First lever gun! - Winchester Model 1894 Deluxe

OVERKILL

$100 Site Donor 2021
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Apr 28, 2008
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Ontario, Canada
OK, this is going to be a bit long, because there's a story:

I was born in urban Ontario. My grandparents owned an expansive year-round place in Muskoka (was their cottage, became their retirement home) and my grandfather had several WWII vintage .303's behind the door to his study which my buddy (whose cottage was across the bay) and I used to check out when my grandfather wasn't about. I was always fascinated with firearms (what boy isn't?) and had a pretty decent break-barrel pellet gun around the same time.

We moved down east to an extreme rural location in the early 1990's. My dad bought a very large Cape Cod house (that he later added on to) on a 5 acre parcel that backed onto thousands of acres of marsh. I became fast friends with a guy a year younger than me a couple of doors down and he had a Remington pump .22LR that we'd plink with.

Well, probably around 1997, he was approached about trading a spare weight set he had for a Winchester 30-30. He jumped on the opportunity and he and I were now in possession (under his dad's "supervision") of something with a fair bit more jam than the old .22.

We had setup an old console television in his driving shed on a set of sawhorses and shot it with the .22. The round ricocheted and came back quite near us, scaring the crap out of us. We ducked behind the door/wall of the back porch and fired again. Same result. This presented as a key opportunity to exercise the 30-30, which we had just spent $20.00 on a box of shells for (Winchester brand of course).

Kabloomm! The TV imploded, it was incredible! We were both really stoked and excited about this lever gun and took it down on the marsh to shoot some cans, bottles...etc.

While I've amassed some beautiful rifles over the years, I've somehow managed to skip over another lever gun.

My wife surprised me today with a very high-end version of that particular rifle, chambered in 30-30:
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Price was considerable (north of $2K) because of the finish and being the Deluxe Sporting version. Super excited to try it out when my rib cage finishes healing (LOL!).

Interestingly, this rifle is made in Japan, which I was surprised at. Fit and finish seems to be excellent, we'll see how it shoots!
 
I always wanted another marlin 336 in .35 rem

Still dont have one but cabelas had not 1 but 2 used ones for scalper prices last time I was down there (wheeling wv)
 
Beautiful. I grew up in the deer woods of Pennsylvania and it was always said that the Winchester 94 in turdy turdy killed more deer than any other rifle. None were that nice.

Never warmed up to levers as my grandpa was a pump rifle guy and I've got his Remington 141 in of course .35 Remington.

Nice incentive to do everything right and get better quicker, probably not much you can do about the ribs though.
 
I inherited a gun collection from my brother. Sold some of the handguns. Got a Henry repeating rifle just like this one. I think it is a .40 caliber. NEVER been fired. Has a beautiful handmade Mexican tooled scabbard too. Took it to a gun dealer to sell but after about two weeks he returned it. Told me nobody wanted to pay what it is worth. I'll probably never fire it. Not a huge rifle fan. Have a few collectible shotguns also.

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I think these have been made in Japan for about the last 10 years. I think the Winchester model 70s is now made in Portugal.

Both are high quality rifles.
 
I think these have been made in Japan for about the last 10 years. I think the Winchester model 70s is now made in Portugal.

Both are high quality rifles.
There is a place in Lombardy (Italy) that makes replicas of .45 revolvers and winchesters also of very high quality!
 
Awesome! Congrats!
Ive always wanted one, never bought one. The pistol cartridge lever actions were always too compelling for routine shooting.

And Id be caught between a 30-30 and a 45-70 "guide gun" which I always thought was neat.

But Im a sucker for color case hardening, and that's a beauty! Enjoy, if you can find reasonably priced ammo...
 
Looks like the rifle length, with the 1/2 octagon barrel?

I am partial to that look. I've had 1/2 an eye out for a 1967 Canadian Centennial, preferably 20" with the full octagon barrel. That adds a nice touch.
 
Beautiful rifle and a great gift from your wife. Don't let being made in Japan (Miroku Corp) concern you. Miroku in Japan has been building quality firearms for Browning Arms / Winchester for years. My main hunting rifle is a Browning A-Bolt II in 300 WSM that is extremely well built, handy and a superbly accurate hunting rifle.

Congratulations on a great looking rifle!
 
very nice gift overkill! miroku is indeed an excellent firearms maker.

before the big flu hit i got a new 22lr henry lever action carbine at a very attractive price. it was the gun shop’s floor display model. i wasn’t in the market for it but after noticing its low price and handling it, and thinking it over, i returned the next day for it. being chambered in rimfire it is good to go at a local indoor shooting range. i’m not a hunter so 22lr works for me. too bad that i don’t have a convenient outdoors shooting locale. it is my first and only lever action rifle. i kind of scoffed at the henry advertisements touting their products as the most shooting-fun a civilian can enjoy, but i’m a convert now.

i imagine that a lever action rifle chambered in 22wmr would be an excellent piece for all-around use: still a rimfire for indoor shooting ranges and gun-regulated locales, a handy & fast operating rifle that isn’t “evil-looking” to the nannies, not terribly priced ammo, but with more oomph for small game hunting and protection.
 
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