Pre 64 '94 What's the difference?

[bagdadjoe]

Is there a difference in a pre-64 model '94 and a post '64.  I thought the big design change was just in the model 70's.   Why does it matter in a '94....just wondering.
thanks!

[Dee]

Funny you should ask. I was at a farmer friends shop today, and he had about a 1972 Model 94 standing in the corner of his office. He was telling me it was old, and I pointed out the pot metal, stamped out shell elevator to him.
Now the question: What does it matter? QUALITY JOE! OBVIOUS QUALITY! There's not much comparison between the pre & post. The latter was just that bad for a long time.

[bagdadjoe]

Oh, so you're saying Winchester was another victim of "efficient manufacturing"??  I haven't had a hankering for a lever gun since I owned a .375 Big Bore a few years back, until lately. I reallly liked that gun, but still never compared it to anything earlier.
thanks for the explanation!

[Dee]

Their quality dropped dramatically in 1964, and they were never the same. After that year, anything you bought in Winchester was a crap shoot.

[Tonk]

Now when somebody else bought Winchester and realized what was just sitting behind closed doors, they started the lines back up making model 70 pre-64 rifles once again and that opened up a whole new world of great shooting, handling rifles with class and workmanship. I own several select grade model 70 and they are limps and bounds above any of the post 64 junk.

The new model 70 Winchesters are even better, with a better trigger as well. I am getting 2 new ones for Christmas and that is a secret don't cha know.

[Tonk]

I suppose you could say, that the difference would be going to the Senior Prom with the elected Queen or dating her widowed grandmother a month later!!!

Yes, the difference in operating the lever is like night and day.  

[wreckhog]

I have both (a couple from the 1940's, and one from 1967), and to me, with your eyes closed, there is no difference. The post 64 have a lifter that looks much cheaper, and some other cheaper parts that are less obvious. They also don't hold up to rebluing, which make Krylon a popular substitute in my parts. My thought is that there is a big difference to the trained eye, very little in function.

[mannyrock]

  Er, Tonk,   it's "leaps and bounds:.  :-)