Win 94 "short rifle"?

taperloc

Did Winchester offer a Model 94, 22" octagon barrel "short rifle"?

kimi

Renneberg notes that any deviation from the 26 inch round or octagon barrels must be considered special order. Madis notes that some issues of the Winchester catalog offered extra-lightweight rifles with twenty-two inch barrels.

Bert H.

quote:Originally posted by taperloc
Did Winchester offer a Model 94, 22" octagon barrel "short rifle"?


Did Winchester "Offer" it... No. Did Winchester make any of them... Yes.

glabray

Winchester would provide any barrel length desired, within reason, on special order. Whenever a shorter than standard barrel is encountered however, one needs to be a bit cautious. When the short barrel is octagon one must be extra cautious. In several decades of Winchester collecting, I have come across only a few 1894/94s with factory original shorter than standard octagon barrels. There are quite a few short octagon barrel guns out there but most have been cut.

Old-Colts

As mentioned already, yes, Winchester made this configuration. There are at least three listed and shown in the Madis book, two of them have rapid taper octagon barrels.

Bert H.

As a follow-up to the "Short Rifle" question, Winchester manufactured 2,252 Model 1894 22" barreled rifles in the first 353,999 made.

The total number of "Short Rifles" made between serial numbers 1 -353,999 was 7,023, and includes lengths from as short as 14" up to 25". The rarest length is 17", 19.5", 22.5", and 23.5", with only one of each made. A 20" octagon barrel was the most common "Short" length, with a total of 2,980 made, followed by the 22" length. Expressed as a % of the total researchable production, approximately 2% of all Model 1894s were "Short Rifles". If the 75,075 Carbines made are taken out of the equation, 2.5% of all Rifles were shorter than standard.

There were a lot more "Short" Rifles made in the 353,000 - 1,090,000 serial number range, but what the actual number was/is will most likely forever remain a mystery. My estimate is that the total number lies somewhere very near the 18,000 mark. I believe that I may have discovered the very last one made... serial number 1079186 (manufactured in early 1932). It is a Take Down Sporting Rifle with a 20-inch 30 W.C.F. barrel, shotgun butt, and I-pattern checkered select walnut stocks... definitely a very "special" order Model 94!