[sammons]

Anyone had their firearms painted/coated with this? Happy with it?

Our City council had commisioned 40 Winchester 94 XLT 30-30 riffles and Colt .45 six guns for our Centenial in 1987. The gloss black is coming off my reciever and was thinking about having it Cerakote'd. Don't have the money to do so right now but I would like to know how good the stuff was.

I feel i probably couldn't strip it down due to my hands and small parts. My nephew works for the guy that burnt his hands last week, and they Cerakote at his shop. I know my nephew does do refinishing but not sure if he is good with teardown/reassembly.  I have riffle # 9 out of the 40.

[sixball]

Man! That sucks! The collector value of these things is for pristine, un fired, original, in the box. The further you go away from that the more it hurts. Re finished is a big NO NO. But of the value to you is a nice gun that has a special connection to you & your community then do what makes you happy. That damage looks like what happened to a couple of the guns I stashed in my attic for a while. These two came in contact with the fiberglass insulation that water had condensed in. One was a Ruler Old Army cap & ball # 126 first year. It pissed me off but I still shoot the hell out of it with no collector worries.  It is one of the most accurate & hard hitting hand guns I own. Sorry din't know anything about the finish.

[sammons]

Ya, thats the pisser. Never fired, still have box and papers and has always been in the gun cabnet. Dad reserved it early before they were built. If i recall the finish started flaking at about 7-8 years old. I recall another guy here had same problem. I'm sure its only got any special value other than locals. It will just get passed on to my brother, he wouldn't sell it either. They had a local town event auction several years ago and a pristine one sold for either$1500 or 1600.  Just a local guy that didn't get his name on the list soon enough in '87.

Guess i'll run it across with brother first. Its pristine other thsn the reciever, looks like crap. I've seen some of the firearms they have done, they do look like a smooth factory finish. Just like to know how well they hold up. Can't be any worse than what it was originally.😕

[sixball]

The only commemorative edition Winchester I ever bought was the Golden Centennial '66. I bought into the hype. In truth the box was cooler than the rifle. It had scenes from the new version of Stage Coach movie what wasn't as good as the original either.. The rifle was one of the Japanese '94s with stamped parts and rattled like a used up '73. The fit was bad the wood finish looked like a painted on wood grain, a lot like the phony wood paneling that was popular at the time. The "Golden" part of the centennial edition was a thinly plated receiver that began to wear off as my friends & I passed it around to inspect. I looked at it for a few weeks then took to hunting and shot a nice forked horn with it. I cleaned it up put it back in the box with all the papers & advertisements I had and  stuck iy in the closet. Not near the rifle my first year of production 94 is.  A few years later I traded it for a for a #3 Ruger carbine in 45-70. Those are one of the strongest actions chambered for that round. It didn't take long to decide that a 6 1/2 pound rifle with a metal butt plate pushing a 350 grain slug at 2000 fps was not much fun, so i traded it to a gunsmith friend who wanted to punish his step son. I got a Ruger #1 in 219 Donaldson Wasp for it. I love it. Making brass in fun. Reloading it is fun. And shooting it is fun. Both Rugers are worth more now than the Winchester. Really not bad for a $125 original investment. Well maybe $125 1966 dollars was a lot then. 

[EDNY]

Looks like the receiver only needs to be refinshed?  For all of the work tearing it down I would consider just having it hot blued. Then you would have a restored rifle?

I have various Border Patrol commemoratives including one of these Winchesters. The member version serial numbers begin with USBPxxx, the civilian version with BPxxx

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/1014667373

[sammons]

Dad had two commemoratives, this "Bucklin" and the "Cowboy". He bought the Cowboy commemoritive in '67, i still have it and the box. He may have lost the coin that came with it in the many moves, i don't recall seeing it in the box. I bought a Milittary comm? from a guy moving, called dad and he said hell of a deal. Had buyers remorse as couldn't/shouldn't shoot it. Sold it to a fella dad had told 2 weeks later for a $400 profit😁 I've never bought a gun new  all have been 2nd hand or just used.

Ed, just the reciever. I swear the reciever is some kind of paint? When companies, towns etc order these, do the get modified at Winchester or another company buys from Winchester and does the modification? Not like the Winchester company commemorative issues.

Down on the bottom under the serial # where the "9 of 40" is, the finish popped off first. Reciever finish left does not look like the rest of the finish on the hard parts and of course the barrel.

[sixball]

The Border Patrol carbine is far better quality than the '66 I had. Nice wood & checkering, much better fit and the bluing is beautiful. Yes, some outside companies that sell commemorative models have the work done outside the Winchester shop and so quality can vary greatly. The greatest value of your rifle would be to family or someone else in town unless there is a collector looking for every 94 commemorative ever made and yours being 1 if 40.  I used to want a saddle ring carbine in each of the early 5 chambering. Back then I could have almost afforded it. Should have done it but I still don't remember ever seeing a 38 55.

I don't want guns I can't shoot, cars I can't drive or a woman that can't cook. 

[EDNY]

Ed, just the reciever. I swear the reciever is some kind of paint? When companies, towns etc order these, do the get modified at Winchester or another company buys from Winchester and does the modification? Not like the Winchester company commemorative issues.

Down on the bottom under the serial # where the "9 of 40" is, the finish popped off first. Reciever finish left does not look like the rest of the finish on the hard parts and of course the barrel.

I'm sure they farm them out...but it might be worth a call to Winchester...never know they may have had some type of recall?

[EDNY]

Posted this before but Henry is in the planning stage for another Border Patrol commemorative.  Comes in (4) versions, two 22lr from when we were under DOJ and the other under the current DHS/CBP, also two 38/357 under both DOJ and DHS/CBP.

I started out under DOJ and will buy that version in 22LR and shoot the heck out of it!

https://www.henryusa.com/border-patrol/?#gf_63

[sammons]

I don't want guns I can't shoot, cars I can't drive or a woman that can't cook. 

Lol, thats my thoughts also. Spend good money to just look at.... no😁

Ed next time i get a ladder downstairs i'll get the paper work out of the box and see if it says who modified it. Last time i got into one of those recall deals, you pay frieght bothways, they inspect and decide if it qualifies or not. Usually the Not with some excuse. Like i say, the finish on the reciever really doesn't match the rest of the rifle. Reminds me of my little single shot lever Ithica, the reciever paint flaked off in several years of use. It has a pweter or similar pot looking metal under, i just polished it and left it that way.