The Model 1866 lever-action repeater was the first model to be called a Winchester. Also called the Yellow Boy.

didnt he make shirts before getting in to firearms ? i think his first gun was the 1885 falling block, but you said to bare his name and he changed the company name of the company after that so is it the 1866 ? oh heck i am not sure lol

The Winchester Repeating Arms Company was a prominent America maker of repeating firearms
Semi-automatic firearm
A semi-automatic, or self-loading firearm is a gun that after being fired, ejects the empty round that has been fired, loads a new cartridge, and cocks itself...

during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

Predecessors

The ancestor of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company was the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company
Volcanic Repeating Arms
The Volcanic Repeating Arms Company was a company formed in 1855 by partners Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson to develop Walter Hunt's Rocket Ball ammunition and lever action mechanism. Volcanic made an improved version of the Rocket Ball ammunition, and a carbine and pistol version of the lever...

, which manufactured the Volcanic lever-action rifle of Horace Smith
Horace Smith (inventor)
Horace Smith was a gunsmith, inventor, and businessman. He and his business partner Daniel B. Wesson formed two companies named Smith & Wesson, the first of which was financed in part by Oliver Winchester and was eventually reorganized into the Winchester Repeating Arms Company-Early career:Smith... and Daniel Wesson. It was later reorganized into the New Haven Arms Company, its largest stockholder being Oliver Winchester.
The Volcanic rifle used a form of "caseless" ammunition and had only limited success. Wesson had also designed an early form of rimfire cartridge which was subsequently perfected by Benjamin Tyler Henry
Benjamin Tyler Henry
Benjamin Tyler Henry was an American gunsmith and manufacturer. He was the inventor of the Henry rifle, the first reliable lever-action repeating rifle....

. Henry also supervised the redesign of the rifle to use the new ammunition, retaining only the general form of the breech mechanism and the tubular magazine. This became the Henry rifle
Henry rifle
The Henry repeating rifle is a lever-action, breech-loading, tubular magazine rifle.-Original Manufacturing:The original Henry repeating rifle was an American .44 caliber rimfire, lever-action, breech-loading rifle designed by Benjamin Tyler Henry in the late 1850s. The Henry rifle was an improved...

of 1860, which was manufactured by the New Haven Arms Company, and used in considerable numbers by certain Union army units in the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...

.
The "Winchester" Rifle

After the war, Oliver Winchester continued to exercise control of the company, renaming it the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, and had the basic design of the Henry rifle
Henry rifle
The Henry repeating rifle is a lever-action, breech-loading, tubular magazine rifle.-Original Manufacturing:The original Henry repeating rifle was an American .44 caliber rimfire, lever-action, breech-loading rifle designed by Benjamin Tyler Henry in the late 1850s. The Henry rifle was an improved...

completely modified and improved to become the first Winchester rifle, the Model 1866, which fired the same .44 caliber rimfire cartridges as the Henry but had an improved magazine (with the addition of a loading gate on the right side of the receiver, invented by Winchester employee Nelson King) and, for the first time, a wooden forearm. The Henry and the 1866 Winchester shared a unique double firing pin which struck the head of the rimfire cartridge in two places when the weapon was fired, increasing the chances that the fulminate in the hollow rim would ignite the 28 or so grains of black powder inside the case.

Another extremely popular model was rolled out in 1873. The Model 1873 introduced the first Winchester center fire cartridge, the .44-40 WCF (Winchester Center Fire). These rifle families are commonly known as the "Gun That Won the West."

The Model 1873 was followed by the Model 1876 (or "Centennial Model"), a larger version of the '73, which utilized the same toggle-link action and brass cartridge elevator dating from the Henry. It was chambered for longer, more powerful cartridges such as .45-60 WCF, .45-75 WCF, and .50-95 WCF. The action was not strong enough to allow Winchester to achieve their goal of producing a repeating rifle capable of handling the .45-70 Government cartridge; this would not happen until they began manufacture of the Browning-designed Model 1886.

Oliver Winchester died in December 1880; his son and successor, young William Wirt Winchester
William Wirt Winchester
William Wirt Winchester was the second president of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company from 1880 to 1881.-Family:...

, died of tuberculosis four months later.

From 1883, John Browning
John Browning
John Moses Browning , born in Ogden, Utah, was an American firearms designer who developed many varieties of firearms, cartridges, and gun mechanisms, many of which are still in use around the world...

worked in partnership with the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, and designed a series of repeating rifles and shotguns, most notably the Winchester Model 1885 Single Shot, Winchester Model 1887
Winchester Model 1887/1901
The Winchester Model 1887 and Winchester Model 1901 were lever-action shotguns originally designed by famed American gun designer John Browning and produced by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company during the late 19th and early 20th centuries....

lever-action shotgun, Model 1897
Winchester Model 1897
The Winchester Model 1897 is a pump-action shotgunwith an external hammer and tube magazine. It was offered in 12 and 16 gauge, solid frame or takedown. Numerous barrel lengths were offered.-Description:...

pump-action shotgun; and the lever-action Model 1886, Model 1892
Winchester Model 1892
The Winchester Model 1892 is a lever-action repeating rifle designed by John Browning as a smaller, lighter version of his large-frame Model 1886, and which replaced the Model 1873 as the company's lever-action for smaller dual-use rounds such as the .44-40 . Calibers for the rifle vary and some...

, Model 1894 and Model 1895
Winchester Model 1895
The Winchester Model 1895 was a lever-action repeating firearm developed and manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in the late 19th century, chambered for a number of full-size military and hunting cartridges such as 7.62x54R, .303 British,.30-06 Springfield,.30-40 Krag, .35...

(with a box magazine) rifles. Several of these are still in production today through Winchester special order, though companies such as Browning, Rossi, Navy Arms, and others have revived several of the discontinued models.

I tend to agree 99.

crm3006, great answer and A + 1 for you gentlemen!!!