Lever Guns

[Malamute]

And now that I look again....

The Winchester website says:

"TOP TANG is drilled and tapped for an optional receiver mounted peep sight for a more precise sight picture "

In my head, a "tang sight" and "receiver mounted sight" are two different things, but it sounds like Winchester might be using them interchangeably, to mean "tang sight"

Im not a fan of the tang sights, they have a conflict with where my thumb thinks its supposed to be when handling and shooting. They would be fine if your shooting habits dont include having your thumb on top of the stock I suppose. They are good sights in the strictly shooting sense.

I wouldnt let lack of holes hold me up in any way on a receiver sight, Ive done several, its not rocket surgery by any means. Receiver sights used to come with instructions for the home handy person to install them before it was factory standard. If doing a Miroku made gun, reverse the tap about every 1/4 turn to break the chip, otherwise the rather tough material they are made of can break the tap and its a bugger to get a broken tap out of a partially tapped hole.

[rd62]

Ayuh. Looks like the 1892 carbine in .357 has a street price just south of $1K, which is a little less than what I remember. I think it's an entirely reasonable amount of money to pay for that rifle, considering what you're getting.

I don't regret the Marlin, but it's entirely possible that at some point a 92 might sit in the safe next to it. I'll keep the Marlin all duded up with the red dot, XS sights, light mount and stock cuff for general purpose grab and go use, and maintain the 92 as my "nice gun" for leisurely strolls in the woods and Longmire Cosplay.*


* Yes. I know Longmire carried a Winchester 94.

Love some Longmire

[Borderland]

Ayuh. Looks like the 1892 carbine in .357 has a street price just south of $1K, which is a little less than what I remember. I think it's an entirely reasonable amount of money to pay for that rifle, considering what you're getting.

I don't regret the Marlin, but it's entirely possible that at some point a 92 might sit in the safe next to it. I'll keep the Marlin all duded up with the red dot, XS sights, light mount and stock cuff for general purpose grab and go use, and maintain the 92 as my "nice gun" for leisurely strolls in the woods and Longmire Cosplay.*


* Yes. I know Longmire carried a Winchester 94.

I watched the entire Longmire series. One of the few I've ever wanted to spend that much time with. Maybe the ADD.

The fact that it doesn't have a way to mount an aperture sight isn't a big deal. If I felt a need for one I can find a smiff that can install one. I think the challenge is being able to find a rifle. If I can't land one this year sometime I'll just buy an old 94 and do 30-30. Plenty of those already have the aperture sights installed. I had a 94 when I was in HS.

[Lost River]

For those more in tune with the 1894 market is $900 a fair price for a 1974 example in very good shape? Good bore, unbuggered screw heads, original sights, and very nice wood furniture albeit with a slight bit of play on the forend?

Edit: Should have specified Winchester 94 in 30-30, sorry for the confusion

A year ago it would have been hilariously overpriced, psychotically so, they must be on crack etc.... Today,....I dont really know, I havent been watching them closely, but a year ago that money would get you a pretty high condition post-war pre-64 94 carbine. Id say start saving a bunch on gunbroker, and watching to see whats actually getting bids, where they stall out, and search the completed auctions. ive never done that but keep hearing about it.

I think you can get a clean post 64 for less money though. Dont take my word for it, check it out, but Id be hesitant to spend that much on that period standard grade carbine.

@ Caballoflaco



Malamute as usual is pretty spot on.

A couple years ago, I would have thought the guy who put the price tag on the 94 30-30 was similar to one of those shops where they prices guns and place them online purely in hope of landing a whale, or a sucker.

Right now, especially in light of what is likely pending legislation, and regularly scheduled mass (yet totally random) mass shootings, that just happen to use the items that the party in power aims to ban, I believe that quality lever actions like that bear the well known brand names of Winchester and Marlin are going to do nothing but go up in price.

Marlins will eventually go back down from their current peak stupidity that they are currently riding on, due to this temporary closure, but as a general item, lever action rifles will become a very popular tool in the years to come under the regime, while the Wolverines tuck their toys away.

Personally I don't think $900 is a great price but it might be the going rate in your area. I might be inclined to offer $700 and see if they would meet in the middle.


That said, I would not take $900 for the 1981 Winchester 30-30 shown here. A few hundred more, then, yeah. The thing shoots a lot more accurately than I expected after decked it all out. The Lyman peeps make a world of difference and it is a heck of a nice gun.

[03RN]

"Run away to the Yukon and shoot Moose, Grizzly, Grouse, giant Beaver, etc to feed Henry and I, since we somehow fell through a time portal, back to 1901. The zoo called and pair of man eating lions escaped, and is shredding fair citizens by the scores, Help us Lost River you're our only hope! A Peterbuilt truck has come to life and needs put down, and other reasonable scenarios.


All of these seem like plausible reasons why I might need bullets heavier than a 170 grain in the 30-30, even though I am pretty sure a good 170 is big enough to kill anything I am likely to hunt at iron sight distances. Big bears do make me think a 190-200 is reasonable though, even if it is highly unlikely that I would use a 30-30 for such purposes.

On a side note, for whatever reason when I dream about Henry the Happy Hound and I running around in the Yukon, he is always wearing a satchel!

Im glad others think about this stuff

What kind of satchel?

