someday but at least the keepsake is preserved going forward.

Nice job, hope it will be taken care of now.

Grease it up good before you return it. Lord knows where it will be stored

Great job on the rescue.

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I have done similar on family members guns. B.I.L has several really nice pre war guns and German bring backs from his Grandfather . A beautiful Savage 99 in 30 WCF crisp case coloring and fine condition, Colt New Service in .455 Eley and PPK’s, Lugers . I take them every few years and give them the once over,wax and grease . He doesn’t shoot them but once every so often. Someone will get some very nice guns someday.

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Very nice rescue - I hope the owner will appreciate your work, and hopefully take that puppy dancing again.... :)

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Great job, it looks like it should. I always include "test firing" when cleaning up a neat gun for someone.......[emoji846]

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Very nice ! I bought one like that for $125 a few years ago and built my dream Trapper out of it.

Wonderful restore; respectfully done. Kudos!

Its always a disappointment when you come across a gun,or anything else thats not being cared for ,and let detoriate,yet the owners wont sell it......most times ,they wont even let you touch it,then a couple of years later ,you get a call that they think its worth X megadollars ,and you promised to buy it.

Glad you got your hands on it.

Years ago, I got a 1970's issue '94.
A guy bought it new when he was invited on a hunting trip.
At the end of the trip, he put it in a soft case, zipped it, snow and all, then went home and put the case in the closet.
About 30 years later, his heirs found in the condition you'd expect, wanted to sell it, and asked me if I wanted it.

I told them to take it to a few pawn shops, gun stores, and ask other people to buy it.
The best I could offer was $50. They were good with that.

My Dad always wanted one, so I restored it, and gave it to him.
As time went on,,,,,,, I got it back, and still have it.
I couldn't do much with the heavy rust pits, so it won't win any beauty contests, but it still shoots just fine.

I'm right there with you...a lover of firearms, even if they don't belong to me. When I see one, or a bunch, in poor condition, I get antsy to have a go in their cleaning. My wife's Ex- had a "closet full" of his father's and grandfather's rifles, shotguns, and pistols (eight in all) just pushed back into the corner. One double barrel 12 gage had not seen any oil in over 50 years. Most had surface rust, others cobb webs, and others were "locked up" in lube that had dried and turned into JBWeld.

I took each gun apart, down to its field stripped components, slowly and gently removed any surface rust with 0000 steel wool and copious amounts of gun oil, reoiled the stocks as you did, cleaned the barrels, chambers, and throats, lightly oiled everything, let 'em sit overnight or two, lightly oiled them again, wiped them down, and returned them to an astonished owner significantly better than when received. Now, my SIL wants his grandfather's O/U 20 gage barrel, similarly corroded from years of no maintenance, cleaned and oiled...sheesh. No good deed goes unpunished, but I have to admit, I love doing it for the firearms and they way they turn out.

Nice save, hopefully they appreciate all the effort and don’t hang it on the wall in the living room. My first .22 was a Winchester Model 67 single shot that was laying in a mud puddle outside my aunt’s house about 55 years ago. Someone had given her son the gun to play with after soldering up the safety, removing the sear and plugging the bbl. I asked my aunt if I could have it and she gave it to me. My dad got the nut picker and wire out of the muzzle, I got the safety off, refinished the stock and ordered a sear/ejector from Numrich. I eventually cut it back some to get it to shoot due to muzzle damage. My first rebuild.

my Dad would tan my hide if I ever let a gun look like that. Great job. Maybe you could offer to "store it" for him!:-D

same with motor bikes/ cars you know they will never sort them but wont sell,just left to rot heartbreaking.

Yeah ,there are some great pictures online of "OK,I m ready to sell the car now....same price as you offered me 20 years ago."......and there is nothing left but a pile of rust.

It came out looking very nice. I like Pilkington's oil with red tint in it for walnut stocks. It's supposed to be the pre '64 Winchester color. Not sure how close it comes since I've never seen a pristine pre 64 finish but it is very nice. I use to use tru oil but never cared for the finish it gave me. However I've seen others get good results from it. I always hate seeing old rifles getting rusty like that but is nice to see them restored. The owner was lucky your son seen the rifle in my opinion.