Bayonet on a Marlin 444?

[Leverdude]

The US never oficially adopted one but military contracts had alot to do with the incentive to develop them. Right from the start Win was pitching the Henry to the war department or whatever it was. Marlin tried to get the 1881 adopted. It got bypassed because more powerful bolt action calibres were getting developed. If bolts waited another 20 years I think we'd have seen a period of martial lever actions.
They still missed the boat in a way because a compact lever action in 44/40 then would have been like the sub machine gun is today.
But then you need to start thinking about battlefield conditions & the simplicity of most bolt actions compared to most lever guns.
Most countries that could make their own guns never had much use for lever actions in the military & I think it has as much to do with simplicity & ease of field care as anything else.

[JoeArizona]

Being originally from the South (by the grace of God) I can just hear those imortal words right before the first use....

"Here...hold my beer and watch this!"

[Cosmoline]

The only "war" that the lever gun had any major use in were the indian wars and even then only on the indian side or in the hands of civilians, never the military.

As Hobie noted, leverguns were indeed used in war. In Turkish hands they had a major impact at Plevna. They were also used in the Spanish-American war. The forerunner to the Savage 99, in musket form, was a contender to be the next battle arm of the US. The biggest problem with leverguns was not being "underpowered" but that they were more difficult to field strip and could not be cycled as easily in the prone position.

True, the bulk of main line military rifles in WWI were in the 8x57JS class, with very fine (as in thin) tangent sights that often started at 300 meters. The utility of such design is questionable, since most of the fighting was far closer. Personally, given a choice I would not hesitate to take a period levergun, even a .30-30 94 or a Marlin, over the long, long, long rifles the troops were usually issued. Given a choice between a Savage 99 with spitzers and a Springfield 03, I would also go with the levergun. Much faster cycling, equally robust action and sufficient accuracy coupled with a far handier and easy-to-maneuver platform that leaps to the shoulder.

[piller]

Looks like a Rooney Gun to me. I never did like the bayonet on the M16. My M60 didn't have one, and didn't need one. If I ran out of ammo, the whole platoon was in deep Kimchi.

[silverbuzzard]

During the Guadalcanal battle ,Chesty Puller [ later to be Col. Puller and Pattons cousin] was shown his first flame thrower. He asked where to attach the bayonet.

[JustaJeepGuy]

That thing may need a wooden upper handguard if the bayonet is to be effective. Once you run out of ammo, the barrel may be too hot to hold in order to properly apply the bayonet.

[JohndeFresno]

That thing may need a wooden upper handguard if the bayonet is to be effective. Once you run out of ammo, the barrel may be too hot to hold in order to properly apply the bayonet.

Now THAT, I know, was posted by somebody who has had the training!

[JustaJeepGuy]

That thing may need a wooden upper handguard if the bayonet is to be effective. Once you run out of ammo, the barrel may be too hot to hold in order to properly apply the bayonet.

Now THAT, I know, was posted by somebody who has had the training!

Umm, well, no--I just recently read a book about testing a lot of old military rifles. Mention was made of the necessity of the handguard. But I HAVE burned my hand on a rifle barrel...