Evans lever action rifle?

[Larry Ashcraft]

My dad just called me about a rifle he saw today. Here is the information I have.

Evans lever action rifle, manufactured 1873-1879, when they were bought out by Winchester. .45 caliber, 20 cartridge capacity, loaded through the buttstock.

A local historian has one, he says it is worth $2400, but he will sell to my dad for $1200. (Don't worry, my dad doesn't make dumb investments.)

A google search turned up only the following:

Evans Repeating Rifle. Mechanic Falls, ME. Pat. Dec. 8, 1868 & Sept. 16, 1871 U.S.A

Anybody know anything about them? Should I go take a look?

Thanks, Larry

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

OK, I've found out a little:

Evans New Model - lever action repeating sporting rifle. - .44 Evans CF; 30” round barrel. - Fine condition. - Generally smooth dark metal, retaining maybe 60-70% dull thin blue, turning plum; some areas of roughness on metal at bottom of wrist; area of recent scrapes on top left frame. Fine markings include “Evans Repeating Rifle. Mechanic Falls, ME. Pat. Dec. 8, 1868 & Sept. 16, 1871 U.S.A.” Good mech; strong rifling in dark dirty bore. Sound wood w/ handling & usage dings. - Fascinating & scarce repeater holding 28 rounds in the magazine in the butt. Also available, 4 rounds of .44 Evans ammo, $80, only with purchase of rifle. - s/n - Only number observed is “13” in wood & metal under forearm. - antq - item #RV-EVN13 - $1,385

 

[Jim Watson]

I don't know much more.
The New Model Evans repeater holds 28 rounds of .44 Evans Long - close to .44-40 in power - in a buttstock magazine. The magazine pretty much IS the buttstock with just a couple small contour pieces of walnut top and bottom. Wilfred Brimley got good use out of one in Crossfire Trail. Lots of ammo on hand for a gunfight, but it took patience to reload. The lever has to be cycled for every round loaded so as to fill each position in the helical feed track.

The first model Evans shot a shorter, less powerful, cartridge, but held more of them. It is identifiable by having the walnut stock section only on top of the magazine for a cheekrest, but nothing underneath to give a conventional shape.

 

[JohnBT]

Never seen one. Interesting design though. John

"Designed by a Maine dentist named Warren R. Evans."

www.leverguns.com/articles/blancard/evans.htm

"A total of almost 15,000 Evans repeating rifle were produced between 1873 and 1879. Fortunately for today’s collector a good portion of these survive."

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

Thank you John.

I forwarded the link to my dad. I have feeling he will own that rifle soon.

 

[Jim K]

In addition to what Jim Watson said about tedious loading, there is another big drawback to the system. A full magazine held a lot of ammunition. But if you got in a firefight and shot ten rounds, you couldn't "top off" the magazine. You could put in new rounds, but everytime you worked the lever, a live round came out until you reached the last of the previous loading, then you still had to pump the lever ten more times until the first of the new loading came up to the chamber.

Since an enemy like a bandit gang or renegade Native Americans presumably would not understand the "timeout" signal, the owner of an Evans could have problems if the number of opponents exceeded the number of rounds in the magazine.

Jim

 

[Harve Curry]

I have one like the carbine picture in #4 reply. A new medel sporting carbine in the Evan's "44 long cartridge". Mine slugs .436" groove diameter, if I recall correctly. That magazine feed is called a Archamedies Screw (spell?), no magazine spring. Only 2 springs , trigger return, and hammer.

In the 1940's a Evan's rifle was found in the burned out cabin ruins of Nate Champion's, left over from the shoot out he had in the 1890's Johnson County Wyoming War.

I could use a rear sight if anyone knows of one. From what I can tell it's very similar to a rear sight on a Civil War Springfield musket.

I was fire forming brass from cut down .303" British cases, using Unique and a .440" round ball.

 

[Cpl.Parker]

http://www.collectorssource.com/category.asp?catid=11

Here is one for $1450CDN ($1231USD) I believe the have an export license. Anyway more information and photos.

P

 

[Jim K]

Here are two. The bottom one is a standard sporting rifle. The top one was one of those made from a musket to try and salvage something when the factory went into bankruptcy. That is indicated by the sling swivel ahead of the trigger guard.

The tab hanging down at the front of the trigger guard is an arm attached to the internal hammer and can be used to let the hammer down or cock it. The smaller lever in front of that is a safety that is like a half-cock; the hammer arm is pulled back a little way and the safety engaged; that keeps the hammer off the firing pin so the gun can be carried safely.

As to the sights, they are nothing like a CW musket sight, and I have not seen any like them. I assume, pending further info, that they were made by Evans.

HTH

Jim

 

[Harve Curry]

double tap

 

[Harve Curry]

Jim,
Those are some very clean Evans rifles.

My rear sight does'nt look like the ones in the picture. It was filed down flat removing what appeared to be roller coaster ramp. File marks show where elevation ramps/adjustments were before. The elevation numbers are still on the side. The mounting screws match the barrel holes. So I think it was the original.
Mine also has the dogs head engraved/pressed into the ejector dust cover.

 

[Jim K]

I have never seen an Evans with that type of sight, and those Flayderman shows appear to have a either a non-adjustable rear or a sight like those on my rifles. Of course, in those days it was common for gun makers to "give the customer what he wants", especially when a large contract was involved, so I would see no reason your sight could not be original.

Just FYI, a gunzine article a few years ago said that the Evans rifle receivers were stamped. In fact, they were forged. One of the first uses of forging for receiver manufacture, the Evans factory was hailed for its use of an innovative technique which reduced the amount of machining and saved material.

Jim