Lever action

A lever action is a type of action for repeating firearms that uses a manually operated cocking handle located around the trigger guard area (often incorporating it) that pivots forward to move the bolt via internal linkages, which will feed and extract cartridges into and out of the chamber, and cock the firing pin mechanism. This contrasts with other types of repeating actions, including manual actions like break action, bolt-action, & pump-action, and automatic actions like semi-automatic, burst fire & fully automatic.^[1][2] A firearm using this operating mechanism is colloquially referred to as a levergun.

Most lever-action firearms are rifles, but some lever-action shotguns and a few pistols have been made. The Winchester Model 1873 rifle is one of the most famous lever-action firearms, but many manufacturers (notably Henry Repeating Arms and Marlin Firearms) also produce lever-action rifles. Colt produced the 6403 lever-action Colt-Burgess rifles from 1883 until 1885 and Mossberg formerly produced the Model 464 rifle.

Lever-action firearms have their roots from a lever-action revolver designed by Italian gunsmith Cesar Rosaglio in 1826 and patented in 1829. He designed a gun with a lever mechanism that simultaneously turned the drum and cocked the hammer. In 1829, Rosaglio also designed a percussion cap revolving shotgun.^[3][4]

The first lever-action rifle to be adopted by the military was the Colt's 1st and 2nd model ring lever rifles, both revolving cap and ball rifles that held eight shots, they were the first firearms produced by the Patent Arms Mfg. Co. Paterson, N.J.-Colt's Patent between 1837 and 1841.^[5] The ring-lever carbine did not have an exposed hammer that is manually cocked and fired like a traditional revolver, rather a small ring sat in front of its trigger and the user would pull the ring downward and backward toward the trigger, which cocked the weapon and rotated the cylinder. The rifle was available in .34, .36, .38, .40, & .44 calibers and saw limited use by the United States Army in the Seminole Wars in 1838.^[5] However, the rifle had many issues that kept it from being widely adopted, its 32 in (810 mm) long barrel and 8.5 lb (3.9 kg) weight made it a massive rifle that was difficult to wield.^[6] It was also exorbitantly expensive, in 1838 the Army purchased 50 rifles at a price of $125 each, adjusting for inflation that would be equal to $4,400 per rifle in 2026. The gun was also prone to chain firing, which is when the sparks from a chamber firing manage to get into other chambers, causing them to fire simultaneously, potentially causing the weapon to explode.^[5]

The first lever-action firearm that could be recognized in terms of what the modern concept of a lever action is, was the Volitional repeater invented by Walter Hunt in 1848, a rifle that used a 12-round under-the-barrel magazine tube, making it the first to adopt this type of magazine that became ubiquitous with lever-actions.^[7] Another early predecessor to the modern lever action was the Volcanic pistol, invented in 1855 by Daniel B. Wesson and Horace Smith (the founders of Smith & Wesson), along with Walter Hunt who designed the gun's .41 caliber caseless ammunition known as a Rocket Ball. The Volcanic pistol was made by Volcanic Repeating Arms, a company that was eventually reorganized into the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1866, with the Volcanic pistols' design being the basis for the Henry Rifle and the Winchester Model 1866.^[8]

The most significant design improvements in the history of lever actions were the Spencer repeating rifle and Henry rifle, both created in 1860.^[7] The Spencer was designed by Christopher Spencer, it was a lever-operated rifle with a removable seven-round tube magazine that loaded into the butt of the stock, a major breakthrough for the time.^[7] Some 200,000 rifles were produced between 1860 and 1869, and it was adopted by the United States and used during the American Civil War,^[7] which marked the first adoption of an infantry and cavalry rifle with a removable magazine by any country.^[7] The early Spencer's rifle lever only served to unlock the action and chamber a new round; the hammer had to be manually cocked after chambering a round.^[7]

