A fairly early 1894 has come to me (1904). Its a 26" round barrel rifle with short/button magazine in 32-40. I'm having the bore lined to original caliber and restoring the edges of the badly sanded stocks but will probably leave whats left of the original metal finishes after cleaning up a few screws.
A few questions about it that I have are: the crescent butt plate and forend cap are either chrome or nickel plated. Anybody ever see that before? Ive seen examples of the whole rifle or whole action plated along with the butt plate and cap. Think its original? None of the 4 screws are plated and are without even a hint of remnant plating on them. They seem blued and original.
It also doesnt have the usual two WP proof marks at the breach. Does that say anything about steel type etc.? There is no indication of nickel steel either on top or bottom of the barrel. Did earlier rifles just not have the WP proof marks? There are a half dozen stampings on the bottom barrel flat that I cant really identify but one may be an earlier alternate proof mark. Anybody know these markings or a reference to them? I sent the rifle to the machinist already so I cant identify them right now.
Is it fair to say the 32-40 is parent cartridge to the 30WCF and 32WS? They all share the same base and rim dimensions and have very similar lengths. In fact you could almost argue that 32WS is just a 32-40 Improved...
I've seen guns with full or partial nickel trim. On this gun, it is possible to get the factory information on how it originally shipped from the museum at Cody.
The stamping of WP proof marks on the barrel and receiver started in the 1905 or 06 timeframe (as best I recall) so a gun made in 1904 probably won't have proof marks on the top of the barrel or receiver.
The 32-40 is the oldest of the three cartridges but I believe the 38-55 predates it. So, I guess I'd call the 38-55 the parent cartridge to the 30-30, 25-35, and 32 WS. The 32-40 has significantly different shoulder and taper dimensions but it's part of the family.
Thanks Levers. I noticed in COW that the 38-55 and 32-40 were both originally Ballard cartridges introduced in 1884. Winchester had a 38-56 first which was a larger cartridge offered in their M1886; it was kind of a necked down 45-70. Apparently for the roll-out of their M1894 they started with the two Ballard cartridges. Smokeless was available since 1892 but they had some steel hardness issues to work out related to barrel erosion.
Barnes/COW suggest that at least at first, nickel steel was only used for the 30WCF and that 32-40 and 38-55 models even after 1895 were not (nickel steel). In 1905 as you just suggested the WP proofs first appeared and I've often wondered whether those proofs indicated a different grade of steel than previous, on models not marked nickel.
There are a lot of barrels marked nickel steel on side of the barrel but not all are so marked. On the bottom of some barrels, there is a "MNS" and I believe that stands for Midvale Nickel Steel.....but my memory may be off
38-55 and 32-40 launched with 94. 30-30 was supposed to be available at launch but it took them until 96 to get the barrels right for smokeless powder.
Below is my 1901 94 in 38-55 with my 1889 38-40. Was fortunate to inherit both. The 94 is in really good condition.
