1966 was the Winchester Repeating Arms Company's 100th year of operation. To commemorate this occasion, Winchester produced a run of fancy Model 94 rifles. Model 94 - Current Products These lever-action rifles and carbines make up the core family of Model 94s currently being produced by Winchester Repeating Arms. Model 94s in Current Production. Olin Corporation, through its Winchester Division, is warning users of the above firearms that PRODUCT SAFETY NOTICE – WARNING WINCHESTER® Model 94 Family of Lever-Action Rifles, Carbines, and Muskets with Half-Cock Safety Winchester Model 94 (including commemoratives); Winchester Model 1894; Winchester Model 9422. Winchester 94 Custom High Grade-Limited Edition Centennial rifle 30 WCF. Only 94 mfg in 1994. This is a very rare custom shop gun.
Winchester Centennial '66 Rifle
By Chuck Hawks
1966 was the Winchester Repeating Arms Company's 100th year of operation. To commemorate this occasion, Winchester produced a run of fancy Model 94 rifles. These were based on post 1964 Model 94's actions with a gold plated receiver and forend cap, brass 'rifle' (curved) buttplate, saddle ring, and a heavy octagon barrel with a full length magazine that was nicely polished and deeply blued. The straight hand stock was select walnut. All were in caliber .30-30 Winchester.
There were rifle (26') and carbine (20') barrel lengths, and sets of rifle and carbine with consecutive serial numbers were also offered. The point to all of the gold and brass was to make the 1966 Centennial reminiscent of the brass framed Winchester 1866 'Yellow Boy' rifle that was Winchester's first product.
I believe that Winchester intended to make something like 44,000 of these Centennial '66 Model 94's. But a surprising consumer demand, and Winchester's desire to make a buck, resulted in a final combined production total of 102,309 rifles and carbines. The Centennial '66 was quite a hit, and a highly engraved version shared the cover of the 1967 Gun Digest with an equally highly engraved Model 1866 Winchester.
These Centennial '66 rifles and carbines generally showed a high order of fit and finish. The receiver was 24 carat gold plated inside and out, so they were pretty with the action open, too. Here are the basic specifications of the Centennial '66 Rifle:
- Caliber - .30-30 Winchester
- Magazine capacity - 8 cartridges
- Barrel - 26 inch octagon
- Twist - 1 in 12 inches
- Sights - Adjustable semi-buckhorn rear and blade front; tapped for receiver sights
- Length of pull - 13 1/8 inches
- Drop at comp - 2 inches
- Drop at heel - 2 3/4 inches
- Overall length - 44 1/2 inches
- Weight - 8 pounds
Winchester had issued a factory commemorative in 1964, the Wyoming Diamond Jubilee 94 Carbine, of which only 1501 were made. So the Centennial '66 was their first big commemorative issue. Its startling success paved the way for a long series of commemorative models honoring the Canadian Centennial (1967), various U.S. states, Canadian provinces, famous people, or tied to historical events. Some of these were quite a stretch (the Cowboy Commemorative Carbine of 1970, or the Antlered Game Carbine of 1978, for example) and laid bare the greed behind the whole commemorative business.
Of course, in 1966 when the Centennial '66 was released, all of that was in the unknown future. Winchester's 100th birthday was an event worth commemoration by the Company. In 1966 a new Winchester Model 94 Carbine sold for $84.95, a Marlin 336C sold for $89.95, a Savage Model 99DL sold for $145, and a Centennial '66 rifle or carbine sold for $125, so it was not outrageously priced.
To this day most have never been fired, nor even had their actions cycled. Collectors purchased most Centennial '66 rifles and carbines. To retain its collector's value a commemorative firearm must remain in 'new in the box' condition. A shame, as these are good shooting guns, but a questionable investment. The (2005) 25th Edition of Fjestad's Blue Book of Gun Values quotes a 100% condition price of $450 for a Centennial '66 rifle. That sounds like pretty good appreciation until you factor in the inflation that has occurred since 1966!
I purchased a Centennial '66 rifle in 1966. It was new, of course, but I bought the rifle to shoot, not collect. I will admit that its spectacular looks didn't hurt, though. My theory was that its heavy 26' octagon barrel would provide maximum ballistic performance and enhance accuracy. As it turned out, I was perfectly right.
