Editing Lever action (section)

== Comparison to bolt-action rifles ==
{{procon|date=June 2021}}
[[File:Henry Rifle Receiver open.JPG|thumb|Henry rifle, toggle-lock]]

While lever-action rifles have always been popular with hunters and sporting shooters, they have not been widely accepted by the military. Several reasons for that have been proposed.

One significant reason for this is that it is harder to fire from the [[prone position]] with a lever-action rifle than it is with a [[bolt action|bolt-action]] with either a straight pull or rotating bolt.

While lever-action rifles generally possess a greater rate of fire than bolt-action rifles, that was not always a feature, since, until about the turn of the 20th century, most militaries were wary of it being too high, afraid that excessive round consumption would put a strain on logistics of the military industry.

Tubular magazines, similar to the one used on the first bolt-action rifle and used on hunting lever-action rifles to this day, are sometimes described as a problem: while a tubular magazine is indeed incompatible with pointed centerfire "[[Spitzer (bullet)|spitzer]]" bullets developed in the 1890s (discounting recently invented [[elastomer]]-tipped ones) due to the point of each cartridge's projectile resting on the primer of the next cartridge in the magazine, lever-action rifles actually adapted for military use (such as the [[Winchester Model 1895]], which saw service with the Russian Army in World War I) were fitted with a box magazine invented in the late 1870s.

Another explanation for the lack of widespread use of lever-action designs stems from the initial inability to fire high-pressure cartridges made possible by the invention of [[smokeless powder]] in the 1880s. Safe operation could only be carried out by using low-pressure cartridges in the toggle-lock lever-action rifles such as the [[Henry rifle]] and the following [[Winchester Model 1866]], [[Winchester Model 1873]], and [[Winchester Model 1876]] (which was used by the mounted police of Canada). The newer lever-action rifle designs, notably the [[Winchester Model 1886]], [[Winchester Model 1892]], [[Winchester Model 1894]], and the [[Winchester Model 1895]], with a strong locking-block action designed by [[John Moses Browning]], were capable of firing more powerful higher-pressure pistol and rifle cartridges.

In the end, the problem was economical. By the time these rifles became available in the late 19th century, militaries worldwide had put cheap bolt-action rifles into service and were unwilling to invest in producing more expensive lever-action rifles.

Due to the higher rate of fire and shorter overall length than most bolt-action rifles, lever-actions have remained popular to this day for sporting use, especially short- and medium-range [[hunting]] in forests, scrub, or bushland. Lever-action firearms have also been used in some quantity by prison guards in the United States, as well as by wildlife authorities in many parts of the world.
	
Many newer lever-action rifles are capable of shooting groups smaller than 1 minute of angle (MOA), making their accuracy equal to that of most modern bolt-action rifles.

Additionally, another advantage over typical [[bolt-action]] rifles is the lack of [[handedness]]: lever-action rifles, with similarities to [[pump-action]] shotguns, are frequently recommended as ambidextrous in sporting guidebooks.