Winchester Model 94 Carbine (.30-30)

The Winchester Model 94 is the rifle that defined the .30-30 deer carbine and the lever action itself for more than a century. Current production runs from Miroku in Japan under the Winchester brand, and the build quality is excellent: a 20-inch button-rifled barrel, a forged steel receiver, and a black walnut stock with a satin finish. At 6 pounds 8 ounces it is the lightest and fastest-handling carbine in this guide, the rifle you carry all day in steep country and swing fast on a buck breaking through brush.

Modern Model 94s use an angle-eject action that throws brass out the side rather than straight up, so a scope mounts directly over the receiver, which the original top-eject guns could not do without an offset mount. Sights are a Marble Arms front and an adjustable semi-buckhorn rear, the magazine holds 7 rounds, and the receiver is drilled and tapped. The Model 94 chooses heritage and handling over the tactical features of a Marlin 1895 or Henry X-Model. For the buyer who wants the Winchester name, walnut and blued steel, and the lightest deer lever on the rack, nothing else carries the same history.