I have a standard grade relatively new M94 30-30. I was shocked to see a horribly stocked one in wallyworld the other day. The cheap ranger models Wallyworld gets must be stocked in the same lumber packing crates are made of, it was ugly wood. I got my plane jane M94 from a K-mart about 8 years ago. Up until recently the M94 had no real safety button. you had to squeeze the grip to disengage one safety, and it had a half cock notch. Some time a while ago they added a cross block safety to the M94. It works well, but looks sort of ugly. This is the model I have. Now the M94 comes with a tang mounted safety like a double shotgun almost. It still has the grip safety, but now the hammer is sort of rebounding, so you don't need to pull it back to half cock.
M94's do need a tall scope mount, but the new ones can have a scope mounted over the bore because they have "angle eject", which is to say, they pitch the empties at about 45 degrees from vertical to the right. The old ones throw empties straight up so if you have a scope, you need to mount it to the side or in front of the action.
The M94 is a little tricky to take 100% apart to clean, but you don't really need to. I clean mine from the muzzle with a brass muzzle protector. I lay the gun flat with the ejector port down so all of the crud doesn't fall into the mechanism. I then clean out the mechanisim with the lever open. It works pretty well. My M94, with just factory iron sights, can throw MOA groups from a stable bench rest. My 150 grain homeloads used to be able to do a half inch at 50 yards. While sighting back in for 170s at 100 yards I shot a 1 inch 3 shot group. Of course the rifle is sand bagged in front with my left fist under the buttstock, and I am trying my hardest to squeeze off accurate shots, but yeah, it is technically a MOA accurate rifle I guess. Some are bound to be better and some worse though.
I always used 150 grain bullets, except for a breif stint with 110 grain hollowpoint homeloads. Now I am going to give 170s a try. The original bullet for the 30-30 was 165 grains, and 170 is closer than 150, and I am a very traditionalist hunter. Besides, the 170s shoot very tight groups for me.
If you go into a sporting goods store you might see some really old m94's and they will be very pricey. A good used one from the cross block safety days might not be quite as attractive, but it might be cheaper.