That rifle could really shoot. The heavy octagon barrel did wonders for the gun's accuracy. Of course, no rifle's accuracy can be fully appreciated without a telescopic sight. And the rifle's top ejection required either an offset side mount or a mount forward of the receiver for an extended eye relief scope. Today the latter would be called a 'Scout Rifle' style scope mount, but this was a couple of decades before Jeff Cooper would coin that term.
Never having been much of a fan of side mounts on Model 94's, I chose a Leupold M8-2x EER (extended eye relief) scope with Leupold rings and a quick detachable Leupold base designed to be mounted on the barrel. Naturally, the Centennial '66 rifle was not drilled and tapped for scope mounts, and the Leupold base was designed to fit a round barrel contour. I had Eugene, Oregon gunsmith Jim Felton drill and tap the barrel for me, and he ground the bottom of the base flat so that it could be mounted on the octagon barrel.
My rifle became the first, perhaps the only, Centennial '66 to wear a scope. A writer for a national gun magazine saw the rifle and wanted to do an article about it, but I declined. (Maybe I had a premonition that someday I would write this piece!)
Winchester Owners Manual Model 94
That scope and mount allowed me to take advantage of the rifle's inherent performance advantages. And its performance was excellent. It shot pretty consistent 1.5' three shot groups at 100 yards with my standard handload using a 150 grain Speer flat point bullet in front of 32.6 grains of IMR 3031 powder for a muzzle velocity (MV) of about 2400 fps. Once in a while I'd hold just right and shoot a 1' group. That was my deer and all-around load.
I then worked up a reload using the 100 grain Speer Plinker RN bullet in front of 37.0 grains of IMR 3031 for a MV of around 2800 fps. That was a very effective jackrabbit load.
I also experimented with what I called my 'antelope load.' This was a long range load using a 150 grain Speer spitzer bullet in front of 32.6 grains of IMR 3031 powder. Due to the pointed bullet and the Centennial '66s tubular magazine, this had to be single loaded directly into the chamber. Once that was done the magazine could be filled with cartridges using flat point bullets for repeat shots. The spitzer bullet shot to the same point of impact at 100 yards as the FP bullet, but gave a flatter trajectory downrange.
If I remember correctly, I zeroed the rifle to put the 150 grain bullet about 3' high at 100 yards to maximize the maximum point blank range of the cartridge. This allowed me to keep up with my buddies who were shooting bolt action rifles in .308 Win. and .30-06 zeroed at 200 yards. With that long barrel and 150 grain bullets I never felt that I was at any particular disadvantage, and I got pretty good at estimating the long range trajectory of that .30-30.
One thing for sure, I had the prettiest rifle among our little group of shooters. In those days none of use could afford a battery of centerfire rifles, so most of us subscribed to the theory of owning one good centerfire rifle, rimfire rifle, handgun, and shotgun rather than a greater number of cheaper guns. Among those good centerfire rifles I remember a Mannlicher-Schoenauer carbine in .30-06 (beautiful, but it kicked like the devil in such a powerful caliber), a Remington Model 700 BDL in .30-06, a Remington 600 carbine in .308, a Marlin 336 in .35 Remington, and some sort of bolt action (Savage?) in 7mm Rem. Mag.
Winchester 94 Centennial Manual Transmission
One day during the summer of 1966, a group of us were in the Mojave Desert hunting jack rabbits with our deer rifles. In those days we spent most of our free time hunting in the desert. This particular afternoon we chanced upon one of the old 'desert rats' who lived out there. These tough old individualists eked out a substance living by residing in caves, trapping or shooting game, and scavenging a little bit of gold from the various abandoned mines that littered the area. This they used to pay for the few store bought necessities they purchased in tiny semi-ghost towns like Randsburg and the comparative metropolis of Red Mountain.
Anyway, I was carrying my Winchester Centennial '66 rifle when we happened upon this old boy. He had a truly ancient Winchester .30-30, as I recall, and was intrigued by our modern hunting rifles. But the gun that really caught his eye was my Centennial '66 rifle. He was absolutely knocked out by the flashy Winchester. He told me that he had never seen such a beautiful rifle. I let him play around with it a little bit, for which he was very appreciative. I mention this incident only because it was in some ways typical--the Centennial '66 always stood out in a crowd!
