The Winchester Model 1894 was the first commercial American repeating rifle built to be used with smokeless powder.

The Model 94's combination of potent firepower in a compact, lightweight, comfortable-to-carry, and quick-shooting package has made it an extremely popular hunting rifle, particularly for white-tailed deer in the dense forests of the Eastern United States, where most game is killed at relatively short distances.

These rifles in the 835800 to 852500 serial number range were marked atop the receiver ring with a flaming bomb and "U.S." The rifles were intended for United States Army Signal Corps personnel stationed in the Pacific Northwest to prevent labor strike actions from interrupting manufacture of Sitka spruce lumber for framing the fuselage and wings of military aircraft.

France purchased 15,100 Model 1894 carbines equipped with sling swivels on the left side of the buttstock and barrel band, and with metric gradations on the No.

These French carbines were issued to motorcycle couriers, artillery troops, trench railway personnel, and some balloon units.

Those made prior to 1964 are referred to as the "pre-64" models, and these earlier versions command a premium price over post-change rifles.

The largest cartridge that the 1894 action can accommodate is the .450 Marlin, which was chambered in some custom rifles and the short-lived Timber Carbine on a beefed-up 1894 "big bore" receiver.

The third came in 1992, after the 1989 bankruptcy of USRAC and its subsequent purchase by FN Herstal, which sought to market Winchester firearms worldwide.

As a result, Winchester ceased machining both the receiver and many small parts of the Model 94 out of solid steel billet as of 1964.

A top-ejecting firearm cannot mount a telescopic scope on top of the receiver—the most convenient location for the shooter—without interfering with cartridge ejection.

A scope for such a firearm must instead be mounted either far forward on the barrel (where it must be specifically designed for the purpose), or offset to the side of the gun (which creates problems due to parallax).

Winchester had long had mounting holes pre-drilled in the receiver of the gun to accommodate such a modification, and it was by far the most common upgrade installed on the Model 1894 for most of its history.

Nevertheless, consumer tastes changed in the years after World War II as high quality scopes became both widely available and affordable.

This effort would culminate in two major changes to the gun in 1992: the reintroducing of now-CNC-machined parts and solid pins back into the action, and the elimination of the traditional half-cock safety notch on the hammer in favor of a cross-bolt safety, which enabled the gun to be sold internationally.

Though the increase in build quality was noted at the time, it was the conspicuous presence of the new safety that generated the strongest opinions.

It was widely reviled by American consumers and gun writers alike as a "lawyer" safety, who said it detracted from the overall look, feel, and operation of the rifle.