• Military Lever Actions

    From peterwezeman@hotmail.com@21:1/5 to All on Thu May 10 08:59:12 2018
    In an on-line discussion about the military use of lever action rifles
    several people suggested that the tubular magazine of a classic lever action would be a weak point, as if it was dented in the harsh conditions often encountered in military use it would disable the magazine. In Google searching images using the search terms Winchester musket 1873, 1876, 1886, and 1894
    I note that the military versions of Winchester rifles usually have a full length wooden fore end that completely encloses the magazine tube. This
    would protect the magazine tube, but it would also reinforce the barrel
    when using a bayonet, and in fact the musket version of the box-magazine Winchester model 1895 also had a full length fore end.

    Pump action shotguns with full length handguards and bayonet mounts were
    widely used by the military in World War 1, often being referred to as
    "trench guns". Did these have problems with the tube magazines, or alternatively, were the magazine tubes beefed up for military use?

    I am interested in any comments on these and related questions.

    Peter Wezeman
    anti-social Darwinist

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