Antiques Roadshow: Appraisal On Winchester 94

Here's something interesting.

A man brought in a custom Winchester 1894 made in 1896 to the Antiques Roadshow on PBS for appraisal. 

It has a plaque indicating Buffalo Bill's Wild West show on the stock. It may (or may not) be authentic. 

Here's the video on the rifle:

 

A Rifle For The Ages -- The Winchester Model 1894

Above, purchasing the Winchester 1894 rifle at Ron Peterson Firearms. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

When I was in Albuquerque killing time before my flight to Fort Lauderdale, Florida to catch the cruise ship to Key West and Havana, Cuba, I decided to go to Ron Peterson Firearms to browse around. Friends here had told me previously that Ron Peterson Firearms has a good reputation for thoroughly checking used firearms before putting them up for sale. That's why I decided to go there. Antiques Roadshow has featured Ron Peterson as a firearms expert on the show.

While there, I spotted a Winchester 1894 .30-30 lever-action rifle on a rack. I looked at the tag and it said it was a pre-1964 rifle. I confirmed this by looking up the gun's serial number online with my phone. It was manufactured in 1962.

I had been on the lookout for a pre-64 Model 1894 for a while and the price ($495.00) was reasonable. So I decided to buy it. Since I had a flight and ocean cruise immediately coming up, I put the rifle on layaway. After the cruise and getting back to Albuquerque, I went back and picked up the gun.

This morning, I was perusing around about Winchester 1894 rifles and spotted a good article on them from 2018. It was posted by The Register-Herald out of West Virginia and written by Larry Case. He provides a history of the rifle, including why pre-1964 Model 1894s are so coveted.

He begins it with:

Were it not for the Winchester Model 1894 rifle, and more specifically those chambered in .30/30 Winchester caliber, deer hunting in America might not be the same today. That’s a pretty bold statement and one that many will scoff at, but we have to start somewhere.

No other rifle in history would become as iconic, at least for deer hunting, as the old Winchester 94. Indeed, for several decades if someone referred to a “deer rifle,” to most hunters this meant the tried and true lever action Model 94. If you have a dad, great grandad, or even a great-great grandad who deer hunted, it’s very possible that you have a Winchester Model 94 in a gun safe or closet somewhere. Over seven million Model 94s were produced and sold.

The Model 94 was conceived in the drawings of the firearms genius we talk about here fairly often, John Moses Browning. Seemingly every well-known firearm from the past century came from the work of Mr. Browning. Browning may be best known for inventing automatic and semi-automatic firearms (the Colt 1911 pistol and the Browning Auto 5 shotgun, to name only two), but the Model 94 has been called the ultimate lever action design by more than one firearms historian.

To read the full article, go here. 

Antiques Roadshow Coming To New Mexico In June

One of the few shows on television I'll bother watching these days is Antiques Roadshow on PBS on Monday nights.

Which brings me to an article that caught my attention this morning.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reported:

The PBS show Antiques Roadshow announced this week it will be visiting Museum Hill in Santa Fe on June 14, offering expert appraisals of antiques.

That show will produce three episodes from the all-day event, which will air in 2023.

Admission to the Antiques Roadshow event is free, but those hoping to attend must apply for a ticket by March 21 at pbs.org/roadshowtickets. Ticket applicants later will be selected in a random drawing.

 To read more, go here.

Who Let The Dogs Out?

Above, one of the escapees. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Last night, I was all set to spend the evening watching two hours of Antiques Roadshow when a pack of four dogs were running around our street.

I didn't recognize them but they were hanging around my neighbor's horse pen. Concerned that they may attack the horses, I fired of some firecrackers that sent them running to another neighbor's horse pen. I notified my neighbor, who was coming home from work in Arizona. He wondered if they were his dogs, I said I didn't think so as I heard barking coming from his yard. But, I decided to check. Sure enough those were his dogs running loose.

So, I spent the evening getting them back to his yard. I thought an unsecured gate was were they got out, but it turned out that a wooden fence around his house was broken through. They were running around the community near Nandoh's and the shooting range. There's a saying about "herding cats", but herding dogs isn't any easier either. Luckily, the area were in had new perimeter fencing installed, so there was little chance they would be able to get onto the highway from there.

I followed two of them from the road to the shooting area and up Whispering Cedars Road to West Blue Cedar Road and home in the car. 

Above, you can barely see them, but I am following a St. Bernard and a
German Shepherd up Whispering Cedars Road. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

After getting the dogs back in the yard, I waited for my neighbor to get home. After he got home, he found the spot where they got out.

Well, at least the dogs are securely at home now. At least last night wasn't too cold out during all this.

I did manage to catch one hour of Antiques Roadshow.

A Stop At Ron Peterson Firearms

Above, Ron Peterson's Firearms in Albuquerque. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

When I headed to Albuquerque this weekend, there was one thing I wanted to do and that was accomplished today.

I went to Ron Peterson Firearms in Albuquerque to look around. I was in the market for a Winchester Model 94 lever-action rifle that is pre-1964. Model 94s made after 1964 are not as well made.

According to Chuck Hawks:

Surely among the most beloved firearms of all time are the Winchester pre 1964 Model 94 carbines. These graceful little rifles are a study in functional walnut and steel. With nearly perfect lines and balance, they became the best selling sporting rifles of all time. 

Unfortunately, by the early 1960s the production costs of the traditional Model 94 with all of its forged steel parts had risen dramatically. Winchester executives realized that soon the Model 94 would have to be priced beyond the reach of the average hunter. This is exactly the fate that befell the classic Mannlicher-Schoenauer carbine, and eventually spelled its doom. 

To save the Model 94 and restore a reasonable profit margin, Winchester redesigned the action for cheaper manufacture, substituting stamped sheet metal and roll pins for parts previously machined from forged steel. The steel buttplate became plastic and a less durable metal finish was substituted for the traditional bluing. The new guns still worked and shot just fine despite their aesthetic flaws, but the credibility of the Model 94 took a serious hit, and examples manufactured prior to the 1964 changes became instant classics. 

Most of the shortcomings of the post 1963 Model 94s were eventually corrected, but the pre '64 versions remain the most desirable of all Winchester Model 94s. 

Above, my Winchester 94 during the paperwork process. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

I found one on sale that was manufactured in 1962 (verified by its serial number). It looked to be in great shape. Peterson's Firearms in Albuquerque was recommended by a couple of Jamestown friends as they thoroughly check and test all used firearms before they are put on sale.

Above, the sign to Ron Peterson Firearms. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Unlike Commiefornia, my background check was instant and I was able to take my "new to me" toy with me.

If you've watched PBS's Antiques Roadshow, you've probably seen Ron Peterson giving gun appraisals on the show.