Help please: front sight hood height on post-64 Model 94? Pics|Winchester Rifles|Forum|Winchester Collector

A dangerous-looking shark.

Athappyhiker said
Need some advice from y’all. I ordered a “pre-64 top eject front sight cover, carbine, reproduction” from Numrich gun parts (product #294550C) for my 1977 Winchester 94. Came it today, installed it and it looks REALLY low and smaller than I expected. See photos. There’s very little clearance between the top of the front sight post and the hood, and just the overall sight picture now looks crowded.  Is this the correct size hood?  Is that little of clearance normal? I”m used to Marlin 336 “wide scan” sight hoods that have like triple the area in the sight picture.  

  

As Midwest Crisis says, what GPC sent you won’t work.  I have bought from them over the years and they are unreliable when it comes to what goes on what gun. 

 I don’t know whether the post-63 Model 94 uses a different sight hood than the pre-64. The pre-64 used a Winchester #3276/L hood. Unless the ramps are really different in width, i would think one would fit either model.  Jack First carries a reproduction of this hood for 30 bucks.  

However, it may be that the 1977 vintage Model 94 uses a taller front sight, in which case the older hood would not have enough air around it. In that instance, a reproduction of the #3278/M hood that the pre-64 Models 70, 71 and others used, would work. I believe Jack First sells a reproduction of that hood for the same 30 bucks. 

So, you need some information. 

1. Will a Pre-64 Winchester hood fit the ramp of a post-63 Model 94?

2. Is the front sight height of the 1977 Model 94 higher than the pre-64 version, or higher?

You really need to deal with parts or reproduction dealers who concentrate on the collector market, including Winchester.  Jack First is one. There are others. Don’t rely on eBay Descriptions. You need a parts dealer with knowledge. 

I still don’t see it. But I do recall Jeremy had a good list of Winchester parts dealers on an earlier post in a different topic. If you can give the OP the link, he could use it. 

This is my Mod 94 Carbine made early 1964, but I added this sight hood to it, because when I got the rifle it didn’t have one. My 1971 NRA Centennial Mod 94 had an original sight hood, best my memory, about identical to yours in the pic of your opening post, very close to top of the bead. I still have it stashed away, but it came off when I got the rifle in 2019, unfired, all original, so I could install a Williams Receiver Sight, which it still does, the way ive hunted with it since!   (Zeb, im trying proof read as I go, slower! 😆)

I love sight hoods on open irons, dont like em with receiver or tang sights. Have squirrel hunted open sighted 22’s all my life, a hood is an aid in quick sight acquisition in woods lighting, which is always changing, your best friend often, and your worst enemy just as often! I deer hunted most my early years with my only centerfire rifle, a Marlin 336 30-30, and your right about the front hood on them, much wider & higher, I did like them better! But I literally hated the rear semi buckhorns on a Marlin, and the front bead was too big diameter wise! I filed the rear sight of mine down flat, left only a shallow U, and filed a tiny  flat spot on the front bead. They weren’t the best sights for quick acquisition, but I could shoot 1″ groups @ 100yds with it! I killed every critters i ever shot at with that rifle, deer, yotes, turkey’s, etc!

When I went to a Mod 94, I first figured I’d do the same to its semibuckhorns? But I found i literally love the sights on my 94, as is, with the exception of my Mod to the hood, which I got several extras from Midway. The front bead on my 94 is a great deer hunting sight, right diameter, silver bead, very visible in most woods lighting situations! 

If you’re gonna hunt your 94, I highly recommend this Mod to the hood? The hood was of the same shape, front & rear when new. But with a small triangular & rat tail file, I filed it so light can come in from above & the sides, because hunting light is always different according to where you’re standing, time of day! Really direct & bright light from above- mid day is my only worst enemy with this Mod, puts too much glare on the front sight! But 97% of time, ive found this sight arrangement as close to near perfect as it gets! Really low light after daybreak, I can still get enough light on my bead to sight well, regardless of the position of the sun angle! Most of the rest of the day, I see the bead perfectly! For shots at deer back into dark timber, I prefer this sight on my Carbine,  even better than my Receiver Sighted 24″ Barreled 94, and I do shoot better groups out past 100yds with my Carbine! I love Open Sights, but there is no perfect Iron Sights for all situations in the woods! Receiver Sights are sometimes better, but always according to the exact circumstances at the time of the shot! 

The best circumstances you can hope for hunting iron sights, is a heavy overcast but but bright & clear light! Everything looks near the same in every direction, and this sight in those circumstances, the deer is gonna die!

Ive got several extra hoods,  even have taken the hood from my 94, used it on a 700 Rem that had iron sights, I used to have. Have used the hood from my CZ452 on my Mod 94 even, but its a little to big. I find the hood, when sighting in woods, is really barely visible, almost a ghost ring, doesn’t interfere with the target area if dark there, unlike a receiver sight!

JWA said

Zebulon said
The pre-64 used a Winchester #3276/L hood. 
  

