I have an opportunity to buy a pre 64 Winchester 94 30-30. My wife's uncle is strapped for cash and has told me to make him an offer. Any suggestions on what to inspect closely on this gun/ common issues I could identify during inspection? Also what would be a fair offer? I would be keeping the gun to hand down to my son as a collectable. From what I can tell in the pics there is no rust and little wear on the wood. Thanks in advance.

Cycle the action and listen and feel for any hangups. There will be some wobble in the lever when the action is open but it shouldn't be loose. Year, amount of replaced parts, barrel length and configuration will determine the value of the gun. If it's just a standard 20" round barrel 94 anything less than $500 would be a bargain regardless of condition.

I would want to look at the rifling before I made any kind of decision.

Check the serial number to find out age.

You're not going to get rich or go broke on it. Just buy it. Or give me his number.

Bingo.

I have a neighbor that just inherited one, kinda made me pull mine out of the safe and give it another look. They're pretty robust, lots of fun and a reasonable choice for general hunting here in Texas.

Inspect the slots in the screw heads to see if they are still slots or mangled. If the action still functions smoothly and none of the screws have been removed, it should be fine mechanically. As someone else said, inspect the bore to make sure the rifling isn't damaged from creative bore cleaning methods.

Or worse, severely pitted from an owner that doesn't believe in periodic cleaning.

Thanks for all the input. I scoped the bore and it looks great. I found smooth operation of the action and very little damage to the stock. Looks like a well kept lever gun. I'm going to pick it up next weekend for $425, then off to put some rounds through it. Thanks again!

I would buy it at about 425--500 depending on haw nice it is my first deer frifel was my 30-30 wich was my uncles and it was his first gun when he was a kid about 11-12 and it was used then. its not the greatest looking gun in the world but i would not trade it for anything it shoot a lot better then pepeopl seem to think when they here 30-30 i had a guy this weekend tell me there was no whay to hit a target at 100yrs do to the bullit drop at that range. I never had a range issue with it. i would not try 200yrs with it but 100-150 with out thinking. if my back could handle it i would still use it today I can say that that gun will go up in value as time goes one. i know when i got mine it was worth my be 250 now i am being told it is worth double that in the shape it is in

Sounds like a great deal to me.

Isn't 1964 only pertinent to Model 70s? I thought that was the year they changed the extractor and that was the reason 'Pre 64' Winchesters were regarded differently.

In the model 94(1894) carbines they made some changes to lower production cost back then. I believe the cost of forged steel parts had risen and Winchester wanted to keep the cost of the rifles low. Now as far as what those changes were I cant tell you because I've heard several different things. Also, I would think if they changed this with one model they probably did it with most models due to lower manufacturing cost. Don't quote me here cause I'm by no means an expert. I just like shooting lever actions with open sights and have wanted the pre 64 model 94 carbine my whole life. As a kid, at my pops deer lease, they would debate about it around the camp fire on the regular. They went as far as having a shoot off at some targets with the pre and post models, but from what i remember there was never any resolution. Anyways, fun gun to shoot and I hope my son has it for many years to come, along with everything else in the safe.

it sounds like a fare deal not a supper deal but fair. if you get to shoot it your know the other e30-30 we had was just ruined it would now shot straight the boring was gone but you could not tell by looking we took it to a gun smith and he gaged the inside most likely they were hot rounding it or just shot a hell of a lot I still used my up till this year like the other post i just liked the open site wens ten feel it had my kids love that thing when i say lets go shot the is the forest con they can offer

It applies to both because of the materials changes referenced above. All you need to do is work the lever in the two types to easily feel the difference. There is no comparison.

Yes, it was a good deal.
The best deal is that you got what can be an heirloom, regardless of price.
I have heard after the fact from family members that they sold a family gun to a friend or neighbor without ever considering family would want it. Guns that sold for $500 I would have given $2000 for just to keep them in family. Recently I offered up that $2000 to a cousin that saw my passion for family firearms, he gave me the gun.
It was awesome that your wife's uncle offered up the gun to family. Some things you can never take back.

I bought a 1972 Winchester 94 at an auction for cheap. Currently completely dissembled and undergoing maintenance, I noticed the following:
The hammer spring is crap.
1) Rather than compressing a coil spring on an action lever, they used a 2 leaf spring. The action is not as crisp; but mushy
2) The leafs are different lengths of different materials. A bimetal insulater was not installed between the leafs; the main spring rusted.
3)As a result of a different hammer spring, the sear configuration changed. I'll just say it is inferior.

The bluing of the trigger return spring was inadequate, the spring rusted on one side.

All the major action screws were installed with red loctite. Dumb, dumb, dumb. This is the first -- and only -- Winchester lever I have taken down which has red loctite.

Overall, the general workmanship of the metalwork is just sad. Machining burrs on the backside of a drilled hole, burrs on slots in machined parts. Small details; but over time these short cuts are detrimental to a mechanical device.

When finished, this will be the nephew's hunting rifle. But, this is the last "bad years" Winchester I will work on.

Gary