Model 54 9mm - 03/26/21
I read somewhere the 54 came in 9mm,, I have a friend that has an interest in building one.. Anyone know just what 9mm it was chambered in? Thanks!!
Re: Model 54 9mm - 03/26/21
9x57
Re: Model 54 9mm - 03/26/21
Thanks!!
Re: Model 54 9mm - 03/26/21
One of the gun heads here on the fire mentioned seeing a M54 in 9X57MM at a gun show many years ago.
Re: Model 54 9mm - 03/26/21
Definitely 9x57 chambering available; contemporarily nomenclature, simply "9mm". Also notably only available in the early model featuring schnabel stock & non-ramp front sight, 1928-31 era. Such if your friend seeks pseudo-authenticity! Conversely, better appearance & metallurgy in boring out such as a common .270 Win barrel from the later NRA edition! The difference between early - nickel steel and later "Winchester Proof Steel, aka - chrome moly steel!
Just my take!
Best & good luck to him!
John
Just my take!
Best & good luck to him!
John
Re: Model 54 9mm - 03/27/21
Originally Posted by Jericho
One of the gun heads here on the fire mentioned seeing a M54 in 9X57MM at a gun show many years ago.
That may have been me, there was one for sale at the Split Rock Show over a decade ago.
A friend does own a M54 chambered for the 9X57 MM.
Re: Model 54 9mm - 03/28/21
Took a tour of the FN plant here in Columbia several years ago with some other dealers and they have a small Winchester "museum room" with some real oddities. The ones that really grabbed me were the 70s in 7.65mm and 9x57. The others in our group were oooing and ahhhing over all the black gun sh*t that comes out of that place, but just give me one of those Winchesters....
![[Linked Image from i.postimg.cc]](https://i.postimg.cc/zGdgY2RC/FN.jpg)
Re: Model 54 9mm - 03/28/21
I believe I read somewhere that the majority of the M54s in 7.65MM and 9X57MM were sold to South American countries
Re: Model 54 9mm - 03/29/21
A M54 in 9X57 would be a treasure! I made my own 9X57 using a Venezuelan Mauser action, a Shaw barrel, and a reamer purchased from PT&G. I really like it, but a M54 would be something....
Re: Model 54 9mm - 03/29/21
Any unaltered M54 is a treasure.
Re: Model 54 9mm - 03/29/21
My "Honorary Grand-Dad" told me he killed his first moose with a Winchester 54 in 9X57. He was in the Navy and was flying a converted B26 (made to be a photo-recon plane) after the war and he and his co-pilot "smuggled" the moose back to a base (in Iceland I think) from Canada in the bomb-bay, which gave them a lot of different problems and the story about dealing with the dead moose was a comedy all by itself. The story sounded like a funny movie when he told us.
The post about the Winchester in 9X57 caught my attention because of the story my Grand-Dad told me.
He bought the Winchester in 9mm New York from some family friend in the WW2 years (42 I think) and never could come get it until the war was over. Ammo was hard to get in the USA. He said the gun came with almost a full box of Winchester ammo, and he used one of those to kill the moose in Newfoundland Canada. He had a picture on the wall of himself and 3 of his Navy friends with that moose, with him holding the old M54. When I asked him about it, he told me the whole story. It was hilarious. He said that he and his buddies "just knew they were going to get caught" and that a court marshal and jail time was in their future for them as soon as things started to go wrong and the moose "fell out of the bomb-bay on the tarmac in front of the hanger". He was very well liked by the ground crew, but bribes and promises of coming bribes kept about 15 mouths shut instead of the original 3 other mouths that started the adventure with him in the 1st place. He told me he and his 3 buddies spent a LOT more money on liquor from France to keep others quiet then the rest of the "hunt' cost by itself. He said he had prayed in earnest a few times in the war when "holes appeared in his wings", but "also that time when the moose fell out of the bomber in broad daylight". It was NOT something you wanted the higher-ups to know about.
In WW2 he was one of the pilots that flew the observation float planes off the catapults on the battleship USS California. After the war he was transferred from the Pacific fleet to the Atlantic, to the office of Navel Intelligence/ North Atlantic. He was based in either Greenland or Iceland and would fly to Canada, Britain and sometimes into France. He said he got 4 boxes of ammo in France after the war. Sometime in the late 50s or 60s he traded the old Winchester 54 for a M70 in 30-06 because he could not get ammo for the 9MM easily.
It was not until about 10 years later someone told him how bad he's screwed up, and he never knew what he had until it was gone.
The post about the Winchester in 9X57 caught my attention because of the story my Grand-Dad told me.
He bought the Winchester in 9mm New York from some family friend in the WW2 years (42 I think) and never could come get it until the war was over. Ammo was hard to get in the USA. He said the gun came with almost a full box of Winchester ammo, and he used one of those to kill the moose in Newfoundland Canada. He had a picture on the wall of himself and 3 of his Navy friends with that moose, with him holding the old M54. When I asked him about it, he told me the whole story. It was hilarious. He said that he and his buddies "just knew they were going to get caught" and that a court marshal and jail time was in their future for them as soon as things started to go wrong and the moose "fell out of the bomb-bay on the tarmac in front of the hanger". He was very well liked by the ground crew, but bribes and promises of coming bribes kept about 15 mouths shut instead of the original 3 other mouths that started the adventure with him in the 1st place. He told me he and his 3 buddies spent a LOT more money on liquor from France to keep others quiet then the rest of the "hunt' cost by itself. He said he had prayed in earnest a few times in the war when "holes appeared in his wings", but "also that time when the moose fell out of the bomber in broad daylight". It was NOT something you wanted the higher-ups to know about.
In WW2 he was one of the pilots that flew the observation float planes off the catapults on the battleship USS California. After the war he was transferred from the Pacific fleet to the Atlantic, to the office of Navel Intelligence/ North Atlantic. He was based in either Greenland or Iceland and would fly to Canada, Britain and sometimes into France. He said he got 4 boxes of ammo in France after the war. Sometime in the late 50s or 60s he traded the old Winchester 54 for a M70 in 30-06 because he could not get ammo for the 9MM easily.
It was not until about 10 years later someone told him how bad he's screwed up, and he never knew what he had until it was gone.
Re: Model 54 9mm - 03/29/21
Moose in the bomb bay...how cool is that!