Lever-action repeating rifles were originally designed to shoot cartridges with flat-nose bullets because those rifles used tubular magazines. Because cartridges rest on each other from bullet tip to primer, flat- and round-nose bullets are safe in a tubular magazine. Metallic spitzer or pointed bullets in a magazine tube are not safe. For this reason, tubular-magazine lever-action rifles were long hamstrung by the rounds they were chambered in, until the advent of soft-tipped spitzers. But much earlier, Winchester and Savage innovated the lever-action design in 1895 with the Model 1895 and Model 95, respectively, designing rifles capable of shooting spitzer cartridges using a fixed box magazine in lieu of the standard tubular magazine.
To continue reading this article or issue you must be a paid subscriber. Sign in
Acess the latest Gun Reviews and Data Today.
Get the next year of Gun Tests for just $24. And access all of our online content - over 6,000 articles, reviews, data and more - free of charge.
Subscribe today and save 38%. It's like getting 5 issues FREE!
