ARR N
’
LA. -
imarron Firearms
is now offering a
high-quality copy
of the Winchester
Model 1894 lever-
action carbine. It comes with a
round, 20-inch barrel in .30-30
Winchester caliber. But to under-
stand why this is so significant,
we need to look at the original.
In early 1862, Oliver Fisher
Winchester founded the
Winchester Repeating Arms
Company, which went on to pro-
duce the Model 1866 and 1873
lever-action rifles. Legendary
firearms designer John Moses
Browning then designed the
popular Model 1886 and 1892
lever-action rifles for Winchester
before creating the Model 1894
specifically for use with the
new smokeless powder. The
Model 1894 was first offered in
two blackpowder calibers—the
.32-40 and .38-55 Winchester—
before it became available in
the smokeless-powder .30-30
Winchester in 1895.Gaining Steam
John Moses Browning designed
the Model 1894 so it could use
longer centerfire cartridges like
the .30-30, but with an action the
same length as those in previous
Winchester rifles chambered for
the much shorter .32-20, .38-40
and .44-40. To create the .30-30,
Winchester necked down the .38-
55 and loaded it with smokeless
powder, which offered a serious
tactical advantage in a gunfight.
What is known as the Turkey
Creek Canyon shootout is a
perfect example. Following abank robbery, a seven-man posse
tracked the Ketchum Gang to
their camp in Turkey Creek
Canyon in northern New Mexico
on July 16, 1899. The sheriff ’s
posse opened fire on gang mem-
ber Elzy Lay. But fellow gang
member Will Carver had taken
a position high above the posse
on a rocky knoll and opened fire
across the canyon at three posse
members close to 200 yards away.
Carver managed to kill one posse
member and seriously injure two
others. He easily located their
positions by the telltale clouds of
blackpowder smoke from their
rifles, yet the posse couldn’t locate
Carver’s position as he contin-
ued to fire smokeless-powder
cartridges from his Winchester
Model 1894, providing enough
time for the gang to escape.