Winchester Model 1894

Winchester 1894
Type	Lever-action hunting rifle
Land of Origin	United States
Specifications
Length	37.8 in (960 mm)
Barrel length	20 in (508 mm)
Length of pull	13.2 in (335 mm)
Weight	6.8 lb (3.1 kg)
Cartridge	.30-30 Winchester and numerous others
Action	Lever-action
Trigger pull	3 lbs
Rifling/Twist	1:12"
Muzzle velocity	2,490 ft/s (759 m/s)
Feed	6- or 7-round internal tube magazine
Sights	Leaf rear, barleycorn front
Production History
Designer	John Browning
Design Date	1894
Produced	1894-2006
No. Built	7,500,000+

Winchester Model 1894 (also known as Winchester .30-30 rifle, Winchester 94, Win 94,, .30-30 Winchester, or simply .30-30) is one of the most famous and most popular hunting rifles. It was designed by John Browning in 1894, and was produced by Winchester Repeating Arms Company through 1980 and then by U.S. Repeating Arms under the Winchester brand until they ceased to manufacture rifles in 2006. In 2010 FN Herstal reintroduced the Model '94 as a limited production firearm.

The Model 1894 has been referred to as the "ultimate lever-action design" by firearms historians such as RL Wilson and Hal Herring. The Model 1894 is the rifle credited with the name "Winchester" being used to refer to all rifles of this type and was the first commercial sporting rifle to sell over 7,000,000 units.

Overview

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 sporting rifle to sell over 7,000,000 units. The millionth Model 1894 was given to President Calvin Coolidge in 1927, the 1½ millionth rifle to President Harry S. Truman on May 8, 1948 and the two millionth unit was given to President Dwight Eisenhower in 1953.

It was the first hunting rifle chambered for the then-new smokeless powder cartridges. The .30-30 Winchester is the cartridge that has become synonymous with the Model 1894 rifle.

The Winchester 1894 was designed to permit the cycling of longer cartridges than the Winchester 1892 carbines could permit. When the lever is pulled down, it brings the bottom of the receiver with it, opening up more space and allowing a longer cartridge to feed without making the receiver longer. The mechanism is complex but very reliable. Complete stripping of the action is a multi-stage task that must be accomplished in precise sequence. However it is rarely necessary to completely strip the action. The largest cartridge that the 1894 action can accommodate is the .450 Marlin, which was chambered in some custom rifles and the short-lived Timber Carbine on a beefed-up 1894 "big bore" receiver.

Decades after the Winchester 1892 was phased out, the Winchester 1894 Models were also manufactured in typical handgun calibers such as .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 is able to hold 9 to 13 rounds of the previously mentioned handgun calibers. The magazine capacity depends on the length of the barrel, as the tube magazine (located below the barrel) typically covers the entire length of the barrel.

Handgun calibers are preferred by modern day Cowboy Action Shooters as it allows one type of ammunition for both rifle and handgun. A typical combination would be an 1873 Colt (Colt Peacemaker or clone) and a Winchester (or another lever action made by, for example, Uberti or Marlin Firearms) capable of shooting the same type of ammunition. The 1894 action, designed for smokeless rifle rounds, is much stronger than the action of the Winchesters (Models 1866, 1873, 1876) that were based on Benjamin Henry's toggle-link system, and can easily handle modern high-pressure pistol cartridges such as .44 Magnum. (So also can the even stronger Model 1892, another Browning design, the '92 ceased production in 1941 and has been recently reintroduced in limited production).

U.S. production was shut down in 2006. There were 14 versions of the Model 94 in the 2005 Winchester catalog.

The Winchester 1894 holds the record for best-selling high-powered rifle in U.S. history.

In 2010 Winchester Repeating Arms will reintroduce the model 94. "It will be offered in two Limited Edition models that will commemorate the 200th anniversary of Oliver F. Winchester's birth in New England in 1810. A Model 1894 Custom Grade and Model 1894 High Grade will be offered in 30-30 Winchester caliber....Delivery of these two commemorative rifles will begin starting in the 2nd quarter of 2010. Both models have 8 round magazine capacity, 42" overall length, 10" rate of twist with average weight at 8 lbs. The Model 1894 Custom Grade rifle has a Suggested Retail of $1,959.00. The Model 1894 High Grade rifle Suggested Retail is $1,469.00."

