Wednesday, June 18, 2008

The Winchester model of 1894

The grammar sounds a little clumsy, but that's what they call it, 
and as it's probably the finest hunting rifle for deep woods ever made, who am I to argue.
This one was made right after WWII. The metal is in excellent condition, but the stock looked like it had been refinished with a belt sander, so I didn't feel guilty about adding the recoil pad. 
The furniture still needs a couple more coats of tung oil before it will shine, but it shoots just fine.
It's a carbine (which means it has a 20"barrel) chambered in 32 Winchester Special. A hard hitting round that can also be loaded with black powder 
(should you happen to like big puffs of smoke with your bang.) 
The rifle came with a set of Williams iron sights that I switched for a set of "Fire sights" wich work very well in low light.
If you happen to have a buckhorn marked "32 Winchester Special" kicking around, drop me a line. I'd love to return it to the original.

This thing had the sloppiest trigger I ever saw when I found it. There was a 1/4" of play side to side and the trigger pull was in double digits. I ended up drilling it out the trigger, frame and sear and bushing everything. I also stoned the sear as the faces weren't a great match (and I already had it apart). 
It shoots like a dream now. 

This is probably my favorite piece in the collection.

1 comment:

Ron said...

Hi aging hippie, i have a winchester 375, lever action with a weaver 3x9 variable scope. Is in great condition. It was my father'n'laws before he passed away in 1989. I have no idea what it is worth these days. later...Ron