I would guess that their nearly complete lack of innovation had something to do with it ( except WSMs, which they seemed to go overboard with ) and the fact that they only made a few mdels for the last 40 years. Everyone and their brother already has a winchester 94, and there is no big demand for new ones, Model 70s are nice rifles, but aren't anything special when there is a dozen other companies making similar rifles, and their shotguns weren't anything special or outstanding either.