On the second day of the 2016 SHOT Show in Las Vegas, attendees were treated to another great article in SHOT Daily by Dave Draper on Winchester history entitled “From Yellow Boy to Long Beard, Winchester Thrives on Innovation.” 

“Today the (Winchester) brand …(defines) a legacy of brilliant thinking in the arena of design and manufacturing.”

“Since 1866, Winchester has built a thriving business on a solid foundation of performance and, more importantly, innovation,” began Draper. “Starting with the first ‘Yellow Boy’ rifle chambered in .44…the company has been known as leading and later ammunition, conception and design. Today the brand holds more than 2,000 patents related to firearms, defining a legacy of brilliant thinking in the arena of design and manufacturing.”

Draper goes on to outline some of Winchester’s greatest firearm and ammunition innovations, beginning with the Model 1866 and leading to legendary Model 1873 lever action with its famous 44-40 centerfire cartridge. Following in short order were the Models 1876 and 1886. The 30-30 WCF helped usher in the smokeless era and, Draper notes, when paired with the Model 1894 resulted in a deep woods combo “…thought to be responsible for killing more deer than any other cartridge.”

The 30-30 WCF is “…thought to be responsible for killing more deer than any other cartridge.”

Draper goes on to recount in great detail Winchester’s contribution to the defense of freedom by designing and/or making legendary military firearms like the 1914 Enfield for the British and adapting the 1917 Enfield for the Allies, plus building hundreds of thousands of BARs, M1 Garands and M1 Carbines. The brand’s ammo contributions include development of the .50 caliber Browning Machine Gun and the .30 Carbine rounds, plus the long-time NATO-standard, the 308 Winchester.

To brings things right up to date, Draper shares the some of the backstory on the development of today’s hottest hunting ammo products like Winchester Long Beard XR and Rooster XR shotshells with Shot-Lok resin technology.

“Winchester has been at the fore-front of engineering excellence for a century and a half…”

“From the ‘Yellow- Boy’ rifle to Blind Side hex-shaped shot, Winchester has been at the fore-front of engineering excellence for a century and a half, and the brand continues to drive innovation and new technologies in the development of ammunition and firearms,” concludes Draper. “With a deep emphasis on innovative products, Winchester remains one of the most recognized and respected brands around the world.”

“With a deep emphasis on innovative products, Winchester remains one of the most recognized and respected brands around the world.”

If you were at the SHOT Show and picked up a copy of the Day 2 edition of SHOT Daily, Draper’s article begins on page 88. If you’d like to read the entire article online it begins on page 49 of the digital version. Here’s a link to the Day 2 web edition:

http://issuu.com/nssfpublications/docs/shotdaily_day2/1