Winchester 30-30

[Medic!]

Or go with my policy?
''Your not my friend. I'm your friend!

 

[Pandaz3]

I have two one a '52 with many character scars, no deer, but a few predators fell to this rifle. Dad liked his cows better than he liked Coyotes. The other is a '68, never been loaded or fired.

With apologies to the nomenclature police I would like to mention there are some notable differences in the two rifles. I am going to call a piece "The lift lever" even though it likely has a different official name. The lever I am talking about is the one that receives the round from the magazine and then lifts the round in place for the bolt to shove into the chamber. You can see the action take place as you actuate the external action lever with the rifle empty. The bolt starts to come rearward, cocking the hammer and if the rifle had been loaded it would extract the spent or whole round and at some point eject said round. I don't actually know how the ejection works without looking more closely at the bolt and the guns are put away at the moment. Anyway at near full open bolt the lift lever snaps the next round in place, the bolt starts the round into the chamber and the lift lever drops back into the 'rest' position, ready willing and able to take the next round in line.

The real point of all that is to say the lift levers on both rifles are very different. The old one appears to be a forged or machined part, the newer one stamped steel. I am sure this is part of the Pre '64 mantra some have and while I don't doubt that the newer lever is a lot cheaper, I don't think it is 'worse' because of it being a less costly part. The part seems to have all the strength it needs and is lighter.

I believe that were I to put both up for action the '52 would bring a good bit more then the '68, even though the '52 shows some serious use and the '68 is near pristine. I don't think my '68 is worth a lot more than a '68 with a couple hundred rounds fired, but unscratched....of course mine is a brand new 48 year old... I should just go shoot my '68, but I probably won't. I might take the '52 out for a spin sometime, but the '68 will stay in the closet. No real good reason, it just is.

 

[Larrytpdx]

Great gun! You're a lucky guy to have friends like that.

 

[RVTECH]

The best shooting is the 1968 Buffalo Bill Commemorative Rifle (26") 30-30 with my fancy tip up front sight and the Williams Target Peep on the back. Better then 1.5" at 100yard from a rest.

These must have been built by Management on a Wednesday because I have the same rifle, same sights and get the same results. Most of the 'Commemoratives' do not shoot this well - actually they SHOOT OK but its the cycling and action that fails miserably. It was thought The Commemoratives would never be fired so most (probably all of them) did not get finish fitting and testing. Many however are getting shot now and are needing some serious work to get them operating properly. My 1966 100 Year Commemorative is in the process of this now! 1966 on the left, a 'real' 117 year old Mod 94 on the right (no cycling or action issues - and I have no idea when it was last cleaned but it looked pretty good on the inside when I got it)

 

[Blastin]

I'm not big into nice, classic, heirloom etc... firearms, but that is the one rifle I have a soft spot for...
Nice!

And I'm sure when you said a friend gave it to you, you mean he took it and you to a dealer to do paperwork, right?

 

[tkdguy]

OK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3 inch groups at 100 yards with Remington 170 grain core-lok round nose soft point ammo. Winchester '94 30-30. Really.

 

[Pandaz3]

And I'm sure when you said a friend gave it to you, you mean he took it and you to a dealer to do paperwork, right?

The rest of us have tactfully avoided that question......

 

[Blastin]

The rest of us have tactfully avoided that question......

I was wondering why nobody said anything...
whoops

While I dislike 941, I do think we should follow it since it is a law. We are all law abiding citizens, right? We should be the most law abiding...
And for heavens sake, if you're not gonna follow it, don't say so on a public forum.
Like I said, I'm sure anyone on here would have done the correct transfer. I was kidding with the first post.

 

[Howard1955]

I was wondering why nobody said anything...
whoops

While I dislike 941, I do think we should follow it since it is a law. We are all law abiding citizens, right? We should be the most law abiding...
And for heavens sake, if you're not gonna follow it, don't say so on a public forum.
Like I said, I'm sure anyone on here would have done the correct transfer. I was kidding with the first post.

My, how the world has changed.

