Badly Disrespected Winchester Model 94 30-30 (post-64)

[ZigZagZeke]

Recently I was given a 30-30 that I was told needed "a little TLC". When I removed it from the gun case, I was astounded to see how much it had been disrespected over the years (see attached pics).

View attachment 548515 View attachment 548516

This is a post-64 manufactured in 1972 (according to the S/N). There are a few mising pieces, obviously the fore and butt stock and the hammer spring and guide rod. I dismantled it completely (with progress pictures and laid out carefully) to determine what needed to be done. The bore seems to be fairly clean with no pitting, but a lot of old dust and grime (i've run a swap through it). Everything else seemed to be in dirty, but workable condition.

Here's what I found; trigger was broken and have replacement, spring cover (have replacement), rear sight (have replacement), replace all screws, replace front sight and hood, replace fore and butt stock, new hammer spring and guide rod, and re-blue EVERYTHING (rust-blue based on 1972 date-of-manufacture).

Question for you folks is do you think I have missed anything obvious? Any advice, other than drop it and run? I know It will be virtually impossible to restore it to original condition, due to being disrepected so badly, but I'd like to restore it at least to working condition. After all, it's a 30-30, right? Any self-respecting westerner, would not throw away a 30-30!

Any thoughts or advice appreciated. Thank you!

I would contact this guy for stocks:

Winchester Levergun Stocks

 

[robertvarner]

I'm not offended at all by any of the comments made by others responding to my thread for this Disrespected 30-30. In fact, that's what I enjoy about this web forum. There are adherants from all walks of life, with a variety of opinions, levels of experience, and ideas about what could (or should) be done.

I appreciate all of you who have posted opinions, ideas, and potential solutions for this rifle. As my Mom always said, "Keep up the good work".

 

[284guy]

See this target? This is what one of those
Of mine shoots...AND its a 1966 100 Year Commemorative AND with open irons.
View attachment 548812
View attachment 548815
And NOW it has a GLOBE SIGHT and may just get better!
View attachment 548817
AND take notice of the nice, sharp edges on the octagon barrel and the deep bluing - yea the 60's era Winchesters were pretty bad...

And look at that receiver, it had to be sanded out because of pitting, which will happen again, and cast parts. Like I said, it's lipstick on a pig. You'll spend more money than it's worth. That's not vision, thats bubba. Remember, someone out there thinks Rosie O'Donnel is beautiful, and doesn't understand why everyone else doesn't feel the same way.

Look at this a different way, the former owner gifted the gun because he valued it. How would he feel knowing he gave it to someone, then they turned around and went bubba on it? Shows zero respect for the gift.

Look at the classified ads right now. They are full of customized guns that nobody wants. Some are total abortions, others interesting, but none of them selling. Reason is when you bubba a gun, you kill the value, and narrow the market of who would want it. As an old gun dealer told me, everyone wants a Ferrari, only 5 people in the world want a pink Ferrari. In short, you and 4 other people like that pink Ferrari, the rest of the world cringes.

In the end, it's his gun, but since the thread is about a disrespected gun, why keep disrespecting it, by making a monstrousity out of it?

 

[orygun]

And look at that receiver, it had to be sanded out because of pitting, which will happen again, and cast parts. Like I said, it's lipstick on a pig. You'll spend more money than it's worth. That's not vision, thats bubba. Remember, someone out there thinks Rosie O'Donnel is beautiful, and doesn't understand why everyone else doesn't feel the same way.

Look at this a different way, the former owner gifted the gun because he valued it. How would he feel knowing he gave it to someone, then they turned around and went bubba on it? Shows zero respect for the gift.

Look at the classified ads right now. They are full of customized guns that nobody wants. Some are total abortions, others interesting, but none of them selling. Reason is when you bubba a gun, you kill the value, and narrow the market of who would want it. As an old gun dealer told me, everyone wants a Ferrari, only 5 people in the world want a pink Ferrari. In short, you and 4 other people like that pink Ferrari, the rest of the world cringes.

In the end, it's his gun, but since the thread is about a disrespected gun, why keep disrespecting it, by making a monstrousity out of it?

While this would be an opportunity to build one's own "Special", I'd not do that. But I'd not sell it off for parts, either. If it was mine I would clean it up, put it together and shoot it! I understand the sentimental value side. You'll never put a value on that. It was most likely given to the OP because, sad as it was, it wasn't time to kill it.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Will this rifle be expensive to fix up / re-build...?
Possibly.
Will you sink more money more than what this rifle is worth according to book or other sale value...?
More than likely.
Is it worth all the low offers you will get if you part it out and sell it as is...?
Not to me....but maybe to you or someone else.

If it was mine..I'd fix it up , rather than have it rust away.
Just knowing that what I money I will put into it , may not come back to me , if I re-sell it.

But restoring a rifle and giving it a new lease on life is something that I enjoy doing...even if the rifle is not counted among the classics or deemed desirable by others.
Andy

 

[MountainBear]

Since it seems this gun has more value to you than as simply a gun, then I'd say get to finding the missing pieces. Numrich, eBay, gunbroker, etc. will all be your friend. Put the thing together and see if you can get it to a functional gun. If that's possible and you desire it as more than a wall hanger, then start looking at your options for dolling it up. But usually for me is a functional gun.

Look, I've never met a gun I thought was beyond saving. I have some overwhelming bubbas in my parts cabinets, waiting for their turn to transform from a sow's ear to a silk purse. It's not cheap. If I was doing it to flip them I'd loose money (and sometimes I do). But sometimes the journey is more important than the destination for me.

