You will have to wait and see.Model 12 seen here in the hands of a Marine in the Pacific during WWII. Winchester Repeating Arms continues to add new models and variations of the entire historic line of Winchesters. With the help of the Winchester Repeating Arms R&D team, many devoted employees at the Morgan, Utah office and with the skills of the team at Miroku, Japan, the dream became reality. It was not thought that this legendary rifle would ever bear the Winchester inscription again. Reintroduction of the Winchester Model 73,: The Gun That Won The West. With the reintroduction of the Model 94, virtually all the historic Winchester lever actions were in production. But the gun often referred to as The Gun That Won The West, due to its extreme popularity at the end of the 1800s was back. When production ceased in New Haven, CT, most thought the Model 94 was gone forever. The reintroduction of the Model 94 Winchester, produced at the Miroku factory in Japan. Production of Moand Model 94 rifles, along with Model 1300 shotguns ends. Repeating Arms Company announced it would be shutting down the factory located in New Haven, Connecticut. Timeline of recent Winchester rifles and shotguns produced at the Japan factory. The 101 was a fine over and under and was well accepted by gun writers and the in the marketplace.Īt this point, the decision was made and the plan came together naturally. The Winchester company of the 1960s had experience with building the Model 101 in Japan. The idea of Winchester sourcing products overseas was not without precedent. Given the situation, the timing was perfect. Taking a Winchester product overseas for production is not a decision made lightly. The obvious solution was to take advantage of the existing expertise and experience found at the Miroku factory. Much less to manufacture or source all parts needed and to build all new assembly lines for each model in the already over-crowded factory. It would have been nearly an impossible feat to retool for any of the old, out-of-production products. The entire factory was occupied with production of these products with no excess capacity available and without any additional tooling in place. This new building would be dedicated to the production of several key firearms that were extremely popular at the time: the Model 70, Model 1300, Model 94, and Model 9422. Repeating Arms had just built a new factory adjacent to the old Winchester building. In 1994 the old Winchester factory was in extreme disrepair and U.S. Repeating Arms) production had ceased on all of the historic designs for over half a century, with the exception of the Model 94. With the inclusion of Winchester into the Herstal Group it was now possible to utilize the Miroku factory to produce these same Winchester designs under the appropriate, historic brand: Winchester.Īt this point the most interesting question becomes, why were these rifles (and shotguns) not made at the historic New Haven factory? At the time Winchester became a part of the Herstal Group Winchester Repeating Arms (actually called U.S. and in Europe - and had dabbled in special edition products based on original Winchester designs such as the 1895, 1886, 1892, and 1885 Single Shot, among others. They produced and continue to produce some of the most popular and highly regarded over and unders and bolt actions in the hunting and shooting industry for the group - both in the U.S. Since the 1960s, Herstal Group companies had a close association with the Miroku firearms company in Kochi, Japan. The Herstal Group (FN) and Miroku in Japan. An often overlooked bit of history is that the original 101 was iimported from a factory in Japan in the 1960s and '70s before Winchester Repeating Arms was part of the Herstal Group.
#Winchester model 25 shotgun history series#
A series of over and under shotguns followed, known today as the Winchester 101 (named after the original and well-like 101 of the 1960s). One example is the proven performer, the original Super X2 and today's Super X3. This included some production in Belgium at FN factories. Worldwide production did not happen overnight, but during the next decade world-wide production of some Winchesters began.