Colt Burgess
- Category
- Rifle
- Barrel
- 650 mm
- Weight, empty
- 4.00 kg
- Introduced
- 1883
About
What it is, and why it matters
The Colt Burgess is a lever-action rifle produced by Colt from 1883 to 1885, the only lever-action long gun the company ever manufactured. Designed by prolific firearms inventor Andrew Burgess, it was chambered in .44-40 Winchester and fed from a 15-round tubular magazine on the rifle (12 rounds on the carbine). Offered with full-octagon, half-octagon, or round barrels, it was Colt's direct challenge to Winchester's dominance of the repeating-rifle market.
Colt only ever built one lever-action rifle, and this was it. Legend holds that the Burgess was withdrawn from the market as part of a gentleman's agreement: Winchester had begun developing its own line of revolvers to threaten Colt's handgun monopoly, and the two companies quietly agreed to stay out of each other's territory, killing the Colt Burgess after barely two years.
Roughly 6,403 were built before production ceased. The rifle had a 25.5-inch (650 mm) octagon barrel; the carbine used a 20-inch (510 mm) barrel and weighed about 3.3 kg.
Specification
Everything measured
IdentityWhat it is, who built it and when.
- Manufacturer
- Colt's Manufacturing Company LLC
- Category
- Rifle
- Country
- United States
- Status
- Discontinued
- Produced
- 1883 to 1885
DimensionsAs issued, without a magazine or an optic.
- Barrel
- 650 mm
- Overall length
- 1090 mm
- Weight, empty
- 4.00 kg
ActionHow it cycles, what trips it, and what feeds it.
- Action
- Lever action
- Firing mechanism
- Hammer fired
- Trigger
- Single action
- Capacity
- 15
- 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
- 380 m/s
- Muzzle energy
- 936 J
- Effective range
- 150 m
- Maximum range
- 900 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.
Octagonal barrel
Tubular magazine
Case hardened frame
Crescent buttplate
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 1,612 rifles | 4.00 kg | 3.50 kg | Heavier than about 70% |
| Overall lengthAmong 1,557 rifles | 1090 mm | 1080 mm | Near the median |
| Barrel lengthAmong 1,659 rifles | 650 mm | 584 mm | Longer than about 70% |
| Magazine capacityAmong 1,611 rifles | 15 | 5 | Holds more rounds than about 80% |
Answers
Questions about the Colt Burgess
How much does the Colt Burgess weigh?
The Colt Burgess weighs 4.00 kg (8.82 lb) empty.
What caliber is the Colt Burgess?
The Colt Burgess is chambered in .44-40 Winchester.
How many rounds does the Colt Burgess hold?
The Colt Burgess holds 15 rounds, fed from a tubular magazine.
How long is the Colt Burgess?
The Colt Burgess is 1090 mm (42.9 in) long overall, with a 650 mm (25.6 in) barrel.
Who makes the Colt Burgess?
The Colt Burgess is made by Colt's Manufacturing Company LLC (United States). It was designed by Andrew Burgess.
When was the Colt Burgess introduced?
The Colt Burgess was introduced in 1883 and discontinued in 1885.
How does the Colt Burgess operate?
The Colt Burgess 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
- American civilian and frontier market
- 1883
Provenance
Confidence in this record
82%
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/colt-burgess' \ --header 'X-API-Key: your_key'{ "id": "colt-burgess", "name": "Colt Burgess", "manufacturer": { "id": "colt", "name": "Colt's Manufacturing Company LLC", "countryCode": "US", "foundedYear": 1855, "website": "https://www.colt.com", "logoUrl": null, "description": "American firearms manufacturer headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut. Founded in 1855 and now a subsidiary of Colt CZ Group, continuing production of iconic firearms including the 1911 pistol.", "status": "active", "defunctYear": null, "stateOwned": null, "makesFirearms": null, "parentId": null, "predecessorId": null, "createdAt": "2026-02-11 23:44:38", "updatedAt": "2026-02-18 03:43:38", "version": "7143c7ff3f7e156063a240f2df7b4746ee1c0394d7cd5f592d05bac43233d637" }, "category": { "id": "rifle", "name": "Rifle", "description": "Long-barreled firearms designed for accurate shooting" }, "country_of_origin": "US", "year_introduced": 1883, "barrel_length_mm": 650, "weight_empty_g": 4000, "action_type": "lever_action"}