Winchester Model 1894

Landmark model

Specifications

Maker: Winchester
Type: Rifle
Action: Lever action
Era: Classic (1890–1945)
Produced: 1894–
Magazine: 6 rounds
Swedish class: 2

Chambered in

.30-30 Winchester
.32 Winchester Special
.38-55 Winchester

Stock

Wood

What it is worth

$445–$1,375

Well-worn to unfired · priced 2026-08-05

Blue Book of Gun Valuesvalue guide$755–$1,375 2026-08-05
Blue Book of Gun Valuesvalue guide$445–$805 2026-08-05

Indicative only. A second-hand gun is worth what its condition, chambering and provenance say — these are published figures, not an offer.

Chapter 01

Overview

John Browning designed the Model 1894 for the first generation of smokeless cartridges, and it became the best-selling sporting rifle ever made — over seven million of them. For most of the twentieth century, "deer rifle" in North America meant this gun in .30-30.

Chapter 02

How it works

A lever-worked vertically sliding locking block, a tubular magazine under the barrel, and a receiver flat enough to carry all day. The tube is why .30-30 loads still wear flat or soft points: pointed bullets sitting nose-to-primer in a tube magazine are a bad idea.

Chapter 03

Variants

Carbine and rifle lengths, the pre-1964 guns that collectors chase, and a top-eject receiver that fought scopes until the angle-eject change in 1982 finally made one easy to mount.

Chapter 04

In the field

Woods and thick cover, inside about 150 metres, where a light rifle that comes up fast beats a flat-shooting one. It is a hard gun to argue with on a still-hunt and an awkward one on an open hillside.

Sources

Written from: Winchester Model 1894 — Wikipedia — read 2026-08-05

Cross-reference