The Henry rifle, invented by Benjamin Tyler Henry in 1860 while he was working for Winchester, is widely considered to be the first practical lever-action rifle that was also a commercial success.^[9] When designing his rifle, Henry attempted to solve the problems that had prevented prior lever-action firearms like the Volcanic pistol from being widely successful, namely the unreliability of its ammunition. His approach was to design the ammunition first, and then design a gun to accommodate it, to that end he created the self-contained .44 Henry cartridge in 1858.^[7] To accommodate the round's higher pressures he designed a larger frame made from brass, and designed a new barrel specifically for the .44 caliber bullet his new rimfire ammo used. He made an under-barrel magazine tube that ran the length of the barrel, giving the rifle an unprecedented 16-round capacity. Other improvements Henry made was perfecting the loading and ejecting mechanism, including designing the bolt to automatically cock the hammer each time the lever was cycled, and he created a firing pin independent of the bolt face.^[10] By October 1860, Henry had finished his rifle and received a patent for it, only 8 months after the Spencer was patented. At the time, Winchester did not have the money to retool their machines to mass produce Henry's new rifle, it took a few years for them to get the proper equipment. This delayed the production of the first Henry rifles until 1862, just in time for the eve of the Civil War.^[7] About 15,731 Henry rifles were produced, 1,731 for the federal government and 14,000 were made by the New Haven Arms Company for civilian sale, before production ceased in 1866.^[10]

The Henry rifle was replaced by the Winchester Model 1866 after New Haven Arms was acquired by Winchester. The rifle was also known as the Model 1866 “Yellow Boy” due to its polished brass receiver, the "Yellow Boy" was the first lever-action rifle to bear the Winchester name.^[11] The Model 1866 was chambered for the same .44 Henry round, but featured several design improvements: most notably a spring-closed loading port on the right-hand side of the frame, directly at the rear of the magazine tube (whereas the Henry was loaded with a loading gate at the end of the magazine tube), this allowed the rifle to be reloaded more quickly.^[12] The 1866 was available in three different configurations: an infantry rifle musket with a 27 in (690 mm) barrel, a sporting rifle with a 24 in (610 mm) barrel, and a saddle carbine with a 20 in (510 mm) inch barrel. A total of 170,100 Yellow Boys were produced between 1866 and 1873.^[13]

The next major breakthrough in lever-action rifles came with the Winchester Model 1873, chambered for the .44-40 WCF, it was the first lever-action rifle to use a centerfire cartridge, which have substantially more power than rimfire cartridges. The .44-40 would go on to become the most commonly used centerfire cartridge in the late 19th century, and the Winchester 1873 went down in history "as the gun that won the West".^[7][11] Some of the other changes with the Model 1873, compared to the 1866, was the use of a larger steel frame with side plates that made it easier to access the rifle’s innards for cleaning. Roughly 720,000 Model 1873s were produced between 1873 & 1923, it was later made in other chamberings such as .38-40 WCF and .32-20 WCF.^[14] In 1875 Winchester made a special, limited edition grade of the rifle known as the "One in One Thousand" grade. Rifles of this grade were test-fired at the factory, and those that met a certain accuracy level were fitted with set triggers and fancy walnut stocks with checkering and engraving on the metal work. A standard model cost about $18 (equivalent to $487.80 in 2026), however a One in One Thousand grade rifle sold for $100 (equivalent to ~$2,800 in 2026). This grade of the 1873 was so coveted and legendary it inspired a film with James Stewart called Winchester '73.^[14]

John Marlin, founder of the Marlin Firearms Company, introduced the Marlin Model 1881 as the company's first lever-action repeating rifle, and the first lever-action rifle designed to fire the powerful .45-70 Government cartridge originally designed in 1873 by the U.S. Army for use in the Springfield Model 1873, which would become one of the most popular big-game hunting cartridges in the world, and is still in use today. The Model 1881 was also offered in .38-55 Winchester.^[7] The Model 1881 was developed into the Model 1893, and was designed to handle higher pressure loads in anticipation of smokeless powder becoming the standard. The Model 1893 was also the first side-ejecting lever action, a key selling point over Winchester since it better protected the internal workings from weather and debris.^[7] The Model 1893 is still in production in the 21st century as the Marlin 336, and it gave rise to the Marlin Model 1894, which is also still in production.^[15]

