Model 94 XTR "big Bore" manufacture date ?

[HD.375]

hey gents, ive tried some searches but found misleading info regarding the big bore model, could anyone shine a light on what year this particular model 94 BB was made??
BB0466XX

its a .375Win.
Cheers from AU

[pietro]

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I've been familiar with Big Bore 94's since their introduction.

The .375 BB94 was introduced in Sept 1978, and Winchester made roughly 10,000 per year - so yours would have been made in the 4th quarter of 1981 or early in 1982, before the production was switched from the top-eject M-94's to the Model 94 AE (Angle Eject)

There were a few BB94AE's .375's made in 1982, before the .375 was discontinued in favor of the .307 & .356 Winchester chamberings.

All the early 94AE's lacked the lawyer safeties, which later changed to a crossbolt safety (CBS), then the tang safety.

The reason for various answers is that the BB94 SN's were separated from non-BB94 production, have the "BB" SN prefix - but for some reason missing from every DOM reference I've ever come across..

[indian joe]

hey gents, ive tried some searches but found misleading info regarding the big bore model, could anyone shine a light on what year this particular model 94 BB was made??
BB0466XX

its a .375Win.
Cheers from AU

I had one of those many moons ago - stupidly sold it - do not do that !!!

[indian joe]

oh yeah and the top eject model has been proved substantially stronger than the AE .

[georgerkahn]

[QUOTE=HD.375;5287332]hey gents, ive tried some searches but found misleading info regarding the big bore model, could anyone shine a light on what year this particular model 94 BB was made??
BB0466XX

Greetings! I have a .375 Winchester Xtra Big Bore similar to yours, bearing serial number -- ready for this ? -- BB0431xx -- indicating mine most likely came off the assembly line roughly but three hundred rifles before yours! According to my notes, I purchased it in September of 1978 and it was manufactured in April of the same year. This is contrary to Post #2 -- and he may very well be correct. I believe my info came -- the latter from my receipt, with the former date from lady who ran the gun shop from whence I made the purchase.
In any case, you may rest assured it was made in 1978. Incidentally, I -- along with it -- purchased (and never shot) five boxes of Winchester BB .375 ammo... white box with blue lettering. I gather these are sort of rare nowadays...
I shot/shoot cast bullets using a .38-55 mould, with IMR 3031 as my powder of choice. A fun firearm for me -- I reserved a .30WCF lever (Marlin 36) for huntin'.
Congrats vis your .375BB!
geo

[HD.375]

Thanks fellas!

so ive owned this Rifle since i was about 17-18, Im now in the early 30s somewhere.......... it was sold to me as a 'useless sambar gun, but good for pigs" .................. the guy at Elks shop didnt know what he was on about really , not that is uncommon...

I've stashed away one Box of Factory Ammo for it- Very expensive down under an rare ish
purchased 200 Brass for it many moons ago and have a 37-250 mould (which i dont use yet) and I use this thing , no safe queen , grown quite fond of it these days and to be honest, without knowong much back then..... the 375 has been the most ideal Cartridge i could want.

i didnt wanta 30-30 but i also didnt want such a big 45-70..... i looked at the 375 crtridge next to a 444 cartridge, as both were on the shelf , both model 94s from memory? an i chose the slightly smaller 375

Very interesting, but safe to assume 1978-81 era

Thanks, keen to hear anything else yas know on the topic

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I've got serial no.s BB0156xx and BB0468xx, both purchased in a discount store in California in 1983. I also have AE17624 which is an angle eject BB, (included here because of the AE in front of the serial no.) in .356 Win. I guess Win. thought that the .356 and .307 rifles were more likely to be used with a scope, and switched from the traditional carbine style butt stock to one with a really high comb. It really looked out of place and replaced it with the old style.

DG

[pietro]

I guess Win. thought that the .356 and .307 rifles were more likely to be used with a scope, and switched from the traditional carbine style butt stock to one with a really high comb.

It really looked out of place and replaced it with the old style.

The 307 & 356 BB94's were issued with either standard buttstocks or the hated "canoe paddle" Monte Carlo buttstock.

I was lucky to run across a .356BB with the standard stock & no extra safeties besides the lever safety that's been in place since 1894.

.

[Winger Ed.]

I'd keep looking.

There's a sight that list manufacture dates for Winchester by model and groups of serial numbers.
I didn't book mark it, but I found it awhile back to date a 1950's era .30-30, and a late 1940's issue .22.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I ordered a semi-inlet from Boyd's and specified semi-fancy grain. When it came it was a bit nicer that I thought it would be, and nicely matched the forearm. I finished it up with a rubber butt pad and a semi-gloss finish. The way I came about this one was that a customer ordered it, and when it came in it had a bad scratch on the right left side of the receiver and the customer turned it down. I reblued it, but to less of a gloss than the original finish, maybe about 320 grit. The whole job looked just great, and it shot well, so I kept it. Actually, I wouldn't say that it would be the last rifle I'd part with, but it would certainly be the last lever action I'd part with. I really like the .356 cartridge. As for the take off stock, it was very plain, straight grain walnut, but has a nice color, and since then (about 20 years ago? ) I've thought that it might be a challenge to turn the original "canoe paddle" into a regular stock. Pretty sure I could do it, but maybe someone might come along that wants an original......

DG

[georgerkahn]

I'd keep looking.

There's a sight that list manufacture dates for Winchester by model and groups of serial numbers.
I didn't book mark it, but I found it awhile back to date a 1950's era .30-30, and a late 1940's issue .22.

One of my favourite Winnie source is at: https://winchestercollector.org/dates/
However, it is not a complete listing -- but, they do answer a high percentage, I would think, of queries.
FYI
geo

[Texas by God]

I dont know about the BB94 model, but 94s had( have) a stamped barrel date hidden by the forearm.

Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

[HD.375]

I dont know about the BB94 model, but 94s had( have) a stamped barrel date hidden by the forearm.

Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

Thats first ive heard of this with the BB , ive done one or two of the winchester dates i got from google an put it down in the 78-81 ish class from memory, that was a while back.

[garandsrus]

I saw a Big Bore 94 in 375 Win at a Pawn shop and had no idea what the caliber was. I did a little research and bought it the next day. I don’t think it had a box of shells through it. It has had quite a few go through it in the 10 years or so I have owned it! It’s a favorite…

I did put a Williams peep sight on it. The holes were already there.

When I checked the year, it was early in the production.

[pietro]

I dont know about the BB94 model, but 94s had( have) a stamped barrel date hidden by the forearm.

FWIW, during assembly, Winchester 94's were barreled with any barrel the assembler grabbed from a large parts bin of barrels, accumulated as they were produced...…. whenever.

Ergo, it's been documented that not all Winchester 94's have a date mark on the barrel.

Winchester didn't start date stamping Model 1894/94 barrels until about 25 years (early 1920's) after production started.

There's no way to know how long a particular barrel might have remained in one of the barrel parts bins (different bins for different models and/or chamberings)

The best way to determine a Model 1894/94's DOM (even a BB94) is when the factory records show that it left the Finishing Dept and moved to the warehouse to await shipping wherever.


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