Big Daddy K
Member
Wonder why they never used a lever action in some of the older wars like WWI?
I assume the bolt action was cheaper, durable, and easy to maintain.
I assume the bolt action was cheaper, durable, and easy to maintain.
The heavy casualties suffered by Russian forces can be partly attributed to large quantities of Model 1873 Winchester lever action repeating rifles purchased at the beginning of the war. Turkish soldiers were able to maintain a high rate of fire versus their Russian counterparts, who were armed with single shot Berdan rifles they had to pause to reload. The success of these rifles-and their 15 round magazines-proved the military value of large capacity magazine weapons to skeptical ordnance officers in Europe and the Americas, prompting a major change in technology and tactics. By 1890 every major army had adopted a magazine fed bolt action rifle. (Source: John Walters, Rifles of the World, Second Edition, 1998)
Leverguns were the "shock and awe" of the Civil war, but it might be difficult to operate the lever action while crawling on your belly or from the edge of a trench/foxhole, as in WWI/II.
I wonder what Custer and his men thought about lever action rifles as they faced the Sioux.