The Winchester Model 1894 (now called the Model 94) is arguably the most famous lever-action rifle in the world, the rifle has been in production for 132 years and is the best selling centerfire rifle in U.S. history.^[11] Designed by John Moses Browning, the Model 1894 was the first lever-action rifle specifically designed to use smokeless powder cartridges.^[7] It was initially chambered for the .25-35 WCF and the .30 WCF; the .30 Winchester came to be known as the .30-30 Winchester, the most popular lever-action rifle cartridge in the world. The Model 94 is credited with taking more game animals in North America than any other rifle. The Model 94 is/was offered in a number of other chamberings including .32 Winchester Special, .35 Winchester, .375 Winchester, .357 Magnum, .44 Remington Magnum, and .45 Colt to name a few.^[16] To better withstand the higher pressures of smokeless powder, the Model 1894 was designed with a new nickel-steel alloy barrel. Other major design improvements included a new safety feature involving a thick, solid-steel rod that slides up in front of the hammer while the bolt is being closed to prevent accidental discharge. A unique feature to the Model 1894 is a hinged floor plate in the receiver that pivots down when the action is opened, allowing easier access to the gun's internal mechanisms. The Model 1894's wider lever handle allowed it to be used more easily while wearing gloves, leading it to become the carbine of choice during the Alaskan Gold Rush of 1897, resulting in the Winchester 94 being christened “The Klondike Model”. This is credited with the Model 94 becoming thought of as the north woods deer camp rifle, the rifle to carry in a scabbard while riding on horseback and being commonly found in many a pickup truck’s rear window gun rack during hunting season.^[16] The Model 94 also became a very popular rifle with law enforcement during the early 20th century, it was used by a number of law enforcement agencies including Railroad Police like the North West Railroad Police, it was also used by the Texas Rangers and New York State Troopers. The Model 94 was the first sporting gun to sell more than one million units, the one millionth Model 94 was presented in 1927 to President Calvin Coolidge,^[7] and as of 2019 some 7.5 million Model 94's had been produced.^[17]

The Savage Model 1895 was designed and patented in 1893 by Arthur Savage, who also founded the Savage Arms Company in 1894. Entering production in 1895, Savage's rifle had a few revolutionary design changes over prior lever actions'. The Model 1895 was one of the first rifles designed to use smokeless powder, and it was the first lever-action rifle designed to use a bottlenecked cartridge with a pointed (spitzer) bullet. The Model 1895 used Savage's new .303 Savage, a bottlenecked cartridge that was designed to take advantage of the increased pressures of smokeless powder, it also used a pointed spitzer-style bullet.^[18] Pointed bullets have the advantage of having better accuracy and penetration, however they were not used in lever-action rifles with traditional tubular magazines because of safety issues: a cartridge in the magazine sits nose-to-base with the one in front of it, the recoil of the rifle being fired can possibly (however unlikely) cause the bullet's point to act like a firing pin and set the round in front of it off; this is why lever-action rifles traditionally use round-nose bullets.^[19] Arthur Savage solved this problem by designing the Model 1895 with a rotary spool magazine, in this style of magazine the rounds sit next to each other in a cylindrical sprocket, instead of end-to-end.^[20] The Model 1895 was also revolutionary for being the first successful, truly hammerless lever-action rifle.^[18][20] The Model 1895 evolved into the Model 1899, then the Model 99, and was in production from 1895-1997. It was one of the most successful hunting rifles in history, with one million rifles being sold by 1960.^[21]

The Rudolf Oesterreich 1881 was an Austrian lever action pistol with an underbarrel tube magazine that ejected the spent cartridges rearwards when reloading. Similar firearms such as the Joseph Schulhof 1884 and a design by Franz Passer and Ferdinand Seidl in 1887.^[22] Paul Mauser proposed a pistol and carbine using a similar operation.

