Couple questions about lever rifles

[FourNineFoxtrot]

I apologize if these are particularly stupid questions, or if they've been asked before. I did a search on the subject, came up empty.

The first question: Is there or has there been a lever gun that shoots semi-auto pistol cartridges? I ask because I recently saw a movie (the new Resident Evil) where a character feeds what appear to be 9mm ball rounds into her Winchester lever gun... hardly an uncommon movie type glitch, but it caught my eye. My first thought was "Yeah, right...", but my second thought was, "Hey... why not? That'd be pretty cool." What I assume is that there's some feature of short, rimless semi-auto cartridges that screws with the lever-style action/horizontal tube magazine, but I'd appreciate it if somebody who knows could enlighten me.

The second question is about capacity. The highest cap I've found poking around online, looking up lever rifles, is for the now-discontinued Winchester models, holding 12 in the tube for .357/.44/.45LC. Others, like Marlin, state their cap at around 9/10. I used to read a lot of westerns, enjoyed them immensely. Probably they helped draw me to firearms in the first place. Now, some of these westerns (I think it was in a Ralph Compton book) mention the capacity of the old-style Winchesters at around 16 or 17, IIRC. Is that true? Did the old school lever guns really hold more rounds than the modern ones? Are the newer ones deliberately limited in capacity?

I don't have any personal experience with lever guns, so I'd appreciate some input from folks who do.

 

[Wolfgang2000]

I've never heard of a lever rifle taking a semi auto round. Yes it could happen but you would have to be careful with bullet shape. Typical 9 MM ball would be disastrous.

Marlin rifle that have longer barrels have a larger capacity. My marlin 44 mag took 10 rounds, it had a 20" bbl. My Marlin 357 mag takes 9 rounds but it only has a 16" bbl. Some Cowboy rifles have longer bbls, and they have a larger magazine.

 

[Fast Frank]

There's a bunch of variables here.

But I think the hi-cap king of lever rifles is going to be my Marlin 39a.

When loaded with .22 shorts, it holds about thirty of them.

I've never seen a lever gun chambered for rimless ammo.

They may exist, but I've never seen one.

 

[ArmedBear]

http://www.blank-guns-depot.com/bla...-M1894-Lever-Action-Western-Rifle-p-1197.html

Could have been something like that. Movie guns may take 8mm or 9mm blanks, even if the replicas are lever guns, Colt revolvers, etc.

I don't think that common centerfire lever guns have held that many rounds. Some guns were long, as are the current Marlin 1895 Cowboy rifles in .45-70 with a 26" barrel. But it only holds 9 rounds; the .45-70 is, itself, very long.

I have a lever gun that holds 15 and one that holds 19 rounds, but those are .22LR rifles descended from Annie Oakley's trick shooting Marlin, not larger-caliber rifles a rancher might have used (they'll handle any .22 rounds, and the longer one holds up to 24 .22 Shorts). Capacity isn't artificially limited AFAIK in any lever rifles, except that both Winchester and Marlin have made rifles with magazines that were shorter than the barrels. This is done for weight and balance, though, not to limit capacity.

Anyway, capacity is a function of the length of the rounds and the length of the magazine. If they fit, you could have 17 rounds, but it would be hard to think of an old black powder round that would be short and be used in a gun with a really long barrel.

 

[ugaarguy]

I've never seen a lever gun chambered for rimless ammo.

They may exist, but I've never seen one.

Browning Lever Rifles, and Winchester 1895s are amongst the best known examples of box magazine lever actions chambered for rimless cartridges. The Winchester 88 lever actions were also chambered for the rimless .358 Winchester, and rebated rim .284 Winchester.

 

[Uncle Chan]

My Navy Arms 92 holds 12 rounds 45LC or 16 rounds 45 S&W.

I, personally, would like to see a lever in 45 ACP.

 

[VA27]

An 'original' Henry rifle from the 1860's held 16 rounds of .44 rimfire.

Several years ago I read about a gunsmith who converted an 1894 Marlin to 45ACP. He got it to work, but I guess it was a chore, 'cause he said he wouldn't make another one.

Last year a buddy of mine converted a lever-action to fire the 357 Sig round. Velocities weren't what he was hoping for and I think he's still tinkering with it, trying to get it to feed reliably.

I don't know of any 'factory' built lever-action chambered for rimless pistol rounds...unless you count the Marlin 57/62 guns that were chambered in 256 Winchester Magnum and 30USC.

 

[peacemaker45]

Uberti makes 1873 Winchester clones with 30" barrels. in .38 special, or .44-40, they ought to hold better than 15. My '66 carbine holds 11, i think. Of course, in SASS, one only loads ten.

~~~Mat

 

[jmr40]

Marlin has been making their levers in .35 Remington for 50 years and it is rimless. I see no reason from a technical stand point, but I doubt it would sell enough to be profitable

 

[ThomasT]

Marlin made a lever action that shot 30 carbine rounds. Someone offered me one of these and a marlin that chambered the 256 winchester round for $1100.00. Wish i had bought them.

 

[.41Dave]

An 'original' Henry rifle from the 1860's held 16 rounds of .44 rimfire.

This is the answer. The very old original lever guns fired a very stubby (and what modern shooters would consider shockingly underpowered) round. In a tubular magazine, shorter cartridges = more rounds.