Winchester 94 forearm

T

thirtysixford

New member
In 1951 or so Winchester shortened the forearm of the model 94 carbine by an inch or so. Can I replace the forearm of my 1953 model 94 with the earlier longer style without any modifications?

My forearm has some damage and I have a chance to buy the longer version at a good price
Thanks
 
Go ahead. I see no problem. Frankly, I think the M94 looks a lot better with the longer forearm.
Paul B.
 
Interesting

Never realized the difference in carbine forearms. Stuff ya don't know:D

Curious though, does not the barrel band and the screw that secures same, create a potential problem?
 
yea, the barrel band is a definite reason for my post. The new and used ones that I see for sale only say pre or post '64, no mention of anything else. I think the bands are the same.
From the pictures I see, the barrel band appears to be the same distance from the receive on both the long and short ones. The longer one just looks to go further past the band towards the muzzle.
I measured mine and it's 6 7/8 inches from the front edge of the receiver to the center of the band screw.
If someone has a pre s/n 1,850,000 carbine, I would be interested to know what yours measures. Thanks
 
SOLVED

I was refereed to a book by another source that said Arthur Pirkle's "Winchester lever action repeating firearms Vol 3, The Models of 1894 and 1895" had the answer on pages 73-75.

It says the longer forearms are 9 1/8 in length and the newer, shorter ones are 7 7/8. More importantly to my question it says the barrel band location remained identical. Stated the effect was to reduce the amount of wood protruding beyond the barrel band to 1 1/4 inches.
Also notes that many collectors consider the shorter forearm as undesirable.... I'm not sure I agree with that.

I'm going to purchase the longer one
 
I hate to beat this to death, I promise this is my last reply to this, but I just received a copy of Arthur Pirkle's book and I must say that it is the most detailed book on the 1894/94/1895 I have come across.
No photographs but lots of diagrams, charts etc. Even down to the screw sizes for the model.

I have no affiliation with the author, just my opinion, available at the usual online places.
 
Sorry I haven't been able to send final update picture until now.
I definitely like the look of the longer forearm. The finish came out fairly close to the butt stock.

-Mike
 

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Bamaranger said, "Never realized the difference in carbine forearms. Stuff ya don't know

Curious though, does not the barrel band and the screw that secures same, create a potential problem?"

Here's another little tidbit. The pre-64s are stocked differently as well. Dunno exactly when the change was made but I have an M94 dated to 1911, another to the late 1950s and a post 64 date to 1980. I also had three others that were post 64 guns but sold them in order to buy something else. I can look at a target and snap any of the pre64s to my shoulder and the sights are almost perfectly aligned with whatever I'm looking at. I say "almost" because I was looking at small targets like light switches and doorknobs. Not a one of the post 64 style would do that and I would have to move my head around to get the sights lined up. Easy fix BTW by removing the factory rear sight and going with a receiver sight instead. Winchester changed the angle of the drop of the stock on the post 64s, for whatever reason escapes me. About the only improvement I saw was the post 64s appeared to kick less than the pre64s. It sure did mess up the quickness of lining the gun up when needing to take a fast shot at a deer or truculent bear. For some reason the "peep" sights fixed the problem for me. The pre64s still have their original sights.
Paul B.
 
All of the long forearms I have seen have a U shaped "tenon" that fits into a corresponding U shaped mortise that's in the forward face of the receiver. The later ( around 1954) short forearms have a round mortise and tenon, however there seems to be a few short forearms made with the U configuration. This is what mine had.

Once the forearm is seated into the receiver, the front barrel band and screw are exactly the same distance from the receiver. It simply bolted on like the original. The only difference is the amount of wood protruding towards the muzzle.

Of course none of this applies to a post 1964
 

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