I gotta say, I love the old 94.  I have owned mine for 42 years....grandpa gave it to me when I was 8.  He bought it new right from the factory.   It is a great rifle.  I'm also really fond of the .30-30 cartridge.  It will handle most chores under 200yrds.   Combine that with the 94 and I think it makes a great package.  The first scout rifle!   Since i have 3 boys, 2 of which take hunter safety next month I think i need to pick up a couple more.  Kind of a family stadard for Michigan deer rifles.  

I do have a couple questions though.  What would you consider key spare parts for the 94?  What parts are interchangable between between pre 64(mine) and the post 64 rifles?  I am particularly concerned about the key spares, firing pins, extractors, springs etc.  I assume the angle eject will be different.  

Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks!

mine was "born" in 1953. never have needed spare parts.

I have a Winchester 1894 carbine from 1922.

I gave my son a 1941 dated 94' when he first started deer hunting in the mid 90s.

CD

for the price of buying them new ones, you can hunt gunbroker or your local shops and pick up 3 pre-safety 94s with a little character that the kids may one day appreciate more than a NIB 94 that is cheaply made comparitavely.  I just picked up a 1949 win 94 for $425 from my local shop.  It's not NIB, but has that character you want in an old gun.  A month before that I bought a 1969 win 94 for $150.  Had the 1969 barrel cut down to 16 1/4", left the 1949 alone.  There out there if that's the route you chose.

Granddad bought one after serving in the SeaBee's, Winchester doesn't have records for the first few years they restarted civilian production WWII. As the oldest grandson, I got that rifle when he died in 1987, just three months after we went elk hunting together for the last time. That .30-30 has probably dropped more deer and elk than I've seen, so I have little patience for people who suggest that .30-06 is the absolute minimum.




Even worse picture with my much newer 9422

gotta agree.......my 94 is my family and favorite rifle.....she was born January 1899, and is a 32winchester special....Bighorn sheep and Mountain Goat are the only game animals in North America that it may not have killed..... I have witnessed all the others, at the hand of my Granddad or Dad....or me.

Generally a Model 94 will last many lifetimes with "normal" use...but as a gunsmith I have seen a few come in with wornout hammers, they still work but the "safety notch" is worn to where it no longer will catch, and therefore is unsafe to use.  Usually the owner brings it in AFTER an accidental discharge! Other than that...very few repairs. Also the '94 with the right ammo is more accurate than most people realize. I worked at a deer hunting rifle "sight-in" clinic for a few years here, and got to try out a large number of Winchesters benched at 100 yards with both open sites and scopes, all printed a good 2" group...pre or post 64 no matter with boring regularity. Almost all the problems people had with them were with the shooter, not the rifle. Mostly in the area of knowing the sight picture. My favorite? A very old '94 trapper with a 16" in 30-30...no finish left on it, but it still shoots like a dream.

My old '94 in .30 WCF was born in 1911.  Not much finish left on it, but still functions and shoots perfectly.  This gun belonged to my uncle who was cowboy up in Colorado during the 20's & 30.  It was carried on horseback in a saddle scabbard for nearly 25 years.  

When I was about 12 y.o. when we were camping and fishing up near the Wyoming border a big brown bear came into camp looking for some dinner and wasn't going to leave without some trouble.  Without hesitation my uncle produced this rifle from behind the seat of his old pick-up truck and dropped that ol' bear with one shot to the head. That's the day I knew I wanted that rifle when my uncle was done with it.  It's one of my most prized possessions.