Winchester Model 94

[Tatanka45]

Obtained this octagon barrel 94 years ago.  Have unsuccessfully tried to get the lead deposits (?) out of the barrel.  I've filled it with Hopps solvent and let it sit and soak for a week, again 5 days, between wire brush scrubbing.  It still looks like black pepper - like we use in cooking - sprinkled all through the barrel.  riveling looks good.  Can't "see" rust.  The "black pepper" small round-looking bits, seem to be stuck to the barrel.   If possible, what is recommended NEXT as my step to clean that out so it looks smooth.  I doubt, with this age, and not knowing the history (I bought it from a pawn shop), the inside would ever look sparkling clean;  but it ought to look and be smooth.  But how?

Any ideas?  Any similar experience?

[AtlLaw]

Obtained this octagon barrel 94 years ago.

WOW!     And I thought I was old!   

The "black pepper" small round-looking bits, seem to be stuck to the barrel.

Are you sure these bits are sticking up out of the lands or groves and not down in them?  I've just never heard of pollops in a barrel...    you've got me curious.

[jimster]

If it is lead,  JB bore compound will get it out...if it's not lead,  it will still be there.  I'm wondering if what you see is lead?

[Keith L]

Obtained this octagon barrel 94 years ago.

WOW!     And I thought I was old!   

I am impressed that he learned to use the computer at that age.  And to be 94 + how ever old he was when he got the gun to be all that concerned about the barrel is another great sign.  I hope to be as active when I am his age (which some days doesn't seem to far off).

[LONGTOM]

I will summit that what you are seeing is not lead build up but  corrosion from shooting BP loads.
Many of the old guns will have it in the barrel.
It will show up as black spots.
Really isn't much you can do about it with out spending big bucks.
You will be supprised how well it will shoot lead bullets even with the said damage.
I wouldn't worry about it myself, unless you are trying to restore it.
Take it out and enjoy it and keep it clean and oiled and it will still be going another 94 years from now!


LONGTOM

[T.R.]

I suggest trade it off for a modern Legacy model with cut checkering, angle-eject, and select walnut.  That's what I did with the worn carbine I rec'd from Grandad's estate.

The modern Legacy 94 is far superior to the old timer I traded in. 

TR

[blackhawk45]

The  (pepper) you see isn't lead, It's pitting,caused by shooting corrosive ammo,such as blackpowder cartridges.

( I have a 94 AE in 44Mag I'll swap you even up)  HEH HEH

[Keith L]

I suggest trade it off for a modern Legacy model with cut checkering, angle-eject, and select walnut.  That's what I did with the worn carbine I rec'd from Grandad's estate.

The modern Legacy 94 is far superior to the old timer I traded in. 

TR

The modern 94 I came up with a few years ago in a series of trades was hammered crap.  I knew that it had no place with me.  Lucky thing is that I got it a couple weeks before they announced the plant closing, and I traded it even up for a new Glock 19.  Had it been a "worn carbine" it would still be in my safe.

[Rangr44]

Tatanka45 - The very cleanest bore, I've ever seen, was done electronically via the use of an Outers Foul Out cleaning device.

The chamber is plugged, and the bore filled with their solvent before their electrode is sent downbore from the muzzle and left plugged-in at least overnight.

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=243419

If one or two of those applications cannot clear your barrel, then it's most likely damaged.

.

[blackhawk45]

left plugged-in at least overnight.

That answer is wrong, It should only take an hour or two at most.There are small Red,Amber,and Green lights ,on the electrical connection that tell you if there is an overload (red), cleaning (amber), and done (green) I think ,if you were to let it work overnight,it would probably start to remove metal from the bore !
and we all know,That Aint Good.

[Dee]

I will summit that what you are seeing is not lead build up but  corrosion from shooting BP loads.
Many of the old guns will have it in the barrel.
It will show up as black spots.
Really isn't much you can do about it with out spending big bucks.
You will be supprised how well it will shoot lead bullets even with the said damage.
I wouldn't worry about it myself, unless you are trying to restore it.
Take it out and enjoy it and keep it clean and oiled and it will still be going another 94 years from now!


LONGTOM

I will agree wholeheartedly with LONGTOM here, and DISAGREE wholeheartedly with T.R. I would keep the old timer 1000% over anything Winchester built in the last 30 years. I wouldn't even consider tradin off a family heirloom whether it shot or not. I'll wager the recipient of T.R.'s grandpa's rifle is still grinnin. He got a hellofadeal.

