Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors Model 54 30 WCF

I figure it’s more likely to be seen here than in classifieds and less likely to get scam replies. I would love to find a shooter grade Model 54 in 30-30. If you have one or find out about one for sale somewhere please let me know.

A 54 in 30-30 with a Lyman or redfield peep just seems like a fun little rifle to take out walking.

I've seen them. Kind of unique. I also saw a cool rifle the other day, almost along the same lines. A walnut stocked 788 in 30-30. It was very clean. Almost looked new. It was a strange rifle though, had target apertures front and rear and a long barrel. Now, that one would be fun as hell to shoot. Good luck with your search. Maybe look at gunsinternational.

BSA mind telling me where you saw that 788 in 30-30? I am interested if you are not.

I may go there again tomorrow and look it over a little better. The last 788 I had, had trigger issues. I bought a rifle there about 2 weeks ago. They are always great to deal with. I'll ask them if they ship firearms. I don't think they do though.

Got to use one for a few years. Though I mounted a steel Lyman receiver sight on it, it just didn't look right. A big sharp lump on the back of the receiver. Went back to the factory flat top 2 bladed barrel sight and did well with it. I competed in local off hand matches with it and won my share. Well-worn it was, but without a doubt a dream to carry. Pointed like a finger. I could easily wrap my hand around the receiver so carrying it was pleasant. I killed an elk and deer with it plus a few smaller critters. I let a man finish off a bison with it. I tried to buy it from the owner but no go.

I shot my F in laws last year. Great rifle and very accurate. Once you get use to the 54s triggers they shoot very good

Thanks BSA!

There is just something about a bolt action chambered for a 30-30 cartridge. Seems like a red headed step child to me, but they are intriguing. I remember seeing an old Mossberg 30-30 bolt action at a shop. I went home to look it up and when I went back, it was gone!!! A model 54 would be cool. Wonder how that cartridge functions in a bolt action? I can see a CRF maybe working better than a push feed. Keechi Kid, if you end up finding one, please post pics!!

Last couple gunshows a guy has 25-35 in one for sale. It’s a legit model 54 25-35 the bad it’s not in the original stock. But barreled action is unmolested. See if he’s at the next show I might grab it this time. According to the record only a handful were made. Finding a stock will be the hard part.

I don’t have one but, what does the fire say a decent 54 in 30-30 with a non factory receiver sight worth?

I have a number of 30-30 lever rifles. They all work well up close with pigs with no recoil. I recognize objectively there is no reason to think a 30-30 performs any better just because you are up close than say my 20” barreled model 70 in 30-06. However, it just seems to hit the right sweet spot at close range of just enough power without being obnoxious. While my 94’s are quick handling, I just like a bolt action better.

So lots of words to say it shouldn’t be the optimal package for anything, but it still sounds like a combo I have to try at least once in this life.

I see 54s in 3030 listed at 1200-1400.

I've got a 54 in 30-W.C.F. and it is a dedicated cast bullet gun. When I got it forty years ago the first thing I did was mount a Unertl target scope. It averages probably 1.5 MOA five shot groups at 100 yards. I've never shot a jacketed bullet through it.

I can assure you that Winchester got it right with this rifle! My 30WCF feeds so smoothly that I have been known to open the bolt to make sure the cartridge was picked up from the magazine. I own both a Krag and a Mannlicher-Schoenauer (famous for their smooth actions) and this M54 is pretty dang close to them. The Lyman 48 and long sight radius with the 24" barrel makes for some fine shooting even considering my 74 yr old eyes.

I have considered selling mine because of my poor vision but, at least to this point, I'm hanging in there with it! I'd love to take at least one deer with it using my home cast PC'ed bullets. No deer offered itself up for sacrifice while I was carrying it this past season.

Cast bullets and a 30-30 bolt do make a nice combo.

That is a really cool rifle! I just bought a 788 30-30, the one I mentioned earlier. It’s set up like a target rifle. There was a bunch of reloading components and die sets, and a couple boxes of factory ammo, scope mounts, rings. Etc, etc. rifle in new contrition, also came with targets shot by original owner. I’m hoping I will be able to shoot it as well as he did!!

I had an older buddy by the name of Stony Miller he was raised on the south end of the Warm Springs Indian reservation got his start in Law enforcement for the tribal police their. Anyhow he took a job with malhuer County sherif department late 89-90 he was down in Jordan valley and he told me about guys showing up to rifle matches in eastern oregon in the 80’s early 90’s with these no frills 788 and beating guys with high end bench rifles. I wonder if the rifle you have was one of these rifles my friend was talking about. I want to say he was down in that country 90-92 time frame maybe earlier.

I wouldn't give up my M54 .30-30 for anything. Mine too has been a strictly cast bullet shooter since I acquired it. Favorite hunting load is 28gr. 3031 + 190 grain soft cast FN bullet, for a chrono'ed 2000fps at the muzzle. With its Lyman 48 it'll do around 1 1/2 MOA, and with the Fecker 16x on it I can realistically expect to knock a 1/2MOA off that, with enough smaller groups mixed in on rare occasions to keep me coming back for more. For as much fun I load a variety of lighter cast bullets with varying powders - the .30-30 is a most versatile cartridge.

They feed very reliably.The magazine follower is shaped a little differently from the standard followers with an uphill angle built into it to stack the rimmed cartridges correctly, there's a spacer block behind the follower to create a magazine box tailored to the shorter cartridge, and the rearward travel of the bolt is shortened to match the .30-30 cartridge length too, but the bolt face is configured much the same as the others as is the extractor claw (in fact I had to replace my extractor because a previous owner had filed on it for some dumb reason, and a new old stock M54 .30-06 extractor works perfectly without altering it). The bolt picks up cartridges out of the magazine flawlessly and the controlled round feed aspect is the same as with its rimless brothers. Note also the barrel breeching is different than on the rimless versions: it's a flat faced breech instead of a coned breech.

Given the choice between comparable quality M54 and 788 .30-30's I would take the M54 in a heartbeat, as good as the 788 is it ain't no Winchester 54.

Cool info John. This rifle doesn't look like it's been shot much. However, he had reloading data and info on the rifle from 1985-1994, and maybe even 2020. I'll start a thread in the hunting rifle forums, where guys can mock/criticize it. I'll probably throw a scope on it to see what it can really do, then after load development, I'll go back to the target sights. The rifle came with a schidt ton of stuff, including a Canjar set trigger. It's a beauty. I'll post pics in a different thread.

Hard to beat a nice M54 in any caliber