What is the current view of US made Winchester AE 94's

[Fess]

Hi Guys,
I haven't had much involvement with firearms for over 15 years, so I am trying to get my bearings. When I picked up a couple of Winchester M94's in 2006 or so, the New Haven plant was shutting down and there was concern that lever actions were going out of style. Like most boys from my generation, I had always wanted an genuine Winchester Levergun. Fast foreword to current times when Henry is a much bigger player and Mossberg is now in the game. Hopefully, Ruger will soon start making Marlins again.

My question is how the last few years of Winchester M94's that were made in the New Haven plant are viewed now. At the time, some people were complaining about the trigger pull, rebounding hammers, and safeties (I have one of each, a crossbolt and a tang safety). Now, they are the last of the American Winchester Leverguns. A series of unfortunate events had prevented me from ever shooting the two that I picked up. I am trying to decide whether it makes sense for me to start shooting them or whether there are people out there who would value them more in their current unfired condition. I am not a collector and I care more about how well a rifle shoots and if it has a nice trigger than I do about "unfired condition" and provenance. I know that other people DO care about such things, so these rifles may mean more to them than to me.

Quite frankly, the triggers on my AE's are rough enough that they would see some 'smithing before I would be satisfied with them. The big question is whether I should start tinkering with them or whether I should sell them to someone who really wants an American Winchester Levergun and look for something used or with a better trigger out of the box.

Thanks


edited to add: I have a third 94, a top-eject from 1966 with an octagonal barrel that I intend to keep no matter what, so it is not like I would be "lever-less" without the other two.

[.45colt]

I just put My experience and advice on the Lever guns forum to answer the questions You asked. Good Luck.

[J Miller]

The Winchester plant in New Haven, CT closed in 2005. All the current win 94 AE's are made by Miroku in Japan.


Joe

[Blaine]

(Flame Suit On) JapChesters are high quality and usually smooth from the box.
Although, I have a 1951 94, a 94AE, and a BB AE .375 that are just about as good as they get....My 9422 and 9422M are faultless, but could use the triggers smoothed up a hair.
Practice with your Daisy BB gun, and you can learn to love your Winchester triggers.

[Scott Tschirhart]

(Flame Suit On) JapChesters are high quality and usually smooth from the box.
Although, I have a 1951 94, a 94AE, and a BB AE .375 that are just about as good as they get....My 9422 and 9422M are faultless, but could use the triggers smoothed up a hair.
Practice with your Daisy BB gun, and you can learn to love your Winchester triggers.

The only reason your 9422 triggers aren't perfect is that you have not shot them enough!!

[Grizz]

i like my .357 AE carbine. it kills 100 yard gongs every time. it should get a medal for all the metal it killed . . .

still kicking myself that i didn't pick up the Colt 45 one at the same for the same stiff price of $300

[Blaine]

(Flame Suit On) JapChesters are high quality and usually smooth from the box.
Although, I have a 1951 94, a 94AE, and a BB AE .375 that are just about as good as they get....My 9422 and 9422M are faultless, but could use the triggers smoothed up a hair.
Practice with your Daisy BB gun, and you can learn to love your Winchester triggers.

The only reason your 9422 triggers aren't perfect is that you have not shot them enough!!

Yepper....I've been putting most of my LR thru the Single Six....I love that thing.
The 70s 9422 has a much better trigger than the nearly new 9422M (that I rarely shoot)

[ollogger]

So far with my trapper in 30-30 AE i really like it, i put a 2.5 power scope on it & its a fine shooter
along with a good trigger & slick action, it also does not give up much on velocity with the loads
i put over the chrony, oh it also has the safety on it, not crazy bout that, but its not a deal breaker either



ollogger

[daisygordoninc]

I had a Winchester 94 356 BB that I hunted bear with in BC. I shot and killed a black bear at 150 yards with one shot. It was a really nice gun.
I just recently gave it to a relative. I had a scope on it, of course it was actually a 358, but not called that because they didn't want people to
confuse it with a Winchester 358. Shot great, the trigger wasn't a problem, but I'm used to shooting Winchester 94s.

[JOG]

I had a few AE that I let go a few years ago. Being a lefty I like top ejection if given a choice. It really doesn't bother me very much. At least the AE models all had forged steel receivers! They are underrated rifle's. I think there sleepers! Year's from now people will want them as shooter's! There's a lot of them out there! Personally I would pick one up if the price were right!

[Shasta]

In the early 2000's I was wanting a 94 Winchester in 38-55 caliber, but the originals were out of my price range. Winchester came out with the angle eject Legacy model with a 26 inch octagon barrel in 38-55, complete with a factory installed Marbles tang sight, so in 2005 I had one on order at my favorite local shop. Several months passed with no luck on the order. They couldn't find one. I happened to go into another local shop and what do you know, there on the rack was the very rifle I was looking for! I bought it on the spot. It was a good thing I did because the following year American made Winchester 94's were no more.

This rifle was just like the other late production Winchesters I have purchased in that the rebounding hammer system made it prone to misfires. It had a very heavy trigger pull. The tang safety was a big improvement over the cross-bolt safety, but it was still a lawyer inspired device that was really not necessary on a Winchester lever action.

I cured these problems by swapping out the rebounding hammer lower tang system for a half-cock system from an early 80's Winchester 94. Now that I had a half-cock with the safety position, I didn't need the tang safety. I removed it and filled the hole in the tang with a piece of Micarta that resembled ivory. I was going to have my initials scrimshawed into it, but never did. Here is a picture of it:



So I guess my point is that the late production American made Winchester 94's are not too bad and seem to command high prices, but if you plan on shooting much, there is room for improvement. Perhaps my modifications negatively affect the value of my rifle, but the modifications much improve it for my passion of shooting NRA Lever Action metallic silhouette.

[DarryH]

I have old Winchesters, newer Winchesters, and Japanese made Winchesters. I don't even notice the trigger pull unless it is super light, or super heavy. None of my Winchesters fit either bill. Now my Marlin 39A is a different story. You breath on it and it fires. I actually want to get that worked on. I have NEVER had to "increase" a trigger pull weight!

[FWiedner]

.

Neither the Model 94 nor 94AE were built to be benchrest or target guns.

Do they shoot well?

If you don't like the triggers either fix them or part ways.

It's not hard to find a buyer for a lever gun.

Only a Winchester is a Winchester.