Criticisms

One of the drawbacks of the Model 1894 action in relation to its main competitors, such as the Marlin Model 336 and Marlin Model 1894 is that the Winchester ejects cartridges from the top of the receiver and over the user's shoulder, unlike the Marlins, which eject to the side and have solid top receivers. The reason this is sometimes considered a drawback is that a top-ejecting firearm cannot mount a scope on top of the receiver, but instead must mount it either on the barrel in front of the receiver or offset to the side, degrading the usefulness and availability of a scope.

Winchester alleviated the top ejection issue with an angular ejection change that was implemented on later model rifles (early 1980s), which eject empty shells out at an angle between the original Winchester design and the Marlin design. This change in ejection angle made it possible to mount scopes in a more normal position on top of the receiver. The mid 1990s brought a change from the long-used half-cock notch safety to a cross-bolt safety like the aforementioned Marlins. Many longtime users, however, prefer the original half-cock notch safety design over the newer cross-bolt "lawyer" safety. The last Winchester 94s to leave the New Haven factory before production ceased in 2006 had tang-mounted safeties.

1964

In 1964 the manufacturing of the 94 was changed in order to make the firearm less expensive to produce. Generally "pre-64" rifles command a premium price over post-64 rifles.

By the early 1960s the production costs of the traditional Model 94, with all of its forged steel parts, had risen dramatically. Winchester executives realized that soon the Model 94 would have to be priced beyond the reach of the average hunter. This is exactly the fate that befell the classic Mannlicher-Schoenauer carbine, and eventually spelled its doom.

To save the Model 94 and restore a reasonable profit margin, Winchester redesigned the action for cheaper manufacture, substituting stamped sheet metal and roll pins for parts previously machined from forged steel. The steel buttplate became plastic and a less durable metal finish was substituted for the traditional bluing. The new guns still worked and shot just fine despite their aesthetic flaws, but the credibility of the Model 94 took a serious hit, and examples manufactured prior to the 1964 changes became instant classics.

Most of the shortcomings of the post 1963 Model 94s were eventually corrected, but the pre '64 versions remain the most desirable of all Winchester Model 94s.

Winchester vs Marlin design

One of the drawbacks of the Model 1894 action in relation to its main competitors, the Marlin Model 336 and Marlin Model 1894, is that it ejects out the top of the receiver, unlike the Marlins, which eject to the side and have solid top receivers. The reason this is sometimes considered a drawback is that a top-ejecting firearm cannot mount a scope on top of the receiver, but instead must mount it either on the barrel in front of the receiver or offset to the side, degrading the usefulness and availability of a scope. In contrast, some users prefer not to scope a rifle best suited for use at ranges of 50 to less than 125 yards, to reduce carrying weight, and to retain the ability to acquire game sight pictures more quickly while firing at moving game.

Winchester alleviated the top ejection issue with an angular ejection change that was implemented on later model rifles (early 1980s), which eject empty shells out at an angle between the original Winchester design and the Marlin design. This change in ejection angle made it possible to mount scopes in a more normal position on top of the receiver. Many shooters however see this as the beginning of the ruination of the rifle. The mid 1990s brought a change from the long-used half-cock notch safety to a cross-bolt safety like the aforementioned Marlins. Many longtime users, however, prefer the original half-cock notch safety design over the newer cross-bolt "lawyer" safety. The last Winchester 94s to leave the New Haven factory before production ceased in 2006 had tang-mounted safeties.

In 2008 Mossberg released its Model 464 in .30-30 Winchester, which outwardly bears an uncanny resemblance to Winchester's Model 94. It combines features from both Winchester and Marlin designs, while introducing several design elements of its own.

Resources

Gun Owners' Resource has the following relevant documents available for free download for the Winchester Model 1894 and/or its variants:

• Winchester 94 Manual - 716KB, 32 pgs

The following diagrams are also available for reference:

• 

  Exploded Winchester 94, no parts list

See also

• Colt Lightning Carbine
• Winchester rifle

External links

• Winchester Model 1894 Classic Gun Review by Chuck Hawks
• Winchester Pre '64 Model 94 Classic Gun Review by Chuck Hawks
• Winchester 1894 Legacy review by Jeff Quinn
• Winchester History and Serial Numbers by Thomas Wagner