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Put me down as one who thinks lever actions are inferior in all respects, except they look cool.

Most of the "advantages" posted here are either wishful thinking or outright bunk.

Lighter than bolt rifles? Only if you use wimpy underpowered cartridges. A Winchester 88 in .308 is as heavy as a bolt rifle in the same caliber.

Faster for repeat shots? I don't believe it. Tests show otherwise. One poster bragged about firing 10 "aimed shots" in five seconds. I don't believe he can unless his target is very large and at short pistol range. Someone else even posted about how easy it was to use a lever one-handed from a galloping horse. C'mon. Who shoots deer from a galloping horse?

Then there's accuracy, or the lack thereof. The things just ain't nearly as accurate. Here's proof: Show up some time at the National centerfire Rifle Championships at Camp Perry. Know how many shooters will be shooting levers? Zero. And some of these matches are rapid-fire matches--further evidence that levers hold no speed advantage.

And durability, or the lack thereof. Levers break more easily and don't take the same pressures.

And versatility. Levers are not available in a whole lot of very popular cartridges, like bolt actions are. Almost no varmint cartridges (probably because they're not accurate enough for varmints). You can't even get much of a choice in 30-06, and 30-06 is the most popular cartridge in the USA. A heckuva lot better than the Leverevolution stuff. You can't even get a lever in a legal dangerous game cartridge for Africa.

Which brings up the final old tired subject, the claim that 45-70s with cast lead bullets are better than legal dangerous game cartridges.

Well...there were many such underpowered cartridges in Africa before about 1900, shooting big fat lead bullets at low velocities. In these days hunters got a lot of experience, shooting 50 times as many buffalo as one could shoot today with such guns. As soon as someone came out with solid or jacketed bullets weighing 500 grains and going 2150 fps, and a few years later the .375 H&H, you know what happened to the underpowered 45-70 equivalents?

They all went away and died, that's what.

The same thing happened in the USA. The 30-06 came and the 45-70 went. Because hunters preferred it. If there's a king of the "uniquely American hunting rifles," it's a bolt action in caliber 30-06.

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