Not sure of old 94 Win. date

[JerryB]

After reading the post last night on the dates for tang markings on old 94 Winchesters, I checked my "1941" and the serial number is lower than was posted. My 94 tang has Winchester Trademark Made in USA on it and the serial number is 12708xx, I thought that it was a 1941, the barrel is marked 30WCF. Sure would like to know what year it was made.

[alnitak]

According to here:

http://armscollectors.com/sn/windates.htm

your Winchester was made between 1943 and 1948, but no definitive information is available. Send me a picture of your tang marking and I will look it up in Madis.

[mod71alaska]

Jerry,

Do a search for Bert H here on the Forum. Or PM "Salvo" who is a Levergunner here. Bert is an authoritative Winchester collector and has updated and corrected the Winchester dates of manufacture based on the polishing room's records of the serial numbers. He also has coordinated his research with the Cody Museum. Your 94 is earlier than 1943. The dates given on http://armscollectors.com/sn/windates.htm for Model 94s from this period are wrong apparently.

Let us know what you find out.

Good luck!

[JerryB]

mod71alaska, sure do thank you for help. After reading the post last night I felt sure mine has to be older than what some sites say. I will check out your suggestions.

[salvo]

Hi JerryB, here is the link to Burt H's post, using the polishing room records.

http://forums.gunbroker.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=245213

He claims that 1,343,183 listed as the last Model 94 serial number recorded in 1942 and that Winchester averaged 35,000 model 94's a year for 7 years prior to that date. That would make yours a late 1939 or early 1940 DOM

Victor sold me a 94 with serial # 13386XX that we thought was a 43-48 gun. It was nice to find out it is a 1942 DOM.
I also found that my 1954 model was actually a 53.

[JerryB]

Thank you so much for the great info.