Lever Rifle for .45Colt

Skinny 1950

Skinny 1950

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I am thinking of getting a lever rifle that takes black powder .45 Colt cartridges and would be a period correct companion for an early Colt SAA (Reproduction) in .45 Colt. Anyone know what was available back in the day and what is available as a reproduction now??
Thanks
 
I've read that .45 Colt was never a rifle chambering back in the day, but many of the modern reproductions do seem to be chambered in it. The toggle-link Winchester designs would certainly be period correct, such as the 1860 Henry, 1866 and 1873 (same year the SAA came out). I don't have any experience with them myself, but I know companies like Uberti make reproductions.

Another popular model which came a bit later is the 1892 (I guess that would mean the 'early SAA' would be an older gun at that point :)). There seem to be a number of 92 repros made, from the Italian makers as well as Rossi in Brazil (that's what I have). The Rossi might not be the nicest finished gun ever made, but they seem well made where it counts, and it wasn't as expensive.

I'm also slowly working towards loading black powder 45 Colts. Last year I tried some test rounds in my Pietta SAA, that makes it a nice boomer :).
 
Uberti 1873 is good. If you are using Black Powder, I would suggest the Puma Stainless 92 in 45 Colt, just to make cleaning life easier. If you are using BP substitutes then the Uberti 1860, 1866, or 1873 are all good choices. Can also get an uberti or pedersoli lightning in 45 Colt (nice pump action rifle).
 
That old toggle action as used on the 1873s was right about at its limit with the .44-40-200.

The 1892 action is MUCH stronger... and a lot less springy.
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I shoot a fair amount of blackpowder .45 Colt in my Rossi 92 with good results... I have never had any corrosion issue even though I do not do a full strip after each session... I cleans the bore and wipe out the inside of the action and bolt face... It MAY get a full teardown once or twice a year...

Yes the Rossi 92 can be a bit rough out of the box, but I did a bunch of work and now mine is as slick or slicker than some originals I have handled...

The Marlin 1894 is a great option as all it takes is to pull the lever pivot screw to remove the bolt for cleaning...

As previously mentioned the .45 Colt was never a levergun cartridge back in the day... I believe this was due to the fact that tapered cases, 44-40 and 38-40 created a better seal keeping fouling out of the actions than straight wall cases....
 
I might mention that there have been just a few advances in metallurgy since 1873.

As an example, old barrels were always dead-soft. You would have no rifling left, should you put half a box of .44 Maggies through an original barrel.

Same with the actions. How many rounds of .44 Mag would it take to damage a cast-BRASS action? Sure, the 73 Winchester used an Iron action..... but that was just plain old IRON. I highly doubt that a reputable company such as Uberti will be using old-fashioned Bessemer Iron in this day and age, if they even could get the stuff. Yet that is what the old-time rifles were made from and THAT is the reason for all those fancy case-hardening colours when they were new. Today, colour-hardening is for decorative purposes; back then, it was the difference between a rifle which fell part after 1000 rounds and one that lasted a century or so with Black Powder ammo.
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