Wow, I just checked and they're going for $140 or more. I got this one at a gun show in a grab bag with a bunch of old stuff for $5. It doesn't look like a repro to me. The leather tabs are old as is the canvas. Maybe I'll see about swapping it for a lined 94 case. Thanks for that heads up!

I found a survey over on the gunbroker forum tracking the exact model changes from pre-WWII to post WWII. There seem to be a lot of interesting things happening in the 40's with Winchesters. Anyway sorry about the pic quality. I was hiding inside the shelter under a heat lamp like a girly man. To ge...

Well the SN is from the black hole of the 40's so I can't be sure what year it was made. The back band appears to be flat, but you're right the front one has a bit of a contour. My understanding was that Winchester made a number of barrels during the war but didn't assemble all of them into rifles. ...

I picked up this very sweet 1940's vintage for an absurdly low price last year. The factory sights were too fine for my eyes, so I swapped them for an express sight off gunbroker from some other old levergun and a sourdough from my parts box. The results were excellent, with faster target acquisitio...

I ran into this debate over on THR recently. On a cold or wet day, just cycle the action instead of trying to lower on a live round. There's no need for the lawyer safety. And I say that AS A LAWYER! Those things were invented for the courtroom as a form of affirmative defense. They have no relevanc...

Thanks for your help! You guys are brilliant as usual, but I'm taking all the credit

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/Gussick/MysteryRifle.jpg http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/Gussick/MysteryRifle2.jpg This rifle showed up in a friend of a friend's berry patch. It's been out in the Alaska wilds for lord knows how long. To my eye it looks like either a 73 or 76 Winchester....

I've been going with 31 or 32 grains of 3031 so maybe dropping it to 29 or 30 would tighten up the groups. I'll give it a try. I have about three pounds of that powder on hand.

Thanks! Sounds like that XMP is the one to get for cast. I've had no luck getting patterns with light 2400 loads.

I'll give these a try.

I'm pulling out my .30 WCF handloading gear and realize I have a real shortage of good accurate load recipes. I've used 3031 for the most part but never gotten great groups with it using 150 or 170 grain jacketed bullets. I currently have several hundred 170 grainers, both cast and jacketed. Rifle i...

Cosmoline, Can you tell me anything about the scabbard with the straps for carrying on your back? Brand? cost or where it might be purchased? I've been looking for something like that (preferably in leather but would consider anything). Thanks Dan, the fellow who came up with the scabbards and the ...

Say, is there a no-drill tang or receiver sight I can put on this thing? The tang seems to be set up for one, but I see no pre-drilled holes in the receiver. I did a search around but came up empty.

I had biked 15 miles to the range with the Win and two enormous 54 smokepoles plus sundry ammo, roundball, and range stuff in tow on a BOB trailer. I needed an early start to avoid a headwind so I skipped breakfast and was downright starving en route back home. So I sallied forth to a nearby place a...

Alaska is the best. No need for a concealed carry license here, and firearms are well known and accepted. I went into Wendys this past Saturday with a Win 94 strapped to my back. Nobody batted an eye, let alone called the cops.

Here's a shot of the rear sight. It's a semi-buckhorn.

If I lived in BEAR country, my portable outhouse 'rifle' would be a .454 Casull 6" barreled revolver; of course the poor folks who lived in real bear country a century ago had no such option. I lived on the lot where this bear was shot for several years before returning to indoor plumbing. I h...

Many thanks to the forum for the help in ID'ing this '94. I finally took it out to the range today. Shot some X-bullet handloads, some cast 170 handloads, and some Nosler partition factory rounds. The handloads were nothing special and both scattered by 75. I've been using 3031 and I may switch to s...

I've seen him in more films than I can remember. He's just about the last man standing from that greatest generation of big screen actors. Their kind will never come again.

I just find it fascinating how our views of firearms change over the decades. In 1900 they would have thought you foolish for using an "old fashioned" .45-70 against a brown bear instead of the newest white powder marvel. Of course they hadn't discovered what happens when you load a .45-70...

That was a different one. The article was referencing the advent of "white powder" with the .30 WCF and Win 94. It's not the growler one and it's not the Old Ephriam one. EDIT: Ah, here it is. "White powder" was the key word. It's one of Paco Kelly's articles: He was huge...he te...

Someone here might be able to help me on this one. I remember reading an article, probably on-line, which included an account of a .30 WCF Winchester being used to drop a monster brown bear that had survived decades of pot shots with earlier weapons. This would have been in the 1890's or early 1900'...

Great pics, sad and VERY familiar story. I've seen it myself. High density McMansions normal folk could never afford. Overseas money fueling the next real estate bubble, tearing up farms and woodlots with not so much as a park bench between them. It's no wonder the kids have nothing to do but sit at...

Those guys have more restrictions than I can count. If you were in Belgium between '52 and '85 you're out. If you were in Upper Volta with your oldest brother in '74 you're out. If you visited your wife's aunt Veva in Illinois and her tap water was rusty you're out. etc etc etc Thankfully I have no ...

More pics:

Here's the underside of the barrel. You can also see the "L" shaped "1" The year of barrel manufacture would appear to be "42," though as I understand it the rifle could have been assembled at a later date. Judging from Morgan's SN, mine fits in a slightly later timefra...

Women come and go, but a pre-64 Winchester is FOREVER

Thanks for the info! Destroyed in a fire? Wow this is an interesting rifle. I will do a careful disassembly tonight to check the date on the barrel. I'll be posting pics as well. Looks like I finally got a "keeper." I'm glad I let the 1981 Win 94 go to Herself in the breakup now :D Last wo...

Thanks! It looks like my luck may have finally turned around. I'm not a newbie actually, but for some reason my old account went defunct. I don't know much about Winchester during the immediate post-war years. Is there any reason to make this one a safe queen? My intention is to knock around some wi...

It doesn't have a full length stock if that's what you mean. But I think you must mean something else. It has a longer length beyond the retaining strap than I've seen before. It looks really close to this one: http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=106761146 But I didn't pay $750 for it...

O wise ones of Paco's board! I have recently snagged a Winchester 94 in .30 WCF with a serial number that does not compute. The first digit could either be a "1" or an "L", but I can find no reference to Win 94's made with an "L" prefix. IT could be a "1" with...