Win 1894 to 94

Post by **Old Savage** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 4:07 pm

When did the Winchester 94 change from being called the Model 1874? I think Waters puts it somewhere near 1930.

DavidS · Post by **DavidS** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 4:13 pm

Not sure of the exact date,but Winchester took the 18 off the 1894,1890 around the same time. I believe that they figured it was not as old fashined sounding.

Griff · Post by **Griff** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 4:27 pm

IIRC, 1924.

Rimfire McNutjob · Post by **Rimfire McNutjob** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 4:38 pm

I'm going to go with early twenties as well. Here's a picture of a 94 SRC in 25-35 up on Gunbroker. The seller notes 1922-23 manufacture and the upper tang is marked "Model 94" instead of "Model 1894". You can even see the space where the "18" was meant to fit. I didn't bother to look up his serial number and see exactly where it fell so I'm taking the seller's word for it.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewIt ... m=95694145

IIRC, the change happened concurrent with the naming of cartridges with 3 digits instead of two ... i.e. 218 Bee, 220 Swift, etc. I believe R. L. Wilson talks about it in one of his books as a decision by the marketing department that two digit cartridges and "18xx" anything was looked upon as SO last century.

Post by **Old Savage** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 4:53 pm

1922 according to that little burgundy book. 23 starts with 919xxx.

Gobblerforge · Post by **Gobblerforge** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 5:36 pm

I thought I read that it was April 1919

Bridger · Post by **Bridger** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 6:22 pm

Old Savage wrote:When did the Winchester 94 change from being called the Model 1874? I think Waters puts it somewhere near 1930.

I'm pretty sure it was never called the 1874

Couldn't resist.

Last Spike · Post by **Last Spike** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 11:31 am

Gobblerforge wrote:I thought I read that it was April 1919

I'm in agreement with this. It was mentioned by one of the more knowledgeable collectors on the Winchester Arms Collectors website that this happened around 1919 and was gradually phased in. That's why one will see 1894 stamped guns into the 1920s. My 1920 38-55 is an example of this. A SRC in 32 WS has the 94 stamp and I estimate done in 1922.

Post by **Old Savage** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 3:18 pm

You got me Bridger.

BenT · Post by **BenT** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 3:36 pm

OK ,so when did Marlin drop the "18 " from the 1893.

Win 1894 to 94

Win 1894 to 94

Re: Win 1894 to 94