Sturm, Ruger & Co, a brand synonymous with high quality revolvers like the single-action Ruger Blackhawk & double-action Ruger GP100, falling-block rifles like the Ruger No.1, and autoloading rifles like the Ruger 10/22, Ruger Mini-14, and Ruger AR-556, also produced lever action rifles for a short-time.^[23] From 1996-2009, they produced the Ruger Model 96, a hammerless short-throw lever-action rifle chambered in .17 HMR, .22 LR, .22 Magnum, and .44 Remington Magnum.^[24] Although Ruger re-entered the lever gun industry when they purchased Marlin Firearms in November, 2020. The first Ruger-made Marlin lever-action was the Marlin Model 1895 SBL chambered in .45-70, which became famous as the rifle used by Chris Pratt in the film Jurassic World.^[25]

Henry and Spencer rifles were used in the American Civil War, the Henry was credited with giving the Union Army a number of victories due to its rapid and highly accurate fire. Major William Ludlow stated after the Battle of Allatoona Pass: "What saved us that day was the fact that we had a number of Henry rifles. This company of 16 shooters sprang to the parapet and poured out such a multiplied, rapid and deadly fire, that no men could stand in front of it and no serious effort was made thereafter to take the fort by assault.”^[9] The Henry's comparatively high magazine capacity of 16-rounds made the rifle infamous with the Confederates, most of whom were still using single-shot muskets, with them calling the Henry "That damned Yankee rifle you can load on Monday, and shoot 'til Sunday".^[9]

Being impressed with the Henry Rifle's performance in the American Civil War, in 1868 the French Navy was considering adopting the Winchester Model 1866 as a rifle that could be used by sailors manning the crow's nest to lay rapid fire down on the decks of enemy ships. However, the final contract negotiations were interrupted by the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. The Model 1866 was never officially adopted by France, however they purchased 6,000 Model 1866 rifles: 3,000 musket versions with 27 in (690 mm) barrels & a 16-round magazine capacity and 3,000 carbine versions with 20 in (510 mm) barrels & a 13-round magazine capacity; 4.5 million rounds of .44 Henry ammunition were included in the purchase. The Winchester 1866 became the only foreign rifle to be retained in France after the war, and became the standard rifle for the gendarmes of the Corsican 17th Legion.^[26]

The Ottoman Empire purchased 45,000 musket and 5,000 carbine versions of the Winchester Model 1866 in 1870 and 1871. These rifles were used against Imperial Russia during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 to great effect, the Russian army suffered tremendous losses when it attacked the Ottomans, in part due to the Winchester 1866. This brought the Winchester lever-action rifle to Russia's notice, and is part of the reason they later purchased a large number of them during the early years of World War I.^[26]

The Winchester Model 1895, Winchester's first lever-action rifle to use an internal clip-fed box magazine, was used by some of the Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War in 1898.^[27] While the primary rifle of the U.S. Army at the time was the Springfield Model 1892, the military designation for the bolt-action Krag–Jørgensen rifle, Winchester Model 1895s were issued to some troops due to a shortage of the Krag rifles. The 1895 was chosen because it was available in several cartridges being used by the military including the .30 Army, .30-30 Winchester, & .303 British, and was loaded the same way the M1892 was. Colonel Theodore Roosevelt carried a Winchester Model 1895 chambered in .30 Army while leading the Rough Riders.^[28]

During World War I the British Empire purchased three models of Winchester rifle: the Model 1886, Model 1892, and Model 1894. The Royal Flying Corps purchased 50 Model 1886 Winchesters chambered in .45-90, and used specially developed incendiary bullets designed to ignite the hydrogen gas in German airships and balloons. With the Lee–Enfield rifle being badly needed on the front lines, the Royal Navy purchased 20,000 Model 1892 rifles in .44-40 Winchester and 5,000 Model 1894 carbines in .30 WCF to be used for shipboard guard duty and mine clearing.^[26]

