Braxton Taylor
History
The Winchester Model 94 was another John Browning brainchild, and it has since become one of the most famous lever-action hunting rifles in American history. Its success was due partly to its excellent design, and partly due to its ability to fire the then brand-new smokeless powder cartridges. Smokeless powder could propel a bullet faster than black powder, and the 94 was the first rifle that could handle these higher-pressure cartridges, including the .38/55, the .32/40, and the .30/30.
Incredibly, the Model 94 has been in continuous production since its introduction. Winchester presented the 1,000,000th model to President Calvin Coolidge in 1927, and today the company has sold more than 7.5 million rifles.
As with several of the classic deer rifles in this competition, manufacturing changes make some 94’s more valuable than others. In this case, Winchester’s decision in 1964 to replace billet forged receivers with sintered ones and cut corners on smaller parts make pre-’64 rifles more desirable.
Features
The Model 94 has been offered in a variety of iterations, but original models featured a 26-inch round, octagon, or half-octagon barrel and could hold eight cartridges with one in the chamber. It weighed about 7.75 pounds, making it much lighter than the muzzleloading rifles of the time.
Firearms have come a long way in the last 130 years, but the 94’s classic lines have remained the same. Current production models are fitted with 20- or 24-inch round barrels with seven or eight-round tubular magazines, and weigh between 6.5 and 7.5 pounds. While some models incorporate modern advancements like recoil pads and are drilled and tapped for scope rails, Winchester still offers the classic carbine and rifle models. These also benefit from metallurgical advancements and adjustable rear buckhorn sights, but they retain the straight-gripped stock of the original.
Availability
As of this writing, Winchester lists five 94 models on its website, including the famous Carbine saddle gun along with the rifle-length Sporter. MSRP’s on these rifles range from about $1,200 to about $2,200.
Venturing onto the used market opens up an entirely different can of worms. Some of the most expensive guns ever sold have been highly collectible Model 94s, so if you’re interested in investing in firearms, that’s a potentially lucrative place to start. If you just want to own a 94 for the sake of owning it, and you don’t care too much about investment value, you can pick one up for as little as $900 (with some shopping around). But you’re more likely to pay at least $1,200–if not more.
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