[Keith L]

I wish I knew TR when I had that crappy 94AE.  I would have swapped him for his old one in a heartbeat.

[Dee]

You got it. I have one (Model 94 3030 Winchester) that is 51 years old, and Dad bought it new. I would just about sell my house before I would sell it.
My Grandfather, when he was a boy found a octagon lever action 22, along with a lantern, and cast iron skillet, in a clay cave on the Verdigris River in Rogers County Oklahoma when he was a kid in the early 1900s. It was in the early 20s and someone was probably ridding the owl hoot trail and using the place for a hide out, as Oklahoma in that part was pretty rowdy back then. He hunted with that rifle and a single shot shotgun until he gave me the rifle just before he died in 1962. Someone stole the rifle a couple years later, and I would give my left _ to get it back.
Just like my 51 year old Winchester, those old guns have character, and have proven they will last more than one generation REGARDLESS of the outside finish "WEARING" off.
Man I would have liked to have had his grandpa's rifle. My Dad fired my 3030 7 times, and then gave it to me. It was like new then, but I look now at the worn bluing, and fading finish, and every scratch has a memory, and the bluing disappears with the wear from my own hands.

[Rangr44]

[That answer is wrong, It should only take an hour or two at most.] -

Not for horrendously-fouled bores, Sir.
I have had several that took much longer than two hours.
How much longer, I neither know nor care - since I didn't stay awake to babysit.
When I awoke, the green light was lit, and that was good enough for me.



[I think,if you were to let it work overnight,it would probably start to remove metal from the bore !]
 -

I would submit that knowing is a tad better than "thinking".
The Outers Fouls Out removes either copper or lead through electrolysis, but not steel

.

[SHOOTALL]

Get yourself some baking soda mix with some thin gun oil mabe KROIL . Wrap a patch around a brass or nylon brush , put some oil on the patch and run it in and out a few times to get it to form to the bbl. Next add the baking soda oil mix to the patch and carefully work on the bbl. Change out the patch as it wears out . stop when the patch comes out as clean as it goes in .
KROIL will loosen most deposits and the baking soda will scrub without damage as it desolves as you use it . We did this to a friends Marlin and it worked well , the BBl still had some dark spots but it shot good after cleaning . His was so bad we put the KROIL on the patch and sprinkled baking soda on it to use at first .
Some gun oils will lift deposits out of the metal if the metal is coated after cleaning . You finish up with a clean bbl put on a coat of oil come back a week or so later and it looks like a sewer in the bbl .
Just some ideas , if it shoots good keep it . I have never ever seen a post 64 Winchester as smooth cycling as a pre 64 . I have owned several post guns some were good , most were not but none came close to the pre 64 IMHO !
And worst case have the bbl reamed and rifled for 32 cal.

[Ironwood]

I think Blackhawk45 probably has it right.  Pitting from corrosive primers.  I have owned two Model 1894 Winchester Rifles with Octogon barrels.  Said something like Chrome Steel made for smokeless powder on the barrel.  One was under 100,000 serial number.  Both were pitted from the corrosive primers in use back in those days.  Not deep pits just sort of fuzzy looking all the way down the barrel.

Many of the older surplus military rifles will have the same thing in the barrel.
 

[SHOOTALL]

most likely it was nickle steel

[Ladobe]

The modern Legacy 94 is far superior to the old timer I traded in.

Opinions most certainly do vary on this one.    I still have my first Thirty Gun (c. 1942/43) that my grandpa gave me in the mid 50's ('54 or '55).   I killed my first mule deer with it before a lot more mule deer, a few elk, a few bear, cougar plus who knows how many other predators.  It even filled the cook pot with small game/game birds in a pinch and I used it to put down livestock on the ranch when needed.   It would still kill game today just as well as it ever did.   So tell me, how would a Legacy be superior to a rifle I've owned and shot for going on 55 years?    I've had 3 Model 94's... newest was about circa late 50's. 

I would keep the old timer 1000% over anything Winchester built in the last 30 years. I wouldn't even consider tradin off a family heirloom whether it shot or not. I'll wager the recipient of T.R.'s grandpa's rifle is still grinnin.

Have to mostly agree with this except to make it the last 45 years (with a couple of exceptions).   Family heirlooms were important to me, but unfortunately I'm the last hunter/shooter from my entire family.   So none of my firearms will be family heirlooms anymore when they go to live with someone else.