short tube blues
I bought a win. 94 in 32spec. made in 1911 and it has the oct. barrel that has been cuttoff to 20 in. my question is why,,,,why are the rifles of this age been shortened,some 1/2in. to the case at hand 4-6 in. Don't know if it was 24 or 26 in. barrel
0
-
It's really hard to know what was going through the mind of whomever shortened the barrel--there are a number of posssibilities. Most likely, I would speculate, was handiness. Turned a rifle into a carbine. The full length, octagon barrel, rifles tended to be cumbersome and muzzle heavy, and less handy for a horseback rifle scabbard or use in heavy woods. When they've only been shortened an inch or so I would guess that the original muzzle had sustained some damage and the barrel was shortened just a little and recrowned to restore accuracy. Afterall, these folks never suspected that you'd be along later wanting to collect their rifle![;)] 0 -
YOUR GUN COULD HAVE HAD A MISFIRE AND THE BULLET STUCK IN THE BARREL. THE NEXT SHOT EITHER BULGED THE BARREL OR SPLIT THE BARREL. THE BARREL THEN WAS CUT OFF TO BEHIND THE DAMAGE. I HAVE SEEN THIS DONE ON MANY RIFLES AND SHOTGUNS. YOU HAVE A NICE GUN, ENJOY.
I WOULD RATHER BE DUCK HUNTING.0 -
I agree with duckhunter..ringed barrel or sometimes the barrel
would be in poor shape at the muzzle,ie; dinged,rusted and pitted,
(you know the first .22's were black powder loaded.)a lot of times
the rifle was stored muzzle down,behind a door,back porch,barn,and
so on and so forth. I run into the oldies alot that have been cut,
many by just a inch or less,sometimes more. O.K.....I'm done.0 -
There were special order 1894's produced in all lengths. Winchester would build a gun to any specs. you wanted in those days. Original rifles in standard length were 26"s. Many of the special length rifles were sold at 20"s. I had a 32Win. Spec. with a 20" barrel and never was sure if it was cut or original. One expert would tell me it was cut and the next would say it wasn't. I have read that 1 in 30,000 rifles were special order lengths. Some of the early 1900's records were lost in a fire and it is hard to letter some of these old rifles.
....................
Old? First you forget names; then you forget faces; then you forget to pull your zipper up; then you forget to pull your zipper down.0 -
I dont think its a special order, the front sight is not a dovetail, it has really bad screws and is crooked. Dont think they would order it that way.Thanks for the info. How about a somewhere to have the dovetail cut in and factory sights put in to help the looks of this fine weapon, or maybe help my feelings. The old man i got it from said he didnt know what i was talking about, he had the gun for forty years and he didnt have it cut off. I couldnt get him to grasp the concept that the gun was 52 years old when he got it, but that doesnt matter now cause i have it now and want to restore somewhat for use. Its still in useable condition, but has a few sore spots in need of mending. 0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
5 comments