The Winchester 94 is a walnut-stocked lever-action .30-30 Winchester built for timber whitetail at close range. It has an MSRP of $1,449.99, and Winchester's own name for this configuration is the Model 94 Short Rifle. Its 20-inch round barrel sits under a full-length magazine that holds seven, which Winchester describes as fast to the shoulder and quick-swinging.

It comes sighted with a Marble Arms gold bead front and an adjustable semi-buckhorn rear, and the receiver is drilled and tapped for optional mounts. Brass leaves through the top of the receiver, so a scope either sits high or goes forward of the port, and the knurled hammer spur extension ships with the rifle because a mounted scope gets in the hammer's way. Cartridges go in through a steel loading gate on the right and stack nose to primer in the tube, so buy flat and round-nose .30-30 and not pointed bullets. The muzzle is unthreaded and the walnut is plain, with a polymer pad on a shotgun-style butt.

If you're cross-shopping, the Marlin 336 Classic has an MSRP of $1,359 and ejects out the side, so a conventional base and low rings go straight on, at 0.75 lbs more weight. The Winchester Model 94 Sporter has an MSRP of $1,629.99 and adds four inches of barrel, cut checkering, a crescent steel butt and an eighth round. The Rossi R95 Trapper has an MSRP of $984.99 and takes the same cartridge into a 16.5-inch barrel at 6.70 lbs, with two fewer rounds in the tube. A top-eject action puts a scope mount high or forward of the port, where the side-eject Marlin takes a conventional base and low rings.