The Colt Lightning Carbine or Colt Lightning Rifle was a

slide-action Pump action or slide action is a repeating firearm action that is operated manually by moving a sliding handguard on the gun's forestock. When shooting, the sliding forend is pulled rearward to eject any expended cartridge and typically to co ...

(pump-action)

rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...

manufactured by Colt from 1884 until 1904 and was originally chambered in

.44-40 The .44-40 Winchester, also known as .44 Winchester, .44 WCF (Winchester Center Fire), and .44 Largo (in Spanish-speaking countries) was introduced in 1873 by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. It was the first metallic centerfire cartridge ma ...

caliber. Colt eventually made the Lightning Rifle in three different frame sizes, to accommodate a wide range of cartridges, from

.22 Short .22 Short is a variety of .22 caliber (5.6 mm) rimfire ammunition. Developed in 1857 for the first Smith & Wesson revolver, the .22 rimfire was the first American metallic cartridge. The original loading was a bullet and of black powd ...

caliber and

.38-40 The .38-40 Winchester is actually a .40 caliber (10 mm) cartridge shooting .401" (10.2 mm) caliber bullets. The cartridge was introduced by Winchester in 1874 and is derived from their .44-40 Winchester. This cartridge was introduced f ...

to .50-95 Express. Its profile resembles the pump-action rimfire rifles made by the

Winchester Repeating Arms Company The Winchester Repeating Arms Company was a prominent American manufacturer of repeating firearms and ammunition. The firm was established in 1866 by Oliver Winchester and was located in New Haven, Connecticut. The firm went into receivership ...

and

Remington Arms Remington Arms Company, LLC was an American manufacturer of firearms and ammunition, now broken into two companies, each bearing the Remington name. The firearms manufacturer is ''Remington Arms''. The ammunition business is called ''Remington ...

. The Lightning saw use as a sporting arm in America and was adopted for use by the San Francisco Police Department, but was never as popular or as reliable as the various

lever-action The toggle-link action used in the iconic Winchester Model 1873 rifle, one of the most famous lever-action firearms Lever-action is a type of action for repeating firearms that uses a manually operated cocking handle located around the trigger g ...

rifles of its day.

Variants

The medium-frame Colt Lightning Magazine Rifle was manufactured between 1884 and 1904. It was the first slide-action rifle offered by Colt. Colt records indicate 89,777 were produced, in

.32-20 The .32-20 Winchester, also known as .32 WCF (Winchester center fire), was the first small-game lever-action cartridge that Winchester produced.

, and

as a companion arm to the

Colt Single Action Army The Colt Single Action Army (also known as the SAA, Model P, Peacemaker, or M1873) is a Trigger (firearms)#Single-action, single-action revolver handgun. It was designed in 1872 for the U.S. government service revolver trials of 1872 by Colt's P ...

revolver. Two versions were offered: a rifle with a barrel and 15-round magazine, and a carbine with a barrel and 12-round magazine. The San Francisco Police Department acquired 401 rifles all of which had round .44-40 barrels and bore S.F.P 1 through S.F.P 401 stampings on the lower tang. The small-frame Lightning (also referred to as "Second Model Colt Lightning") was the first rimfire rifle made by Colt and was manufactured between 1887 and 1904 as a

plinking Plinking refers to informal target shooting done for pleasure, typically at non-standard targets such as tin cans, logs, bottles, or any other homemade or naturally occurring target. Practice In contrast to shooting done at established targe ...

and gallery gun. Colt records indicate 89,912 were made, in

and

.22 Long 22 Long is a variety of 22 caliber (5.6 mm) rimfire ammunition. The 22 Long is the second-oldest of the surviving rimfire cartridges, dating back to 1871, when it was loaded with a 29 grain (1.9 g) bullet and 5 grains (0.32 g) of black po ...

. Barrel length was and the rifles had a blued finish, case-hardened hammer, and a walnut stock. The large-frame Lightning (also called the "Express Model") was manufactured between 1887 and 1894. Colt records indicate 6,496 were made in different big game calibers such as

.38-56 WCF The .38-56 Winchester Center Fire or .38-56 Winchester cartridge was introduced in 1887 by Winchester for the Winchester Model 1886, and was also used in the Marlin Model of 1895. Project and history Production of Winchester Model 1886 rifles ...

, .40-60 and .50-95 Express. Barrel length was .

Modern versions

Reproduction Lightning rifles are still manufactured today by companies such as Uberti, Taurus, and Pedersoli for hunting,

historical reenactment Historical reenactment (or re-enactment) is an educational or entertainment activity in which mainly amateur hobbyists and history enthusiasts dress in historic uniforms or costumes and follow a plan to recreate aspects of a historical event or ...

, and competition purposes such as

Cowboy Action Shooting Cowboy action shooting (CAS, also known as western action shooting, single action shooting, Cowboy 3 Gun, Western 3-gun) is a competitive shooting sport that originated in Southern California in the early 1980s, at the Coto de Caza Shooting R ...

in calibers such as

.38 Special The .38 Special, also commonly known as .38 S&W Special (not to be confused with .38 S&W), .38 Smith & Wesson Special, .38 Spl, .38 Spc, (pronounced "thirty-eight special"), or 9x29mmR is a rimmed, centerfire cartridge designed by Smith & ...

.357 Magnum The .357 Smith & Wesson Magnum, .357 S&W Magnum, .357 Magnum, or 9×33mmR as it is known in unofficial metric designation, is a smokeless powder cartridge with a bullet diameter. It was created by Elmer Keith, Phillip B. Sharpe, and Douglas B. ...

, and

.45 Colt The .45 Colt (11.43×33mmR), is a rimmed, straight-walled, handgun cartridge dating to 1872. It was originally a black-powder revolver round developed for the Colt Single Action Army revolver. This cartridge was adopted by the U.S. Army in 1 ...

. Of these calibers, only the .44-40 was offered in the Lightning when it was originally produced by Colt.

References

External links

Pedersoli Lightning page
{{Colt's Manufacturing Company Colt rifles Rifles of the United States Pump-action rifles Guns of the American West Carbines

Variants

Modern versions

See also

References

External links