With the Model 1886 Lebel being prioritized for front-line French troops, the French Army contracted with Winchester and Remington to arm rear-echelon soldiers. France purchased 15,100 Model 1894 carbines with a special metric version of Winchester’s No.44A rear sight, which were issued to motorcycle couriers, artillery troops, transport units, balloon units, and airmen.^[26]

Some 293,816 lever-action Winchester Model 1895 rifles were sold to the Russian Empire during World War I.^[29] The primary infantry rifle of the Russian Army at the time was the Mosin-Nagant, chambered in 7.62x54mmR, however the Russian Army was so large it did not have enough equipment for its troops, nearly a third didn't even have firearms. To solve this, Russia turned to the then-neutral United States to acquire additional rifles, contracting Westinghouse and Remington to manufacture additional Mosin rifles, however they were unable to produce the number of rifles needed. To supplement this, Russia also contracted Winchester to make nearly 300,000 musket versions of the Winchester Model 1895, as it was relatively easy to convert it from a sporting configuration to a military one. The rifle was re-chambered in 7.62x54mmR since the action was strong enough to handle the stout round, the barrel length was increased to 30 in (760 mm) with a bayonet lug added to the end, and a charging bar was added to the bolt to allow for rapid clip reloading.^[30] The Winchester Muskets were largely issued to Russian units in the western provinces of Finland, Poland and Latvia.^[26]

During World War I and World War II, due to battle rifles like the M1903 Springfield and the M1 Garand being badly needed overseas, approximately 1,800 special ordinance-marked Winchester Model 94 carbines were issued to troops stationed along the Canada–United States border and Mexico–United States border, National Guard home guard troops, and members of the Army Signal Corps.^[16]

Lever-action rifles were used extensively during the 1930s by irregular forces in the Spanish Civil War. Most of which were Winchester or Winchester copies of Spanish manufacture, such as the El Tigre, a Spanish copy of the Winchester Model 1892.^[31] At least 9,000 Russian Winchester Model 1895 Muskets, marked with a flaming bomb and MP8 cartouche in the stock, were provided by the Soviet Union in 1936 to the Spanish Republicans for use in the Spanish Civil War.^[32][33] These were the same rifles the Russian Empire had used in World War I, following the Bolshevik Revolution and the formation of the Soviet Union they were put in storage, where they remained until Russia decided to support the Spanish Republicans. Due to the arms embargo the Spanish Republicans had difficulty acquiring weapons, so Stalin decided to sell some of Russia's excess arms, including a lot of obsolete firearms, in exchange for Spanish gold, with the Model 1895's being sold for many times their original purchase price.^[26]

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 Winchester Model 1887, designed by John Browning in 1885 at the behest of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company.^[34] The lever-action design was chosen for reasons of brand recognition despite the protestations of Browning, who pointed out that a slide-action design would be much better for a shotgun.^[35] Initially chambered for black powder shotgun shells (as was standard at the time), the Model 1887 gave rise to the Winchester Model 1901, a strengthened version chambered for 10 gauge smokeless powder shells. Their popularity waned after the introduction of slide-action shotguns such as the Winchester Model 1897, and production was discontinued in 1920.^[36] Modern reproductions are manufactured by Armi Chiappa in Italy, Norinco in China, ADI Ltd. in Australia, and Century Arms in Florida.^[35] Winchester continued to manufacture the .410 bore Winchester Model 1894 (Model 9410) from 2003 until 2006.

