What is a Winchester 1894 Worth ??

T

THE RAVEN

New member
Hello.....
I have a Winchester 1894 .32 Special lever action rifle that has been passed down to me .....All the information I could find out is by a serial number trace,and it was made in 1923.....The bluing on the tube and barrel is in fine shape.....The receiver is an odd silver color,it almost looks like it is plated,and never blued.....I would have thought it was blued and worn but it is very uniform in color.....It has some sort of flip-up adjustable sight behind the hammer on the stock just about where it meets the receiver with a peep-sight on top of it.....Thanks folks..:)
 
Its a pre-war era, pre-1964 M94 that is probably worth around $650 in that condition. It sounds like its in fine condition to hunt with. Do not re-blue or put on a poly finish...you won't increase the value and you may decrease it. You can't decrease its worth by shooting deer with it. Happy Hunting! :)
 
Thank you ! It is in really great shape,a few minor dings in the stock,no scratches or missing pieces of wood,no rust,sights all intact,it has a bead at the end and a fold down sight as well as the flip up sight mentioned behind the receiver...
 
"Its a pre-war era, pre-1964 M94 that is probably worth around $650 in that condition. It sounds like its in fine condition to hunt with. Do not re-blue or put on a poly finish...you won't increase the value and you may decrease it. You can't decrease its worth by shooting deer with it. Happy Hunting!"

i ended up with my wifes grandfathers pre64. it was in ruff shape when i got it, the load gate was bust out of it with a piece attached to the load gate screw and the right side of the butt stock looked like it was used to fight a bear. my wife asked me what it was worth i told her not too much it wasnt much of a looker and when you looad a shell the tube empties out on to your feet so hunting would be a waist unless you one shot it.the metal was nice so i turned it around and hung it on the wall. went to a gun show the otherday and there was a gun smith who offered to fix it for 15$ if i let him work on it while at the show as a deminstration. i jumped on that deal soon as it was offered. i ran home got it off the wall and just about had a heart attack. my wife has been engraving rifles for some time and had used up all my spare stocks for practice, she got bored took the Junker down and engraved a buffalo where the gouges were.it is very nice work but not something for a pre 64. she thought she was helping because it was in such poor shape. kinda funny now, the gun stays on the wall most the time any way and it isnt leaving the family so really it didnt hurt much. it was a shock though
 
THE RAVEN said:
I have a Winchester 1894 .32 Special lever action rifle that has been passed down to me .....All the information I could find out is by a serial number trace,and it was made in 1923.....The bluing on the tube and barrel is in fine shape.....The receiver is an odd silver color,it almost looks like it is plated,and never blued.....I would have thought it was blued and worn but it is very uniform in color.....It has some sort of flip-up adjustable sight behind the hammer on the stock just about where it meets the receiver with a peep-sight on top of it
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A Rifle model usually has a longer bbl and a forend cap ILO a bbl band than a Carbine model, a different-type buttstock, and different issue sights.

The receiver most likely was color case hardened, and the case colors have faded totally away, or were polished off - since they were never made with silvered receivers in that era.

The "folding sight" is called a Tang Peep Sight - and a pic would reveal whether or not it's a factory-optional Lyman or Marbles, or some other make added later.

How long is the bbl, and is it round or octagonal ?
Is there a (filled) rear bbl sight dovetail slot, or is the slot missing, indicating the tang sight was a factory order with the sight slot delete option.

Pictures are worth a thousand words, each. :D

.
 
I recently cleaned up a badly rusted saddle-ring 1894 that had a poorly repaired broken stock and a badly-corroded bore. Due to the beaten condition of the rear stock, it's apparent that the rifle had been carried in a horse scabbard.

The rifle was made in 1895 and found 30 years ago in the attic of a recently-purchased old house. I cautioned the owner about trying to maintain whatever value it had as a wall-hanger, but he wanted to fix it, so it could be used, if possible.

The action, after cleaning and lubing, was very smooth, tight and headspace was okay. The rifle hadn't been shot a lot, but was apparently fired with corrosive primers and never cleaned.

I figured that the broken stock had little value and could be replaced with another old stock, if needed. The bore could be cleaned with considerable bronze brushing, though pitting couldn't be completely eliminated.

After many hours of scrubbing the bore, I ended up using 000 steel wool on an old bronze brush, which worked pretty well. I was concerned that it would be terribly inaccurate, but was amazed that it printed 1" groups at 30 yards.

The rear stock was lightly refinished, as the owner wished, but the original finish wasn't completely removed, so many of the imperfections were still visible, but it was sealed.

The outside metal was in very poor condition, so rust was carefully removed and lightly touch-up blued. If the rifle's value was somewhat diminished by my work, the owner was prepared to accept that.

Just for giggles, how do you think value may have been affected by the minor restoration work?
 

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from what i see it looks very good, 300-400 may not be out of line. people like them for the western look and so do i. eastbank.
 
PICHER, I collect, research and deal in antique guns and have for many decades. I personally detest refinishing a gun, and so do most collectors. There is a vast difference between restoring and refinishing a gun. I have seen so many ruined stocks that were refinished. You refinished the buttstock and did a quite good job. Even though you did sand the stock too much, it still is not gastly. Affect the value it did but not dramatically as most refinish jobs I have seen. The little bit of the reciever that can be seen looks good.
 
The receiver most likely was color case hardened, and the case colors have faded totally away, or were polished off - since they were never made with silvered receivers in that era.
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Very doubtful. The gun was most likely blued, and the reason for the "silver color uniformity" is that the gun was made of nickel steel, of which the blue did not adhere well to. For that gun to have a color case hardened receiver, it would also have most likely been a deluxe model. Case hardening is rarely seen on these old levers outside of the deluxe guns. Deluxe models have factory checkered wood with deluxe swivels, a different forend cap (IIRC) and IIRC a pistol grip cap.

A Rifle model usually has a longer bbl and a forend cap ILO a bbl band than a Carbine model, a different-type buttstock, and different issue sights.
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Since the gun has a peep sight, I doubt the gun is a carbine. I bet its a rifle length, 24 in barrels. Carbines were generally 20 in. Also, the barrel could be round, octagon OR 1/2 octagon.
 
my brother inlaw just had his 1894 in 32WS apraised. it's a low serial manufactured in 1903 and he was quoted around $900 for it so depending on the condition you are probably looking at 650-750
 
For that gun to have a color case hardened receiver, it would also have most likely been a deluxe model. Case hardening is rarely seen on these old levers outside of the deluxe guns. Deluxe models have factory checkered wood with deluxe swivels, a different forend cap (IIRC) and IIRC a pistol grip cap.
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It would not have been casehardened under any circumstances if it dates to 1923. Winchester discontinued casehardening on all of their rifles in 1901.:)
 
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