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March 2, 2017
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Greetings, folks. My name is Matt Martin from Maine. Long time collector, relatively new to Winchester.
My first topic involves a Model 1894 round barrel sporting rifle in 32-40, ca. 1908 receiver build (434K serial). Aside from some extra stock varnish, the metal and remainder of the gun appear as original finish. I became curious upon measuring the barrel, at 21-3/4″. Internet searches led me to the best information on barrel length variance, given by Bert H. on the Gunbroker Forum in the following thread:
http://forums.gunbroker.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=303289
I was hoping that I could link pics to support my theory that the barrel has simply been re-crowned, but I’ll have to do my best to explain instead. Distance from the center of the dovetail cut and crown is 7/8″, and should be 15/16″, hence my theory that a sixteenth inch has been removed in a re-crown.
Crown is flat and in the white. Dovetail cut is blued.
But if I add the suspected sixteenth inch re-crown to the current barrel length of 21-3/4″, I come up with 21-13/16″, which is still 3/16″ short of a full twenty-two inch barrel.
From the folks with more experience, could it be original, a cut-down or re-crown? Thanks in advance.
April 15, 2005
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Hello Matt,
What is the distance from the muzzle face to the pin in the magazine tube retaining ring? Is the magazine tube flush with or slightly longer than the barrel?
Bert H.
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
March 2, 2017
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Thanks Bert,
Forgot to mention that it is a 2/3 length tube.
Now that I have had my first post approved, perhaps I can link pics. I’ll try!
April 15, 2005
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Unfortunately, the barrel has been shortened after the fact. Originally it had a 26-inch barrel with a full length magazine tube. The Front sight is not positioned correctly, the barrel length is definitely not 22 /- 1/8″, and the magazine tube end cap is not correct for a short magazine.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
March 2, 2017
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Good to know, thank you.
Is the diameter also too great at the muzzle end for a normal 22″ barrel?
April 15, 2005
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It does appear to be a bit too fat at the muzzle.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
March 20, 2010
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Definitely the wrong magazine tube end cap for a shorter magazine. If there is a groove in the barrel adjacent to the end cap then the magazine tube length is right, the end cap is wrong. The end cap on the shorter magazine for a rifle should look like this below:
The sight looks like its offset to one side of the barrel, could be that way for any number of reasons. If possible, could you post some pics of the dovetail with the front sight removed? Also measure across the flat of the muzzle with a micrometer if you have one. If its been cut off by 4+ inches it will be super wide. The taper at the muzzle should fall close to the range of 0.685 to 0.702 inches based on a couple of 26″ round barrels I measured.
1892takedown @sbcglobal.net ......NRA Endowment Life Member.....WACA Member
"God is great.....beer is good.....and people are crazy"... Billy Currington
March 2, 2017
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More excellent information, thanks. It should be much easier for me to spot a cut-down in the future.
The sight is well centered to the top of the barrel, but clloser inspection of the front dovetail does reveal that it is not perfectly perpendicular – good eyes, folks! Barrel diameter at muzzle is .728″, nearly thirty thousandths large.
And thanks for the pic of the proper short tube endcap, with groove location in the barrel. Mine has only the screw, no groove in the barrel for a tabbed cap.
This one will likely be back on the market soon.
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