Winchester Model 1894 is a lever-action

Lever-action

Lever-action is a type of firearm action which uses a lever located around the trigger guard area, to load fresh cartridges into the chamber of the barrel when the lever is worked. Most lever-action firearms are rifles, but lever-action shotguns and a few pistols have also been made...

 rifle which became one of the most famous and popular hunting rifles. It was designed by John Browning

John Browning

John Moses Browning , born in Ogden, Utah, was an American firearms designer who developed many varieties of military and civilian firearms, cartridges, and gun mechanisms, many of which are still in use around the world...

 in 1894 to chamber rounds loaded with smokeless powder, and was produced by Winchester Repeating Arms Company

Winchester Repeating Arms Company

The Winchester Repeating Arms Company was a prominent American maker of repeating firearms, located in New Haven, Connecticut. The Winchester brand is today used under license by two subsidiaries of the Herstal Group, Fabrique Nationale of Belgium and the Browning Arms Company of Morgan, Utah.-...

 through 1980 and then by U.S. Repeating Arms under the Winchester brand until they ceased to manufacture rifles in 2006. The rifles are back in production today, being made by the Miroku company of Japan and imported into the United States by the Browning Arms company of Morgan, Utah.

The Model 1894 has been referred to as the "ultimate lever-action design" by firearms historians such as RL Wilson and Hal Herring.