The Winchester Model 1906 was designed as a more inexpensive companion to the popular Model 1890, the main differences being the 1906's flat shotgun-style butt plate and rounded barrel, as opposed to the 1890s crescent butt plate and octagon barrel.

When the Model 1906 first became available, it was chambered exclusively for the .22 Short cartridge, however, this was modified after serial number 113,000 (in the second year of production, 1908) when it was made to also cycle .22 Long and .22 Long Rifle interchangeably in order to ensure the rifle's continued popularity.

The Standard Model was introduced after the 1908 change, and featured a grooved slide grip, while the Expert Model, the deluxe version produced from 1918 to 1924, had a plain fluted slide grip and a pistol-gripped stock.

[4] Although production ended officially in 1932, a small number of Model 1906 rifles were built out of spare parts left in the factory until 1936.

This is attributed to the fact that large blocks of serial numbers were skipped during production.