Henry Rifle Forums

Well, I finally got around to a complete teardown of my 1899 Winchester Mod 94 for a major cleaning. This was mostly due to to mainspring screw that would not budge due to rust so I removed the rear stock and set the tang in a small bottle of Hoppes # 9 to soak for a couple weeks and this afternoon the screw backed out like it was new.
When I removed the forestock and mag tube I discovered the beautiful bluing you see - 119 years was not so bad in this area but not the rest and I finally tried the 'Penny trick' I have read about many times to remove small rust spots/areas and it worked great.
If you have never heard of the 'penny trick' it is to use a COPPER penny with solvent to buff off small, light areas of rust and it works WELL!
You simply use the penny as a light buffing tool and it removes light rust without destroying the bluing.
I have got the barrel and mag tube looking as well as they are going to so on to the internal parts tomorrow and hopefully reassembly as well!
Yes, that is Serial # 149,219 you see!

Nice to know the penny trick!

nicely done .... just curious, how dirty were the innards Model 94 .... what parts showed signs of wear .... any clue if it has been lightly or heavily used ...

what parts showed signs of wear .... any clue if it has been lightly or heavily used ...

It looks like new on the inside. all edges to parts sharp and clear - This rifle did not get much use.
I bought it from a guy who got it from his father and he told me it had sat in a closet for about the last 50 years!
It had a moderate amount of old, dried lube & powder residue but that scrubbed out with some effort. Kinda hard to get into the nooks and crannies of a lever gun receiver! Heck I have seen worse on newer guns.
Not a great pic but part of the interior of the receiver. You can kind of see it's condition. This is the locking bolt channel and a you can see it is sharp and unworn.

Looks nice!

very nice indeed ... a truly remarkable find and its a keeper

very nice indeed ... a truly remarkable find and its a keeper

Actually I have it up for sale - not in any hurry or real serious but if someone was to pay my 'top dollar' asking price or possibly offer me something in trade I am looking for I could let it go.

Update:
Winchester back together this morning and working excellently.
Now that all parts are clean with light lube it is very tight yet smooth - it has that 'new gun' feel in the action like it needs to be cycled a lot to smooth it up.
I think all the dried grease and powder deposits (what little there was) had hardened around the moving parts and had sort of 'plasticized' and gave it an odd smooth feel in the cycling and lockup. Now the cycling feels much more 'sharp' and positive as everything is now 'seating' properly.