The Winchester Model 1894 rifle (also known as the Winchester 94 or Model 94) is a

lever-action The toggle-link action used in the iconic Winchester Model 1873 rifle, one of the most famous lever-action firearms Lever-action is a type of action for repeating firearms that uses a manually operated cocking handle located around the trigger g ...

repeating rifle that became one of the most famous and popular

hunting rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with bo ...

s of all time. It was designed by John Browning in 1894 and originally chambered to fire two metallic black powder cartridges, the .32-40 Winchester and

.38-55 Winchester The .38-55 Winchester cartridge (actually .3775 caliber), also known as .38-55 WCF and .38-55 Ballard, was introduced in 1876 by Ballard. It was used by Marlin Firearms from 1875 on for various single-shot target rifles and their 1893 lever-acti ...

. It was the first rifle to chamber the smokeless powder round, the .30 WCF (Winchester Center Fire, in time becoming known as the .30-30) in 1895. In 1901 Winchester created the new

.32 Winchester Special The .32 Winchester Special (or .32 WS) is a rimmed cartridge created in October 1901 for use in the Winchester Model 94 lever-action rifle. It is similar in name but unrelated to the .32-20 Winchester cartridge (which is also known as .32 WCF). ...

caliber with production of rifles starting in 1902. The 1894 was produced by the

Winchester Repeating Arms Company The Winchester Repeating Arms Company was a prominent American manufacturer of repeating firearms and ammunition. The firm was established in 1866 by Oliver Winchester and was located in New Haven, Connecticut. The firm went into receivership ...

through 1980 and then by U.S. Repeating Arms under the Winchester brand until they ceased manufacturing rifles in 2006. Reproductions are being made by the Miroku company of Japan and imported into the United States by the Browning Arms company of

Morgan, Utah Morgan is a city in the U.S. state of Utah and the county seat of Morgan County. It is part of the Ogden-Clearfield metropolitan area. It is named after Jedediah Morgan Grant, a leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who ser ...

. The Model 1894 has been referred to as the "ultimate lever-action design" by firearms historians such as R. L. 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. One Model 1894 is on display at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

in the Arms & Armor department.

Overview

The Winchester Model 1894 was the first commercial American repeating rifle built to be used with

smokeless powder Finnish smokeless powderSmokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearms and artillery that produces less smoke and less fouling when fired compared to gunpowder ("black powder"). The combustion products are mainly gaseous, compared t ...

. The 1894 was originally chambered to fire 2 metallic black powder cartridges, the .32-40 Winchester and

. In 1895 Winchester went to a different steel composition for rifle manufacturing that could handle higher pressure rounds and offered the rifle in

.25-35 Winchester The .25-35 Winchester Center Fire was introduced in 1895 by Winchester for the Winchester Model 1894. Together with the .30-30 Winchester, it was one of the earliest smokeless cartridges designed in North America for a sporting rifle. Savage ado ...

and

.30-30 Winchester The .30-30 Winchester/.30 Winchester Center Fire cartridge was first marketed in 1895 for the Winchester Model 1894 lever-action rifle. Starting in 1899, the Model 1894 was also chambered in

. The Model 94's combination of potent firepower in a compact, lightweight, comfortable-to-carry, and quick-shooting package has made it an extremely popular hunting rifle, particularly for

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...

in the dense forests of the

Eastern United States The Eastern United States, commonly referred to as the American East, Eastern America, or simply the East, is the region of the United States to the east of the Mississippi River. In some cases the term may refer to a smaller area or the East C ...

, where most game is killed at relatively short distances. As a result, 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 D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

in 1953. The United States government purchased 1,800 commercial Model 1894s with 50,000 .30-30 cartridges during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. These rifles in the 835800 to 852500 serial number range were marked atop the receiver ring with a flaming bomb and "U.S." The rifles were intended for

United States Army Signal Corps The United States Army Signal Corps (USASC) is a branch of the United States Army that creates and manages communications and information systems for the command and control of combined arms forces. It was established in 1860, the brainchild of Ma ...

personnel stationed in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...

to prevent labor strike actions from interrupting manufacture of Sitka spruce lumber for framing the

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraf ...

and wings of military aircraft. The rifles were sold as military surplus after the war. To release

Lee–Enfield The Lee–Enfield or Enfield is a bolt-action, magazine-fed repeating rifle that served as the main firearm of the military forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth during the first half of the 20th century, and was the British Army's sta ...

rifles for infantry use, the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

purchased approximately 5,000 .30-30 caliber Model 94 rifles in 1914 for shipboard guard duty and mine-clearing. France purchased 15,100 Model 1894 carbines equipped with sling swivels on the left side of the buttstock and barrel band, and with metric gradations on the No. 44A rear sight. These French carbines were issued to motorcycle couriers, artillery troops,

trench railway Trench railways represented military adaptation of early 20th-century railway technology to the problem of keeping soldiers supplied during the static trench warfare phase of World War I. The large concentrations of soldiers and artillery at the f ...

personnel, and some balloon units. Some of these rifles acquired Belgian proofmarks when sold as surplus through Belgium. Examples captured from the United Kingdom by the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

were designated the Gewehr 248(e). RifleWinchester

The Winchester 1894 was used again in World War II in the hands of the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

Pacific Coast Militia Rangers who were issued them to defend the west coast of Canada from Japanese invaders. Winchester '94s were also provided to the British Home Guard in the early years of WWII. The Model 94 over its long history included the Winchester Model 55, produced from 1924 through 1932 in a barrel, and the Winchester Model 64, produced from 1933 through 1957 in 20, 24, and barrel lengths. From 1964 through 1980, a version of the Model 94 carbine was also sold by

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

as the

Ted Williams Theodore Samuel Williams (August 30, 1918 – July 5, 2002) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, primarily as a left fielder, for the Boston Red Sox from 1 ...

