I have been wanting a Winchester 30-30 Trapper for a wile now and when I spotted a For Sale add on GlockTalk for a Winchester 94 30-30, light rust/pitting on the receiver, for $250.00 I decided, with the help from the guys at Leverguns.com to jump on it as a project gun and make that Trapper I have been lusting for all this time. It is a 1980’s vintage and here are the two pictures that I received, very poor quality pictures, but I bought it any way.
Broke it down!
I have a old NRA book that covers a lot of firearms disassembly/assembly, but Junior has put together great step by step web pages that can not be beat, thank you Junior!
http://www.castbullet.com/misc/tdown.htm
Wile it is broke down might as well slick it up! Thanks Mohave Gambler.
http://www.time-slice.com/mohave.gambler/favorites/LeverGuns/Winchester94.htm
After disassembly I discovered that the innards where almost brand new, showing very little ware on any of the contact points! The barrel is also pristine.
The receiver was a whole other story, after removing all the rust with 0000 steel wool and gun oil, it was obvious the pitting was much deeper than it looked and a simple touch up blue was just not going to work.
I decided to strip the receiver, using a wood sanding block and sandpaper until the pitting disappeared.
Saddle Ring
I made a stencil from my Winchester 94 .44Mag Trapper by rubbing a pencil over the two screws and the D&T hole for the saddle ring, and then transferred that to the receiver so the D&T would be located properly.
Wood Finish
The biggest surprise about this rifle was the nice wood that came with it.
I used KleenStrip on the old finish and with a little scrapping and a couple of coats it came right off. I tried this stuff on my Marin Guide Gun and it would not even phase the finish on the Marlin. I filled the old sling stud hole with Dap Plastic Wood “Golden Oak” it is sandable and stainable. (You can’t even see this repair now)
I used French Red stock filler from Brownells to darken the wood a bit and fill the pours. Followed the directions on the can, one heavy coat let set for 10-15 minuets then rub it in by hand across the grain, I did remove the excess with a paper towel afterwards and let dry for 24 hours.
I used Tru-Oil, cut 50/50 with mineral spirits for the first 2 coats, switched to 100% Tru-Oil for the last 7 coats, all rubbed in with my fingers. The stuff dries in a couple of hours a light buff with steel wool and it’s ready for another coat. I used 0000 steel wool as the final finish on my stock to give it a warm old hand rubbed finish.
Shortening the 20” barrel
Luckily I do have the 94 Trapper in .44Mag that I can use to get all my measurements from. One measurement that was changed was the barrel length to 16.5” instead of the standard 16” found on Trapper models. This length was suggested by 20cows, as the added .5” will allow for six rounds of 30-30 ammo to be loaded in the magazine tube instead of the standard five. 20cows is right and I think it is a unique improvement! Thank you 20cows for the great tip.
Well there are quite a few time consuming steps, but is straight forward, just make sure you measure twice! I cut the barrel with a hack saw, then threw it in the lath to square and cut the crown, next fit the front barrel band. I used a small rat tail file to cut the notches in the barrel and mag tube, I also had to relieve the barrel band interior since the barrel is thicker at 16.5” than at 20” a Dremmel with a sanding drum worked perfect for this. Measure and cut the mag tube. Drill mag tube for plug and drill barrel for plug screw. Next is measuring and cutting the dovetail for the font site.
I will let the pictures do most of the talking.
Receiver Finish
The receiver and barrel bands where kind of trial & error
I really liked the look of the receiver after I stripped and polished it out and decided a two tone look like 20cows Puzzle 1, would fit this project. So instead of trying to make cold blue look like hot blue on a 1980 receiver, I figured I would try to make the receiver look old.
I ended up using two coats of Birchwood Casey Super Blue liquid and 0000 wool between coats. Not sure how durable it will be or if it will keep rust away, but I live in the Mojave Desert, I have to buy a used gun to ever see rust around here
Sights & Misc.
Well my .44Mag Trapper donated its sites which is fine since it wares a Williams Peep and I plan to install a Sour Dough on the front any ways.
The large ring lever will be replaced with a standard finger lever as soon as I receive the new on in the mail. Thanks Yanqui.
Finish Pictures
A few final changes
I had been barrowing the front site from my .44 Mag Trapper and finally received a Marbles gold bead front site from Brownells. I had to file a bit off the muzzle end of the site to clear the front barrel band, other than that I like the quality and looks of the site, it gives the rifle a nice look.
The Large Loop Finger Lever had to go, it looked cool but was in real bad shape and had been monkey’d with by the previous owner, the PO also bent the trigger for clearance reasons I guess and the trigger was overly sloppy.
I got a brand new trigger from Ed in Canada and fitted it, polished the sear and took a bit off the hammer notch. The gun has a buutaful no creap at all trigger pull now.
The finger lever is like brand new thanks to Yanqui and dropped right in.
Time to site her in!
Scott
Scott
"No arsenal, no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women."
-- Ronald Reagan