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June 21, 2017
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I recently acquired a model 94 Short Rifle, take down Model in 32-40 caliber.
it has a letter verifying characteristics and Year of mfg. Serial 341052.
my question is: Is there a way to determine how many like 94’s in this variant were produced.
rear sight is 5″ from receiver.
forearm is 9 3/8″
front sight is 1″ from crown
Barrel is 20″
Bud
Online
Hi Bud,
There’s an excellent article covering the 1894 short rifles in the Winter 2018 Winchester Collector magazine that I think would be of interest to you. I’ve attached a link.
https://winchestercollector.org/magazines/201801/46/
Don
June 21, 2017
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Thank you Don, that is a great article.
Bud,
According to Gary White’s article, the 32-40 is the scarcest caliber in the short rifles. I’m sure he would appreciate you providing the specific details of your rifle so he can add it to his 1894 short rifle survey. We all love to see photos too.
Don
How does one find the article? Link goes to a website? Or is it for paying WACA members only?
To view the magazines, you need to be a paid WACA member. Then once you log in you can view the magazine/article.
Don
How long is the barrel? I was surprised the museum letter didn’t specify the barrel length. I’ve seen M1894 short rifles with barrels from 14 inches on up. Is there one length that is considered, “standard” for a short rifle? By the way, very nice-looking and rare/desirable rifle 
June 21, 2017
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The Barrel is 20″
steve004 said
How long is the barrel? I was surprised the museum letter didn’t specify the barrel length. I’ve seen M1894 short rifles with barrels from 14 inches on up. Is there one length that is considered, “standard” for a short rifle? By the way, very nice-looking and rare/desirable rifle
Steve,
The common “short rifle” barrel length was 20-inches, though there were a lot of them made with a 22-inch barrel, and a fair number with a 24-inch barrel.
This is the what was recorded in the ARMAX survey;
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
Interesting letter and very cool little rifle. I’ve never seen a letter state “short rifle.” The letters I’ve seen for non-standard barrel lengths always specified the actual length of the barrel.
Don
With the 9 3/8″ Forearm I would guess the rifle is a standard rifle off of the rack cut down to fill an order. Look at the front sight dovetail cut and the rotary magazine tube holder cut and also the end of the magazine tube to see if they are in the white and beautifully hand dressed to remove burrs from the cuts. The muzzle may have a hand cut chamfer on the edge as well. It is my opinion that the long forearm short barreled rifles (that are factory original) were cut down from rifles in inventory when ever possible or expedient to fill an order.
Bert H. said
Steve,
The common “short rifle” barrel length was 20-inches, though there were a lot of them made with a 22-inch barrel, and a fair number with a 24-inch barrel.
This is the what was recorded in the ARMAX survey;
Bert
Bert –
Thank you very much. I really enjoyed viewing this table. The biggest surprise to me is that the 19 inch barrel length is not as rare as I had thought (with 44 in the survey). Another big surprise was the 16 inch barrel length is much more rare than I thought (only 2 in the survey).
January 26, 2011
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Sorry for the late reply, fellows.
Bud, that is a great little short rifle, and new to the survey. Thanks for posting. As Don mentioned, the 32-40 seems to be the most scarce caliber in the short rifles, at least by my research. Although the Armax survey (which is undoubtedly correct for the letterable period) shows more 20″ rifles produced, I’ve actually found quite a few more 22″ short rifles in the letterable range and the general survey pool clear out into the 1930’s. As for rarity, yours is the only 20″ TD in 32-40 I have in the survey of 443 short rifles. Very cool indeed.
I also concur that this is the first time I recall seeing the term “Short Rifle” on a letter. I agree with Bert that this likely referred to a 20″ barrel.
Here is a 32-40 TD I have, but with a 22″ barrel……….. wish it was 20″ like yours.
~Gary~
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