1894 .32-40|What's New!|Forum|Winchester Collector

Very interesting rifle.  It would appeal to me as well.  There’s just something about a gun that was used for its intended purpose but well cared for, as this one obviously was.  Fun to imagine the stories it could tell.

I bought a Colt Burgess for my wife (she collects that Brand X stuff and I thought she should have at least one lever gun) that had the same problem with the hammer fall.  Since the last gunsmith that worked on Burgess’ in my area likely died a century ago, I took it apart and expected to find one of the issues you mentioned.  To my relief (’cause parts for that gun are a little scarce) it turned out to be a little sliver of brass wedged in the hammer notch.  Dug it out and reassembled it and it cycles flawlessly.  Repair cost nothing but time and I learned a whole lot about the inner workings of the Colt Burgess.

If you are mechanically inclined, get a takedown guide and take it apart and look for the problem.  ’94s aren’t particularly hard to work on.  I’ll bet you are on the right track by suspecting a worn sear or hammer notch.  If it’s the sear, you can simply replace it and if it’s the hammer notch, it should be reprofiled.  A very experienced gunsmith once told me that, if the wear in the notch isn’t too bad, it can be carefully cleaned up with riffler files without building it up.  I haven’t tried that, though.

If you aren’t confident to take it on yourself, take it to a gunsmith.  Most likely it would be a simple fix for one with some experience with these old lever guns.  Either way, that’s a gun that’s definitely worth putting back in shooting shape.  It looks like a rifle that would love to see some range time or even go out on a stalk and put some venison on the table.  I’ll bet it’s been there and done that a time or two.