Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Cowboy Action Shooting Lightning Rifles

Been looking at some of the Lightning repros available lately.
USFA,Uberti and Taurus are what i've seen so far and was wondering if any of you folks have any experience with these brands and your opinions on them. If I get one it will probably be 357mag. so that leaves USFA out,but I dont believe there is any doubt about the quality of that mfg.
Thanks for any opinions.

The Taurus tend to be very ammo sensitive and jam easily, also they have not marketed in 38/357 to my knowledge. We have sent several back and I sold mine after one CAS match.

The Uberti/Beretta are much better but hard to find and quite pricey.

Not all Ubertis are sold by Beretta. Taylors, Cimarron and perhaps others sell them. I got one of Taylors, the 20" case colored & octagon in 45 Colt. I partially disassembled to to wipe off preservative and put on good lube and saw that is well done and fitted. It shoots 3" at 75 yards with handloads and that is fine with me. Very pleased with it. No problems yet with 1K rounds through it. Stu

any ideas on how rare/common an original one would be?

Thanks folks.
I was hopeing to hear some good about the Ubertis. Taylors&Co. is
15 or 20 min. from work in Winc. Va.
The trouble with goin in there is once ya start lookin around,ya
start askin yourself,maybe i'd like a 73 more? or a 92? or a 85?
I guess that's not such a terrible dilema once ya got some $ saved up. Thanks again.

Anyone make a Lightning replica in .44 Special?

USFireams and Taylors&Co.(Uberti) have them listed in 44WCF but I have'nt seen any 44Spec.

I saw a saddle ring carbine in 44 CF at a Dallas gun show several years ago. No finish at all and a very rough bore. Asking price was $2500. If I had the money and wanted it, I think I could of had it for $1800-2000. It was a neat rifle to see and handle, but a lot of $$ for a gun that I would consider a marginal shooter.

The lightning rifle I would like to see make is the large frame version in 45-70.

ok thanks. We did a remodel for a guy last year, that ol boy didnt trust me at all lol. He had all these pre64 m94's leaned in every corner all with years on years of dust on them an I was droolin over them all.

But on a gunrack in one of the rooms was one of those colts, He never let me touch it but held it up for me to eyeball a couple times. Wanted one ever since.

Gents, take note that 44WCF is 44-40 NOT 44 Special. Having had both, I can tell you the 44 Special was easier for me to reload for a Colt SAA clone due to bullet diameter amd cylinder/barrel dimensions. The 44-40 was touted as "better" for those shooting the Henry, '66 and '73 copies because of the bottleneck case and slightly thinner brass for a better chamber seal. Stu

Stu.....your handle slays me.....

Wait till the guy that quotes Florist Chump shows up to apply his wisdom. Stu

Plus one on that request!

WOW!!
Wouldn't that be 'sumthin!
A 45-70 in a "pump" (grin!)
Virgil B.

I'd go for one!!! Be a long stroke but is a quick follow-up really an issue ith such a great chambering?

I'm thinking it would be like a pump shotgun. Work the pump while coming down out of recoil, and "presto" you're ready for the next shot!
What a fun idea!
Virgil B.

My 45 Colt Lightning shooting 255s at 1150 is no slouch.(not a cowboy-don't get excited about the velocity) Stu

I would like to have a Lightning to shoot. I think they would be faster to shoot than a lever if they worked well. I have a Winchester (62A) and a Browning Trombone that are a blast to shoot and I think a centerfire would be fun too.

The only problem the Lightning or a copy is that they tend to have feeding issues. I am sure that if they didn't Colt would have sold millions. If they were reliable feeders all the top CAS folks would be shooting them. I have to believe though if you were not trying to run them at CAS speed they would work fine though.

Maybe someday when my must have gun list is nearly used up I will write Lightning pump on there.

JWC

Not all Lightnings have feeding issues. My Uberti does not. Lots of Taurus's did, but that's poor manufacture in the rush for sales. Now if you had a good running "66, "73 or other cowboy lever, would you run right out and spend hundreds on a Lightning because the first Taurus were were lousy but cheap, some brands very expensive close to two thousand, and some less so. It took all makers a while to get them right. You know what the shooters are paying to set up in cowboy shooting. Big bucks. Can the average cowboy just dump a race ready '73 for a Lightning? You have to have the prescence of mind to precisely work a Lightning or you can jam it or break it. You do that. Colt didn't sell millions because they got into selling them too late and "the times they were a changin'" Stu

Stu,

I agree with you that the average CAS shooter with 1500+ into a 1873 wouldn't want to dump it for a Lightning. But on the other hand, as I posted above, the top shooters who have 3 and 4 back up gun and who can afford the very best stuff would be shooting Lightning designed rifles if they were the best. You can't tell me that when a guy who drives a $150,000 to $200,000 motorhome to a state, reigonal or national match would turn down a better gun because of what he has invested in his 1873 clone.

I think your history of the Colt rifle is a bit off too. The originals were P.O.S. guns. The design was problematic and prone to breakage. For that very reason some of the modern lightning clone makers chose to not copy Colts internals.

We may have to agree to disagree on this matter.

Jay