Lever-action
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A lever-action is a type of firearm which uses a lever located around the trigger guard area (often including the trigger guard itself) to load fresh cartridges into the chamber of the barrel when the lever is "cranked". The most famous lever-action firearm is undoubtedly the Winchester rifle, but many manufacturers produce lever-action rifles. While the term lever-action generally implies a repeating firearm, it is also sometimes applied to a variety of single shot actions that use a lever for cycling, such as the Martini-Henry or the falling block action.
[edit] History
The first significant lever-action design was the Spencer repeating rifle. The design was completed by Christopher Spencer in 1860 and was a magazine-fed lever-operated breechloader rifle. The firing system had to be independently primed, a lever had to be cocked, and it used copper rimfire cartridges. It was fed from a removable seven round tube magazine, enabling the rounds to be fired one after another, and which, when emptied could be exchanged for another. It was adopted by the United States and used during the American Civil War, with over 20,000 made. This marked the first adoption of a removable magazine-fed infantry and cavalry rifle by any country.
By the 1890s, lever actions had evolved into a form that would last for over a century. Both Marlin and Winchester released new model lever action rifles in 1894, and both Model 1894s remain in production today. These two models, and various copies of them, make up the bulk of the lever action rifles made. While externally similar, the rifles are quite different internally, as the Marlin has a single stage lever action, and the Winchester has a double stage. The double stage action is easily seen when the Winchester's lever is operated, as first the entire trigger group drops down, unlocking the bolt, and then the bolt is moved rearward to eject the fired cartridge.
[edit] Disadvantages
While lever-action rifles were popular with civilians, they were not widely accepted by the military. One significant reason for this was that it is harder to fire a lever-action from the prone position than straight pull or bolt-action rifles. From other positions they were faster than either to reload, but the fact that they could not easily be fired from cover resulted in a gradual phase out from military use in the early 1900s. Lever actions are also generally fed from a tubular magazine, which limits the ammunition that can be used--pointed, centerfire bullets, for example, can cause explosions in a tubular magazine because the point of each bullet rests on the primer of the next cartridge. The tubular magazine also negatively impacts the harmonics of the barrel, which limits the potential accuracy of the rifle (see accurize).
Due to the higher rate of fire than bolt action rifles, lever-actions have remained popular to this day for civilian rifles, especially those for short and medium range hunting. Sturm, Ruger introduced a number of new lever action designs in the 1990s, which is unusual since most lever action designs date back to before World War II, when reliable semi-automatic rifles became widely available. There are also a number of lever-action shotguns, though these are far less common than the popular pump action.
[edit] Calibers
Most lever action designs are not as strong as the bolt action design, so lever action rifles are generally found in low and medium pressure cartridges, rarely in magnum calibers. The most common caliber is by far the .30-30, which was introduced by Winchester with the Model, 1894, and other common calibers are .38 Special/.357 Magnum, .44 Special/.44 Magnum, and .45-70. Lever action shotguns such as the Winchester Model 1887 and Model 1901 are available up to 12 gauge, and the Winchester Model 1894 shotgun is available in .410 bore.
