Lever action
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A lever action is a type of
Most lever-action firearms are
History
In 1826, a lever-action revolver was capable of firing six shots in less than six seconds. It was produced in Italy by Cesar Rosaglio and patented in 1829.[1]
The first lever-action rifles on the market were likely the
Multiple lever-action designs including the
The
John Marlin, founder of
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. The Marlin rifle is still in production, whereas production of the Winchester 94 ceased in 2006. While externally similar, the Marlin and Winchester rifles are different internally. The Marlin has a single-stage lever action, while the Winchester has a double-stage lever. The double-stage action is easily seen when the Winchester's lever is operated, as the entire trigger group drops down to unlock the bolt which then moves rearward to eject the spent cartridge.
The fledgling
Use in warfare
The Henry Lever-Action was used in the
Shotguns
Early attempts at repeating shotguns invariably centered around either bolt-action or lever-action designs, drawing obvious inspiration from the repeating rifles of the time. The earliest successful repeating shotgun was the lever-action
(Model 9410) from 2003 until 2006.Australian firearm laws strictly control
Other applications
A one-off example of lever-action reloading on automatic firearms is the M1895 Colt–Browning machine gun. This weapon had a swinging lever beneath its barrel that was actuated by a gas bleed in the barrel, unlocking the breech to reload. This unique operation gave the nickname "potato digger", as the lever swung each time the weapon fired and would dig into the ground if the weapon was not situated high enough on its mount.
The
Cartridges
The cartridges for lever-action rifles have a wide variety of calibers, bullet shapes, and powder loads which fall into two categories: low-pressure cartridges with rounded bullets, and high-pressure cartridges with aerodynamic pointed ("spitzer") bullets.
Some lever-actions are not as strong as bolt action or semi-automatic rifle actions. The weaker actions utilize low- and medium-pressure cartridges, somewhat similar to high-powered pistol ammunition. To increase the bullet's energy at relatively low velocities, these often have larger, heavier bullets than other types of rifles. The most common cartridge is the
Some stronger, larger pistols (usually
Some of these cartridges (e.g. the
Stronger lever-actions, such as the action of the Marlin Model 1894, can utilize high-pressure cartridges. Lever-action designs with strong, rotary locking bolts (such as the Browning BLR with seven locking lugs) safely use very high-powered cartridges like the .300 Winchester Magnum, .300 WSM, and 7 mm Remington Magnum. Tilting block designs such as the Savage Model 99 are also strong enough to handle much higher chamber pressures.
Many lever actions have a tubular magazine under the barrel. It's not uncommon to see extra ammunition stored in externally mounted "shell holder" racks (usually as "sidesaddle" on one side of the
Lever-action shotguns such as the Winchester Model 1887 are chambered in 10 or 12 gauge
Comparison to bolt-action rifles
This article contains a pro and con list. (June 2021) |
While lever-action rifles have always been popular with hunters and sporting shooters, they have not been widely accepted by the military. Several reasons for that have been proposed.
One significant reason for this is that it is harder to fire from the prone position with a lever-action rifle than it is with a bolt-action with either a straight pull or rotating bolt.
While lever-action rifles generally possess a greater rate of fire than bolt-action rifles, that was not always a feature, since, until about the turn of the 20th century, most militaries were wary of it being too high, afraid that excessive round consumption would put a strain on logistics of the military industry.
Tubular magazines, similar to the one used on the first bolt-action rifle and used on hunting lever-action rifles to this day, are sometimes described as a problem: while a tubular magazine is indeed incompatible with pointed centerfire "spitzer" bullets developed in the 1890s (discounting recently invented elastomer-tipped ones) due to the point of each cartridge's projectile resting on the primer of the next cartridge in the magazine, lever-action rifles actually adapted for military use (such as the Winchester Model 1895, which saw service with the Russian Army in World War I) were fitted with a box magazine invented in the late 1870s.
Another explanation for the lack of widespread use of lever-action designs stems from the initial inability to fire high-pressure cartridges made possible by the invention of
In the end, the problem was economical. By the time these rifles became available in the late 19th century, militaries worldwide had put cheap bolt-action rifles into service and were unwilling to invest in producing more expensive lever-action rifles.
Due to the higher rate of fire and shorter overall length than most bolt-action rifles, lever-actions have remained popular to this day for sporting use, especially short- and medium-range hunting in forests, scrub, or bushland. Lever-action firearms have also been used in some quantity by prison guards in the United States, as well as by wildlife authorities in many parts of the world.
Many newer lever-action rifles are capable of shooting groups smaller than 1 minute of angle (MOA), making their accuracy equal to the accuracy of most modern bolt-action rifles.
Additionally, another advantage over typical
See also
- Antique guns
- Rapid fire crossbow
References
- ^ "Antologia; giornale di scienze, lettere e arti". June 24, 1832 – via Google Books.
- ISBN 978-0-9707997-7-7.
- ISBN 978-0-9707997-7-7.
- ^ Salna, Karlis (4 March 2016). "Imports of Adler shotgun pouring into Australia". The New Daily. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
- ^ "The Best Portable Reloading Press". Reloader Addict. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
- ^ "Spitzer Bullets for .30-30 Reloaders: Boing, Boing, Boing!". Real Guns. Retrieved 29 July 2017.