My Winchester Mea Culpa

 January 5, 2025
   Although I own several Winchesters, I am not really a gun guy and with that said, Man, do I miss Phil Spangenberger!

My Winchester Strewn Studio

    Still, I should have known better than to hold up not one, but two Winchesters—that's them in the photo, above—in my latest YouTube video on Historically Accurate Westerns and then call movie people idiots for using a 95 Winchester to portray events in 1881. When we reviewed the video, one of the gun guys on staff informed me that the rifle I was showing off as a 95 Winchester was actually a 92 Winchester. 

   So we had to go in to the video and I changed the audio to say it was a 92 Winchester. It took some doing to match it up and it delayed the posting of the video by 24 hours.

   The post went up last Thursday and it wasn't long before we received this comment:  "L O L! You held up a model 94 Winchester and said what idiot would use a 92 Winchester in a Western that was set in the 1880s…"

A 94 Winchester

Ouch! We went to all that trouble only to get it wrong twice? Like I said, I sure miss Phil because he would have corrected all of this before we even went into production. Still, I had to know how we blew it so bad, so I reached out to the above poster and here is what he told me:

"Just to be clear, I am teasing you a little bit about the irony of the comment! I love the videos and your channel. The 92 is a somewhat more compact action that was made for Pistol calibers. If you compare the 94 you held up to a 92 you will see that the action is shorter and the proportions are somewhat different. The Rifle is more compact overall. They were originally chambered for cartridges such as the 4440, 38-40, 32 WCF a.k.a. 32-20, and others. They are still currently manufactured and chambering include things like the 357 magnum and 44 magnum. The model 94 is a longer action that is chambered for rifle cartridges such as the 30-30, which was the first smokeless cartridge. It was also chambered for the 32 Winchester special, which has a somewhat slower twist and was intended for people who wanted to continue shooting black powder rounds in the new Rifle design. Other chambering have been offered overtime. These cartridges are too long to function in the model 92 action. To circle back to your topic in this video about authenticity, it’s worth noting the John Wayne nearly always had his model 92 Winchester, chambered in 38-40, in his western movies. he was known for twirling it using his right hand with the large loop lever. Fanatics about accuracy, which includes me when it comes to the gun issues, get upset about this. Some of his movies are set in time periods before the 92 existed, which is an example of what you described. I had no idea that people were equally demented about hats! In that realm, I am extremely ignorant. Thanks for educating me on the issue."

—Jeff Davis

John Wayne and his Model 92 Winchester

Meanwhile, Regarding My Pick of Tombstone as the Number One Choice for Most Accurate Western. . .

"Tombstone? Seriously? Doc Holliday killing Johnny Ringo? Ike Clanton blasting around at the OK Corral? Doc firing three shots from his two barrels? The Earps killing two dozen cowboys on the vendetta ride? Jesus Christ!"

—Irate, but accurate comment in the string

And here is a link to my mea culpa:

Misfiring Winchesters

"Remember the farther up the flagpole you go, the more people can see your rear end."
—Old Vaquero Saying