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 hammer or firing pin mechanism. Traditionally, the safety mechanism for a lever action is known as the "half-back" or "half-cock", which involves the hammer being pulled about a quarter to half the way back (depending on manufacturer) from its forward position, holding the hammer off the firing pin, preventing accidental discharge if the rifle is dropped; in more recent lever-action firearms made since the mid-20th century, the hammer in half-cock also engages a transfer bar that prevents the trigger from being pulled. Most modern lever-action firearms made since the 1990s have additional safety features, such as a crossbar safety in the rear of the receiver that prevents the hammer from falling forward onto the firing pin when engaged, or a tang safety that prevents the trigger from being pulled. Lever action 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. A firearm using this operating mechanism is colloquially referred to as a levergun. Most lever-action firearms are rifles, but some lever-actions have been shotguns, and a few have been pistols. The Winchester Repeating Arms Company is arguably the most famous manufacturer of lever-action firearms; other notable manufacturers include Henry Repeating Arms, Marlin Firearms, Mossberg, Rossi, Savage Arms, and Smith & Wesson. Manufacturers like Chiappa Firearms, Norinco, and Uberti are known for making high quality replicas of antique lever-action firearms such as the Henry Model 1860, Winchester Model 1866, & Winchester Model 1873 rifles and the Winchester Model 1887 shotgun, among other models.
History
Early Concepts 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.
Colt Ring Rifle
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. 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. 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. 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.
Volitional & Volcanic
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 the most common with lever-actions. 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. For 170 years, the Volcanic pistol was the only lever-action firearm manufactured by Smith & Wesson, until they introduced the Smith & Wesson Model 1854 lever-action rifle in January of 2024, with the model number being the year S&W was founded. The 1854 is chambered in .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum, .45 Colt, .30-30 Winchester, .360 Buckhammer and .45-70 Government.
Spencer Rifle
The Spencer rifle was a significant milestone in the history of lever-action rifles. 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. 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, which marked the first adoption of an infantry and cavalry rifle with a removable magazine by any country. 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.
Henry Model 1860
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