Tips for unfired, rough-functioning Winchester model 94's

[Fess]

I am looking for tips on improving the action and trigger feel on some Winchester Model 94's. I have been away from shooting for many years and need all the help I can get from the rifles to be able to hit anything. I have three 30-30's that were bought around 2005-2006 and stored away, unfired. One is a 1966 Canadian Centennial (octagon barrel) top eject and two are angle ejects from the final years of the New Haven factory (one is cross-bolt safety, the other a tang safety). I have run the actions of the top-eject and one of the angle-ejects a couple hundred times to smooth them out. I have the blisters to show for it.

I have no experience with lever action rifles and don't know what is considered normal and what can be improved. On the 1966 rifle, the trigger is pretty good, but the resistance from the lever when cocking the hammer is enough that I cannot run the action with the buttstock against my shoulder. I have to lower it from my shoulder for increased leverage (pun intended). I would like to know if it is possible to reduce the hammer spring tension to make cycling easier.

On the side-ejects, it is much easier to run the actions, but the triggers are terrible. I have been away from shooting for a long time and would like to start plinking again, but I am pretty certain that I won't be able to hit what I am aiming at with those triggers.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

[Ray]

Deleted.

[Fess]

I have not done much with the youngest rifle (tang safety), but I will keep the blueing salts issue in mind when I do. I guess that my question is whether the triggers on the rebounding hammer models can be improved enough. I am also open to the suggestion to sell the angle ejects to buy another lever action that will be more fun for me to use, ie. with a nicer trigger. Again, suggestions will be welcome. I kinda lust after a nice 1873 in .357 after hearing stories about it's slick acton. With current 1873's (including Miruku) will I still be stuck with poor triggers? Of course, this is a bad time to try to find a new rifle and ammo. At least I am set up to reload 30-30 and have plenty of components.

Heck, should I be pestering Cowboy Action Shooters to sell me an already slicked-up rifle?

I did not mention that I will not be shooting a large volume and mostly using a bench since I cannot stand for long anymore. Back injuries. The angle eject were bought after the news that the New Haven plant was being shut down and I wanted my Son to have a Gen-u-ine Winchester lever action. I only intended to get one, but .... well you know how it goes. The day after I bought one at gun shop, I saw another in the case at Walmart and....... Unfortunately, it turned out that my Son never developed an interest in shooting.

[gamekeeper]

Fess, if you're interested in Leveraction rifles the 73 is my favourite, a slick action and loads of history....
Don't be too upset that your son didn't get bit by the shooting bug, my son followed in my footsteps and now has all my best guns....

[.45colt]

Fess , Welcome to Leverguns....I will "try" to keep this short and simple. I came to this forum 21 years ago with much the same questions You now have. After being away from most long guns for 15 years I bought a new Winchester USRAC .45 colt. 24" barrel... out of the box it was all I could ask for simply beautiful .
Trying to shoot it was horrible to say the least , all of the springs in it were way to stiff , hard to work the lever and had about a 10lb trigger. the only thing that was easy to move was the tang safety . even trying to load it thru the loading gate was a thumb buster.
It was a common problem at the time and there are all kind of fixes to smooth up the action and make things better / easier to work . I did a bunch of them and as far as I'm concerned it was a total waste of time . when they put the rebounding hammers and trigger groups in the guns they were ruined. John Browning didn't design it that way. You can do what ever You see fit but I would NEVER , NEVER , NEVER , own anything with a rebounding hammer again. I would sell the ones with the rebounder . these problems have also carried over to a lot other lever guns that had the rebounding hammer assembly.
I wish You the best of Luck.
And I must add , get a Winchester made pre '64 and it's a whole different Gun. they were never made to have a rebounding hammer or all the other parts.

[Malamute]

Id start off on all of them, but in particular the older one, with a good cleaning of the action with solvent and toothbrush to get rid of old gummy oil and sludge, then lubricate well. Ive never seen a 94 that was so hard to cycle it couldnt be done from the shoulder.

The rebound guns can be improved as to trigger pull, Ive handled several that were fine without work or responded to mild burnishing or clean up. Burnishing being putting 10-15 lbs pressure on the back of the hammer then pulling the trigger a half dozen times, then check, repeat as needed. It pressure polishes the sear surfaces to some degree and often helps the trigger pull weight and smooths it out some from gritty feeling pulls.

I used to find half cock lower tangs and resell them here, but its been several years since Ive found any. One guy I got them from ran out, and I havent seen them around since. Most 94 parts have been slowly getting more expensive and harder to find. Not non-existent, just not all over and cheap like they used to be.

[Tycer]

Id start off on all of them, but in particular the older one, with a good cleaning of the action with solvent and toothbrush to get rid of old gummy oil and sludge, then lubricate well. Ive never seen a 94 that was so hard to cycle it couldnt be done from the shoulder.

The rebound guns can be improved as to trigger pull, Ive handled several that were fine without work or responded to mild burnishing or clean up. Burnishing being putting 10-15 lbs pressure on the back of the hammer then pulling the trigger a half dozen times, then check, repeat as needed. It pressure polishes the sear surfaces to some degree and often helps the trigger pull weight and smooths it out some from gritty feeling pulls.

I used to find half cock lower tangs and resell them here, but its been several years since Ive found any. One guy I got them from ran out, and I havent seen them around since. Most 94 parts have been slowly getting more expensive and harder to find. Not non-existent, just not all over and cheap like they used to be.

great advice
Half cock tang assemblies fit right in the side ejects. Keep your eyes open at gun shows.