Regarding the friendly concern being expressed for legalities, allow me to direct your attention to the file marked "Nunyo".

 

[Blastin]

I don't think the nunyo idea works here.
Were someone to illegally trade/sell/transfer/whatever a firearm and not mention it to me or on a forum I'd see, then I could live with nunyo.
However, this is a public forum.
Were someone to speak of an illegal transfer here, not only would they risk legal action if the wrong person saw or if it was reported, but it reflects poorly on everyone else.
Everyone knows that if word gets out that a gun owner is illegally transferring a firearm, all the antigunners are gonna hop on that. "Gun owners don't follow the rules" is gonna be the new ammo used to pass even more restrictions and none of us want that, so, as a member of this forum and a gun owner, it would be my business if someone were to hop on here and say they were involved in an illegal firearms transfer.
I like my guns and the rights I do still have around them and wouldn't want anyone to jeopardize that.

 

[Howard1955]

I haven't told you if I'm in compliance with 941 or not. Nor shall I. It's none of your business.

 

[CHLChris]

Why would @Howard1955 not bringing up his 4473 form would mean that he, therefore, didn't follow the law? What, we're supposed to always explain ourselves in this new world?

Kind of like Jerry Seinfeld's trope, "Not that there's anything wrong with that" whenever they mentioned someone was gay.

We shouldn't have to feel required to show a copy of our background check to be assumed by this forum to be legal. Nunya is right!

 

[Don C]

That rifle is in beautiful condition! You've got a dang good frind I'd have to say!
I have a Model 94 stamped 30 WCF that's been passed down to me from my dad. I looked it up by its serial numbers quite awhile ago and it was built in 1947 if I remember correctly. I took it shooting just 2 days ago and it was more than accurate enough to make me happy. it's not in as nice of condition as yours but I love it!

 

[RatherDashing]

Lever guns are just sexy.

 

[mjbskwim]

With apologies to the nomenclature police I would like to mention there are some notable differences in the two rifles. I am going to call a piece "The lift lever" even though it likely has a different official name.

I believe that is called the 'elevator'

 

[BroncoFan]

I love my 94. Put on a set of tru glo sights...you won't believe the difference.

 

[WAYNO]

Many of us cut our teeth on Winchester or Marlin .30-30's. When I started deer hunting, I shot my deer the first bunch of years with a .30-30. Then of course, I progressed to bolt-action calibers. Eventually I went back to the .30-30. For a Western Oregon-type cartridge, it's a cartridge that just can't be beat. It's very easy and versatile to reload for, it's available everywhere, and I know everything is relative, but the recoil is somewhat more manageable than many other cartridges. The majority of the firearms designed around the .30-30 are short, easily manipulated, and are just plain easier to crawl around with in the brush.

Although I prefer such a gun to have iron sights, and even more preferably, a receiver sight, I have shot a few with scopes, and they are unbelievably accurate.

When I reloaded extensively for the .30-30, I discovered a little 130-grain flat-nose-soft-point, by Speer that was the cats meow. A few hundred more feet per second made for a dandy 150-yard cartridge, that dropped deer every bit as quickly as cartridges with substantially faster and heavier bullets.

I think because of my experimentation and success with the lever action .30-30, is why I'm such a fan of all lever action guns, now.

So for the folks that consider a .30-30 only a stepping stone, think again. If a feller never progressed past a .30-30 for its intended use, he would never be under gunned.

I've searched my whole life for the perfect "pickup gun". Although I've still not discovered just one "perfect" gun, I think I've narrowed it down to 5 choices. A trapper-length .30-30 is in that group of five choices.

WAYNO.

 

[Connor Murphy]

That rifle is in beautiful condition! You've got a dang good frind I'd have to say!
I have a Model 94 stamped 30 WCF that's been passed down to me from my dad. I looked it up by its serial numbers quite awhile ago and it was built in 1947 if I remember correctly. I took it shooting just 2 days ago and it was more than accurate enough to make me happy. it's not in as nice of condition as yours but I love it!

I have one of the same and you just can't beat 'em for woods carry and brush poppin. And the feel of history is the best.