It's Like a Winchester...Only Shorter The 45 Colt Winchester Ranger

Today was a day of mixed emotions. On one hand my wife and I were able to enjoy shooting our new Model 94AE Winchester, on the other we were aware of the closing of the Winchester New Haven Plant and possibly an end to the Winchester name on rifles. As of this writing, the Belgium owner is planning on producing some models in Portugal and Japan; specific model plans and Olin’s continued  licensing of the Winchester name are still up in the air. Not to rub salt in the wound but Winchester has not been an American owned company for some time. What we are dealing with here is the loss of 200 New Haven jobs and a shaky future for the brand. Maybe New Haven’s Mayor will find a financial partner and save the plant, maybe Olin will license the Winchester name to the new owner and maybe I can reach over there and pull a quarter out of your ear….really.

There still is time to own a Winchester. Big 5 runs against the grain of retail stores, particularly in the “Give me a bicycle and water bottle, I’m already wearing Lycra” California. They keep sending out firearm sale inserts in the Sunday newspapers for military surplus rifles, shotguns and Winchester and Marlin lever guns. So with Denver and Pittsburg in  the Super Bowl, leaving me with no plans to watch TV, I  decided I’d take advantage of the Big 5 opportunity.

A simple solution for a simple mind…

I’ve wanted to have a 45 Colt combo; the Ruger Bisley and a rifle. For a guy from New Jersey, it seemed the cowboy thing to do. I had a shot at one of two; a plain Jane Marlin with hardwood stock and 20″ barrel or a Winchester Ranger with a hardwood stock and 16″ barrel. Both guns are sale priced at $319 against a $379.99 MSRP. I handled both guns and had prior ownership experience with similar models of both guns and eventually went with the Winchester over the Marlin. The deciding factor was the much shorter length of the Winchester and the less obvious hardwood stock. I load 45 Colt ammo up to just a tad, close to 32,000 PSI for the Ruger and I wanted a rifle that could handle similar pressure on a routine basis. I am sure either the Marlin or the Winchester can handle this pressure level comfortably and I wanted to get to uniform handloads that and produce enough power for deer and boar from either the rifle or the handgun. What it a 45 Colt Ranger that does not appear on the Winchester site ? It is a Trapper with a hardwood stock, with a walnut stain, and $100 less MSRP.

Laying the Ranger down next to a more traditional Model 94 30-30 with a 20″ barrel the obvious differences are…obvious. The Ranger has a 16″ barrel,  a simple blade front sight replaces the hooded front sight, the rear buckhorn sight is adjustable for windage and elevation and the afore mentioned hardwood stock replaces the walnut pieces. One very nice improvement on this model Ranger is a sliding tang safety in place of the air rifle like button stuck through the side of the 30-30 WCF model’s receiver. The Ranger weighs 6 lbs, holds 9 rounds of ammo, only about a half pound less. The Ranger has a clean 5 lbs trigger pull, half pound less than my 30-30 WCF chambered model. The Ranger has a twist rate of 1:26″ compared to 1:16″ for the Ruger Bisley and Marlin rifles. Still, both referenced rates are fast based on calculated twist rates for the 45 Colt. The stock dimensions are essentially the same as other full size Model 94 rifles with a 13.5 inch pull, however, the short gun is devoid of fancy – smancy checkering.

Unlike the closed top receiver Marlin 1894, the Winchester 94 doesn’t feel solid when the lever is cranked. This is perception as the Winchester is a strong lever action and probably locks up as solidly as the Marlin. The metal parts finish is not so exciting. The sides of the receiver on my example look spotted. The bluing is uniform, but the metal texture differs from faint wire wheel marks to what looks like drips of something under the finish. Maybe I’m being picky , …no, I’m not that picky, there is a finish problem. The buttstock fit to the tang is shoddy, more so than a decent production rifle should allow. Not as bad as a cheap muzzle loader, but not as good as my other three Winchesters. The materials are very good, they just weren’t assembled well.

It doesn’t have to be pretty, it can shoot

The gun cycled and shot every round it was fed, even when I filled the tube magazine with mixes handloads. For some reason I thought long loads would be a problem, but even 1.665″ 360 grain cast mortar rounds, compared to a 1.600″ SAAMI spec fed and fired flawlessly. Recoil for even the heaviest loads was light to moderate even with the hard plastic butt plate. Below are some bullet specifics, in the order they appear below. Not included is the Winchester Silver Tip picture above, far left.

I believe the gun’s group size performance was limited by my eyesight and metallic sights more than the gun’s potential. The smallest three shot group at 50 yards was 3/4″, the largest about 1 1/2″. I was mostly concerned with recording velocity and checking pressure rather than absolute accuracy and shot placement consistency… and my toe hurt…and I think I am coming down with a cold. Actually, I think my wife may have shot those group. Kidding. The shift in point of impact didn’t change more than 1 1/2″ from the lighted to heaviest bullets and charges, the metallic sights were flexible in adjustment and stayed put when set. In short, once sighted in, the gun was pretty much good to go for 150 yard hunting even with changes in ammo.

I have always thought of the 45 Colt as a thumper in the world of handguns. The factory load aren’t much to write home about, but taking a page from the modernization of the 45-70 Gov’t, there is a lot of upside potential. For handload specific see “Little Guns – Big Bullets“, for general performance, see below.

Conclusions…?

I know we all exclusively hunt Kodiak bear, moose, giant elk, Kudu on the African plains, and maybe lion on the odd year. Still, just in case a freak circumstance finds you deer hunting in hilly, wooded  terrain where shots are inside 150 yards, or for big boar up close and personal, the Winchester Ranger or Trapper in 45 Colt would be a great gun to have along. If you can live with trajectory of +1″ above line of sight and no more than 4.5″ drop over a span of 150 yards you could haul this little gem around all day long and laugh at your heavy bolt action carrying buddies. No, not heavy buddies, I mean buddies carrying heavy rifles. The only thing I need to find is a scope to do justice to the gun…something small, like maybe a compact Burris Short Mag. And if those guys at Winchester run the brand into the ground and close the doors in New Haven, grab a Marlin in 45 Colt, they may not be as compact and nifty as the Winchester, but then they don’t fly the flag of Belgium over their factory. The star here is the 45 Colt cartridge, but the little Winchester rifle makes for a perfect combination.

Related information:
Heavy Hitting with the 45 Colt Part I
Heavy Hitting with the 45 Colt Part II
It’s Like a Winchester…Only Shorter
Handload Data – 45 Colt – Winchester ’94 and Ruger Bisley
 

Thanks,
Joe