Email from winchester stated they have no idea what they are doing moving forward.... lol
That's because their failure to adapt to current market trends is leaving them in the dust compared to other companies like Browning and this is coming from a die hard Winchester guy with almost a dozen Winchester firearms to my name.
Seriously they had the blueprint for a Long Range rifle from FN in the SPR but they instead focus on the cheaper XPR. Leave that segment to the Ruger American and focus on expanding the Model 70 offerings. People like the Model 70 and are willing to pay a premium for a premium product but they just keep offering the same couple wood choices and one or two composite stocked models while Browning releases a dozen new X Bolt models every shot show to see which ones do good before deciding which become standard and which are retired. If Winchester actually diversified and made rifles for the current market with short threaded barrels I'd probably have more Model 70's.
And it's not just the Model 70, they have some of the best lever action designs ever made but none of them have thought to offer them with threaded barrels and shotgun stocks. I had to go to Taylor and Company to get an 1886 with a threaded barrel and a shotgun stock so I could shoot subsonic bullets quietly.
Heck they have the 1895, one of the only lever guns to take spritzer cartridges and they can't come up with something clever for that? Or the 1873, the smoothest lever gun ever made, would be awesome with a pistol suppressor on the end. Not to mention the ubiquitous 1894 in 30-30, a rifle that would be a perfect host for a suppressor. Just look at Ruger after they acquired Marlin, the second rifle they produced had muzzle threads and most models going forward will as well.
Honestly as much as I love Winchester it irks me to see how completely uninspired they have been for the last decade.
