Info on a levergun my dad once owned

1

1940izhevsk

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Whenever my dad would talk about the guns he owned while in the Army, he always brought up a "Smith and Wesson" .357 lever action rifle. Of course, he miswords it and calls it an over/under lever action, but I know what he's' talking about.

My true question is, did S&W ever make a lever-action rifle? Whenever I try to look one up, I come up empty handed.
 
S&W never made or marketed a lever action rifle that I know of. BTW, the cartridge itself is called the 357 S&W Magnum, if that could have led to the misunderstanding. If it was a lever action, it was probably a Marlin or a Rossi. Neither Winchester, Remington, Mossberg, or Savage made a lever action in .357 Mag.
 
If he's an older fellow, he's probably talking about a Marlin or Winchester. Ask him if it ejected out of the top (Winchester) or the side (Marlin.)
 
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I asked him yesterday, he said it ejected from the top. He also said it had an S&W logo on the receiver. Now the question is, what model of Winchester was it?

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It could not have had an S&W logo on the receiver.
S&W never made a .357 levergun.

If a .357 Winchester, it would've been most likely a Model 92 CONVERTED from whatever original caliber it started out as, if you're talking about a time frame beyond 30 years or so in the past.

Lotta conversions done on those from the 1960s to the 1980s.

If more recently, Winchester produced Model 94s in .357 Magnum.

You'd need to pin down the timeframe to get a better idea.

Either way, whatever he had was NOT a Smith & Wesson rifle.
Denis
 
Smith and Wesson made the original lever action before selling to Winchester but that's probably to old to be this mans gun. Or caliber.

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http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/20...smith-wesson-repeating-rifle-serial-number-8/
 
I kind of wonder if this is a misspoke thing. Like my dad talks about hunting with his Krag rifle but really it's a Remington Lee 30-40 Krag.

I wonder if there's a Winchester that shows 357 Smith and Wesson larger or more obvious than the Winchester name. Or maybe a commemorative with odd engraving. Guess we really have to nail down when the guy was in the army.
 
My dad was in the Army in the mid-80s, he was an MP once stationed in the Honduras and El Salvador, during the Iran-Contra affair. He was also stationed at Fort Lee, for some time (coincidence that it's the place I'm going for AIT). He might have owned the levergun plus a couple others he'd mention occasionally while stationed at Fort Lee.
 
Depending on which part of the 80s, it MIGHT have been one of the Winchester/USRAC Model 94s chambered in .357 Mag.
Denis
 
The Ordnance Department was taking away the Spencer lever action rifles from the soldiers/troopers in the 1870s. After all, soldiers would waste ammunition and that costs money.
 
My dad was in the Army in the mid-80s, he was an MP once stationed in the Honduras and El Salvador, during the Iran-Contra affair. He was also stationed at Fort Lee, for some time (coincidence that it's the place I'm going for AIT). He might have owned the levergun plus a couple others he'd mention occasionally while stationed at Fort Lee.
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I'm generally in agreement with the others, that he's simply mis-remembering the gun. However, if he owned it when he was stationed in South America, anything's possible. There are many places in the world that are known for counterfeits, fakes, copies, misleading marketing, etc., where you could also have anything made to order by the local cottage industry.
 
If he somehow ended up with a S&W 1854, you should probably try and find out
where it went ;)
It would be worth quite a bundle these days. I'd try and find a pic of him with it...

S&W did have a line of bolt-action rifles, but they were made by Husqvarna or Howa
for S&W from the 1960's to 90's.
 
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