Lever Action Winchester – With a Silencer! (Video)
Russ Chastain 03.23.16
Some things are too awesome to keep to oneself such as this 1907-built Winchester Model 1894 lever-action rifle, a special-order lightweight takedown model that came from the factory with a silencer!
Takedown rifles used to be more common than they are today for some reason. This one allows the separation of the barrel/forend/magazine assembly from the receiver and butt stock, and the silencer can be unthreaded from the barrel, too.
All that was required for disassembly was to unthread the magazine tube using the folding lever on its front end, which doubles as a screwdriver, far enough that it no longer extended into the receiver. Then you simply rotate the two assemblies 90 degrees and pull them apart. (Interrupted threads on the barrel and in the receiver hold it together against the pressure of firing.)
To reassemble, just reverse the process. In the video, it looks more difficult than it needs to be because the magazine tube has been fully unscrewed from the forearm prior to beginning the video.
Taken from a screenshot of the video
The silencer itself (and that’s what the manufacturer, a descendant of the Hiram Maxim himself, called it) is well-made and well-finished. The cutaway view shows how it was made.
The silencer was built on an offset so as to prevent it from blocking the shooter’s view of the sights, and this rifle has a nice front sight indeed, described on the auction page as “ramp mounted half nickel.”
Pretty cool! Too bad the U.S. government requires hoop-jumping and bribery for legal ownership of a silencer.
