I just recently inherited a winchester model 1894 repeating rifle. I have looked everywhere and cannot seem to find any info on this model. By the serial number on the bottom of the rifle (# 144043) it should be a 1898, but it doesn't look like any from that year and has a patened from later. It has an octogonal barrel and the side of the sight on the back of the barrel says smokeless 32W.S.M'94 50&100YDS. On the top of the same sight is says manufactured by the winchester rep arms co new haven conn patened on oct. 8, 1901. Was hoping someone could give me an idea of where to look or any info on this rifle. Thank you.

It is a 32 Winchester Special assembled some time after March 1902.

The first 32 Winchester Special, Model 1894 was built on March 4, 1902, but the receiver dates to 1895 (#27,158) and some have been noted with serials as low as in the 15,500 range (yours is the lowest No I've seen). Same was true of Tom Horn's Winchester, built on an 1897 receiver (#82,667) but warehoused on March 22nd, 1900 and shipped on June 19th, 1900. Guns could set on the factory floor and or in the warehouse for a long time too.

thank you for the reply. that would explain a lot. i knew the number sounded very low but the body style just didnt fit with the pre 1900 guns i was researching. hopefully with this info i can get a better idea of when the gun was assembled. it is a valued piece of my grandfathers legacy and i hope to learn as much about it as possible. thank you again for the quick reply and i greatly appreciate the info.

You're welcome sir.