Winchester Model 1894

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A Winchester Rifle, Model of 1894

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 producted at Winchester Repeating Arms Company.

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 1,000,000 units. The millionth Model 1894 was given to President Calvin Coolidge in 1927.

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

In 1964 the manufacturing of the 94 was changed from milled forged steel in the receiver and other major parts to sintered powdered steel. The level of finish was also compromised. Winchester distracted buyers attention from these changes by creating a long line of cosmetically enhanced "commemoratives."

One of the weaknesses of the Model 1894 action in relation to its main competitor, the Marlin Model 336 and Marlin Model 1894, is the fact that it ejects out the top of the receiver, unlike the Model 336 and Marlin 1894, which eject to the side and have a solid top on the receiver. The reason why this is often considered inferior is that a top-ejecting firearm can only mount a scope on the barrel in front of the receiver, degrading the usefulness and availability of scopes. Also, the Model 336 supposedly has a much stronger action as it is solid on the top of the receiver. Winchester alleviated the first problem with an angular ejection, which sends empty shells out flying at an angle between the original Winchester design and the Marlin design. This made it possible to mount more normal scopes in a normal spot on top of the receiver.

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

The Win94 holds the record for best-selling high-powered rifle in U.S. history.^[1]

[edit] Trivia

During Vietnam, the USAF brevity codeword for "out of ammunition" during fighter missions was "Winchester", and remains so to this day.^[2]
IBM 3340 hard disk was known as "Winchester" because its development engineers called it a "30-30" (its two spindles each had a disk capacity of 30 megabytes). Kenneth E. Haughton, who led the 3340 development effort, is reported to have said: "If it's a 30-30, then it must be a Winchester."[1] The term "Winchester" became a common description for sealed-unit hard disks, though generally falling out of use during the 1990s.
Daddy yankee, a famous reggaeton singer used to be nicknamed winchester 30-30 on the 90's.