My late grandfather did the same thing with trucks. He was a high powered lawyer his entire professional life. He was stressed, strained, and generally miserable I think but supported his family. When he retired, he went around and found old Ford trucks from the late 70's and 80's. He bought them cheap, fixed them up, dumped too much money into them, then flipped them at break even or even a small loss. He just loved doing it. My only regret is he died when I was too young to appreciate his skill set. I was never able to spend much time working with him.

Sorry for the tangent. I am notorious for hoarding orphan projects, but if that gun were in my care, this is what I would do:

Source parts and make gun functional.
Test fire to decide if worth proceeding.
Slowly start improving the aesthetics to taste.
For me that would be shorten the barrel, lose the bands, fit a nose cap foreend, find sights I like, rust blue the action, barrel, and mag tube. Have the remainder of the parts hot salt dip blued. Fire blue, oil blue, or nitre blue the screws. Refinish the stock. Take pictures of the pretty gun, admire the difference from start to finish and proceed to blow ammo through it.

If the above was done, you would no doubt be in this gun for more than it's worth. I can do all of the above (except hot blue, as my tanks aren't set up), and it would still cost me more than the gun would be worth. But again, sometimes it's the journey.

 

[orygun]

The Journey.

Well said.

 

[robertvarner]

And "have patience, grasshopper" :-D

 

[RVTECH]

But restoring a rifle and giving it a new lease on life is something that I enjoy doing...even if the rifle is not counted among the classics or deemed desirable by others.

Yep -kind of like when I restored the rust covered TC Renegade I was given a couple years ago. It came out very well and is an excellent shooter!

 

[robertvarner]

Yep -kind of like when I restored the rust covered TC Renegade I was given a couple years ago. It came out very well and is an excellent shooter!
View attachment 548958

Beautiful work! Now that's what I'm talking about! I only hope my result is (at first, functional) an eye-catcher like that. If it does not look like it could, then I'll give it as much love as I can and still be proud of the effort.

 

[robertvarner]

I'm finding nearly all the parts I need to replace at
http://homesteadparts.com and they seem to be in stock. As a retired Engineer I appreciate how neatly they have organized their web site too.

 

[RVTECH]

If it does not look like it could, then I'll give it as much love as I can and still be proud of the effort.

Hey take your time and go slow and I am sure it will come out well.
It doesn't need to be perfect but how much time you want to spend on it will dictate that.
I have five lever guns - three Winchesters, a Marlin and a Henry so I completely understand you wanting to bring it back to 'life'!

 

[DLS]

... they suggested using Pilkington Rust Blue for this barrel ...

Midway USA has a demo video showing how to use this. It's not hard at all, just time consuming especially if you want a really deep color. It's beautiful though, I've seen this used on knife blades and it's really pretty.

How To Slow Rust Blue A Gun Barrel
MidwayUSA — Shooting Supplies, Reloading, Gunsmithing, Hunting, Ammunition, Gun Parts & Rifle Scopes

This link dose not go directly to the video. So …

Click the link
On Right hand menu click Gun Projects
Click Mauser
It's on the 4th set of pages … so click the number 4 under the title

I hope this helps.

 

[robertvarner]

Midway USA has a demo video showing how to use this. It's not hard at all, just time consuming especially if you want a really deep color. It's beautiful though, I've seen this used on knife blades and it's really pretty.

How To Slow Rust Blue A Gun Barrel
MidwayUSA — Shooting Supplies, Reloading, Gunsmithing, Hunting, Ammunition, Gun Parts & Rifle Scopes

Watched that videoa acouple days ago. It does take a while.

 

[DLS]

It sounds like a fun project to me. I'd do it and not be too worried about getting the all the pits out of the receiver. I'd just touch it up some and then polish the heck out of it … the remaining pits would give it character. The same with the barrel, a decent polish but nothing crazy, then rust blue to a deep rich color. Make it look like a muesuem piece.

Of course that all would be after installing the missing parts and function firing. If you cant get it to shoot then I'd probably just make it a parts gun or a wall hanger.

But that's just me …

Regardless, I hope you have much joy with this piece, no matter what direction you take.

 

[MountainBear]

Remember, someone out there thinks Rosie O'Donnel is beautiful, and doesn't understand why everyone else doesn't feel the same way.

Enough plastic surgery and remove her vocal chords and she could be. As long as they don't have to pay for the work, it's a project someone might take on...

 

[Core]

I have been reading that you can't Cold Blue a post-64 Winchester since they likely used a different type of metal that would just turn the finish delighful purple. In talking to Brownell's this morning, they suggested using Pilkington Rust Blue for this barrel. That seems to be a drawn out process (not that I'm afraid of a little elbow grease), but in reality leaves one of the best bluing finishes you can get. Maybe I'm misunderstanding how easy it might be, but my "should be easy" estimates are normally off-kilter.

Don't cold blue it. Inspect the parts: order replacements. Rust blue it. Make yourself a steam tube from a chepa stainless kettle, toilet adapter, and 4inch PVC, use the thick stuff. Order a good rust blue solution prep the hang parts, prep the metal, and coat rust and steam. 8 cycles produces a robust dark blue. Use a stainless spaghetti strainer to steam the small parts. Metal prep is key: don;t waste time on heavily pitted parts: replace, and check chamber and bore gauge it if you have to. If the rifling is gone assess cost to replace. Turn barrel and sand flats with no more than 230 grit non-aluminum sand cloth. Degrease in boiling water with heavy duty degreaser, do a acetone bath as a second phase, hang and use sterile gloves. You can rust in a bathroom after taking a shower the humidity helps it rust. 8 cycles typically does it but solution, humidity, and your carding process varies. I used fine steel wool de-greased in acetone soaked in a clean cup of acetone to card off parts: so you don't need a carding wheel. Good luck!