Winchester Model 94 Disassembly
Winchester 94 Changes
| This Winchester Model 94 disassembly tutorial is not a to-the-last-nut-and-bolt procedure. Rather, it takes a Model 94 down to its major assemblies using tools a normal reloader/gun tinkerer would have on hand. Those assemblies, however, can be disassembled by the brave (and the foolhardy) with the aid of a set of roll pin punches and very little else. However, I strongly suggest leaving disassembly of those assemblies to the hands of a good gunsmith. The goal of this tutorial is to teach the reader how to disassemble a Model 94 in order to make minor repairs or perform major cleaning. Tools needed are (1) a small punch, and (2) a set of hollow-ground screwdrivers. Many shooting/reloading supply companies sell sets of hollow-ground gunsmith screwdrivers or bits. I use a Lyman Magdriver which comes with seven hollow-ground bits in its handle. It costs about $20. Lyman won't sell just the bits so when I break a bit or need one not supplied, I buy el cheapo Wal-Mart bits and flatten the tips with my bench grinder. If you don't have a bench grinder, use a file. As the graphic shows, regular screwdriver bits are wedge shaped. Use one on a firearm screw and get a boogered-up screw head. Don't say I didn't warn you. Almost all parts shown in this tutorial are available from Winchester Parts and Service (1-800-322-4626), Brownells www.brownells.com and Numrich www.e-gunparts.com. Brownells also sells a gun-specific set of screwdriver bits:
The Brownells site offers a free, clear, exploded view diagram they call a 'Schematic.' Click the 'Schematic' tab at the top of the main page, then follow directions. I used '94 Top Eject- S/N Above 2,700,000 Schematic ID# 351.' The Numrich site offers exploded view diagrams but with a 99¢ download fee. So if Brownells doesn't sell a part or has it on backorder, I open the Brownells schematic in one browser window and the Numrich parts-listing page in another window. You'll need your rifle's serial number in order to see the proper schematic. Note: both of these sites and other sites I checked use the same Winchester terminology for each part. In other words, although each company might have a different part number for a 'Finger Lever Link Pin,' that name gets you the same part from each company. For the purpose of this tutorial I have listed the Brownells retail price for each part, when available. I did that easily because I saved the proper Brownells schematic web page to my computer's desktop. Offline, I can open the page and there's the schematic and the parts listing. You should do the same. An exploded view is handy when trying to put something back together. Hint hint. In Internet Explorer, in the upper left-hand corner of the window click 'File.' When the tab opens, click 'Save As. . . .' and save the web page to your desktop or wherever. (Don't worry. The only thing actually on your desktop will be a little clickable icon.) The Model 94 shown here is circa 1976 with SN 4,537,XXX. I call it my 'woods/heart attack rifle.' You can read much more about it here. We start with removal of the magazine tube and forearm. Here we see my finger pushing down the 'Magazine Plug' ($10.42) and a screwdriver removing the 'Magazine Plug Screw' ($1.79). I'm pushing the plug down because the 'Magazine Spring' ($7.31) is under tension. If you don't hold the plug down, parts will fly everywhere when the spring pops out. See what I mean there, Vern? That's the 'Magazine Spring' sticking out of the 'Magazine Tube' ($24.30) and that's the plug and screw in my hand. Remove the spring, then point the end of the tube down and the 'Magazine Follower' ($5.35) should fall out. It's a thimble-like device which rides up and down the Magazine Tube on top of the last cartridge in the magazine. If the follower doesn't fall out, open the bolt, stick your finger in the action, then give the end of the follower a little push. Now we loosen the 'Front Band' ($15.50) by removing the 'Band Screw, Front' ($1.79). Yes, that Magdriver bit is too small. The Front Band out of our way, let's look at a potential problem spot. This photo shows the notches in the barrel and in the Magazine Tube. The Front Band Screw passes through the notches and, basically, prevents the Magazine Tube from falling out of the rifle. It shows wear on the rear portion caused by the barrel moving backward under recoil while Newton's First Law of Motion kept the tube at rest. This close up shows the wear on the tube. I alleviate the wear by snugging an Uncle Mike's sling swivel barrel band against the Front Band rear side. It absorbs most of the recoil, preventing further wear. A couple of years after the above photo was taken I discovered a better way to handle recoil wear on both the barrel and the front band. I took the mag tube to the local NAPA store and bought an o-ring to fit. (NAPA # 727-2015 o-ring) By snugging the o-ring between the front band and the mag tube band it stopped the wear problem. If you like a free-floating mag tube for better accuracy, install an o-ring or face excessive wear. Next we loosen the 'Rear Band, Carbine' ($15.50) by removing the 'Band Screw, Rear.' The Magazine Tube will now slide forward out of the 'Forearm, Standard, Walnut' ($38.23). If it doesn't, wiggle it until it's free. From left to right, we see the:
Let's start taking the action apart. We begin by removing the 'Tang Screw' ($5.03) and then removing the stock. The screw out, wiggle the stock and pull rearward at the same time. You might have to give it a knock with your knuckles. You might even have to wiggle, pull, knock, and twist. But it should come off without much trouble. The Tang Screw is the only screw holding it. Here we see the stock (It's a Ram-Line) pulled backward and about to fall off. Take note of the coil mainspring trigger/tang assembly on this rifle SN 4,537,XXX. All the Model 94 parts lists I've read clearly state that flat mainspring trigger/tang assemblies are used on rifles SN 4,580,000 and below. Here we see more evidence of the shadetree gunsmith who once worked on this rifle. He probably had the coil mainspring assembly on a junker rifle and put it on this rifle—at the new price, I would bet. This close up of a portion of the above photo shows the side of the receiver. The 4 screws we will remove are numbered in the order in which we will remove them. They are:
Put the hammer at half-cock. Then out comes the 'Link/Hammer Screw.' Known here as #1 or the hammer screw. With the screw out and the hammer still on half-cock, wiggle the trigger/tang assembly while pulling down. It's a tight fit against the walls of the receiver, but it will eventually come out. When it does, set it aside. Now we remove the 'Finger Lever Pin Stop Screw.' Known here as #2 or the finger lever pin stop screw. Be careful. It's a short little fellow and easy to lose. Here we see a close up of the 'Finger Lever Pin Stop Screw' hole with the screw removed. (And with stripped scope mounting holes on each side.) In the center of the hole you can see one end of the 'Finger Lever Pin' ($2.60). This short pin holds the lever in the bolt and also holds the firing pin in the bolt. It's important. But it's easy to remove if you pay attention to the following instructions: You probably won't need a hammer; I didn't. I just pushed with my hand on the punch, and out popped the pin. A nail would probably work as a punch. Now, turn the rifle over and open the bolt. It's time to remove screw #3, better known in parts lists as the 'Link/Hammer Screw.' It's known here as #3 or the link screw. If your rifle is above SN 6,000,000 or so, you'll have a link pin instead of a link screw, and the pin will be held in the link by this small screw. Remove it, and knock out the pin. This photo added 1-26-2006 and is Copyright 2006 by Steve Barrett. The link screw out, the rifle will now fall apart.
The link/lever and locking bolt assemblies out of the rifle, pull the 'Carrier' C down. Now grasp the 'Breech Bolt' and pull it rearward and out of the rifle. Turn the 'Breech Bolt' upside down, and out falls the firing pin—'Firing Pin' ($18.00) The last screw—#4, the 'Carrier Screw' ($2.59). Here it is. The 'Carrier' on the left, the 'Carrier Screw' on the right. If you'll notice in the full size photo, this 'Carrier Screw' is worn. It's on my replace list. We're finished. From left to right and with a penny for scale, here's the removed screws and pin:
If you'll notice, one of the link/hammer screws is worn. It's also on my replace list. Here we see the parts and assemblies spread across my work bench. There's still a few parts inside the receiver, including leaf springs, but I'm stopping the tutorial here. We've disassembled a Model 94 plenty far enough to make minor repairs or perform major cleaning. If the reader needs to replace those few parts I've left inside the receiver of my woods rifle, he or she should be able to do it with the aid of the Brownells exploded view. Or with the aid of a good gunsmith. If you take your older Model 94 down as far as I took mine for this tutorial, you will probably discover, as I did, lots of crud and some worn but easily replaceable parts. My woods rifle's trigger had creep and seemed to operate in stages. I did not disassemble the trigger/tang assembly, but I did give it a thorough cleaning with oil, rags, and Q-tips®. Result = good trigger now. But if you take a rifle apart, you've got to put it back together. You don't want to walk into a gunsmith's shop and hand him a sack of parts and say, 'Would you please put this Model 94 back together for me?' To put it back together, we reverse the take it apart process:
by making your online purchases through our sponsor links. Click here. |