Date ofManufacture Model94 in 32 Winch

[JeffG]

The serial number is 1160106. Model 94  It has a funky chrome butplate on it, the original owner is passed.  Does the buttplate signify anything?

Thanks for your help in advance.

JeffG

[Sweetwater]

According to my copy of "The Legacy of The Lever Gun", your looking at 1940 with that serial number. Mine is a 1927 serial number and has a blued steel butt plate, with the bluing very worn. Not sure about your chrome butt plate. Maybe someone else has some insight on that. Enjoy it, either way!!

Regards,
Sweetwater

[JeffG]

Hey, thank you!  I think the buttplate  may have been the idea of a friend who was a metal plater at the time.... JeffG

[Sweetwater]

That sounds like a real possibility on the chrome job. The front sight on mine got broke when my ex wrapped it around the kitchen table. That taught me something about sights, and HER! If you have to replace the front sight, take it to where you are getting the new one to make sure it fits. All of them don't. I tried several sources, including Brownell's, before finding something that was even close, and it wasn't perfect, but it would shoot to poi, so I got satisfied. A friend of mine just picked up a new front sight for his 1975 model 94, and the dovetail base is too wide. I advised him to take the rifle, but he chose not to. Now, he has to wait for another trip to the city to return it and try another. Not fun.

Shoot it and enjoy it. I've taken antelope to elk with mine, but it is a better deer gun than either of the other two, at least for me. It was my Grandfather's and he never got to hunt the West, but his rifle did!!

Regards,
Sweetwater

[LONGTOM]

JeffG:
According to the WINCHESTER DATES OF MFG 1849-1984
your gun was made near the end of 1938.
The year started with serial # 1138782 and ended with serial # 1169370 with a total run that year of 30588 guns.


LONGTOM

[Sweetwater]

That's the same information given in "Legacy of the Lever Guns" - without the ending serial number and somehow I goofed the year. Sorry about that and thanks for correcting me. 1938 is the year.

Regards,
Sweetwater

[Chuck White]

Check the stickys at the top of this page!

There is a look-up chart to find the year of manufacture and there is a plug-in where you enter your serial no.
I checked and your sn comes up with 1941.

[LONGTOM]

Those links are interesting.
The only thing is that they seem to be saying that only around 1000 give or take a few were made from 1938 to 1940.
According to the CODY MUSEUM they state around 30,000 were made in 1938 alone.
I think I will trust the WINCHESTER OFFICAL HANDBOOK ON MFG DATES and the MUSEUM.


LONGTOM