Forum rules
Welcome to the Leverguns.Com General Discussions Forum. This is a high-class place so act respectable. We discuss most anything here other than politics... politely.
Please post political post in the new Politics forum.
This is for information purposes only, but in my brief time studying early model Winchester barrels it has come to my attention that some BP caliber guns have nickel steel barrels, despite the marking not appearing on the side of the barrel, below the rear sight. Most later 1886, and some 1894 Models have NS barrels, but they are marked only M.N.S.(Midvale Nickel Steel), on the flat at the bottom. The .30 WCF and 32 WS '94s are all marked on the barrel side. The same marking is seen on the .33 WCF, and other caliber lightweight 1886s.
An example of a non-top marked 1894 is this .32-40 carbine barrel. The barrel steel is noted at the bottom flat as previously mentioned.
If the barrel steel on BP caliber 1894s is of interest to you, a look at the markings on the barrel bottom tell the complete story.
"Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale, and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled or hanged"....President Abraham Lincoln
You see more Model 55s with SS barrels than any other model, but they have been found on all of the guns made in the late '20s to early '30s. I'd like thave an SS barreled 1886, but that prob'ly won't happen any time soon.
"Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale, and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled or hanged"....President Abraham Lincoln
Mike,
I learn somethin' new everyday. Thank you I must admit though, that I have taken off many forends just to see if they might be marked in that way. (Always looking for that "N.S." mark) I have never caught one yet and if any of them should be marked in that manner, a very late 32-40 (made in 1921) that I have is still the BP steel.
I bet they were marked in that way as a marketing strategy---to fool the old timers who wanted BP steel, with BP rifling. As we know, Marlin even had a variation of their 1893 for BP only, just to please the old timers. I have one in 32-40.---------------------------------Sixgun
Mike D. wrote:You see more Model 55s with SS barrels than any other model, but they have been found on all of the guns made in the late '20s to early '30s. I'd like thave an SS barreled 1886, but that prob'ly won't happen any time soon.
Mike, On another note concerning SS barrels. Our very own board member, "Cimmaron Red" has a very late 1894 in 30-30 that has a OCTAGON stainless steel barrel. I have been pestering him for years to "steal" it from him. Several months ago, while visiting my son in Colorado, I told my son," Hey! Lets take a drive down to Pueblo to visit Gary." (Cimmaron Red) In addition to wanting to see Gary, I also wanted to take a look at his Winchesters, especially that oct s.s. barreled 1894. Leroy Mertz has only seen one like it in his years of dealing the old guns.------------Sixgun
Sixgun, the following came from Bert H. over on the Winchester forum. He has done much research on the pre-war guns, especially the 1885. This is what he noted on a subject of Model 94 .32-40 and .38-55 barrels.
"The standard barrel material used for the 32-40 and 38-55 was referred to as "high pressure steel" versus ordnance steel. It had a tensile strength of 60,000 pounds versus the 110,000 pounds for the nickel steel barrels."
I have searched high and low for NS barrels and was fortunate to find this example with Joe Salter. I'll use it to assemble an good SRC from a shot out one. There are few octagonal barreled nickel steel '94s for sale on web sites as we speak. When I recently called one seller about one of these guns he informed me that the price had moved up $1100. I explained that his site definitely had the lower price, but he lamely claimed that it a "sale price" and the sale was over. Then he allowed that I probably couldn't have afforded the gun anyway. That was an interesting statement, but I just let it slide and told him thanks for his time.
"Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale, and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled or hanged"....President Abraham Lincoln
Very cool post. I'll have to check under the barrel of my 32-40 built in 1925. I would be good to know what type of steel the barrel is before I start to load for it.
Does anyone know the different pressures that can be loaded in the different barrel steels? Not that I know what pressures the loads I make would be.
