Back in the day of The Frugal Outdoorsman, Junior and I were playing with the old .30 WCF cartridge and I bought a Winchester 94 simply because I didn't have one and I saw one sitting forlornly in a used gun rack. Mine is nothing special. It was built in 1965, right after Winchester changed everything, and they called it the Antique Model. Purists said that this was Winchester's attempt at putting lipstick on a pig. I thought the price was right and bought it.
I immediately tapped out that execrable buckhorn sight and added a Williams peep. I added a saddle-ring to the left side of the receiver. I shot that rifle for several years as a test bed for castbullet.com, playing with cast bullet loads. I never made venison with it.
After Junior died, and my eyesight went to hell, that little rifle became a safe queen. I had changed shooting pursuits and didn't do much rifle work for about fifteen years. Last week, I was digging through the safe and found this little rifle and though how nice it would be to put an optic on it. The purists would howl, but it sure would make this a nice little rifle again.
If you know anything about gun restoration, you have heard of Turnbull Restoration. Turns out, they make an optics mount for the Winchester 94. If Turnbull is okay with it, the purists can kick rocks. This little mount uses the barrel dovetail to mount an optic. I ordered the mount pronto, then went over about bought a Burris FastFire4 optic. It has the Docter footprint that the Turnbull mount requires.
The sight has four reticles and I'll have to figure out which is more useful.
Installation was straight forward. Tiny screws and follow the directions.
I think it looks good. The purists may scoff, but that is their right.
I think you're going to enjoy that little thing. Time for a whole 'nuther love affair with cast bullets and black powder cartridges!
ReplyDeleteHey, cool! Glad you got it in. I hope you can enjoy rifle shooting again with it! You gave me a fondness for long range shooting years ago when i watched you pick off a crow about 250 yds in Howard Verchers field with that 7mm08 you had!
ReplyDeleteThe fact that I am not an expert does not prevent me from having opinions.
ReplyDeleteA 3 MOA reddot is a perfect match for the inherent accuracy for that platform. The larger MOA and the 3 MOA with the ring are equally fine should you have to shoot your way through a mess of hogs or a pack of canines.
Red-dots are awesome for older eyes and the fact that we cannot multitask three focal planes: the target, the front sight and the rear sight.
If it works, it ain't wrong... And I need to look into that for mine! Sigh...
ReplyDeleteVery cool update. It's your rifle - the new sight would make it useful. I should do the same with a Trapper .357 I have.
ReplyDelete