Hi Zeb,
Where did you get that info from?  My Winchester Component Parts catalogs state the 3276 is the style “A” hood for the pre-64 Model 94 and the 3277 hood is the “BL” (style B, Low) hood.  All the post WWII Component Parts catalogs could be wrong though, wouldn’t be the first time 😉
Just want to make sure my personal notes are correct.
Best Regards,
  

Hey, Jeff. I thought I got it from your chart!  Upon reflection, I may have added the “/L” on my own, because I know it was the issue hood for the Pre-64 Model 94 and it was lower than the 3278/M – which latter designation and “3279/H”, I’ve seen in print. Probably temporary derangement from the North Texas heat. 

I’m sure you are correct that 3276 is catalogued as Style A and the 3277 is Style BL, both being low[er] hoods but different from each other. My 64 Deer Rifle has a 3277 and it’s taller than a 3276.  So they are properly a 3277/BL and a 3276/A. (I don’t know why it isn’t “/AL” but that might be too rational.) 

I would bet a donut some office bureaucrat decreed this pair of letter styles instead of something like “3276/XL” and “3277/L” because he couldn’t think of anything lower than “low.” 

Bill 

P.S.  Two facts I really am increasingly sure of: 

1. Generalissimo Franco is still dead. 

2. Winchester sight hood #3279/H is a mythical, non-existent object. 

Athappyhiker said

TXGunNut said
From a practical standpoint that front sight won’t work with that hood, obviously. Do we know that front sight works with your rear sight and rifle? If it’s too tall that hood will work better with a shorter front sight. It looks a bit tall to me but my post-64 94’s have found homes elsewhere and I don’t know if the new owners ride mopeds.
 
Mike
  

Well, the rifle shot this group first time out two days ago at 50 yards using that front sight and the rear buckhorn adjusted two notches down. So I’d say it shoots well with that front sight. (top three shots were initial group, bottom seven shots were after I adjusted the rear sight to lower point of impact; front sight placed at bottom of black 8 ring)

  

Your rifle shoots well but your sight picture is incorrect.  The hood will obscure your target.  

That’s why so many hoods go missing. I know they are to keep the Sun from giving you a false bead but I think most of them are too small and cut out.too much light, for deer hunting.

I believe it was Jim Carmichael who wrote about seeing old time Tennessee sharpshooters at turkey shoots using big hoods made from tomato cans. That made sense to me. 

They are out of manufacture but the best hunting sight I’ve ever used is a Redfield Sourdough. My Model 71 wears one and so does its companion rimfire, a Marlin 39a Mountie. 

At the risk of being called a nitpicker, there were more than two sizes of original Winchester sight hoods. The curious will seek out JWA”s sight hood chart – I think it is on this forum as a sticky post. If not, harass Jeff until he puts it up. Like his other works, it is a necessity. 

HOWEVER, the two styles of hood being reproduced by the linked seller are by far the most popular and sought after. The higher one – a clone of the #3278/M– is the shortest one I’d consider for a Model 94 I intended to leave on while hunting, even though the shorter one replicating the 3276 is “correct.” 

For the obsessed, the #3277/BL is correct for the Model 64 and the #3279/H for the Model 52 Sporting. The former is difficult to find and the latter is impossible.

The 3277 can be profitably replaced with the 3278 because it lets more light around the bead of a gun the deluxe version of which is actually called the Deer Rifle. My Deer Rifle wears a 3277 but, were I going to take the rifle hunting, I’d leave the hood in the safe. 

The 3278 does not so usefully replace the unobtainable, very tall 3279, at least for those owners of a 52 Sporting Rifle who actually shoot them with iron sights. Particularly the rare C version with high Monte Carlo comb stock cut more for scopes than irons. The 3278 does not allow enough light around the bead. I know this because I own and shoot one. 

Having actually killed deer at last light with a Model 94 carbine with  Redfield 70-E receiver sight equipped with a very large aperture and a Redfield Sourdough front sight, I found it necessary to put the 3276 factory hood in my pocket. 

Hoods are desirable for target shooting in good light but poor for making meat, in my experience. Of course, I’ve never taken a pot at a game animal 200 or more yards away with iron sights, like the heroes of sporting literature often did. 

Unlike some, I came to iron sights late in life and killed my first deer looking through a Weaver K4. One might think “the old [guy] just can’t see in the dark well enough with lamps eight Decades along.”  Wrongo, young fighters. I didn’t start shooting irons seriously unti 2011, when Bausch & Lomb and an opthalmic surgeon gave me 20/20 night vision like an owl. 

Jeremy P said

Steven Gabrielli said
I am sure this was discussed somewhere on this forum, but I can’t remember where.But if you need a space filler, this is where I go.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/155857474754
  

Yes, these are also good. Same as what OARMORY (Ocala Armory in Florida) sells on eBay….most of these nicer, aftermarket, double bevel shaped ones are available in short and tall heights only (pretty much), based on the model you’re targeting.
One of the first few things I ever dug into or asked about on the forums was sight hoods, and man, did I quickly find myself in a rabbit hole! 🙂
  

I think gungoodies is their eBay name, these shipped from Ocala when I ordered one.