Winchester Model 94, before 1964

What this entry covers

ATF lists "Winchester, Model 94, rifles and carbines mfd. prior to January 2, 1964, and having a S/N of less than 2,700,000, provided their barrel length is at least 16" and their overall length at least 26"."¹ The wording joins three conditions: a manufacturing date before 2 January 1964, a serial number below 2,700,000, and minimum barrel and overall lengths¹. It covers both rifles and carbines¹. Whether a particular rifle fits this entry depends on the ATF wording above.

Many later Model 94s have entries of their own, among them dozens of commemorative carbines and rifles, such as the Canadian 1967 Centennial carbine¹. Section III separately lists individual Model 1894 or 94 carbines, most with barrels of 14 to 15 inches, each by serial number².

Identifying it

• Serial number and year. A serial-number table derived from Arthur Pirkle's reference book places numbers up to 2,699,999 in 1963 or earlier⁵. The site that publishes it notes that its sources disagree somewhat⁵. Milestones help as checks: the one-millionth Model 94 was made in 1927, the 1.5-millionth by 1948 and the two-millionth in 1953⁴.
• Factory records. The Cody Firearms Museum's Records Office holds Winchester factory records, including a Model 94 database; the Center describes its serial-number records as running from 1866 to the 1960s⁶.
• Configuration and length. Model 94s were made as rifles, saddle-ring carbines and short trapper carbines, with barrels from 14 to 26 inches³. Because short barrels were made, the entry's minimum lengths are worth measuring rather than assuming^1,3.
• Chambering. The first rifles were chambered for the black-powder .32-40 and .38-55 cartridges; the .25-35 and .30-30 followed in the spring of 1895, and the .32 Winchester Special in 1902³. The .44 Magnum (1984), .45 Colt (1985), 7-30 Waters (1989) and .357 Magnum (1992) came long after the entry's date³.

Common confusions

• Post-1964 rifles. In 1964 Winchester cut costs by replacing the forged receiver with one of sintered steel, making other parts of sintered or stamped steel, and fitting hollow roll pins in place of solid pins⁴. Collectors call earlier rifles pre-'64 and later ones post-'64^3,4.
• Later features. Angle Eject arrived in 1982 under U.S. Repeating Arms Co., and the much-modified Model 94 Big Bore followed in 1983^3,4.
• Current production. After the New Haven plant closed in 2006, the Model 94 returned in production by Miroku in Japan⁴.

History

John M. Browning patented the action on 21 August 1894, and Winchester put the rifle on sale that November^3,4. Winchester first needed nickel-steel barrels strong enough for smokeless powder, which is why the earliest chamberings were black-powder cartridges⁴. Of all its chamberings, the .30-30 has been made in by far the greatest numbers³.

Further reading

• American Rifleman's history and disassembly article³ gives chamberings, configurations and the main design changes in compact form.
• Its retrospective on the Model 1894⁴ covers the production milestones and the 1964 changes in more detail.
• The Cody Firearms Museum⁶ holds factory records for the model, useful for dating an individual rifle.