Value of this old Winchester 1894 levergun, HELP!

cwinn

Anyone who knows about old winchester lever actions, i could use some help. My brother-in-law recently inherited a Winchester 1894, 30 WCF (is that 30/30??), that was manufactured in 1912. The metal is in silver condition missing the majority of the blueing. The wood has been refinished at one time or another, and has a couple small cracks in the butt, along with the usual dings. The forearm has some dings to and has a long thin strip of wood missing on the left side. It also has a Lyman peep sight that is in working order except has a missing disk. The barrel is 24" long. The feed tube has some small dents in it.
He asked if i would sell it for him, and before i get it appraised i was wondering if anyone here could tell me the value of it and anything else about it. My brother in law said that years ago it was appraised at $850, but he isnt sure if the condition was the same at the time or not, and this was a while ago. Can anyone here help me out???
Thanks!!!

martzkj@msn.com

Condition being everything in the value for guns like these, it sounds like the value of this one will not be great. On top of which the caliber is a very common one. the 30 WCF is a 30/30. I'm not an expert on price but I don't think the gun will bring much.

timberbeast

Sounds like a great gun, but, to me, sounds like it's worth about 300 bucks, tops. Appraisals really don't mean anything. If you really want to know what it's worth, put it up for auction here, the auctions here will get you a higher price by far than any gun shop or newspaper ad. I've only sold three guns here, and I got great prices for all of them. One was a lever-action '94 in 38-55 with an octagon barrel. Insurance appraisers said 2000, it sold for 700, I think, and I was very happy about it. If you want to sell it, list it. It's worth what someone will pay, just like anything else. You're not sitting on a gold mine, you're sitting on a coupla hundred bucks. Upon second thought, just keep it and shoot it all day long, it's a great gun and will never let you down!

madmarc0

Timber is right on with his suggestion. Model 94's are common and only the unusual guns will bring a premium as well as those in excellent condition. He was also right with his appraisal of around 300.00 give or take.
All of the guns I collect I will try and have as much original finish on them as possible. There are still many mod.94's out there so that's where the benifit is as far as finding one in excellent condition.

Ted Kennedy's car has killed more people than my gun has!

cwinn

Thanks for the help guys, but get this...
I took it to a shop today to get it checked out by a dealer, and after a careful inspection he made an offer of $750!! After what you guys have told me it seems my brother in law would be making out pretty well so i called him and he said go ahead and sell it for that price, so i think i might try a few more shops for better offers and if nothing comes up ill sell to that guy.
Thanks again!

wundudnee

You stated it had a 24 inch barrel, standard 1894's were 26 inch. In the condition you described there has to be something special about that rifle you are not seeing for a dealer to offer that. I believe I would try to find a Winchester collector to look at your rifle before I got to hasty. There are many, many desirable variations in the older 94's. The tough thing about the early 1900 rifles is that a lot of the factory records were destroyed in a fire and they can't be authenticated or lettered.

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