Model 100, as part of Sears' marketing arrangement with both Winchester and the retired baseball star. In mid-1964, the manufacturing of the 94 was changed in order to make the firearm less expensive to produce. Generally referred to as "pre-64" models, the earlier versions command a premium price over post-change rifles. The limited number of early-1964 production models produced prior to the changeover are considered quite desirable, as they are considered by many to represent the ending of an era. The Winchester 1894's design allowed 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 multistage 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 The .450 Marlin is a firearms cartridge designed as a modernized equivalent to the .45-70 cartridge. It was designed by a joint team of Marlin and Hornady engineers headed by Hornady's Mitch Mittelstaedt, and was released in 2000, with cartri ...

, 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 manufactured in typical revolver calibers such as

.38 Special The .38 Special, also commonly known as .38 S&W Special (not to be confused with .38 S&W), .38 Smith & Wesson Special, .38 Spl, .38 Spc, (pronounced "thirty-eight special"), or 9x29mmR is a rimmed, centerfire cartridge designed by Smith & ...

.357 Magnum The .357 Smith & Wesson Magnum, .357 S&W Magnum, .357 Magnum, or 9×33mmR as it is known in unofficial metric designation, is a smokeless powder cartridge with a bullet diameter. It was created by Elmer Keith, Phillip B. Sharpe, and Douglas B. ...

.44 Special The .44 Smith & Wesson Special, also commonly known as .44 S&W Special, .44 Special, .44 Spl, .44 Spc, (pronounced "forty-four special"), or 10.9x29mmR is a smokeless powder center fire metallic revolver cartridge developed by Smith & Wesson in 1 ...

/ .44 Magnum,

.45 Colt The .45 Colt (11.43×33mmR), is a rimmed, straight-walled, handgun cartridge dating to 1872. It was originally a black-powder revolver round developed for the Colt Single Action Army revolver. This cartridge was adopted by the U.S. Army in 1 ...

.38-40 Winchester The .38-40 Winchester is actually a .40 caliber (10 mm) cartridge shooting .401" (10.2 mm) caliber bullets. The cartridge was introduced by Winchester in 1874 and is derived from their .44-40 Winchester. This cartridge was introduced f ...

, and

.44-40 Winchester The .44-40 Winchester, also known as .44 Winchester, .44 WCF (Winchester Center Fire), and .44 Largo (in Spanish-speaking countries) was introduced in 1873 by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. It was the first metallic centerfire cartridge m ...

. Typically, the tube magazine is able to hold 9 to 13 rounds of these handgun calibers. The magazine capacity depends on the length of the barrel, as the under barrel tube magazine 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 The Colt Single Action Army (also known as the SAA, Model P, Peacemaker, or M1873) is a single-action revolver handgun. It was designed in 1872 for the U.S. government service revolver trials of 1872 by Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Co ...

or clone) and a Winchester 1894 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 Benjamin Tyler Henry (March 22, 1821 – June 8, 1898) was an American gunsmith and manufacturer. He was the inventor of the Henry rifle, the first reliable lever-action repeating rifle. Henry was born in Claremont, New Hampshire in 1821. H ...

's toggle-link system, and can easily handle modern high-pressure revolver cartridges such as the .44 Magnum. From 1984 to 1997, the Model 94 angle eject 20" barreled carbine and 24" barreled XTR rifle were offered in 7-30 Waters (an improved .30-30 case necked down to a 7mm bullet). In 2003, the rifle was offered in

.410 The .410 bore is one of the smallest caliber of shotgun shell commonly available (along with the 9mm Flobert rimfire cartridge, and the less common .22 rimfire shot shell). A .410 bore shotgun loaded with shot shells is well suited for small ...

shotgun and named the Model 9410. As of 1983, the Winchester 1894 holds the record for best-selling high-powered rifle in U.S. history.Wallack, LR. "Sixty Million Guns". 1983. In ''Gun Digest Treasury'', Harold A. Murtz, editor, DBI Books. 1994 p. 190 U.S. production ceased in 2006. At the time there were 14 versions of the Model 94 in the Winchester catalog. In 2010 Winchester Repeating Arms reintroduced the model 94 in two Limited Edition models to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Oliver F. Winchester's birth in New England in 1810.