2F13A122-6545-4CAE-B993-A6CF2AA757DF.jpeg

[Griff]

Id start off on all of them, but in particular the older one, with a good cleaning of the action with solvent and toothbrush to get rid of old gummy oil and sludge, then lubricate well. Ive never seen a 94 that was so hard to cycle it couldnt be done from the shoulder.
The rebound guns can be improved as to trigger pull, Ive handled several that were fine without work or responded to mild burnishing or clean up. Burnishing being putting 10-15 lbs pressure on the back of the hammer then pulling the trigger a half dozen times, then check, repeat as needed. It pressure polishes the sear surfaces to some degree and often helps the trigger pull weight and smooths it out some from gritty feeling pulls.
I used to find half cock lower tangs and resell them here, but its been several years since Ive found any. One guy I got them from ran out, and I havent seen them around since. Most 94 parts have been slowly getting more expensive and harder to find. Not non-existent, just not all over and cheap like they used to be.

great advice
Half cock tang assemblies fit right in the side ejects. Keep your eyes open at gun shows. 2F13A122-6545-4CAE-B993-A6CF2AA757DF.jpeg

All except the bottom one. Angle ejects do not have the slots cut in the sides of the receiver to fit the standard top eject lower tang. The middle is the best option, produced from about 1975 until the introduction of the rebounding hammer.

The Canadian Centennial were produced in '67.

The '66 Centennial was the centennial of the mdl 1866 Winchester, or "Improved Henry". Should read on the right upper flat of the bbl, "A Century of Leadership 1866-1966" from the breech.

Winchester 94 actions can be off-putting to those unfamiliar with them. The have a sort of ratcheting action as the lever pushes the link down and gains the extra length to push the bolt far enough to the rear to feed that .30-30 cartridge. It' been described as "dropping its guts out" as it's cycled. The '66 Centennial was produced in the period when Winchester used a flat bottomed hammer and a two piece mainspring as pictured in Tycer's bottom example. The springs tend to be a tad stiff (IMO), lack the smooth increase in pressure of the later coil spring and the smooth build up of the early stirrup type hammer and flat spring. But, should still cycle easily from the shoulder. At least my example (20" octagon '66 Centennial) does.

As said, clean the action thoroughly, ensure the button at the back of the link compresses easily and disengages from the lower tang readily. If this is stuck, it can wear that lower tang and cease to hold the action closed as designed. There should still be enough movement in the lever to release the trigger block safety, requiring the lever to held against the lower tang to fire the gun.

I like to disassemble mine to be able to stone the mating surfaces and remove any burrs the factory left behind. I don't recall the retail price of the '66 Centennial, but my '69 44Mag was $93.69... and even in 1969 that was "cheap"... not a lot of hand fitted was being done on any of the post '64 model 94s. And they certainly benefit a LOT by the owner taking the time to do what the factory didn't!

[Griff]

Oh yeah....
and Welcome to THE Forum!

[OldWin]

Welcome to the fire!

I too, detest the rebounding hammers. I have one 94AE. It is pre-crossbolt, but had a rebounder. I swapped in the earliest post-64 version of lower tang and fire control group. I found the parts easier to source. As my buddy Griff mentioned above, the only thing that prevents thus assembly from being a direct swap is the tenons on the sides of the lower tang that mate to earlier receivers. I just filed them flat to the lower tang, touched up the finish, and it went right in.
I actually use this little 44 Trapper a lot. It's a pretty fair shooter and quite handy. One advantage of an Angle Eject is the many more sighting options open to it. Mine has been a guinea pig for much experimentation. It's had scout scopes, red dots, conventional scopes, etc.
My favorite is the excellent XS peep that it wears now. Another advocate an Angle Eject.
In the pictures, you can see the tenons mentioned above, a comparison of both lower tang assemblies as the install. The last is the XS peep.

[Griff]

Heck, should I be pestering Cowboy Action Shooters to sell me an already slicked-up rifle?

Buying a used rifle from a cowboy action shooter is a "hit or miss" proposition... there's usually one good reason they're for sale... and it ain't always that the shooter is just tired of it, or wants something new/different/better. There are a couple of cowboy gunsmiths that sell new rifles they slick up, ready to race in the cowboy game. THESE are your best option for a sure, real deal, slick rifle. NONE of them work on the mdl 94 tho'... pretty much acknowledged as one of the least favored guns for the cowboy action game. The action doesn't do well when modified to a "pistol" length cartridge.

[Fess]

Ha! Lookee what I found!
Will the half-cock lower tang work equally well in either a cross-bolt or tang safety? FWIW, the cross-bolt has a 16" barrel and the tang safety a 20" barrel.

Griff was right of course, my Canadian Centennial is a '67. I got it around 2005. That was not a good period for leverguns. I had always wanted a Winchester levergun with an octagonal barrel, but at the time, I could not afford a new one. I got the least expensive octagon barreled levergun I could find and it happened to be in 30-30. I would have preferred .357. I think that I paid $450. It has yet to be fired, dagnabit. I have already cleaned and polished some of the action pieces. The greatest lever effort is when the bolt begins to push the hammer back and that is what makes me think that it has an overly stiff hammer spring.

I had great plans for these AE Model 94's. I had thought about converting one to .357. I acquired another 20" octagonal 30-30 barrel and forend as well as a 24" Sears Model 54 barrel for..... well, I don't really remember why..... I do recall that I was aware that they would require a new extractor cut if used in a AE. In the end, a nasty back and spine injury put an end to those projects. I tried to continue on for a while, but the pain and meds from that time make it a blur to me now.

I really need something to do, that's why I intend to start shooting (reduced recoil loads) and working on projects again. Now, all I have to do is decide whether to stick with what I've got, or sell the AE's and get an 1873 instead.