There must be date and proof stamps on the barrel and receiver. date stamps are not numbers themselves
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_1894
The original model 1894 was produced in .32-40 Winchester, .38-55 Winchester, .25-35 Winchester, .30-30 Winchester and .32 Winchester Special. It was the first sport rifle to sell over 7,000,000 units. The millionth Model 1894 was given to President Calvin Coolidge in 1927, the 1½ million rifle to President Harry S. Truman on May 8, 1948, and the two millionth unit was given to President Dwight Eisenhower in 1953.[1][2]
It was the first chambered shotgun for the (then) new smokeless powder cartridges. The .30-30 Winchester is the cartridge that has become synonymous with the Model 1894 rifle.
In 1964, the manufacture of the 94 was changed to make the firearm cheaper to produce. Generally, “pre-64” rifles are priced higher than post-64 rifles.
Winchester Model 1894s were also made in typical revolver calibers such as the .38 Special/.357 Magnum, .44 Special/.44 Magnum, .45 Colt (sometimes called the .45 Long Colt or .45 Cowboy), as well as the .44-40 Winchester. Typically, the tube magazine can hold 9 to 13 rounds of the aforementioned revolver calibers. Magazine capacity depends on barrel length as the tubular magazine (located under the barrel) usually covers the entire length of the barrel.
Revolver calibers are preferred by modern Cowboy action shooters because they only allow one type of rifle and revolver ammo. A typical combination would be a Colt 1873 (Colt Peacemaker or clone) and a Winchester (or other lever action made, for example, by Uberti or Marlin Firearms) capable of firing the same type of ammunition. The 1894 action, designed for smokeless rifle cartridges, is much more powerful than the action of the Winchesters (Models 1866, 1873, 1876), which were based on Benjamin Henry’s toggle system, and can easily handle modern cartridges. high-pressure pistol, such as .44 Magnum. (The same goes for the even more powerful Model 1892, another Browning design, but the 92 ceased production in 1941.)
US production was discontinued in 2006. There were 14 versions of the Model 94 in the 2005 Winchester catalog.
The Winchester 1894 holds the record for the best-selling high-powered rifle in US history.[3]
I had no intention of pawning this I found a partial list of serial number dates and apparently not all of them were numbered at least before 1964 after 1964 it looks like they were ordered for the serial number
The old gun shop I bought mine at says mine is, as per the date, a 1961 and there is no serial number or anything that shows it was ground, it was also acid tested for that. Now I have an idea of the veracity of this test.