No More Winchester 70's, 94's or 1300's

[buffalohunter]

USRA is discontinuing the manfacture of the Winchester model 70, model 94 rifles and 1300 pump shotguns. I can't believe it. These guns were the cornerstone of the company. Looks to me that they must be in financial trouble. The parent European company that owns Browning and USRA made the decision.

 

[beerslurpy]

Not enough new sales? There is a model 94 in my parent's house that I have owned for about 14 years. It is a neat gun, but I never really liked using it. The tube magazine system sucked, it had the ergonomics of an oar, it ejected straight up so you couldnt use a scope, it couldnt shoot anything but flat tipped bullets and I didnt trust the odd safety system. The gun was a pain in the ass for so many reasons.

Compare the SKS:
-cheaper
-slightly better ergonomics
-cheaper ammo
-better ballistics
-almost as good terminal effect
-quicker to reload

Wont even get into all the milsurp enfields, mausers and mosins that are floating around with loads of hunting ammo available.

 

[375H&H]

This is the kind of news that the anti-gunners love to hear! And we gun buyers have nobody to blame but ourselves. We buy foreign-made firearms without a second thought of the consequences. I am proud to say that I ONLY own firearms that are MADE IN USA. I can think of no application where a quality made-in-usa firearm is not available to fill the need. Actually the anti-gunners may have inadvertantly done us a favor several years ago when there was a ban on the importation of certain firearms. This actually helped the USA firearms manufacturers stay in business. I own three Winchesters, all made in New Haven, CT. I am very happy with the quality, fit, finish, & operation. What a shame that they are closing the New Haven, CT plant. By the way, there are "Winchester" knives being marketed that are made in China. Please do not buy these. Also, they will continue to sell "Winchester" firearms that are made in Japan. PLEASE do not buy these!

 

[ziadel]

I own a winchester.
And a Henry
ANd a mossberg
and a couple remingtons
and a ruger

my pistol is a springer, so I guess that counts as american, kinda. the CETME is from CAI, so I guess thats american too.

I dont think I own one really foreign firearm.

buy american man.

 

[beerslurpy]

Well how many cars from 100 years ago are still sold today? Winchester never moved away from the weapons it was originally manufacturing in the 19th century, nor did it attempt to significantly improve them. Marlin has been beating Winchester's ass in the levergun genre for nearly 2 decades now.

There are only like a century of these guns in circulation. Did Winchester imagine that people would just keep stockpiling their guns? There is no danger of me buying a japanese winchester because I already have all the winchesters I could ever want.

And FYI I do buy mostly from american manufactureers. I have bought guns from S&W and Kel-Tec. My russian made saiga12 was mostly remade by Tromix. My Arsenal AK was mostly made in Colorado by Arsenal USA. The scope on my tikka is made by leupold. Oh yeah, and the guns I got in high school were a ruger and the aforementioned winchester model 94. I have since turned my back on Ruger for being anti-gun (irony of ironies) and on winchester because they dont actually offer any products I consider worth buying.

The simple truth is that:
-there has to be a legal market for what you are selling
-people have to want it
-you have to improve your product over time so that it isnt overtaken by better products in the same genre

A major problem for american gun manufacturers is that many of the new designs and concepts in weapons are ILLEGAL for civilians to own and almost completely illegal to experiment with. John Moses Browning would have been arrested by the ATF and put in jail for decades if he were alive today. So you have a major barrier to innovation and to selling products in this country. So foreign manufacturers with government support are beating us. FN has replaced a significant portion of the domestic military type weapons manufacturing business.

 

[dakotasin]

we're getting too simplistic here... it isn't a matter of buying american or whatever. the consumer decides who stays and who goes. winchester produced a very average gun, and tried to sell it for a price premium. consumers didn't like that, so they bought other brands (eg, i have a few dozen rifles, every one is american made, but only 3 say 'winchester' - the bulk of them say 'remington'). the japanese gun industry didn't drive winchester out. american shooters and hunters did, by buying remingtons and savages by the truckload, leaving winchester out in the cold.

all that said, i'm sad to see winchester go, and it can't be good for the gun industry as a whole or american gun companies, but... winchester simply did not make enough gun for the money. a better gun, or a more competitive price would have had savage and remington scratching their heads... fwiw, now is your chance to watch remington do the same exact thing... they are raising their prices every year (as everybody is), but remington is raising the prices faster than most, and producing the same gun. they are doing the same exact thing winchester did. somehow, i don't see remington being around much longer as we now know them unless they reverse the trend - savage is gojng to clean their clock.

 

[M.E.Eldridge]

I also find it extremely interesting when folks brag about owning only quality made in the US guns. They often say that it helps support American jobs,keep jobs here and help our economy. However, how many out there buy only American made clothing or electronics? That isn't to say that I don't buy American guns. I have and they were good, dependable and a good value. The American companies I've bought from are Marlin,Savage and NEF. They represent a true value in the gun industry. I like my Springfield G.I. and it's frame isn't U.S. made.

The sad fact is that almost nothing is made completely in the U.S. Think about it. Somewhere along the line these guns use foreign goods. The computers that designed them were probably made in Japan or China. Same for the machinery that made them. And were the steel and wood or fiberglass stocks completely American? If not then its not 'made' in the U.S. It's assembled here.

In my opinion Winchester had it coming. They insisted on marketing the same old thing and expected everyone to eat it up. When they made efforts to make advances in the gun industry, they made things like the WSM and WSSM cartridges.

 

[mtboho]

I am left handed

So I really like the model 94 for shooting at the range, I hate to see it go. they doubled the prices of all the 94, 70 and 1300 models around here and sold out. Really sticks it too ya.