Winchester 1894 exact year from 43-47?

[srea76]

Hope you fine Gentlemen can help me here. I have a Winchester 1894 30/30 I am thinking about selling soon, but I am trying to get the details first. I used the oldguns.net website and it says the gun was made between 1943-1947, but is there a way I can narrow it down even more to an exact year? Serial is 13956xx Thanks for your help!

[Borregos]

I can't help you, but welcome aboard, you will enjoy it here

[Hobie]

Glad you came here. You'll like it. As I said elsewhere, remove the forearm and mag tube and look at the barrel near the receiver for the 2-digit date code.

[Griff]

, and Welcome to THE Forum from Texas.

There are no records that will definitely point to a "date of birth" for any particular Winchester mdl 94 beyond serial number 1,352,066. The Cody Museum can put a date the serial number was applied and for rifles preceding serial number 353,999 the date it was sent to the shipping department and the date the serial number was applied, (if I understand what they say on their website).

There have been discussions among collectors as to whether the "date of manufacture" would be the date the serial number was applied, or whether it is best reflected by the date the rifle was sent to the shipping department. Many feel that simple application of the serial number is just that, a step in the manufacturing process. And given the assembly process at Winchester, this is understandable. Receivers along with the various parts were placed in assembler's bins and assembled as they were pulled... not always in strict numerical order. This can be clearly seen in that in many cases, early serial numbers have features or parts that were introduced well after the numerical sequence would suggest. And vice versa.

As I recall reading, there was a fire in the records department and the vast majority of Winchester's records were destroyed. Most of the website's that refer to a year of manufacture are referring back to work/research done by George Madis, author of "The Winchester Book".

Good hunting.

[Pete44ru]

Hope you fine Gentlemen can help me here. I have a Winchester 1894 30/30 I am thinking about selling soon, but I am trying to get the details first. I used the oldguns.net website and it says the gun was made between 1943-1947, but is there a way I can narrow it down even more to an exact year? Serial is 13956xx Thanks for your help!

Welcome to our little corner of the www !

Your Winchester was made just after the cessation of activities @ the end of WWII - in 1946 (most likely sometime that Summer).

According the the Winchester Polishing Room records, SN 1,352,066 is listed as the last Model 94 serial number recorded in 1945, on December 29th.

The last Model 94 made in 1946 was SN1,411,000 - thereby bracketing the SN of your Model 94.

FWIW, the Winchester Polishing Room was the last step prior to final assembly, and sending a rifle to the warehouse for eventual shipping - long after a receiver was chosen/picked from the parts bin for use.



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