Colt Lightning Magazine Rifle CLMR Medium Frame .32-20 Pump, 1890 Antique
SOLD FOR: $2,463.00
LSB#: WY250401DK001
Make: Colt
Model: Lightning Magazine Rifle, Medium Frame
Serial Number: 50589
Year of Manufacture: 1890
Caliber: .32 CLMR (.32-20 Winchester)
Action Type: Slide / Pump Action, Full Length Tube Magazine Fed Rifle
Barrel Length: 26″, Tapered Octagonal
Sights / Optics: The front sight is a blade in a slotted base dovetailed to the front of the barrel. The rear sight is a V-notch leaf and elevator sight dovetailed to the rear of the barrel. The top tang is drilled, tapped and filled for a tang sight (none present).
Stock Configuration & Condition: The stocks are walnut with a two-piece checkered slide-handle, straight grip, straight comb and steel crescent buttplate. There are cracks at the rear of each tang with two dowel-repairs through the wrist. The right panel of the slide handle has a crack at the rear edge going forward to its rear mounting screw. The slide handle has some scattered scratches and dings. The checkering is generally well defined. The LOP measures 13 3/8″ from the front of the trigger to the back of the buttplate. The plate has a few light marks and has a distinctive plum hue. Overall, the stocks are in Good-Very Good condition as refinished and repaired Antique.
Type of Finish: Blued
Finish Originality: Original
Bore Condition: The bore is semi-bright. The rifling is sharp where not interrupted by erosion. There is some light erosion and pitting in the bore, mostly toward the muzzle-end. In this writer’s opinion, the bore rates about 7 out of 10.
Overall Condition: This rifle retains about 65% of its metal finish. The finish is thinning at all edges. The most notable finish loss is on the magazine which has scattered light surface erosion that has been mostly scrubbed out. There is a small patch of erosion on the bottom-right barrel flat about mid-way down and the barrel has some scattered light wear. The receiver has some light oxidation and scattered stubborn dried grease. There are some scattered nicks and scratches. The screw heads range from sharp to lightly tool marked with strong slots. The markings are clear. Overall, this rifle is in Very Good-plus condition as Antique.
Mechanics: The action functions correctly. We have not fired this rifle. As with all previously owned firearms, a thorough cleaning may be necessary to meet your maintenance standards.
Box, Paperwork & Accessories: This rifle comes with a Colt Archives letter which indicates it shipped June 30, 1890 to S. O. Fisher in Lynchburg, Virginia in its current configuration as the only gun of its type in the shipment.
Our Assessment: Around the 1880s, Colt was looking to diversify but both Remington and Winchester had the rifle market sewn up. Besides their lever-actions, there were also new slide action rifles: the user pumped a moving arm set under the barrel and around a tubular magazine, kicking out a spent round and loading a new one with every “stroke”. Colt concentrated on this design concept and in 1884 introduced a gun with a short slide action that was so slick and so fast; they dubbed it the “Lightning”. The advertisement said it all: “Nothing was faster than lightning”. Dr. William H. Elliot, a dentist by trade, designed the gun. Elliot lived in Ilion, New York and often showed his designs to Remington. When they didn’t bite on his new rifle design, he sent a letter to Colt, who loved it. The handy rifle’s tubular magazine could hold as many as 16 rounds, depending on caliber, which made it very attractive. It came in three varieties: small, medium, and large. The medium frame guns, chambered for .32-20, .38-40 and .44-40 Winchester calibers, marketed as 32, 38 and 44 CLMR (Colt Lightning Magazine Rifle), were the most popular, using some of the same cartridges as Colt’s Single Action Army and with ammunition already being produced for Winchester’s rifles. Ultimately, the rifle was discontinued as Winchester and Colt came to the agreement that Winchester would produce rifles, Colt would produce handguns, and nobody needed to make the market competition get ugly. This example is an 1890 production medium frame chambered for .32-20. The rifle has seen some use but will make a nice addition to a collection of Colt firearms or early repeating rifles. Please see our photos and good luck!
Please forgive any typos, I was educated in California -Bud
