When they were putting the re-intro project together, I had several email conversations with the project manager.
I was excited at the prospect of them being able to take advantage of starting essentially from the ground up, with new equipment & processes, and most of all- USING that opportunity to dump the USRAC-era rebounding hammer, angle ejection, and manual safety.
A return to the classic original design, uncluttered by all that annoying nonsense.
I lobbied hard, but was told the bottom line was- "The lawyers won't let us."
And you see the result today.
They don't want high-volume production, they don't want to return the gun to its status as the "workingman's rifle", and they will not put out a classic Winchester levergun design in original un-tampered-with form.
What they do is excellent quality, and they deserve at least some credit for keeping a 94 version going.
But, I'm sticking to my two older 94s.
Denis