Great Grampa's hunting rifle..... Pics up!

mcminn

mcminn

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So I have had the fortune / misfortune of coming into the possession of a 1911 Winchester 94 in 25-35 that my Great grandfather bought new. He passed it down to my grandfather who has left it to me. Both men hunted with this rifle for the better part of their lives, now I will have the honour of doing the same. My question for the CGN brain trust is whether I have a rare rifle or just a great rifle with a thousand stories to tell (if it could talk). The serial number tells me that it is a 1911. The caliber seems a little difficult to find my local ammo store and every photo I find shows a full mag tube but mine has a half mag tube. I don't really care about value as this rifle will stay in the family as long as I am alive but I would like to know if it's just a run of the mill 94 or something else.
Thanks for any input.

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if my memory serves me right, most of the win 1894 takedowns had a 1/2 or 3/4 length tube instead of the full.
There are some 94 experts on here so I am sure you will get more answers soon, but pictures would help.
 
A little gun oil on it and hang it on the wall with some pictures of the previous owners... and a little history written up...
 
A half magazine 25-35 rifle is far from being the most common 1894 Winchester. If it were mine, with a history like that, I would continue to carefully use it.

A few years ago, a chap brought the family .30-30 to me with a broken mainspring. Round barrelled rifle. Apart from the spring, it was a sound, clean, used rifle. It had been bought new in 1908, and used ever since. I had a spring on hand, got it working again in short order. I cannot imagine how much meat it has put on the table in over a century, given that this is an area where hunting was, and is, a tradition.
 
I just read a review of the 25-35 model 94 from gun writer Chuck Hawkes. Very much liked the round and rifle, advocated for its use as a intermediate deer caliber for young, recoil shy, inexperienced shooters. If you were to go towards actually using a 100+ year old family heirloom, i would doubt that it would disappoint. Living in Southern BC, i would see this as a nice bush gun for 200 yard or less Blacktail hunting. My reservation there would be putting it in a Alder thicket in the hands of a young, recoil shy, inexperienced hunter...if that hunter did not have appreciation of the family history, and heirloom status. Then again the nicest blue jeans eventually get used for changing oil in the driveway, so if one could accept bruises on great-granddads rifle for the new family memories....Well then go for it.

My way of thinking is that i would get some factory ammo, leaving any 50 year old ammo as part of the history, shoot a deer to include your own personal memory to the rifle...and park it, to be handed down to your kids or grand kids. SO a bit of use it, with a lot of wall-hanger, combined with what i see in your post....Never to be sold....irreplaceable family piece. The true value, is the value one puts on your family memories with the men who carried it before you.
 
Good for you! A lot of family guns end up sold off by those too greedy or uncaring to value them. An 1894 in .25/35 is by no means rare but they aren't that common either. Yours is probably a standard 26 inch barrel standard sporting rifle ordered with a half magazine(known as a "button mag.") or perhaps just modified in the past to save weight. If it has a cut on the bottom of the barrel about 3 1/2 inches from the muzzle the magazine has been bobbed. If not it is probably original and special ordered which makes it a little more desirable to a collector. Pics are required for any value.
 
A few peso's and a call to Cody Museum would garner all the info on this gal.
They would do a proper search and back it with a letter.
It sure would add to the collector value as well as the original date and configuration
of how it was built to order.

I agree with photos too.
 
Pics are up. This will by no means be my go to hunting rifle, but it will come along on at least one hunt a year. Since the pictures were taken, I have given it a really good cleaning. The bore is pretty darn good with excellent rifling. The action is tight and smooth. It is possibly smoother than some of the 1970's levers I've tried. It looks like the stock has been replaced at some point and will need some better fitting as it is a little proud in spots. It isn't a show stopper but it is all mine and I am proud to own it.
 
Need more pics..........end of magazine and last section of lower portion of barrel..........Looks like mag was cut, in which case take 'er out and hunt with it as it has zero collector value, and is a great deer cartridge. Or just hang 'er up 'cause she was granddads.........
 
There is a notch on the underside of the barrel just down from the end of it so the mag must have been cut or replaced at some time or other.
 
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