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Now here’s one for the records; 1894 26″ octagon, extra lite, matted , takedown barrel. full magazine, deluxe , checkered , straight grip rifle stock, tang site and the ,nearly 1/2″ tall front site with the ivory bead. Ser#683533 so to late to letter but it looks to be the real deal, don’t know about the tang site, it may have been added. I have never seen another one like it in My travels. It followed Me home from the Louisville show this past weekend where it was hiding under a table, with some other Winchesters on the table that I was looking at, and He pulled this one out, plus a fine deluxe in .32 special. I think if I had a pace maker it would have been working overtime for a spell. I had quite a time convincing the elderly owner that it should be be with some brothers and sisters in Canada, He was a very nice gentleman and finally after 2 days of negotiation, He relented.
W.A.C.A. life member, Marlin Collectors Assn. charter and life member, C,S.S.A. member and general gun nut.
Quite an unusual, very well optioned find. Congratulations on a rare jewel! RDB
Henry,
What caliber is it?
Interestingly, I already had S/Ns 683526 (32-40), 683532 (32 W.S.), and 683534 (30 W.C.F.) in my research survey, all Take Downs and with a Set trigger. Your rifle fits right into the pattern.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
Bert H. said
Henry,What caliber is it?
Interestingly, I already had S/Ns 683526 (32-40), 683532 (32 W.S.), and 683534 (30 W.C.F.) in my research survey, all Take Downs and with a Set trigger. Your rifle fits right into the pattern.
Bert
Card with the gun says 30WCF – the double set trigger with a matted barrel has to be a rare combination – I have never seen one. Henry seems to have the nose for rare guns!
Burt,
Actually, an ELW rifle with a 26-inch octagon barrel is a true rarity. The vast majority of the ELW rifles were manufactured with a 22″ or 24″ round barrel. The matted barrel and set trigger just add to the rarity level. It is possible that Henry’s ELW is a “one-of-a-kind” based on its unique specific configuration.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
Beautiful and rare rifle, but parts of it look awfully familiar. I hate being a bearer of any bad news so hoping I’m wrong. See link below.
https://winchestercollector.org/forum/winchester-rifles/rare-1894-on-gunbroker/
Don
deerhunter said
Beautiful and rare rifle, but parts of it look awfully familiar. I hate being a bearer of any bad news so hoping I’m wrong. See link below.https://winchestercollector.org/forum/winchester-rifles/rare-1894-on-gunbroker/
Don
Hmmmm….. unfortunately, you might be on to something. The Gunbroker rifle had a broken butt stock wrist… in Henry’s shoes, I would very closely examine the stock on his rifle. I would also check the lower tang for a matching assembly number to the number stamped in the upper tang channel of the butt stock.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
That appears to be the same stock.
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
1873man said
That appears to be the same stock.Bob
Barrel and front sight as well. Looks like the receiver was swapped on the GB gun. You can see remnants of the same crack in the wrist of the buttstock. Evidently, someone cleaned it up a bit.
Don
This is a sad outcome. The switching of receivers and stock repair must have happened quickly. When parts of the rifle sold on gunbroker, the auction closed 8/28/22! Interestingly the, “winner” (Jamessietsma2000 B(93)) has a B rating! Almost never seen on gunbroker. He has a ton of negative feedback. Here’s a sample:
Non-paying bidder: This guy has 20 failures to pay in the last 12 months. Why is he still allowed on Gun Broker???
I wonder if Jamessistesma2000 is the person who sold Henry the rifle?
Note: the above piece of feedback occurred nearly a year ago and there were many pieces of negative feedback subsequent to this one. I also noticed Chayn’s was the second highest bidder on this piece.
steve004 said
This is a sad outcome. The switching of receivers and stock repair must have happened quickly. When parts of the rifle sold on gunbroker, the auction closed 8/28/22! Interestingly the, “winner” (Jamessietsma2000 B(93)) has a B rating! Almost never seen on gunbroker. He has a ton of negative feedback. Here’s a sample:Non-paying bidder: This guy has 20 failures to pay in the last 12 months. Why is he still allowed on Gun Broker???
I wonder if Jamessistesma2000 is the person who sold Henry the rifle?
Note: the above piece of feedback occurred nearly a year ago and there were many pieces of negative feedback subsequent to this one. I also noticed Chayn’s was the second highest bidder on this piece.
Wow…24 F ratings for non-paying bidder and he still has a B rating on Gunbroker??!! Goes to show the Gunbroker ratings are an absolute joke…
Bert; This one makes 3 , 26″ extra lite ’94’s I have ser#63117 with a 1/2 oct. bbl., ser#448616 with a round bbl. and this one ser#683533 with an oct. bbl. , all are in .30 cal.
I am building a display of 94, 1894’s in various configurations. These make up a nice part of that goal.
W.A.C.A. life member, Marlin Collectors Assn. charter and life member, C,S.S.A. member and general gun nut.
deerhunter said
1873man said
That appears to be the same stock.
Bob
Barrel and front sight as well. Looks like the receiver was swapped on the GB gun. You can see remnants of the same crack in the wrist of the buttstock. Evidently, someone cleaned it up a bit.
Don
When the gun is in a serial number range that can’t be lettered, you can swap anything even the receiver with a different serial number. Winchester made the parts to fit. T/R
It’s difficult for me to view a rifle as, “one of a kind” or a, “special configuration” when it’s been assembled with swapped parts.
steve004 said
It’s difficult for me to view a rifle as, “one of a kind” or a, “special configuration” when it’s been assembled with swapped parts.
Actually, it is impossible to view it or call it a one-of-a-kind rifle. It is extremely likely that Henry was snookered on that rifle. It would be nice to know who the seller was for future reference.
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
deerhunter said
Beautiful and rare rifle, but parts of it look awfully familiar. I hate being a bearer of any bad news so hoping I’m wrong. See link below.https://winchestercollector.org/forum/winchester-rifles/rare-1894-on-gunbroker/
Don
If it wasn’t for Don’s great detective work, would there have been ANY indication, using the photographs provided, that the rifle Henry purchased wasn’t the real deal?
This is rather disturbing and makes you wonder how many Winchester rifles in the non letterable range are complete fabrications.
mrcvs said
deerhunter said
Beautiful and rare rifle, but parts of it look awfully familiar. I hate being a bearer of any bad news so hoping I’m wrong. See link below.
https://winchestercollector.org/forum/winchester-rifles/rare-1894-on-gunbroker/
Don
If it wasn’t for Don’s great detective work, would there have been ANY indication, using the photographs provided, that the rifle Henry purchased wasn’t the real deal?
This is rather disturbing and makes you wonder how many Winchester rifles in the non letterable range are complete fabrications.
Removing the buttstock to look for matching assembly numbers is the only thing that comes to mind. Doubtful very many sellers will allow that and risk any damage without a committed sale upfront, especially if they know it’s an outright fraud to begin with. I agree, very disturbing.
Don
mrcvs said
deerhunter said
Beautiful and rare rifle, but parts of it look awfully familiar. I hate being a bearer of any bad news so hoping I’m wrong. See link below.
https://winchestercollector.org/forum/winchester-rifles/rare-1894-on-gunbroker/
Don
If it wasn’t for Don’s great detective work, would there have been ANY indication, using the photographs provided, that the rifle Henry purchased wasn’t the real deal?
This is rather disturbing and makes you wonder how many Winchester rifles in the non letterable range are complete fabrications.
The fakery has always existed but has become more prevalent as the collectable guns have become more popular and more expensive. By definition, fraud is the intention to deceive others which is certainly the case with this Model 1894. It is too bad this has happened to one of our WACA members and hopefully Henry will be able to work with the seller. I once got duped by a pristine Model 71, standard grade carbine, that was so good – it did meet that definition of too good to be true. I owned the gun for over 3 years, always wondering, before I asked a gunsmith friend to take it apart. When he did, under bright light and high magnification, we found a small amount of light pitting which was blued over where the barrel met the receiver. The barrel of the gun had been professionally re-done and was so good that it fooled a lot of guys smarter than me. The serial # was 9611 and I think at some time in the past I had asked Bert to note the re-done in his survey records. I was able to get my money refunded on that gun after having it for over 3 years. This was because it was an honest dealer/collector who cared more about his reputation than the money – he was fooled too. But, a re-blued barrel is pretty trivial compared to a total parts gun which someone has conceived in order to make some money. There is not much you can do except be wary and ask for help before you plunk down your money as unfortunately it is probably going to get worse.
just a friendly note. The lower tang on the 1894 is removable. many other models are as well 1886, 1892 etc. thus if one swapped the lower tang as well when they swapped wood then checking the assembly numbers would not validate a swapped butt stock as they would match.
Jeremy Scott.
WACA LIFE MEMBER, CFM MEMBER, ABKA MEMBER, JSSC MEMBER, MNO HISTORIAN
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