ok guys its old west time

this is the winchester lever action

the gun that won the west

over the decades winchester made many models of these in many calibers and each improved on the previous model

they are one of the most produced firearms of all time

and were so successful you can buy them today

lets see why

ok so our story starts in the 1850s

and it goes in phases so lets get fancy and use headings lol

the volcanic

the first phase is actually a pistol

yup

a lever action pistol

there were a number of dudes who all contributed

first was walter hunt

he designed new ammunition and a lever action mechanism to go with it

and made it in both pistols and rifle forms

the bullets had propellant and primer in a hollow base

no more cap and ball bs so its way faster

he called it the rocket ball

you can line these up in a tube under the barrel and be like pew pew pew

big improvement

the design had a lot of people looking at it

like a guy named lewis jennings

a guy named benjamin tyler henry

two dudes named horace smith and daniel wesson

maybe youve heard of some of these guys

so the rocket ball was awesome except that had very little power

they made improved versions with fancy primers and stuff but look at how little space you have

compare that to how far a cartridge sticks behind a modern bullet

we need more room for boom

we need to do something different if this is going to get really good

henry rifle

so that guy henry took the design and started the next phase of improvements

first he made a better selfcontained cartridge

the .44 henry

way more room

its a rimfire cartridge with a copper case and priming compound along the rim of the case

and a .44 caliber 200 grain bullet

not as powerful as rival rifles but way more powerful than the original rocket ball

slap these babies in his new henry rifle

and you get 16 pews right after another

thats a huge increase dude

remember this is during the civil war

everybody else gets pew out of a dang muzzleloader

the rifle henry created was

very similar

to the volcanic pistol

mostly he tweaked it to use his awesome new cartridge design

ditched the pistol version

this rifle was made by those guys smith and wesson at their new haven arms company

but they had some financial trouble

so they sold that part of the company to a guy named oliver winchester

and he eventually started selling enough to do ok

it was well liked in the civil war

but not really adopted by the militaries

it was mostly privately purchased by special forces guys doing raids or whatever

infantry tactics just hadnt caught up to this technology

if youre shoulder to shoulder in a line of dudes going boom at the same time it doesnt really matter if you can shoot fifteen more times afterwards by yourself

but after the war selfcontained cartridges got more and more popular

and improvements continued

henrys original design used a case of copper because it was smooshable

but it was actually a too smooshy and would rupture

so eventually people started making cartridges with stronger brass

sweet

and the rifle worked pretty darn well after the war too

people on the frontier used them to great effect

sometimes even against cavalry guys named custer oops lol

winchester model of 1866

the next big change was with a model called the 1866

and the biggest improvement was the loading gate on the side created by a guy named nelson king

it allowed you to load the rifle really quickly by simply sliding rounds through a little spring loaded door in the side

so you can get back into action real quick

or even load as you go to stay topped off

its pretty excellent

in fact it was so excellent it got sold to foreign governments

they sold 50000 to turkey in 1870

and turkey went on to thrash the russians so hard in the russo turkish war that they invented the mosin nagant rifle

repeaters are king

model 1873

the next big change was the 1873

they made a new caliber called .44 winchester center fire

aka .44-40 by companies that arent winchester

centerfire is more reliable than the rimfire rounds that had been used up to this point

and companies like colt and smith and wesson created pistols in the cartridge too

great for guys on the frontier who wanted a pistol and a rifle

then again if it can be used in a pistol its not a powerful round

the .44 wcf can take out a deer no problem

but what if im a badass hunting big game

model 1876

just 3 years later winchester released the 1876 for bigboy rounds

people wanted a rifle in .45-70 but it has big variations in bullet weight

no biggie in a single shot

but hard for repeaters

so winchester made a new cartridge called .45-75

it replicates the performance of .45-70 but tightly controls dimensions so they can design a gun around it

model 1886

in 1886 we get the arrival of a 21 year old man named john moses browning

patron saint of all gun owners

he was able to finally design a gun that could handle the .45-70 itself by fundamentally changing the internals of the lever action

instead of a couple of bendy arms with an elbow that kind of lock forward

the 1886 uses a locking block that slides up through the bolt

you can actually see the tabs on either side when looking from the top

and you can see it connected to the lever when its open

the receiver has solid sides now too

this was way stronger and allowed it to handle the big rounds

it worked so well winchester asked browning if he could adapt it to the smaller more moderate cartridges

the 1886 and 1892 were both very popular

model 1894

in 1894 we get the first rifle ever designed for the new smokeless powder

and the most important part about this is it gives you much more power to your pew

it came out in a number of calibers

but by far the most important and successful is the .30 winchester center fire

aka the .30-30

this cartridge is a great balance of hitting power against a target like deer

or people

but without being too crazy on recoil

and the gun itself can be light and handy

its a great all around gun

guys this thing was so popular that the model 94 alone sold well over 7 million guns

thats a lot of friggin guns

and they kept selling it for oh i dunno over a century

if your gun is successful and popular for over a century you know you did good

model 1895

the last big change was the 1895

bit of a different look no

towards the turn of the century pointed spitzer bullets were becoming popular

theyre more aerodynamic so they can go farther for the same amount of powder and recoil

but this gives a peculiar problem with a tube loaded gun

the point of the bullet sticks directly into the primer of the round in front of it

serious potential for oopsies

so to remedy this browning made a box magazine

stacking the cartridges side to side other prevents oopsies

and you can ditch the side loading gate obviously

now its top loading

nowadays you can get ammo with soft plastic points like from hornadys leverevolution line

the soft tip wont detonate the primers but still gives you good aerodynamics

ok so now lets see how these rifles work

obviously you got a big ol lever under the gun

that breaks apart a pair of toggle link arms inside the gun

closed

open

when the toggle link is closed its like if you push against something with your arms and lock your elbows

pretty steady yeah

of course a strong enough jolt can buckle your elbows and make you fall on your face

even worse if youre supposed to be holding back an explosion lol

and that was the problem with rounds like the .45-70

so eventually browning switched to a vertically sliding block that drops down

both designs slide the bolt backwards cocking the hammer

a tube under the barrel holds ammo

capacity depends on tube length and cartridge size

like 5 to 15

and these guns had a bunch of options too

straight stock vs pistol grip

round or octagonal barrel

and different barrel lengths

and much more

took more deer than anything else by far

tons around to this day

theyre just awesome

if you want to buy one today

they millions so i bet you can find one

plenty of originals are out there

and companies like rossi and uberti make beautiful recreations of the old styles

plus winchester too

keep your eyes open you too can be a rifleman

pew pew

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