I chose the Winchester Model 1894 rifle as
the Weapon of the Fortnight, as it was the rifle used in the firing squad to
shoot dead John Albert Taylor on this date (26 January 1996). I got the
information from Wikipedia.
Winchester Model 1894 (also known as Winchester
.30-30 rifle, Winchester 94, Win 94,, .30-30 Winchester, or simply .30-30) is a
lever-action rifle which became one of the most famous and popular hunting
rifles. It was designed by John Browning in 1894 to chamber rounds loaded with
smokeless powder, 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. The rifles are back in production today,
being made by the Miroku company of Japan and imported into the United States
by the Browning Arms company of Morgan, Utah.
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
Winchester Model 1894 was the first commercial repeating rifle built to be used
with smokeless powder. The 1894 was originally chambered to fire 2 metallic
black powder cartridges, the .32-40 Winchester and .38-55 Winchester. 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
and .30-30 Winchester. The .30-30 Winchester, or .30WCF (Winchester
Centerfire), is the cartridge that has become synonymous with the Model 1894.
Starting in 1901, the Model 1894 was also chambered in .32 Winchester Special.
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 in
the dense forests of the Eastern United States, 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 in 1953.
Variants of the Model 94 over its long history
included the Winchester Model 55, produced from 1924 through 1932 in a 24-inch
(610 mm) barrel, and the Winchester Model 64, produced from 1933 through 1957
in 20, 24, and 26-inch (660 mm) barrel lengths. (Note: The model number 55 was
used twice by Winchester, first as a Model 94 variant introduced in 1924, and,
later, as a short-lived single-shot/auto-eject hybrid .22-caliber rifle that
self-cocked the bolt each time it was fired). From 1964
through 1980, a version of the Model 94 carbine was also sold by Sears as the
Ted Williams 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, these 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 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 manufactured in typical revolver calibers such
as .38 Special/.357 Magnum, .44 Special/.44 Magnum, .45 Colt (or .45 Long
Colt), .38-40 Winchester, and .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 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's toggle-link system, and can easily handle modern high-pressure pistol
cartridges such as .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 shotgun and named the Model 9410.
The Winchester 1894 holds the record for
best-selling high-powered rifle in U.S. history.
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.
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Design changes
In 1964, to save money on production costs,
Winchester ceased machining certain small parts for the Model 94. The new
cartridge lifter was made of stamped sheet metal instead of being machined out of
solid steel, and hollow roll pins were used in the action instead of solid
steel pins. While the rifle's function, safety or accuracy was not adversely
affected, the changes were conspicuous and came as Winchester made far more
fundamental changes to its flagship Model 70 rifle. The changes were widely
reviled at the time, perceived as a retreat from quality production across the
company's whole range, and Winchester's reputation for making quality firearms
was seriously damaged. Winchester would undo many of these short cuts in 1992,
after modern CNC methods of automated production made many of the
originally-machined parts affordable to produce once more. This, however,
proved insufficient to sway public opinion. Many users would only use rifles
made before 1964 (pre '64), and Winchester firearms made before 1964 command a
markedly higher resale value on the gun market to this day.
One of the perceived drawbacks by some users of the
original Model 1894 action in relation to its main competitors, such as the
Marlin Model 336, 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 scope on top of the receiver-the most convenient
location for the shooter-without destroying the function of the gun. 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 of which seriously
degrade the usefulness and availability 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 peep sights
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, the market changed in the years after World War II as telescopic
sights became both easily affordable and widely available. Commercial acceptance
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 an 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 brought another change to the Model 94, from
the long-used half-cock notch safety to a cross-bolt safety like the
aforementioned Marlins. Here again, this conspicuous change was widely reviled
by consumers and gun writers alike as a "lawyer" safety, detracting
from the overall look, feel, and operation of the rifle. 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 production ceased in 2006 and the new Model 94s currently produced in
Japan by Miroku feature these tang-mounted safeties.
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