model 94 octagon barel?

[kielbasavw]

a buddy told me a local pawn shop has got 5 30;30s for sale, one of which is a octagon barrel, can you guys give me any info, of which is needed to figure out year, and or anything else i should know before buying, he said he thinks it was listed for 400. what would these things go for? i have not seen it yet, but i have been looking for a 30/30 and this one sounds cool

[echo1]

It's all to vague of a discription to base any kind of opinion of value. The .30-30 cartridge has been chambered in hundreds of different actions and the details of inspection will differ between brands. I presume that you mean it's a lever gun, which narrows it down to about 75 models, such as Savage, Remmington, and Winchester amongst others. The most recent flavors are from Mossberg, Marlin, Browning, and Henry. I'm sure Henry's "Big Boy" is available in an Octo, as well as some models of Marlin and Browning. All 5 of the guns in the shop could be different makes. You need the specifics on each weapon, glass? sling? and the price of each. If you after an octo in particular, then it doesn't matter if one of the others might be a better buy, or more collectable. Sorry if this didn't help. Here's a sample of some around that price range but no octogon. I'm thinking at $400 it should be more of a modern production, as a decent '94 is gonna start at twice that. Keep us posted and I hope you get a good one. PAX

[kielbasavw]

Checked it out, not the prettiest gun. Winchester 94. Supposely made in 1898. They want 700 I think i saw. Is that a good deal, what else do I need to look for to make sure its a real old one, and worth money. I'm in the market for something old awesome and cool. But I don't feel good about things unless its a great deal. Otherwise I can care less, I have better hobbies.

[Crunch130]

I'm not an expert on old Winchesters, but I do know this - they were cleaned from the muzzle, so many of them now have egg-shaped bores at the muzzle and no rifling left from cleaning rod damage. That equals bad shooter.

If you want to collect old Winchesters, you pay the price and accept what you get. Not too many "great deals" on them, especially in gun shops in California. For a price reference look at gunbroker.com. Maybe this particular one is in great condition and just needs a good cleaning (but if that were the case, I would think a dealer would price it a lot higher).

If you want a good deal on a .30-30 that shoots well, look for good cond Win 94's that are a bit newer, or the middle rifle in the photo above is a Marlin 336 - fair number of them out there, decent prices.

A Savage 99 (top photo) is an excellent rifle, but I'm not sure how many of them were .30-30's. Many were .303 Savage (their competitor to .30-30 Winchester), .300 Savage, 250/3000 Savage, and later in .308.

I suggest you research the types of rifles you want to collect for a few months before you go seriously shopping for one, so you will know what you are looking at and what the prices should be. It's easy to get taken on the "collector's items" or end up with a worn-out wallhanger that you thought would make a good shooter.

Crunch