Winchester model 94 in 38-55

[win40-82]

My oldest son and I went to the Cody Winchester gun show July 8-10 where we met up with three of our friends that came in from Washington State. They sure had lots of great looking Winchesters and of course other firearms brands. Only 99.9 percent were above my pay grade but I did manage to snag a great P-38 by Mauser with hardshell holster and 2 correct mags AND a model 94 in 38-55 serial numbered to 1916. It certainly isn't a collector grade rifle. The receiver shows a high amount bluing loss with some pitting and rust. The wood is generally in good condition with the butt stock having been refinished at one time and a very good job being done. Forearm appears to be in original condition. The barrel and mag tube show very little bluing loss or wear and they are in very good to excellent condition. The best part, and the reason I bought it, is the bore. It is cleanest and best condition I've ever seen for a rifle of this era. It is in no nonsense 9.9 condition. I'm pretty convinced that its a replacement barrel and magazine due to their condition. I've managed to find to find some Starline brass and had on hand some .380 240 gr. cast bullets. I loaded them with 30.0 grains of IMR 3031 powder which was suggested to be a starting load in an old Lyman manual. I made up 7 rounds, 2

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to be fired through the chronograph and 5 to see how it might group. I had thought that it would chrony at about 1550-1600 but I was a bit off. First shot was at 1699 and the second was 1711. A little hotter than I wanted but it shot well and the recoil wasn't bad and the barrel and receiver should take the pressure fine. Thus far I'm really happy with it and looking forward to more load development. Am going to try to post some pictures, we'll what happens

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[2ndovc]

Cool!

I have my grandfather's 94 in .38-55 that looks like it's in about the same condition. Bore is excellent but not much finish left on the outside.
Haven't had it out in a while. Probably need to correct that.

Happy shooting!

jb

[ollogger]

I think you have a very nice old Winchester & one with a great bore & shoots is a big plus!
any time i load with a Lyman manual & run it over a chrony i get the same results
hand gun or rifle, always alot faster than the book?


ollogger

[Bill in Oregon]

Great find in a simply wonderful caliber. I get excited about bore condition, too.

[Pat C]

Yeah that's a super bore ,nice for shooting/hunting.

[CowboyTutt]

Very nice chambering in a '94! Tutt

[Nath]

Good of you to give it a good home.
May it bring you joy.

[Pat C]

Love to see more pictures of the rifle if you have time.
The reason the barrel and mag blue are still in Good shape is because they used Rust blue on them ,very durable . And either charcoal or furnace bluing on receiver,which is just oxidized scale from heat and smoke.
Not as durable.

I see the caliber on right side of barrel which was the last location .Any additional info would be nice.

[Dusty Texian]

Great looking bore and in 38-55 Ta Boot , that will make a good shooter 1894 rifle . Enjoy !

[Drawdown]

Congrats on a great rifle and a cartridge I'd like to get to know! And yes more pics are welcomed.

[OldWin]

Very nice. The 38-55 is a fantastic cartridge, and one of my favorites. They were extremely popular in my area back in the day, so we are lucky in having a good supply.
Here are most of mine. I have a low 4 digit numbered example not pictured. I have owned a few others over the years I've sold or traded.

[FLINT]

very cool ! congrats! but we need a picture of the whole gun!!!! not just the receiver!!!

I use 3031 in all my levergun cartridges from 250 sav - 38-55

with a 255 grain jacketed bullet I got an ave (3 shots)
1566 with 30 gr
1541 with 31 gr (?)
1704 with 32 gr
1759 with 33 gr

oh and that's with a 20" barrel.

you might be getting higher velocities because of the lighter lead bullet and maybe your barrel is longer.

also I think my velocities were kind of erratic because I had set the chrony way too close because of the way the range was set up.

congrats on the awesome rifle. I've always thought that looks were WAY secondary to accuracy! I've got some real beat up and ugly guns that shoot good

[FLINT]

I'll add another thing.

Those serial number / year calculators are often wrong. I've got an 1894 what was my grandfathers that the calculators put at 1898 I think, but I paid for the cody letter which said 1903. also the letter will tell you the original configuration. my rifle originally had a 38-55 barrel on it but was rebarreled to 30wcf in the 50's because according to my dad the bullets would hit the target sideways at 20 yards. maybe the bullets they were using were undersided or maybe the barrel was rusted/pitted/worn out. either way, it shoots great today with the 1950s 30-30 barrel on it. you are lucky to have found one with such a great barrel. actually a cody letter may also tell you if the barrel is original or not (unless it was rebarreled with the same specs barrel as original).

[Pat C]

The accurate year dating is in Shennum and Hartman book .Bert and Larry spent a long time looking through the Polishing Room ledgers at Cody.
Bert also has the 1894 list published on Gunbroker Forum.
As well as Winchester Collectors Association where he is the administrator .

George Madis and Aurthor Pirkle were both off and they got theor info from Winchester.

Funny thing is many antique rifles were actually not.
I just receiver one on serial 149041 (1898 ) in Madis
Cody letter June 10th 1902