[03RN]

There's not much I cant do what I need with this m92 in .357

[gringop]

I got my aperture rear sight installed on the Winchester 94 last week and so yesterday I reloaded some more 45 long colt ammo for it. While I was cranking out ammo I thought, "I need to look at that trigger and see what I can do for it, it must be at least 8-10lbs. A fine aperture sight equipped Winchester Trapper needs a better trigger"

(duh dun!) Que the Jaws music.

I finished reloading the ammo and got our my screwdrivers and my head lamp. On the Win 94, the trigger/hammer group is in one piece, the lower tang that comes out with just 2 screws, no need to disassemble the lever or bolt.

(duh dun!)

I've got it out and am inspecting it to determine what is required to clean up the sear and hammer notch. It's a pain because the trigger safety keeps the trigger from being pulled unless the lever is tight against the tang and it's hard to hold the hammer, press the safety and pull the trigger at the same time. I put it all down on the desk and contemplate things.

(dun dun, dun dun, da da duh dun!)

I pick it back up and do...something. Not sure what it was. Kersproing!!!! I feel something hit my shoulder and hear it hit the ground. My thumb has a small puncture and a drop of blood starts to slowly well up. I see the hammer spring guide rod on the floor at my feet. Not to worry, I've found smaller springs in my incredibly cluttered living room before.
*
*
*
*
2 hours later I'm on gunsprings.com ordering a 13 and a 15 lbs reduced power hammer spring. I'm sure that one day I will find the missing 19 lbs factory hammer spring but I believe the real key to getting a good trigger pull on the Win 94 is a good reduced power hammer spring.


Gringop

[Lester Polfus]

I got my aperture rear sight installed on the Winchester 94 last week and so yesterday I reloaded some more 45 long colt ammo for it. While I was cranking out ammo I thought, "I need to look at that trigger and see what I can do for it, it must be at least 8-10lbs. A fine aperture sight equipped Winchester Trapper needs a better trigger"

(duh dun!) Que the Jaws music.

I finished reloading the ammo and got our my screwdrivers and my head lamp. On the Win 94, the trigger/hammer group is in one piece, the lower tang that comes out with just 2 screws, no need to disassemble the lever or bolt.

(duh dun!)

I've got it out and am inspecting it to determine what is required to clean up the sear and hammer notch. It's a pain because the trigger safety keeps the trigger from being pulled unless the lever is tight against the tang and it's hard to hold the hammer, press the safety and pull the trigger at the same time. I put it all down on the desk and contemplate things.

(dun dun, dun dun, da da duh dun!)

I pick it back up and do...something. Not sure what it was. Kersproing!!!! I feel something hit my shoulder and hear it hit the ground. My thumb has a small puncture and a drop of blood starts to slowly well up. I see the hammer spring guide rod on the floor at my feet. Not to worry, I've found smaller springs in my incredibly cluttered living room before.
*
*
*
*
2 hours later I'm on gunsprings.com ordering a 13 and a 15 lbs reduced power hammer spring. I'm sure that one day I will find the missing 19 lbs factory hammer spring but I believe the real key to getting a good trigger pull on the Win 94 is a good reduced power hammer spring.


Gringop

This isn't quite apples to apples, but I did find that a different hammer spring helped my Marlin 1894c trigger go from "bad" to "acceptable." The new Wolff spring still cracks every primer I put under it.

I don't know the rate of the original spring, but I suspect somebody got confused and thought they had to launch the bullet out the barrel at 1700 fps via the strength of the firing pin striking the cartridge alone, without the benefit of smokeless powder.

[Lost River]

I got my aperture rear sight installed on the Winchester 94 last week and so yesterday I reloaded some more 45 long colt ammo for it. While I was cranking out ammo I thought, "I need to look at that trigger and see what I can do for it, it must be at least 8-10lbs. A fine aperture sight equipped Winchester Trapper needs a better trigger"

(duh dun!) Que the Jaws music.

I finished reloading the ammo and got our my screwdrivers and my head lamp. On the Win 94, the trigger/hammer group is in one piece, the lower tang that comes out with just 2 screws, no need to disassemble the lever or bolt.

(duh dun!)

I've got it out and am inspecting it to determine what is required to clean up the sear and hammer notch. It's a pain because the trigger safety keeps the trigger from being pulled unless the lever is tight against the tang and it's hard to hold the hammer, press the safety and pull the trigger at the same time. I put it all down on the desk and contemplate things.

(dun dun, dun dun, da da duh dun!)

I pick it back up and do...something. Not sure what it was. Kersproing!!!! I feel something hit my shoulder and hear it hit the ground. My thumb has a small puncture and a drop of blood starts to slowly well up. I see the hammer spring guide rod on the floor at my feet. Not to worry, I've found smaller springs in my incredibly cluttered living room before.
*
*
*
*
2 hours later I'm on gunsprings.com ordering a 13 and a 15 lbs reduced power hammer spring. I'm sure that one day I will find the missing 19 lbs factory hammer spring but I believe the real key to getting a good trigger pull on the Win 94 is a good reduced power hammer spring.


Gringop

Ahh yes! That is a familiar process from years past. I have learned a few tricks that help a bit to lessen the amount of small parts lost but not enough to completely prevent it from happening. It is simply one of the joys of ownership. However if you order extras, it almost completely guarantees you will never lose another again.

[Lost River]

Im glad others think about this stuff

What kind of satchel?

HA!

Such a great picture and a happy hound! Henry would be all up for that!

I have actually seen a couple on Amazon that are bright orange, so he may get one to go with his harness.






He will be easier to spot in the snow when he goes nuts chasing rabbits.