Repeating Rifle Magazines

How they feed can be crticial

- John Barsness

John’s current “traditional” American lever-action centerfires are a Marlin Model 1893 in .32-40 (top) and a Winchester Model 64 in .30-30 (bottom). Both have aperture sights, allowing them to be carried by their slender receivers. The Marlin’s sight is from Skinner Sights and the Winchester’s sight is a Lyman Model 56.

Though some major technological advances appeared in rifles during the twentieth century, the nineteenth century began with flintlocks, black powder, and patched round balls, and ended with smokeless powder, jacketed spitzers, and self-contained metallic cartridges. The self-contained cartridge made repeating rifles possible, something firearms designers had dreamed of for centuries. Until cartridges appeared, the closest they came was cap-and-ball revolvers. But soon afterward, the “cap” became the primer in a cartridge.

Of course, conservative hunters (especially British) tended to sneer at “magazine” rifles as being unsporting. However, armies around the world started adopting repeating rifles, though some took longer because of a notion common among older officers, that enlisted men would “waste” too much ammunition when using a repeater.

The best-known early American repeating rifles were lever actions, the Spencer and Henry. Both appeared just before the War Between the States, and some of each were used by the Union Army, though a few eventually fell into Confederate hands.