Make: Winchester
Model: 94 Saddle Ring Carbine (SRC)
Serial Number: 971494
Year of Manufacture: 1925 (Winchester Serial Lookup pg. 9)
Caliber: .30-30 Winchester Center Fire (WCF)
Action Type: Lever Action with Side Loading Gate fed by Full-Length Magazine
Barrel Length: 20” Round
Sights / Optics: The front sight is a blade pinned to a split base fixed to the barrel above the muzzle. The rear sight is a U-notch with a flip-up ladder sight and U-notch slider dovetailed to the top rear of the barrel.
Stock Configuration & Condition: The stocks are two-piece smooth walnut featuring a banded forend, straight grip, straight comb, and carbine-style buttplate. The stocks show a few light nicks and compressions, as well as some minor handling marks. The LOP measures 13" from the front of the trigger to the back of the buttplate. The buttplate has some contact wear and mild erosion. Overall, the stocks are in Fine condition.
Type of Finish: Blue
Finish Originality: Original
Bore Condition: The bore is semi-bright and the rifling is sharp. There is fouling but no erosion in the bore. In this writer’s opinion, this bore rates a 9 or 10 out of 10.
Overall Condition: This carbine retains about 85% of its metal finish. The balance of the finish shows some patches of thinning and wear on the receiver and barrel band with some corresponding surface oxidation and patina forming. There are scattered nicks, scratches, scuffs, and patches of contact wear throughout. The screw heads are sharp. The markings are clear. Overall, this carbine is in Very Good Plus condition.
Mechanics: The action functions correctly. There is a lever safety and the hammer has a half-cock safety position. We have not fired this carbine. As with all previously owned firearms, thorough cleaning may be necessary to meet your maintenance standards.
Box, Paperwork & Accessories: None.
Our Assessment: The Model 1894 was another Winchester lever action rifle designed by gunmaking genius John Moses Browning, and it became one of the most famous and popular hunting rifles of all time. It was the first commercial sporting rifle to sell over 7 million units, and was also the first commercial American repeating rifle built to be used with smokeless powder. It was introduced in 1894 in two black powder cartridges, the .32-40 and .38-55 Win. rounds, but by August 1895 Winchester had developed a different steel composition that could handle higher pressures, and the .25-35 and .30-30 WCF chamberings were introduced. As R.L. Wilson relays in his excellent reference work “Winchester An American Legend”, Winchester’s announcement of the Model 1894 in their November 1894 catalog certainly proved prophetic: “We believe that no repeating rifle system ever made will appeal to the eye and understanding of the riflemen as this will and that use will continue to warrant first impressions.”
This Winchester Model 94 Carbine in .30-30 WCF was made in 1925. The .30-30 WCF, especially coupled with the Winchester 94, is nearly synonymous with "deer rifle" in America and may have been used to harvest more deer than any other specific rifle/cartridge combination. This carbine looks like it was someone's favorite, and has likely taken its share of deer over the last 99 years.
RIFLE