What’s your intestine response to the picture under?
Curiosity? Appreciation? Fascination?
The POF-USA Tombstone 9mm is an excessive instance, nevertheless it’s what you may name the logical conclusion of a a lot bigger development. It’s exhausting to say whether or not there’s a renewed curiosity in lever weapons or the curiosity by no means actually light within the first place, however tricked-out, tactical, or in any other case fashionable fashions are new—and they look like right here to remain.
A Rising Development
Many sign their embrace of contemporary enhancements by blacking out the lever gun’s conventional wooden inventory and metal barrel. The primary of those that I recall was the Rossi R92 Triple Black, which I coated at SHOT Present 5 – 6 years in the past. This type of lever gun is so frequent at present that it’s exhausting to recollect how weirdly hanging it was to see tactical enhancements on John Wayne’s sidekick. I’m positive there are examples that predate the Rossi, however that’s the primary time it got here throughout my radar.
Since then, Henry, Smith & Wesson, and Marlin (amongst others) have all launched their very own model of the identical. Smaller outfits like Citadel and Chiappa have gotten in on the motion, and there are total firms specializing in tactical aftermarket components for lever-action rifles.
And this development might not have reached its zenith. Marlin first launched their Darkish Collection rifles in 2019, however after they had been acquired by Ruger the next 12 months, the corporate opted to reimagine the idea slightly than abandon it. From the adjustable inventory to the full-length M-LOK rail to the radial muzzle brake, these new Darkish Collection rifles recall the city warfare of Fallujah greater than the lonesome landscapes of the American West.
Marlin Darkish Collection 1895.
However they weren’t executed. Much more not too long ago, Marlin partnered with Magpul to outfit the 1895 Trapper with a polymer forend and adjustable inventory. Magpul made its identify producing polymer components for AR-platform rifles, so their emblem on a lever gun appears each misplaced and proper at dwelling on this Courageous New World.
Innovation or Abomination?
Lever weapons have sensible makes use of, however for me, aesthetics is the true draw. How a standard lever gun appears is an enormous purpose I like to hold one across the woods. The profile is clear, streamlined, and stylish. It doesn’t have any knobs or bolts protruding from the edges, and the reds and browns of the wooden inventory distinction superbly with the grey or black of the metal parts.
Tactical lever weapons are cool in the identical manner that Mad Max is cool, however nobody watches post-apocalyptic motion pictures for the panorama units. Tactical is sensible, after all. It’s simpler to mount equipment like lights and bipods. Threaded barrels permit for muzzle brakes and suppressors, and adjustable cheek risers assist in consolation and correct capturing.
However many of those sensible functions could be higher served by different rifle platforms, particularly the AR-15 and its variants. The AR is preeminently sensible. It gives tons of choices for equipment and optics. It’s lighter than most lever weapons, extra adjustable, and could be had in a greater diversity of calibers. It additionally holds extra ammunition (typically talking), which is good for hog or varmint looking.
Lever-action hunters may level out that the previous cowboy weapons are simpler to hold and really feel extra pure to shoot. Lever weapons are properly balanced, to allow them to be carried with one hand on the receiver, however including a suppressor to the tip type of negates that profit. I additionally surprise how a lot of this opinion is predicated on years of observe slightly than something inherent within the platform. I do know various three-gun opponents who’re lightning quick with an AR.
The Chiappa 92 Wildlands T.D. Rifle.
Plus, in the event you want a lever gun for when a snap shot or a shot on a operating animal is perhaps essential, wouldn’t you slightly have one other spherical on the pull of a set off? Lever-action rifles are quicker than bolt weapons, however within the arms of most hunters, not almost as quick as a semi-auto.
I don’t say any of this to knock the lever-action as a superb looking rifle. It’s, and I’ve used one myself. Nevertheless it appears to me that the advantages of a tactical lever gun are extra totally realized in different platforms. In the event you take a lever gun to the woods, embrace it. Don’t attempt to flip it into one thing it’s not.
I’ve sympathy for many who reside in areas the place semi-auto rifles are restricted. In that case, a tactical-style lever-action is perhaps the best choice. However for the remainder of us? I’m leaning in the direction of “abomination” slightly than “innovation.”
A Center Method
Thankfully, that is America, and if there’s one factor we’re good at, it’s having our cake and consuming it, too.
Operating alongside the black-on-black-on-black aesthetic is one other group of lever weapons that stroll a center line between fashionable and tactical. The Smith & Wesson 1854 is an efficient instance. I’m engaged on a evaluate of this gun, and at first look, it appears to comply with extra conventional strains. However nearer inspection reveals a number of contemporary options equivalent to a threaded barrel, M-LOK slots on the handguard, and a fiber-optic entrance sight. It appears extra like a gun from the Previous West, however nonetheless lets me mount a lightweight if I wish to take it hog looking or use it for dwelling protection.
Henry’s new Lever Motion Supreme Rifle is one other instance. It has the wooden and metal all of us love, however together with a threaded barrel, it makes use of AR-15 magazines. It additionally incorporates a free-floated barrel to advertise accuracy (one thing conventional lever weapons struggled with), and an adjustable four-pound set off. I’m additionally engaged on a evaluate of this rifle, and I can verify the rifle gives fashionable efficiency in a extra conventional model.
How will we characterize Henry’s new rifle? It has wooden furnishings and blued metal but additionally a threaded barrel and AR magazines.
There are lots of different examples of this “center manner,” and it’s simple to see why. For my cash, that is one of the simplest ways to marry lever weapons and modernity with out risking a messy divorce.
The Holdouts
In fact, for all of the Fudds on the market (love you!), there are nonetheless some firms that refuse to hitch the threaded-barrel bandwagon. Winchester is the king of those holdouts. So far as I can inform, the fabled American gun maker gives zero fashions with polymer shares, adjustable cheek risers, M-LOK handguards, or picatinny scope rails. All their present manufacturing lever weapons characteristic wooden furnishings and varied sorts of blued metal barrels and receivers.
That’s to not say Winchester’s present fashions supply zero enhancements over the unique late-Nineteenth-century variations. They reap the benefits of fashionable manufacturing strategies that make the rifles extra sturdy, dependable, and correct (although some would say not that rather more sturdy, dependable, and correct).
Winchester Mannequin 94 Sporter
Winchester is even popping out with new fashions. The corporate not too long ago launched the .22 LR “Ranger,” which runs a really affordable $430 MSRP. It appears like a variant of all their different lever weapons, however the brand new chambering gives one thing for teenagers and small-game hunters.
Final Shot
In the event you personal and love a tactical lever gun, extra energy to you. That’s the wonderful thing about firearms: there’s room sufficient for everybody to have their factor. In truth, slightly than characterize a rejection of the standard, tactical lever actions may very well be a affirmation of the longevity of the design.
“I feel the ‘tacti-cool’ surge in lever actions attests to the platform’s timelessness,” MeatEater Gear Editor Adam Moore identified once I talked about this matter to him. “The addition of scout scopes, purple dots, prolonged magazines, and tactical forends aren’t enhancing lever actions or cowboy rifles or making them related. As a substitute, these equipment simply verify what we’ve at all times recognized about them: they’re dependable, quick-handling rifles that excel at a wide range of looking and capturing duties.”
Adam would know. He grew up in deer-dog nation, the place lever- and pump-action rifles had been most well-liked for fast photographs on operating sport. Moderately than hate on the present development, he simply sees it as confirming what we already know: lever weapons are superior, they usually aren’t going wherever.