Make: Winchester Repeating Arms
Model: 1894 Rifle
Serial Number: 64129
Year of Manufacture: 1899 / C&R
Caliber: .30-30 Winchester Center Fire
Action Type: This rifle has a lever action with a full-length tubular magazine.
Barrel Length: 26", Octagon
Sights / Optics: The front sight is a blade dovetailed and screw set to the barrel. The rear sight is a 3-leaf express sight, dovetailed to the barrel. The tang is drilled, tapped, and filled for a tang sight, none present.
Stock Configuration & Condition: The stocks are 2-piece smooth walnut with capped forend, straight grip, straight comb, and steel crescent buttplate. The stocks display light handling wear with a few scratches, compressions, and nicks scattered about. There is a crack on the left side of the wrist at the bottom corner of the receiver. The LOP measures 13" from the front of the trigger to the back of the buttplate. The case color in the plate has turned to a nickel color with scattered oxidation. Overall, the stocks are in about Very Good condition as antique.
Type of Finish: Blue, Case Color hammer, lever, and buttplate.
Finish Originality: Original
Bore Condition: The bore is dull and the rifling is defined where not interrupted by erosion. There is erosion down the length of the bore. In this writer's opinion the bore rates 6/10.
Overall Condition: This rifle retains about 65% of its metal finish. There is thinning on the leading edges and at the muzzle. There are scratches and handling marks. There is light intermittent oxidation. The action shows operational wear. The case color has muted with some faint figuring visible in the protected areas. The markings are clear. The screw heads range from sharp to tool marked with serviceable slots. Overall, this rifle is in about Very Good condition as antique.
Mechanics: The action functions correctly. The hammer has a half-cock safety. The lever safety is functional. The trigger is crisp. We did not fire this rifle. As with all used firearms, a thorough cleaning may be necessary to meet your maintenance standards.
Box, Paperwork & Accessories: None.
Our Assessment: John M. Browning’s Winchester Model 1894 was engineered for the transition to smokeless-powder sporting cartridges and became one of the defining American lever-action rifles. Winchester introduced the .30 W.C.F.—later commonly known as the .30-30 Winchester—in 1895, creating a combination that became closely associated with North American deer hunting. This early-production sporting rifle has the classic 26" octagonal barrel, full-length magazine, straight-grip walnut stocks, crescent buttplate, and three-leaf express rear sight configuration prized by collectors of turn-of-the-century Winchesters.
This rifle retains about 65% of its original finish, displaying honest thinning, operational wear, handling marks, and intermittent oxidation appropriate to an extensively used early Winchester. The walnut stocks remain in Very Good antique condition overall, though there is a crack at the left side of the wrist. The dull bore retains defined rifling with erosion throughout and rates 6/10, while the action functions correctly with a crisp trigger and operational half-cock and lever safeties. Its early .30 W.C.F. chambering, octagonal-barreled sporting-rifle configuration, substantial original finish, and naturally aged character give it meaningful appeal as a representative early Model 1894.