Australian firearm laws strictly control pump-action shotguns and semi-automatic actions (Category C, D & R). Lever-action operation falls into a more lenient category (Category A & B), which has led to an increase in popularity of lever action shotguns.^[37]

A one-off example of lever-action reloading on automatic firearms is the M1895 Colt–Browning machine gun. In a typical lever-action design, the operating lever lies under the rear of the gun, below the stock, and is hinged near the breech area. It is operated by rotating the lever down and forward, which causes the breechblock to slide rearward away from the barrel and eject the spent round. The potato digger mechanism, in effect, bears some similarities to the basic lever action design; it uses a lever that is powered by the expanding gases that are propelling the bullet down the barrel, rather than the operator's hands. 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 M1895 was the first successful gas-operated machine gun to enter service in the United States Military.^[38]

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 .30-30 Winchester, introduced by Winchester with the Model 1894. Other common cartridges include: .22 calibre rimfire, .38 Special/.357 Magnum, .44 Special/.44 Magnum, .41 Magnum, .444 Marlin, .45-70 Government, .38-40 Winchester, .44-40 Winchester, .45 Colt, .25-35 Winchester, .32-40 Winchester, .35 Remington, .38-55 Winchester, .308 Marlin Express, and .300 Savage. There is some dispute about which of these cartridges can safely be used to hunt large game or large predators. Even in the largest calibers, the low velocities give these cartridges much lower energies than elephant gun cartridges with comparable calibers. However, even the smallest cartridges fit lightweight, handy rifles that can be excellent for hunting small herbivores, pest control, and personal defense.

Some stronger, larger pistols (usually revolvers) also accept some of these cartridges, permitting the use of the same ammunition in both a pistol and rifle. The rifle's longer barrel and better accuracy permit higher velocities, longer ranges, and a wider selection of game.

Some of these cartridges (e.g. the .50-70 Government (1866) and .45-70 Government (1873)) are developmental descendants of very early black powder metallic cartridges. When metallic cartridges and lever actions were first invented, very small, portable kits were developed for hand reloading and bullet molding (so-called "cowboy reloading kits"). These kits are still available for most low-pressure lever-action cartridges.^[39]

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 receiver, or on the buttstock) for quick on-field reloading. To operate safely, cartridges for these should have bullets with rounded tips, and some use rimfire primers rather than centerfire primers. The safety problem is that long-range aerodynamic supersonic bullets are pointed. In a tubular magazine, the points can accidentally fire centerfire cartridges. A related problem is that some pointed bullets have fragile tips, and can be damaged in a tubular magazine. Some lever actions such as the Savage Model 99 can be fed from either box or rotary magazines. The Winchester Model 1895 also uses a fixed box magazine, and was chambered for a variety of popular commercial and military rifle cartridges at the time. More recently, spitzer bullets with elastomeric tips have been developed.^[40]

Lever-action shotguns such as the Winchester Model 1887 are chambered in 10 or 12 gauge black powder shotgun shells, whereas the Model 1901 is chambered for 10-gauge smokeless shotshells. Modern reproductions are chambered for 12 gauge smokeless shells, while the Winchester Model 9410 shotgun is available in .410 bore.

While lever-action rifles have always been popular with hunters and sporting shooters, they have not been widely accepted by the military, because when the lever closes and you forget your finger in the trigger, it can be broken. 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 smokeless powder in the 1880s. Safe operation could only be carried out by using low-pressure cartridges in the toggle-lock lever-action rifles such as the Henry rifle and the following Winchester Model 1866, Winchester Model 1873, and Winchester Model 1876 (which was used by the mounted police of Canada). The newer lever-action rifle designs, notably the Winchester Model 1886, Winchester Model 1892, Winchester Model 1894, and the Winchester Model 1895, with a strong locking-block action designed by John Moses Browning, were capable of firing more powerful higher-pressure pistol and rifle cartridges.

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 that of most modern bolt-action rifles.

Additionally, another advantage over typical bolt-action rifles is the lack of handedness: lever-action rifles, with similarities to pump-action shotguns, are frequently recommended as ambidextrous in sporting guidebooks.

A quick reloading technique for lever-action firearms using a full rotation of the weapon with one hand. A similar example exists, flip cocking but this differs as the previously mentioned full rotation is not used.^[41]

• Antique guns
• Rapid fire crossbow

• [1]