Winchester has always had bluing issues with Winchester 94’s.
The earliest 94’s had really no problems, normal steel, normal fume bluing process gave excellent results. But that was only the first 18 months of production.
When Winchester switched to their famous “Nickel Steel” to accommodate smokeless powder, that’s where the problems started. When nickel steel was introduced the bluing process stayed the same, and the look was absolutely fantastic. Problem is, it didn’t last. That’s why you find so many ‘92’s and ‘94’s with little to no finish left on the receivers, yet the rest of the rifle looks great. It wasn’t until they went to the original (1.0??) Du-Lite process (Post WW2 IIRC) that they started wearing better. Most ‘94’s from 1946-1964 look and wear very well.
Then in ’64 they changed the metallurgy again and there were no existing chemical blackening processes that would take to the new steel, so they went to black chrome until they figured out a better process (that’s where the DuLite website comes into play).
The changes anger traditionalists, but the new metallurgy of the ‘94’s works very well. It machines exceptionally well, which means the internal machining of the post-64’s tends to be very nice and pretty smooth. The new steel is similar to stainless steel in its resistance to corrosion. Post-64 ‘94’s shoot every bit as well as pre-64’s, so they’re straight up good rifles.