Design changes

Three major changes have been made in the design and construction of the Winchester 1894 since World War II, all tied to major shifts in Winchester's corporate leadership and direction. The first and largest came in 1964, after the 1963 resignation of gun enthusiast John M. Olin from the presidency of the company he founded,

Olin Corporation Olin Corporation is an American manufacturer of ammunition, chlorine, and sodium hydroxide. The company traces its roots to two companies, both founded in 1892: Franklin W. Olin's Equitable Powder Company and the Mathieson Alkali Works. Olin che ...

. The second came in 1982, after Olin's 1981 sale of the Winchester factory to its employees, who formed the U.S. Repeating Arms Company (USRAC). The third in 1992, after the 1989 bankruptcy of USRAC and its subsequent purchase by FN Herstal, which sought to market Winchester guns worldwide.

1964

Upon Olin's retirement, Olin Corporation's new chief executives sought to maximize company profitability, giving corporate preference to its flourishing chemical business over gun production, which was unprofitable and labor-intensive. As a result, Winchester ceased machining both the receiver and many small parts of the Model 94 out of solid steel billet as of 1964. Sintered steel was used on the receiver, stamped sheet metal for the cartridge lifter, and hollow rather than solid steel roll pins used in the action. While the rifle's function, safety, and accuracy were not adversely affected, the changes—in particular the sintered receiver, which was as strong as its solid-steel predecessor but which did not respond well to a traditional blued finish—were conspicuous and came as Winchester made even more fundamental changes to its flagship Model 70

bolt-action Bolt-action is a type of manual firearm action that is operated by ''directly'' manipulating the bolt via a bolt handle, which is most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the weapon (as most users are right-handed). Most bolt-action ...

rifle. Taken together, they were seen as a retreat from quality production across the company's whole range, seriously damaging Winchester's reputation for making quality firearms in the process. In response, many sought out rifles made before 1964, (pre '64), which command a markedly higher resale value on the gun market to this day.

1982

One of the drawbacks of the original Model 1894 action in relation to competitors like the

Marlin Model 336 The Marlin Model 336 is a lever-action rifle and carbine made by Marlin Firearms. Since its introduction in 1948, it has been offered in a number of different calibers and barrel lengths, but is commonly chambered in .30-30 Winchester or .35 ...

was that the Winchester ejects cartridges from the top of the receiver and over the user's shoulder, rather than to the side. A top-ejecting firearm cannot mount a telescopic scope on top of the receiver—the most convenient location for the shooter—without interfering with cartridge ejection. A scope for such a firearm must instead be mounted either far forward on the barrel (where it must be specifically designed for the purpose), or offset to the side of the gun (which creates problems due to parallax). Both options seriously degrade the usefulness of a scope for such a rifle. This was not a major concern when the gun was originally designed; the most common upgrade to guns of the pre–World War II era was the installation of a peep sight to the rear of the receiver, which maximized the accuracy potential of the factory-installed iron sights. Winchester had long had mounting holes pre-drilled in the receiver of the gun to accommodate such a modification, and it was by far the most common upgrade installed on the Model 94 for most of its history. Nevertheless, consumer tastes changed in the years after World War II as high quality scopes became both widely available and affordable. Commercial acceptance of the new scopes was likewise rapid, and by the 1970s the ability to use receiver-mounted scopes on hunting rifles had become expected by most gun buyers. With the competition able to mount scopes on its receivers without difficulty, this shortcoming was blamed for falling sales. In response, Winchester changed the design of the action in 1982 to angled cartridge ejection, which ejects fired cartridges at an angle that allows the rifle to function while fitted with a conventional receiver-mounted scope.

1992

Despite these changes, U.S. Repeating Arms did not flourish, declaring bankruptcy in 1989. It was subsequently purchased by Belgian arms maker FN Herstal, which set about improving the whole Winchester line, instituting modern

CNC Numerical control (also computer numerical control, and commonly called CNC) is the automated control of machining tools (such as drills, lathes, mills, grinders, routers and 3D printers) by means of a computer. A CNC machine processes a p ...

methods of production at Winchester's factory while also seeking to expand the sales and marketing of Winchester rifles worldwide. This effort would culminate in two major changes to the gun in 1992: the reintroducing of now-CNC-machined parts and solid pins back into the action, and the elimination of the traditional half-cock safety notch on the hammer in favor of a cross-bolt safety, which enabled the gun to be sold internationally. Though the increase in build quality was noted at the time, it was the conspicuous presence of the new safety that generated the strongest opinions. It was widely reviled by American consumers and gun writers alike as a "lawyer" safety, who said it detracted from the overall look, feel, and operation of the rifle. FNH and Winchester responded in 2003 by moving the safety to the tang behind the receiver, which largely quelled the controversy. Both the last Model 94s to leave the New Haven factory before American production ceased in 2006 and the new Model 94s produced in Japan since 2010 by Miroku Corp. feature these tang-mounted safeties.

References

External links

Manual

by Chuck Hawks

by Chuck Hawks

by Jeff Quinn
Winchester Lever Action Development: Model 1894
* {{Winchester Cartridges Firearms Rifles of the United States Lever-action rifles .357 Magnum firearms .44 Magnum firearms .45 Colt firearms Winchester Repeating Arms Company firearms Carbines