Awesome New Winchester Ranger Lever-Action .22lr Rifle
Winchester Firearms surprised the attendees at SHOT Show 2024 by returning to its roots with the introduction of the new Ranger lever-action rifle. The Ranger is a magazine-tube-fed, manually-operated lever-action rifle designed around affordability, ruggedness, and quality.
While most rimfire lever-guns in at the Ranger’s pricepoint are built from cast aluminum or aluminum alloy, the new Winchester rifle is built from a solid piece of machined aluminum.
Furthermore, the furniture isn’t laminate wood or polymer but solid oak. This combination lends itself to an overall feeling of quality to the gun.
The Winchester Ranger doesn’t just feel like a real Winchester rifle; it is one. The gun is based on the classic 94 series of lever-action rifles that made the company famous.
Winchester Ranger .22lr
Although my time with the Ranger was very short given the nature of a SHOT Show event, I was already in love with the gun. Between its 15-round capacity, solid feel, and excellent accuracy, the squirrels on my property are shaking in their fury little boots.
Especially when you take into account the fact that It includes an adjustable classic buckhorn rear sight notch and an oversized front sight post that together makes acquiring a proper sight picture a breeze.
The ranger lacks a proper side loading gate, but this is to be expected on rimfire lever guns. This is because it’s often too easy to damage the rounds in the loading process if a shooter is pushing the soft projectiles past a steel or aluminum loading gate.
On the top of the receiver, the Ranger features a standard dovetail scope mount ideal of rimfire optics. So if your eyesight isn’t great, you can still install a nice low-power optic and destroy soda cans at your leisure.
Pricing and Availability
After speaking at length with the Winchester Repeating Arms representative at SHOT Show 2024, they informed us that the Ranger should be available very soon and with an incredible MSRP: $419.99!
At that price point, the Winchester Ranger seems to be taking aim at offerings from Henry Rifles. Whether the former lever-gun king can dethrone Henry is yet to be seen. But as far as I’m concerned, when it comes to the world of rimfire lever guns, the more, the merrier!
Jim is a freelance writer, editor, and videographer for dozens of publications who loves anything and everything guns. While partial to modern military firearms and their civilian counterparts, he holds a special place in his heart for the greatest battle implement ever devised and other WW2 rifles. When he’s not reviewing guns or shooting for fun and competition, Jim can be found hiking and hunting with his wife Kimberly, and their dog Peanut in the South Carolina low country.