1894 winchester
- Thread starter revylou
- Start date
- Location
- NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA
Manufacture date is 1913
Yes, 20 inches was standard for the SRC, but upon request, Winchester would furnish carbines with shorter barrels, i.e. 18, 16, etc, etc. Often referred to as baby carbines or trappers.
As for the Date of manufacture, publications of dates on the internet and in literature, are based upon George Madis' work. His numbers on a few of the models, the 1894s included, were off abit, by as much as a few years sometimes. For the 1894s, his dates were off by 2 or 3 years usually, until sometime after 1910 ish, in the teens somewhere, give or take, I can`t remember the exact year the numbers started to normalize. For example, I just bought an 1894 38-55 which Madis dates to 1906. In all likelihood, if this gun was early enough to letter, I would expect to find this gun was manufactured around 1908 to 1909. If Madis dates this gun to 1913, then that`s likely right, or very close, given his numbers were normalzing by then.
Matt
Last edited:
- Location
- The Conservative part of Ontario
Dating old Winchesters is the easy part, finding the rest of it's history, that is the time consuming part.
If it is in good condition, it should be quite safe to fire with current standard factory loads. However, you should have it checked out by a gunsmith, or at the very least by a Winchester '94 nut. It is fairly normal for rifles of the vintage to have developed substantial headspace over the years. This is not really a big issue, except for handloaders, as it can shorten brass life (The number of times it can be reloaded.)
If you do handload, I urge you to take it easy on the old girl.
Last edited:
