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November 21, 2023
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I was walking into the gun show and noticed a guy carrying an old gun case. I started up the usual conversation and he said he’s getting rid of his dad’s old 30-30. Before he unzips the case he says his dad received this old Winchester for his 14th birthday from an uncle. Said his dad put it on a shelf in his closet and never shot it (I doubt that’s the case). We settled on a price and he walked back to his car and left. It’s pretty nice and I believe serial number 1700170 makes it a 49 or 50.
7th & 10th SF retired
April 15, 2005
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It looks like it is a brand new gun. The serial number puts it production date in mid-year 1950.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
October 14, 2024
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Congrats on a great score.
December 9, 2002
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I agree on a great score! What a nice Brand New Rifle. Probably the only way it could have been a better deal, if he had the box, w/papers! But that deal was so sweet, you won’t hear me complain about that!
Thanks for sharing! 
Anthony
July 8, 2012
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I agree with the others. Looks brand new. Great find.
April 30, 2023
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Great find sir! Don’t those lucky lightning strikes make you feel good?
Al, that looks like the one I missed you had last Fall…still sad about that. 🙂
August 27, 2014
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GREAT M94
“If you can’t convince them, confuse them”
President Harry S. Truman
November 21, 2023
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Thank you for all the kind words on the new rifle.
Here’s a quick question, how did Winchester double production numbers from my 1940 Mod 94 (45000) to my 1950 (90000)? Those numbers are estimates but pretty close.
Both my 1940 & 1950 are great guns but to double production in 10 years is mind boggling.
7th & 10th SF retired
April 15, 2005
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Tony Ford said
Thank you for all the kind words on the new rifle.
Here’s a quick question, how did Winchester double production numbers from my 1940 Mod 94 (45000) to my 1950 (90000)? Those numbers are estimates but pretty close.
Both my 1940 & 1950 are great guns but to double production in 10 years is mind boggling.
The Model 94 production numbers varied widely from year to year based on many different mitigating factors. The Post-WW II production number totals benefited from the workforce numbers greatly increasing with the end of the war and troops returning home. Winchester had also greatly expanded their machining capabilities to support the war production efforts, and they also reduced the amount of time & effort in the hand fitting & finishing process on the guns (as evidenced by the lesser quality of the Post-War versus the Pre-War firearms). Unfortunately, the immediate Post-WW II years were beginning of the quality decline for Olin.
For the year 1940, Winchester serialized a total of 43,389 Model 94/64 receiver frames. For the year 1950, the estimated number of Model 94/64 receiver frames serialized was 117,500 (this was the single highest total for any/all production years). Further, the immediate Post-WW II years (the 12-year span from 1946 through 1957) saw the largest production total (968,000) for the Model 94/64 receiver frames, with an average of 80,660 per year. Conversely, for the 12-years preceding WW II (1929 through 1940), Winchester manufactured just 220,900 Model 94/55/64 receiver frames (an average of just 18,400 per year).
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
January 20, 2023
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Bert, i’m sure you would also say another consequence of WWII demobilization was the corresponding tidal wave of pent up demand for sporting arms and ammunition. Once Winchester was permitted legally to restart commercial production, it was faced with either meeting a huge demand for its most popular rifles and shotguns or losing customers to the competition.
Surely, Models 94, 70 and 12 were high on the list of what so many newly discharged vets wanted and had money to buy, after reading all those ads in the wartime issues of Outdoor Life magazine.
- Bill
WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist
"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
April 15, 2005
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Zebulon said
Bert, i’m sure you would also say another consequence of WWII demobilization was the corresponding tidal wave of pent up demand for sporting arms and ammunition. Once Winchester was permitted legally to restart commercial production, it was faced with either meeting a huge demand for its most popular rifles and shotguns or losing customers to the competition.
Surely, Models 94, 70 and 12 were high on the list of what so many newly discharged vets wanted and had money to buy, after reading all those ads in the wartime issues of Outdoor Life magazine.
Yes, I agree with you in that was one of the many mitigating factors that resulted in the ramped up production of the Model 94.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
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