Quote:
Originally Posted by m21sniper
The US Cavalry used lever guns didn't they Jeff?
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No, never as standard issue except for the earliest versions used in the Civil War. The Spencer and original Henry saw some action there, but were widely regarded as significantly under powered for military use.
The first commonly available lever guns firing a true full power rifle caliber were the '86 Winchesters. Marlin actually beat them to the punch with their own rifle caliber lever gun a few years earlier, but the '86 was the first to be produced in large numbers. By that time, other countries were already looking at, and adopting, some of the early bolt guns and their small caliber, high velocity chamberings.
Repeaters were looked down upon by military brass of the time anyway. Lever guns are difficult to manipulate from the prone position, and very difficult to single load. Military brass would accept a repeater, but they really wanted a magazine cutoff that would allow it to be loaded and operated as a single shot, keeping the magazine contents in reserve, to repell a charge or something. Bolt guns lend themselves perfectly to this kind of use.
Winchester did get some contracts for lever action muskets, but they were all foreign contracts.