Colt Lightning rifle

The Colt Lightning was a slide-action, or pump-action, repeating rifle and carbine made by Colt from 1884 until 1904. It was first chambered in .44-40, and Colt later built it in three frame sizes so that it could take a wide range of cartridges, from the small .22 Short up to the .50-95 Express. Its outward form resembled the pump-action rimfire rifles of Winchester and Remington. The Lightning was sold mainly as a sporting arm in America, and the San Francisco Police Department adopted it, but it never matched the popularity or the reliability of the lever-action rifles of its day. It is reported to have reached American forces in the Spanish-American War, most likely as privately purchased weapons.