Bullard Lever Action
- Category
- Rifle
- Barrel
- 711 mm
- Weight, empty
- 3.63 kg
- Introduced
- 1883
About
What it is, and why it matters
The Bullard Lever Action is a 19th-century American lever-action repeating rifle designed by James Herbert Bullard and manufactured by the Bullard Repeating Arms Company of Springfield, Massachusetts, between 1883 and 1891. Unlike the toggle-link mechanisms used by its Winchester contemporaries, the Bullard employed a smooth rack-and-pinion gear system driving a vertically sliding breech block, giving the action exceptional smoothness and the strength to handle powerful cartridges such as the .45-70 Government. Offered in large- and small-frame versions with a full-length tubular magazine and a loading gate permitting single-shot use while keeping the magazine in reserve, the Bullard was prized for its quality and workmanship but was costly and slow to produce, limiting it to roughly 2,800 rifles.
James H. Bullard, a former Smith & Wesson employee and prolific inventor, received his magazine rifle patent in 1881. His rifles' butter-smooth action came from tight tolerances and a rack-and-pinion gear train, but the same precision that made them prized also made them expensive and slow to build, and the company folded after less than a decade against cheaper Winchester competition.
Large-frame Bullard rifles were chambered for cartridges including the .45-85 Bullard, which was physically interchangeable with the .45-70 Government. The rack-and-pinion action concept influenced later designs by Browning and Henry Repeating Arms. Magazine capacity varied with barrel length and chambering.
Specification
Everything measured
IdentityWhat it is, who built it and when.
- Manufacturer
- Bullard Repeating Arms Company
- Category
- Rifle
- Country
- United States
- Status
- Discontinued
- Produced
- 1883 to 1891
DimensionsAs issued, without a magazine or an optic.
- Barrel
- 711 mm
- Overall length
- 1180 mm
- Weight, empty
- 3.63 kg
ActionHow it cycles, what trips it, and what feeds it.
- Action
- Lever action
- Firing mechanism
- Hammer fired
- Trigger
- Single action
- Capacity
- 9
- Magazine
- Tubular
MaterialsEach swatch is the material itself, not a colour chosen to stand for it.
- Frame
- Steel
- Barrel
- Steel
- Stock
- Walnut
- Finish
- Blued
BallisticsFrom the service cartridge, not a handload.
- Muzzle velocity
- 411 m/s
- Muzzle energy
- 2215 J
- Effective range
- 200 m
Trajectory
What the round does downrange
Solved from the muzzle figures and the bullet. The dashed rule is the effective range on the record, and the crosses are the steps the solver returned.
No load solved for this record yetThe flight path is computed from a cartridge and a bullet. This record has no ammunition filed against its chambering, so there is nothing to solve.
Features
What it has
What the record lists as fitted, drawn from the catalogue.
Rack and pinion action
Vertically sliding breech block
Tubular magazine
Magazine cutoff
Single shot loading gate
Standing
How it compares
Each figure against the firearms of the same type and cartridge that record it, or of the same type where that cartridge has too few. Positions are read to the nearest tenth.
| Measurement | This firearm | Median | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Empty weightAmong 54 .45-70 Government rifles | 3.63 kg | 4.08 kg | Lighter than about 80% |
| Overall lengthAmong 52 .45-70 Government rifles | 1180 mm | 1198 mm | Shorter than about 60% |
| Barrel lengthAmong 58 .45-70 Government rifles | 711 mm | 711 mm | Near the median |
| Magazine capacityAmong 57 .45-70 Government rifles | 9 | 1 | Holds more rounds than about 90% |
Answers
Questions about the Bullard Lever Action
How much does the Bullard Lever Action weigh?
The Bullard Lever Action weighs 3.63 kg (8.00 lb) empty.
What caliber is the Bullard Lever Action?
The Bullard Lever Action is chambered in .45-70 Government.
How many rounds does the Bullard Lever Action hold?
The Bullard Lever Action holds 9 rounds, fed from a tubular magazine.
How long is the Bullard Lever Action?
The Bullard Lever Action is 1180 mm (46.5 in) long overall, with a 711 mm (28.0 in) barrel.
Who makes the Bullard Lever Action?
The Bullard Lever Action is made by Bullard Repeating Arms Company (United States). It was designed by James Herbert Bullard.
When was the Bullard Lever Action introduced?
The Bullard Lever Action was introduced in 1883 and discontinued in 1891.
How does the Bullard Lever Action operate?
The Bullard Lever Action uses a lever action, and its firing mechanism is hammer fired.
Compatibility
Which parts fit this firearm
Studio
Every part that mounts on this, resolved
Not a list the maker typed out: the answer comes from the mounts this firearm exposes and the interface each part needs, so it stays right when either one changes.
- Every part that mounts on any firearm in the catalogue
- Interface standards, platforms and fit overrides
- The same answers through the API and the MCP server
Requires a signed-in GunSpec account on the Studio plan. The answer is computed per part, so it is not part of the public record.
Provenance
What the record holds
Every figure above was taken from one of these pages. The confidence reflects how much of the record came from a page a claim can be checked against.
In service
- Civilian sporting and hunting market
- United States
Provenance
Confidence in this record
72%
Stockists
Where to buy
Offers link straight to the shop. GunSpec never takes the order.
No shop has listed this firearm yet
Stock and prices come from the shops themselves. If you sell this firearm, you can list it and it appears here.
List a firearmMCP
Ask an assistant about it
The same record, reached the way a person asks for it rather than the way a program does.
Ask GunSpec
Works with
Point an MCP client at GunSpec and it answers from the catalogue rather than from memory. A free key covers the read tools.
API
The call that returns this record
The same fields, in the same units, from the same endpoint the page reads.
curl --request GET \ --url 'https://api.gunspec.io/v1/firearms/bullard-lever' \ --header 'X-API-Key: your_key'{ "id": "bullard-lever", "name": "Bullard Lever Action", "manufacturer": { "id": "bullard-repeating-arms", "name": "Bullard Repeating Arms Company", "countryCode": "US", "foundedYear": 1883, "website": null, "logoUrl": null, "description": null, "status": null, "defunctYear": null, "stateOwned": null, "makesFirearms": null, "parentId": null, "predecessorId": null, "createdAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "updatedAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "version": "666bd6872214dfdadb04cd07d4e57d20a46f4288809f46a40087bc9112af795c" }, "category": { "id": "rifle", "name": "Rifle", "description": "Long-barreled firearms designed for accurate shooting" }, "country_of_origin": "US", "year_introduced": 1883, "barrel_length_mm": 711, "weight_empty_g": 3630, "action_type": "lever_action"}