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I have a winchester 320 sn d268– bought new in tucson az for $64.00 50 years ago. it wears an early tasco 4×20 in redfield mounts. on my 35 yard range it would put 5 rem target rounds in a group that you could cover with a nickel, I dont know how many woodchucks and squirrels it has accounted for. my question is has anyone heard of the 325 in 22 mag. there was a picture of it and a small mention of it in a gun mag. I bought the 320
as it was easily the best quality 22 for the money. a trigger shoe helped with the trigger pull.
I found this on the internet. I don’t know if it is completely accurate.
“Winchester sold the model 310(single shot) and the model 320(clip feed) for two years. 1972 to 1974. IIRC the action was made in Australia and possibly barreled in the US. the price of the 310 and 320 was more than Winchesters new model 190 semi-automatic. The 100 and 200 series of rifles dominated the market so Winchester dropped the rifles after two years. The 310 and 320 rifles are high quality and good shooters. The magazines do interchange.”
mike said
I have a winchester 320 sn d268– bought new in tucson az for $64.00 50 years ago. it wears an early tasco 4×20 in redfield mounts. on my 35 yard range it would put 5 rem target rounds in a group that you could cover with a nickel, I dont know how many woodchucks and squirrels it has accounted for. my question is has anyone heard of the 325 in 22 mag. there was a picture of it and a small mention of it in a gun mag. I bought the 320as it was easily the best quality 22 for the money. a trigger shoe helped with the trigger pull.
Mike,
While the 325 was briefly advertised it is unlikely that any were produced as example models have not been found to date. I believe the hold-up was the clip magazine as it would have taken a different magazine and magazine holder to accommodate the longer .22 Mag. Production ended of the 310 and 320 before that was complete.
Best Regards,
WACA Life Member #6284 - Specializing in Pre-64 Winchester .22 Rimfire
Online
The Winchester 320 was based on a rimfire bolt action design invented by the late Australian Jack Warne of Omark and later Kimber of Oregon fame. Warne’s Australian company manufactured a very popular detachable box magazine bolt action rimfire rifle using this action, for sale Down Under.
Winchester was casting about for a profitable way to build and sell a high quality bolt action rimfire to repair its reputation after 1964. They bought orders of Warne’s action and barreled and stocked them in New Haven.
The expensive, handsome, accurate, and finely made Kimber of Oregon Model 82 uses the same action. Magazines interchange. Kimber of Oregon was founded by Jack Warne and his son Gregg.
A good friend of mine owns a Model 320. I gifted him my 10-round Kimber of Oregon magazine because they are unobtainable. Works great.
The Winchester Model 320 is one of the most underrated rifles WRA ever made. 
- Bill
WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist
"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
The Winchester M320 is the rifle that all three of my kids learned to shoot a .22. If you’re teaching kids to shoot, an accurate rifle with a nice trigger pull makes a difference.
November 7, 2015
Offline
Thanks for the history lesson, Bill. I’ve never seen all the pieces of that puzzle put together. I recall mention of the name Jack Warne from the early days of Kimber but was not aware of the Omark/Winchester/Kimber relationship. For me the little Kimber always hinted at Winchester influence but the 320 is a rifle I can’t recall encountering.
Mike
TXGunNut said
Thanks for the history lesson, Bill. I’ve never seen all the pieces of that puzzle put together. I recall mention of the name Jack Warne from the early days of Kimber but was not aware of the Omark/Winchester/Kimber relationship. For me the little Kimber always hinted at Winchester influence but the 320 is a rifle I can’t recall encountering.
Mike
I couldn’t remember the names, at first. The name of Warne’s company in Australia was “Sportco” and Warne owned and operated it successfully for a good while. I think it was after he made a deal with Winchester to furnish actions for the 310 and 320 that he began meeting others in the American gun industry. This led to his moving to the U. S. to takie an important position with Omark, eventually leading it as CEO.
At some convocation of gun industry folk, he met Jim Carmichael, showed him the Sportco action, and said he and his son Gregg intended to start a company to manufacture a quality bolt action rimfire here in the U.S. Carmichael thought the timing was right for something to replace the discontinued Winchester 52 Sporting. He suggested Warne contract one of America’s master stockmakers to design a stock for the new rifle, following the lead of Bill Ruger’s hiring Lenard Brownell for the same purpose in the mid Sixties. Warne agreed and e
ngaged the late Duane Wiebe to design the stock for what would become the Kimber Models 82, 84 and, I presume, the 89. Len Brownell designed the stock for the limited edition Model 82 Brownell Grade rifle (one of which I’m about to put up on GB.)
“Kimber” is a corruption of the name of the Australian town, “Kimba,” where Warne was born and raised and is probably the way my Aussie friends pronounce “Kimba.” I’ve illustrated a Model 89 Super America I once owned. That action is a hybrid of the Winchester Model 70 and a Mauser 98. The Model 89 was likely the straw that broke Kimber of Oregon’s back, for failure of funding. With a very few minor mechanical differences, the Super America was a reincarnation of the pre-War Super Grade Winchester Model 70.
- Bill
WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist
"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Here’s a Winchester print ad for the Model 320. The text is revealing.
- Bill
WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist
"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
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