Winchester ceasing mfg. of rifles

Bondo

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Re: Winchester ceasing mfg. of rifles

Ayuh,......... That's Too Bad..........<br /><br />I've got My Grampy Bond's old model 94 Rifle in .30/.30........<br />Built in '07 with the longer rifle barrel, but the carbine length magazine tube......<br /><br />And, My Dad's model 94 carbine in .32 Special,.... Built just before WWII........<br /><br />Both still Shooting Straight,+ True.............. ;)
 

Boomyal

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Re: Winchester ceasing mfg. of rifles

Sad day for sure. I'm glad I have numberous copies of the American Legend. :(
 

dogsdad

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Re: Winchester ceasing mfg. of rifles

I wouldn't be too surprised to see someone make the business deals necessary to bring the old Winchesters back into production. The first name that comes to mind is Sturm Ruger. Ruger knows how to build stuff and make a profit.
 

heycods

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Re: Winchester ceasing mfg. of rifles

Olin still owns the name, contracts up next year. Im betting Rosi buys it they already make sevral replicias. Yea I hate the deal. USRAC was good to do business with, they treated me right.And made a better quality firearm than Winchester of the late 60s and 70s.
 

dogsdad

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Re: Winchester ceasing mfg. of rifles

Ruger has been very keen to the Cowboy Action Shooting market. My gut tells me they'll jump on the chance to get the rights to manufacture the most famous lever gun of all time (well, some might argue that the Winchester 73 is the most famous, but I'm going to stick my neck out and go with the Winchester 94). Think about it...it surely would go nicely with the Vaquero!
 

heycods

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Re: Winchester ceasing mfg. of rifles

Hey I got a vaquero ss with gold inlaid cyl. If ruger uould buy win. and get me a stainless mod 92 in 32-20 I would be in hogs heaven.
 

JasonB

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Re: Winchester ceasing mfg. of rifles

That really Hoovers. One of my favorite guns is my MDL 94 30/30.
 

dogsdad

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Re: Winchester ceasing mfg. of rifles

Whatever happens, I think it's a pretty safe bet that somebody will leap at the opportunity. I don't think there's any danger that there will be no more 94s produced.
 

mikecjn

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Re: Winchester ceasing mfg. of rifles

My first gun was a model 94 22 magnum. So many memories with that rifle. I got it when I was 9. Now my 9 year old is learning with it. <br />I have many other rifles and shotguns but that model 94 is still my most frequently used.<br />I really hate to see the company halt production. What an end of an era. I would also hate to see the quality go down though.
 

Boomyal

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Re: Winchester ceasing mfg. of rifles

More deer have been slain with Mod 94 winchester 30 30 than all other guns and calibres combined, or so I've heard.<br /><br />You know it just dawned on me why our beloved Aussie Cousins dislike guns so much. They are jealous, 'cause they don't have a 'Winchester' in their national lore. :p Out of all our commonwealth cousins, they are the ones who shoulda had their own 'Winchester'.
 

KilroyJC

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Re: Winchester ceasing mfg. of rifles

Had a Trapper which I traded off about 10 years ago.<br /><br />Just bent some plastic & bought a Ranger - It was the last one in the store!<br /><br />Now a little cosmoline & stash it in the back of the safe...
 

ratracer

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Re: Winchester ceasing mfg. of rifles

Not much of a surprise really, since the assets of USRAC were taken over 20 years ago by the parent company of Browning it seemed that the Winchester line had become sort of the ******* stepchild. <br /><br />I'd be surprised if Smith & Wesson made a move. From everything I've heard the new ownership has done wonders in bringing the company back the prior owners had run it into the ground, but they aren't owned by a large corporate parent with deep pockets.<br /><br />It's a sad day when one sees another American firearms manufacturing plant close shop.
 

rodbolt

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Re: Winchester ceasing mfg. of rifles

not only sad to see yet another american firm close shop but to close shop when producing a quality product.<br /> but like mercury outboards, when brunswick was having trouble giving them non-working things away do ya think the boosted quality? nope they started buy hull manufactueres. now on a lot of hulls you buy it with a merc or not at all.<br />free market at its finest.<br />got a dealer friend that had a boston whaler dealership since the sixties, the first year the whaler was made he became a whaler dealer. he was also OMC. in the early 2000's brunswick bought whaler and said if ya want a whaler ya buy it with a merc. he gave up whaler. was not worth his time to convert to being a black anchor dealer.
 

JB

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Re: Winchester ceasing mfg. of rifles

FN (Belgium) has owned ASRAC for years. They also own Browning. Winchester Repeating Arms, a US owned company, has been gone for many years.<br /><br />I think Rossi or one of the better Japanese gunmakers are both good bets to pick up the Winchester name and continue selected models, probably the John Browning designed 1892 and 1894.<br /><br />There has been a rebirth of interest in the 1886 (also a John Browning design) in recent years because of it's ability to handle the .45-70 and similar big bore rounds (the .45-70 was introduced in 1873).<br /><br />Well, whatever happens, hold on to your Winchesters built by Winchester Repeating Arms.
 

JGREGORY

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Re: Winchester ceasing mfg. of rifles

What's happened is that the US plant is shutting down, Winchester is moving production to Belgium and Japan. They are discontinueing the model 94 & 70 rifles and the 1300 shotgun and all the side by side double barrel shotguns. They are going to continue to make special O/Us and from what the gun desk at cabelas was saying is that they may come back and make comemortive rifles but NOT in the USA. It s^cks I bough my wify a winchester shotgun o/u in the grade they are discontinuing and a model 70 in .243 Even if she doesn't use them that much I have heirlooms for my little girl who loves to go out with here daddy.
 

Limited-Time

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Re: Winchester ceasing mfg. of rifles

Don't know how true this is but, FWIW. I herd from someone in a related industry that the closing of the Winchester plant was a move to break the union. And that a new mfg plant would be built some where down south, Alabama was mentioned.
 
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