My mission this year has been to teach Americans to shoot lever guns. My youngest student was 9 years old and now he handles a rifle like a cowboy. The oldest was a formerly anti-gun lawyer who always wanted a cowboy gun and will be buying his own shortly.

I taught a 60-something DJ to shoot and that was most embarrassing for the both of us because he had watched Westerns his whole life and still didn’t know how to operate the gun.

My favorite pupil was Cindy. Without any previous experience, she expertly fed cartridges into the loading gate, put three fingers in the loop like a real American and kept the gun at her shoulder, knocking down all the cans. Her mother is 105 years old, Cindy explained, and when she goes to visit her in Portland, all mom wants to do is watch cowboy movies.

In these days when every homesteader and pilgrim wants a black gun that handles quick and can put rounds downrange fast, the lever gun answers the call. A Winchester or a Marlin, a Rossi or a Henry or a Chiappa can get in action as fast or faster than an AR-15. They come in basic wood and blue or Cerakote black or lamintate and stainless or whatever color combination you and your gunsmith can dream up. They are easier to store and have a long history of putting meat on the table, settling some bear’s hash and solving disputes without saying a word.

If there is a job to be done, a lever action did it long before the first bolt action rifle did or a semi-auto was a twinkle in John Browning’s eye.

Lever guns ride to the action on horseback better than anything else. And they look like they belong there. I’ve never had occasion to put a lever gun on a motorcycle but if I did, it would be at home there too.

Lever guns ride better in the backs of trucks. Because the extra ammunition is stored in a tube, it takes up less real estate than a rifle with a box magazine. Depending on caliber from .45-70 all the way down to 17 HMR, you can run five rounds in the tube or 10 or 15 or more. Load on Sunday, shoot all week.

Need a quiet gun? The lever action excels here, too, with many modern rifles threaded for a suppressor. From the .22 LR to the .38 Special to the .44 Special, the versatility of the platform is perfect for maintaining a low noise profile.

Run the gun like a cowboy

There’s nothing more American than shooting a lever action. Do it with dummy rounds or an empty gun first to master loading and making the gun safe. Here’s how to do it if you haven’t shot a lever gun before.

To load, hold the gun close to your body and feed the cartridges one at a time into the loading gate. Keep the barrel pointed toward the target.

To work the action, put three fingers in the loop, put your trigger finger alongside the trigger guard. Eyes downrange, lever the gun open and close it.

Now there’s a round in the chamber. Keep the muzzle pointed downrange. Put thumb on hammer and finger on the trigger and let the hammer down gently. Now bring the hammer back to half-cock.

When you’re ready to fire, thumb the rifle back to full cock with the butt in the shoulder and cheek down on wood. Squeeze off a round, then stroke the lever all the way out and close it firmly. Keep cheek against the stock like it’s your sweetheart as you shoot. When shooting, don’t lower the rifle between shots.

Whether the gun is empty or the magazine is still half-full, keep the muzzle pointed downrange and lower the hammer down and click it up a step to make it safe.

The lever action is alive and well. If a new lever gun is in your future, there are a lot of options and the latest in lever gun tech includes a whole host of 410-bore garden guns and turkey and squirrel guns, but two of the most interesting include a new Winchester Ranger and a CO2-powered air gun.

The Winchester, I tried it out at SHOT Show 2024 in Las Vegas. Lightweight, fast to shoulder, and chambered for everybody’s favorite cartridge, the .22 long rifle. This is an all-new offering from Winchester with a precision machined aluminum receiver, satin finish walnut stock and the action is engineered for light operating force for easy cycling. The Ranger takes down for easy cleaning and retails for about $420.

As soon as I held the Umarex Legends Cowboy Rifle in my hand, I placed an order (retail is $205). When it arrived, I shot it every day for a week in the backyard.

Tuck the gun against your body and load 10 BB cartridges into the loading gate. The Umarex Cowboy Lever Action, which looks and feels almost like a Model 1894, feeds rounds and spits empties like a Winchester. It’s backyard-friendly and quiet as a librarian. You need CO2 cartridges and plenty of BBs.

Gary Lewis is the author of “Fishing Central Oregon,” “Oregon Lake Maps and Fishing Guide” and other titles. To contact Gary, visit www.garylewisoutdoors.com.