First Year Colt Lightning Magazine Rifle Medium Frame .38 CLMR Pump Antique
SOLD FOR: $1,150.00
LSB#: WY250119CF003
Make: Colt
Model: Lightning Magazine Rifle, Medium Frame
Serial Number: 640
Year of Manufacture: 1884 (https://www.colt.com/serial-lookup)
Caliber: .38 CLMR (.38-40 Winchester)
Action Type: Slide / Pump Action, Full Length Tube Magazine Fed Rifle
Barrel Length: 26”, Tapered Round
Sights / Optics: The front sight is a bead blade dovetailed to the front of the barrel. The rear sight is a “u”-notch elevator sight dovetailed to the rear of the barrel.
Stock Configuration & Condition: The slide handle is two-piece checkered walnut. The checkered is mostly defined but there are some compressions and nicks that interrupt. The left side of the slide handle is cracked at the rear. The buttstock is smooth walnut with a straight grip, straight comb and steel crescent buttplate. The buttstock has scattered nicks, dings, and scratches. There is some scattered mold staining around the buttstock. The LOP measures 13 1/4″ from the front of the trigger to the back of the buttplate.The plate has been chromed over with evidence of surface erosion under the finish. Overall, the stocks are in Good condition as antique.
Type of Finish: Blued
Finish Originality: Original except for the small parts of the receiver, bottom metal, and the buttplate have been chrome plated.
Bore Condition: The bore is gray. The rifling is generally strong, interrupted by erosion in some areas. There is scattered light erosion in the bore. In this writer’s opinion, the bore rates 6 out of 10.
Most antique firearms have bores that will show erosion. This is not only due to age but to the use of black powder. When fired, black powder reacts corrosively. NRA Antique Firearm Conditions Standards are quite lenient for bores. In some cases the NRA standards disregarded the bore’s condition for collectors firearms.
Overall Condition: This rifle retains about none of its metal finish. Most of the finish has worn to white and taken to a range of light to dark patina with some corrosion concentrated at the midlength of the barrel, and some trace amount of bluing in the protected areas. The screw heads have been chromed along with the bottom metal, buttplate, and small receiver components, including the hammer. The markings range from clear to worn and incomplete. The rampant colt marking extremely faint, but partially visible. The screw heads range from tool marked with strong slots to disfigured with unusable slots (most notably the left receiver screw head which is broken in half. The action shows operational wear. Overall, this rifle is in Fair condition as Antique.
Mechanics: Tthe 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: None
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 advertising said it all: “Nothing was faster than lightning”. Dr. William H. Elliot, a dentist by trade, designed the gun. Half hobby, half side job, Elliot liked to tinker with things and over the course of his life came up with at least 130 inventions. Since he lived in Ilion, New York, he often walked down to neighboring Remington and showed them the interesting things he was working on and when Remington 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. Each of these guns had the same set up, with a deep-blued finish, case hardened hammer, American walnut stock and fore-end, and open rear and front sights. They were light, going 6.5-pounds or so. 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 First Year production example is an 1884 vintage Medium frame chambered for .38-40. The rifle has been partially refinished and the gun shows its age. It is in good mechanical condition. This will make for a nice example of the Colt Lightning for a collection and would be well worth restoring, too. Please see our pictures and good luck! – L.S.
