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My best friend recently inherited a prewar model 94 in .32WS caliber, s/n 1,25x,xxx when his father-in-law passed away. The gun was originally purchased by his wife’s grandfather new and was then handed down to her father sometime in the 1960s. Unfortunately the gun was stored the last several decades in a damp basement closet, along with a Marlin .22 bolt action rifle and an unknown make 12g single shot shotgun. The Marlin and shotgun fared far worse and had to be destroyed as the actions could not be opened due to rust and the wood literally crumbled. The Winchester, however, had a functioning action with little rust, but the barrel bore had a lot of corrosion, not to mention the corrosion on the outside of the barrel and magazine. The receiver fared better than the previous and the wood is solid but shows some moisture damage to the finish.
Our goal is to clean the bore and try to make the gun safe to fire once again. After that we will consider refinishing the gun, keeping cost in mind.
Here’s what the muzzle end of the bore looks like:
November 7, 2015
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More pics would be helpful, the ones in the OP don’t look promising. Hard to say what’s under the rust until it’s removed. If you’re open to replacing the magazine and possibly the barrel you may have a shooter, hard to say.
Mike
The bore cleaned up much better than expected, but, due to the depth and amount of pitting on the outside of the barrel my buddy has decided to re-barrel the gun into a .30-30 and do a full restoration with my help. I’ll add new posts as we progress. Now it is time to find a few parts….
We picked up a .30-30 barrel dated 1948 which is in good condition for $140. All of the barrel markings match the original.
We have a nice used magazine tube on the way. We have sanded 95% of the pits out of the lever and will be tackling the remaining parts to be shipped off for hot blueing. Will post some pics when finished parts begin to arrive. I am proud to be helping restore this family gun to its former glory. It was nearly tossed into a dumpster at one point.
November 7, 2015
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Glad to hear your carbine is moving in the right direction. I always enjoy “work in process” pics with projects like yours if you don’t mind posting them.
Mike
Sure. Here’s a couple of pics of the lever (which is the worst condition part to be saved) after sanding with 800 grit paper. I’ve also completed the barrel bands. Once all parts have been sanded with 220, 320, and 800 grit paper, I’ll then buff to a polished surface before sending off for hot blueing. I could be wrong, but my philosophy is to do as much removal of rust by hand being careful not to change the profile of the surface being sanded nor putting localized waves or indents where a pit, or series of pits reside. I probably have 2 hours in the lever at this point, doing 75% of the work by hand.
All parts have been polished to 400 grit and sent out for hot bluing. It isn’t perfect but should be a nice shooter that was literally saved from the crusher.
November 7, 2015
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Hard to say where to stop on a project like this one. In cases of severe pitting metal can be built up by welding and then worked down to the original profile. I don’t know if that’s necessary here but what strikes me about the pre-war guns is the evidence of additional hand finishing and polishing. I realize you want a shooter but you will have many hours in this project and you’ll always see the flaws nobody else will see. Your gun, your money, your call.
The original shape has been kept but some of the corner radii are larger, since, as luck would have it, the worst of the rust was on the edges and transitions from flat to curved surfaces. With the barrel being gone too far to save it was a no-brainer for us to do a nice restoration that will be evident to people like ourselves but not to the casual observer. Please note that there’s no intent to defraud anyone when I make that comment. As it sets I’ll have at least 25 hours in the restoration and about $600 in parts and labor. It does keep an heirloom in the family since the gun was originally purchased by my best friend’s wife’s great grandfather. My best friend and I have an agreement that I have rights of first refusal to purchase the gun for $600 should he decide to sell it for any reason. I would gladly do so to add it to my small, but growing collection.
The gun came back from the gunsmith with the new blue finish and barrel swap. The results are fantastic. Another one saved.
Looks nice. I am sure many have no interest in a rebuilt Winchester. However… When they are that far gone I feel it a good thing to put them back to a to a useable rifle.
A few years ago I found a barreled action 1894 in a “junk box”. I bought the box thinking it must have a bad bore or some other major problem. I cleaned it up and filled it up with all the parts threw a glued butt stock on it and shot it. Turned out it shot very well.
With a lot of elbow grease and not much money I have a great shooter that I can drag around and not worry.
It’s killed a bunch of stuff and was a fun project.
November 7, 2015
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I hope your friend enjoys this beautiful rifle for years to come. Turned out very nicely.
Mike
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