Winchester 94 30-30 questions

brained

brained

New member
Hey fellas,

Been seeing a lot about lever 30-30 guns around here lately and this brings me to my questions.

I've got a Win mod 94 that, according to online serial number look-up was built in '65.

Ive done a little research regarding differences in the pre and post '64 model 94's and understand that the pre '64's are more desirable.

Im wondering what determining factors distinguish the 2, pre and post '64.

I've read the ones made before '64 have steel butt plates and after they switched to plastic. My supposed '65 has a steel butt plate... I don't have a doubt this is a factory butt plate... I'm thinking there was some over lapping in parts during the transitional period.

Wondering what one is worth, pre vs post '64 in same condition, let's say average condition.

Thanks in advance.

Edit:

Was proof steel marked on the barrel pre or post '64, or was there not a change in this during the transition?
 
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I am no expert in 94s, but I know that Winchester has a history of useing up the parts they had on hand...I think most gun companies were like this...the changes we assume were on certain dates, were flexable at best. This length barrel, that lever loop. the bolt bent at this or that angle this checkering pattern...from the playing, buying, selling and admiring I have done, I have seen most of the rules for dates based on this or that feature or stamping is not set in stone, but more likely general guidelines.

So a '65 with a metal butplate could happen...or a barrel stamped with 3 lines instead of 2 or whatever...based on what was laying around in the way of parts...
 
I believe in 65 they went from a machined receiver to a cast one (went back to machined in latter years). The early post-64 receivers were cast from an alloy that would not take ordinary bluing and had to be iron plated in order to take bluing. This makes them almost impossible to reblue should the original finish be worn or damaged. I believe many of the internals also became stamped rather than machined.

Functionally, one works as well as the other.
 
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Metal buttplates could be had for a while through a couple of parts suppliers after 64' but most likely a Win. early original from the factory. I've seen a couple post 64's that have been refinished, one creokoted, and another duracoted. and both looked great. The creokote Win was a parkerized light green looking finish and the duracote Win was a high gloss blue/black finish that looked more like Browning or Weatherby bluing. My 73' post 64' still has a nice finish for being cast receiver and cast carrier but I'd definiatly try the new coating process since cast is just to difficult to blue.
 
I have a 94 from 1966 that belonged to one of the mounted police units where I live. It came from the factory with a steel buttplate so they still had them in 66.

Couldn't tell you what the differences are compared to the pre 64. In fact I could care less what they are as long as my 94 continues working like it has since 1966.

Here's a picture of it. Not a good picture but a picture that shows it has decent wood and blueing. The police Dept has their letters stamped into the receiver.

Win942.jpg
 
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My pre 64 has the model number and Winchester stamped on the upper tang and if I remember correctly it is on the barrel on the post 64's
 
Was gonna say the same thing but I found this elsewhere better than I could say it:
Quote:The actions of M94's made from 1964-1983 are made of investment cast steel that were sort of black chromed and that flakes off and then they rust. They cannot be reblued by any known cheap method. You are stuck with receiver that will not match the rest of the metal parts of the gun. Get used to it. Far, far worse is the mickey mouse, wretched, awful, cheap shell lifter which looks to have been stamped from the lids of recycled Prince Albert cans. Mine is especially bad on this early 1965 gun. As they stumbled along destroying the hard won reputation Winchester had earned for making quality firearms, they added a reinforcing bar to the stamped lifter later on, and then in 1983 quietly went back to a solid steel, milled, cartridge lifter with the Angle Eject series. They also dropped that cast, unbluable re ceiver and went back to forged which took a blue. My cheap first post 64 series lifter had been bent, probably by the same worthy who improperly installed the magazine tube. I was able to bend it back, and reinstall the mag tube correctly, and the gun feeds any 30-30 slick as a whistle. Just don't use it very much. You could always bend it back, I guess, if you did. This shell lifter is just typical of the post 64 Winchesters, evidence of the desire to see just how cheap a part that wasn't visible could be made that would still work for a few more shots than the average purchaser might be likely to shoot. It would usally last past the warranty period, anyway.

You can buy good replacement lifters to replace the crap one so while not as good, the post 64's are still serviceable rifles. The good news is the pre-angle eject(AE) models, even the post 64's, still had a half cock and didn't have safeties or the stupid rebounding hammers.

You have basic grades IMO. #1 is post 64, kinda a duh. Next is the post 64 but pre-AE ('65-82?), bad finish and cheap parts but no un-needed safety crap. Last the AEs, better parts but most have the un-needed lawyer friendly safety crap. With the last 2 it's kinda a pick your poison proposition.
 
On the bottom of the lever if you turn the gun upside down, the pre-64's had a large screw that went through the bottom of the front of the lever. After 64 they didn't untill they started up again in the late 1980's I believe. A quick way to tell if you have a pre-64 model.
 
Can you shoot the "Lever Evolution" Rounds from all the old 30-30's? Just curious, I have a few of these, one from 1919 and one from 1946. I was just curious.
 
Thanks, lever doesn't have this screw in the bottom of the lever.

Thinking its a post '64 with a pre buttplate.
 
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Crappy scan of a poorly laid out picture but this M94 .30 WCF was made in 1948. I bought it from an old gent that swore he never fired more than five shots from it. It had a factory mounted Redfield peep sight and came with a box of old Winchester 170 gr. Silvertips with five empty slots and fifteen shells still in the box. Looked like brand new when I bought it. I sighted it in with fresh loads and killed a few deer with it over the years and swapped it to my dad. Dad had terrible luck while hunting with it missing two big bucks on two consecutive years and lost faith in his abilities with the rifle. He swapped it off on something else… wish I had it back today.

18520Pre_64_30-30.jpg
 
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