Please help me identify this Winchester Model 1894!

H

haon8

New member
Hello all, my father and I got back from the local trading post a little while ago with a Winchester Model 1894 in tow. It was manufactured in 1908 and is chambered in .32 Winchester Special. Talking with one of the good men at the trading post, he believed that the barrel had been cut down at some point due to improper cleaning procedures where the cleaning rod would wear on the front of the barrel.

Anyway, I've been trying to find out some information about the rifle, though I haven't had any luck. It has a 20" octagonal barrel with half-length magazine and crescent-shaped butt-stock. However, the features that really sent my father and I over the edge on it is that it has a (possibly factory) tang-sight which, based on appearance and wear, looks to be as old as the rifle itself.

I was hoping you guys could help me identify a few things. First, what type (sporting, carbine etc.) of 1894 is this? The features that it has seem to clash with each other (I've read that the crescent stock was not standard with the octagonal barrel, and the half-length magazine doesn't appear usually standard with the octagonal barrel). Additionally, is it possible that the barrel actually game as 20" from the factory and wasn't cut down? I ask because it would have had to have been a real quality job. The entire front end was cut at a complete even level, polished, and the front sight was re-seated perfectly.

Finally, is it possible that this was a special order 1894 from Winchester? Like I said, many of the features don't seem to go hand-in-hand with each other (no websites I've been to report that they were standard together), and the barrel length does seem uncommon. Additionally, I haven't seen many of these 1894s with tang-sights from the era, which could indicate that it was actually installed at the factory.

Thanks!
 
I just wanted to correct myself: as it is, the magazine is about a three-quarter length magazine. However, if the barrel was cut down at some point, it may have been a half-length magazine from the factory.
 
Pictures would help, as would some measurements. But one possible explanation for what you have is that it was manufactured as a carbine and subsequently received a replacement barrel.
 
From the tip of the barrel to the threads, the barrel is exactly 20". From the tip of the magazine to the front of the receiver, the magazine is exactly 16".

Also, I didn't manage to get a picture of it, but the receiver and barrel both have Winchester proof marks, the receiver at the top-front and barrel at the top-rear.

I apologize for the somewhat low quality of the pictures, I didn't have a lot of time to get them super-clear. And yes, I do know that the bluing isn't original (and wasn't re-done at the factory; if it was it would have the second proof mark on the barrel).

EDIT: The pictures aren't attaching for some reason. I'll try again in another post.
 
Pictures were too big, here you go.
 

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Nope, sorry! The 1894's I've seen where the mag tube was significantly shorter than the barrel were all takedown models. But I'm no expert. Hopefully someone who knows these rifles will be along to provide better info.
 
The problem is that I have no idea how to check if it was special order. My dad and I though that Winchester offered a service where they could run the serial for you and tell you what it was like when it left the factory, but after searching for over an hour I haven't found anything like that. The closest thing is the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, where they claim to offer a service like this for Winchesters and Marlins, however I have no idea how accurate they are. It's also expensive, though we wouldn't have any hesitations about doing it if we knew it was going to be accurate and have all of the info.

If there is an official Winchester service like this and you could point us toward is, we'd appreciate it.
 
Already checked that website...clicking on the 1894 link doesn't show anything anyway. Besides, it can't tell me if this one was special order.
 
Factory (ie not cut down) possibility is that it is a "short rifle." These were carbine (20") length but octagonal barrels with rifle (cap'd, not banded) forends like all rifles. These normally had full-length mag tubes, but attached via the rifle-type hanger and not a barrel band per the carbines. The mag could be a replacement "trapper" (aka baby carbine) tube--which had 16" barrels, special cut, or special order 3/4 length. I'm betting on the former. I think a short mag on a short rifle would be more of a button mag, even with the forend stock. And, yes, the rifles--short and long--had crescent butts as stock, shotgun (flat) style as optional or special order. OR, the barrel could've been custom cut and recrowned as originally mentioned, with added trapper-length mag tube. All it would take to make this (back to?) a "proper" short rifle is a full length mag tube--like this:
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Very informative gak, thanks for the info. That would make a lot of sense, although I guess there wouldn't be any real way to tell if the magazine was replaced later on unless we knew how it left the factory?
 
Gak, thanks for picking up the ball where I dropped it.

Haon, does your rifle have a serial number? If so, perhaps someone at Winchester can research it for you.
 
It does, but the problem again is that I haven't found an area at the Winchester site where they said they research old records. I suppose I could send them the serial in an e-mail and hope they do it just for the heck of it, though I doubt they would.

Gak, under what circumstance would someone have ever replaced the full-length magazine on a short rifle with a trapper tube unless the magazine was damaged? It doesn't seem like there could be anything to gain from doing so, which would lead me to believe that it left the factory that way.
 
Haha, that's a good point. But I guess there's really no way of knowing any further until I can get a letter from Cody Firearms.
 
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