Ron Spomer on the S&W Model 1854 .30-30

Can a stainless lever gun with a synthetic stock win over a traditionalist? Ron Spomer admits he’s a walnut and blued steel guy, and by the end of this review he says he’s talking himself into liking the Smith & Wesson Model 1854.

Forget Revolvers. S&W Lever‑Actions Are Back! Watch on YouTube — Ron Spomer Outdoors.

What he covers: Smith & Wesson gave him this rifle for the review, and he says he agreed only after they let him say exactly what he thinks, good, bad, and ugly. His is the .30‑30 in stainless with a synthetic stock and a 20 inch barrel, and he calls .30‑30 the perfect woods cartridge. The open sights sit on a Picatinny rail, a ghost ring peep in back and a brass bead in front, and he likes the ghost ring far more than buckhorns. The muzzle is threaded under a cap. The lever loop is bigger than traditional, with room for gloves, and he likes the straight trigger, though he says it has a bit of drag and creep, typical of a lever action. To clean it, you take out one screw, pull the lever, slide the bolt out, and clean from the breech, which he calls a fix for an old lever gun complaint. The side gate loads more smoothly than most, he says, and he got five in the tube plus one in the chamber. His main con is the crossbolt safety on top of the traditional half cock. He’d rather use the half cock alone, calls the crossbolt confusing until you get used to it, and forgets it is on once on camera. He also short stroked it once by working the lever too gently, so his tip is to run it hard. With the open sights he was on at 50 yards and landed one shot within a half inch of the bull at 100. Scoped, one 150 grain load grouped about an inch and a half and another about three inches, and he warns that three shot groups don’t define a rifle. He also hit steel at 200 and 300 yards. Specific claims in the video are his, not ours. It is one review of about thirty two minutes, with no round count and no reliability test.

Here’s our take. Buy the 1854 in .30‑30 if you want a woods rifle that shrugs off weather, cleans from the breech, takes a suppressor, and lets you run a peep or a scope. Skip it if a crossbolt safety on a lever gun will bug you, or if only walnut and blued steel feel right in your hands. Ron Spomer says he thinks it will do to ride the river with.

We stock the Smith & Wesson Model 1854 he is shooting. On the shelf: the Smith & Wesson Model 1854 in .30‑30, stainless with a synthetic stock, 20 inch. Related: the Smith & Wesson Model 1854 in .44 Magnum, stainless with a synthetic stock, the same rifle in another caliber. Also related: the Smith & Wesson Model 1854 in .30‑30, black with a wood stock, for the traditionalist he talks about. It is not the rifle on camera. Complete firearm. Indiana FFL transfer through Wulfy’s. Ask us for current fees.