Smith & Wesson's New Model 1854 Lever Gun: Complete Review

In 1852 Horace Smith and D.B. Wesson began their first partnership in Norwich, Connecticut, and formed a company to build firearms parts and firearms. Two years later, in 1854, they received a patent for a lever-action repeater that fed ammunition from a tubular magazine. That same year an article on their lever-action handgun appeared in a magazine called Scientific American, and in that article the gun was nicknamed “Volcanic,” although that was not an official name. Fast forward 170 years, and Smith & Wesson has a new-for-2024 lever-action rifle. It’s called the Model 1854, and its initial chambering is .44 Magnum. I’m not going to go into the complex histories of the “Volcanic” lever action and the various companies that produced it. Suffice it to say, the gun design grew into the handguns and long guns produced by the first Smith & Wesson company, which was dissolved and became Volcanic Repeating Arms in 1855, which was renamed the New Haven Arms Co. in 1857, which was purchased by Oliver F. Winchester and eventually became Winchester Repeating Arms. (Horace Smith and D.B. Wesson formed a new Smith & Wesson company in 1856.) The fact that S&W waited until the second decade of the 21st century to build this new lever-action rifle is newsworthy. Maybe it’s not totally unexpected given that last year saw the introduction of new lever actions from POF-USA and Rossi and the reintroduction of the classic Marlin 336. That said, here’s a good look at S&W’s new rifle.

Features

The new Model 1854 has a 19.25-inch-long, round barrel, and the muzzle is threaded 11/16-24. It comes with a thread protector. The barrel is 410 stainless steel, and it has eight-groove rifling with a twist rate of one turn in 20 inches, which is appropriate for the .44 Magnum chambering. The magazine tube runs all the way to the thread protector, where it is attached to the bottom of the barrel by a clip. The tube is spring-loaded much like a typical rimfire rifle’s tubular magazine except larger in diameter. It can be removed for unloading, cleaning, and maintenance by rotating the knurled cap counterclockwise and pulling it out of the forearm. Once it is reinserted, the cap is rotated clockwise to lock the magazine tube in place. The magazine holds nine rounds of .44 Magnum ammunition. Like a typical lever action, the Model 1854 loads through a loading gate located on the right-hand side of the receiver, and the lever must be closed for loading. Speaking of the receiver, it also is stainless steel (forged 416 stainless steel to be exact), and it looks curiously like a Marlin Model 1894’s receiver. Our contact at Smith & Wesson says the Model 1854’s action is partly Marlin and partly Smith & Wesson, meaning some parts are compatible with the Marlin Model 1894, and some parts are not. He was a bit coy with that description and did not offer any details. Company literature says, “Included on the rifle is a Picatinny rail that accepts mounts compatible with the Marlin 1894 hole pattern” and “the furniture on the Model 1854 is easily interchangeable and compatible with Marlin 1894 pattern fore-ends and stocks.” That’s all I could glean on the matter.

The Model 1854’s receiver is 1.0 inch thick (near the ejection port and loading gate, not where it flares out for the buttstock and forearm), 2.0 inches tall (not including the Picatinny rail and in front of but not including the projection where the lever attaches), and 4.75 inches long (not counting the tang), according to my measurements. That compares favorably to my vintage Marlin Model 1894 (1x1.38x4.88 inches), my Henry Big Boy (1x2x5.5 inches), and my Mossberg Model 464 (1x2.2x5.5 inches). The circumference of the Model 1854’s receiver is 6.25 inches (in front of the lever and including the Picatinny rail), which allows it to be carried comfortably in one hand. The serial number is marked on the top of the tang. As mentioned earlier, the new rifle wears a Picatinny optic rail on top, and the rail has 11 cross-slots and a full-length groove down the middle, plus it has a fully adjustable XS Sights ghost-ring rear sight that is incorporated into the rail and held in place with a screw. The sight covers the first two cross-slots. S&W says that if the shooter removes the rear sight when installing an optic, the rear sight’s screw should be replaced with a Torx screw (included with the gun) because that screw is one of three that hold the rail in place. (Obviously, the rear sight does not have to be removed in order to install a scope if the scope rings are tall enough to clear the top of the rear sight.) The rifle’s front sight is a post with a gold bead on a base that is attached to the barrel with two screws.

The Model 1854’s lever is a large loop type, and it is finished in black. So are the trigger, hammer, loading gate, bolt, front sight base and post, rear sight, and optic rail. The lever, bolt, and ejector can be disassembled as follows. First, with the rifle unloaded, open the lever and use a T20 Torx driver to remove the lever pivot screw. Hold the hammer-spur down firmly to relieve tension against the bolt assembly and pull the bolt rearward out of the receiver. Use tweezers or small needle-nose pliers to reach into the receiver through the ejection port and lift out the ejector. That’s as far as disassembly should go. Reassemble in reverse order. The Model 1854 has a black synthetic buttstock and forearm. The buttstock has a 1-inch-thick recoil pad and textured surfaces in the wrist/grip area. The forearm also has textured gripping surfaces, and it has three M-LOK-compatible slots (one on each side and one underneath). The company warns that the magazine tube should be removed before installing an M-LOK accessory because the screws could extend too far and possibly hinder or damage the magazine tube. The screws may need to be shortened for proper function. Also, the rifle has a sling-swivel stud in the buttstock and a recessed sling attachment point in the forearm cap.

The trigger has a grooved, flat face, and the fingerpiece is 0.29 inch wide. The hammerspur is grooved and measures 0.35 inch wide, and it’s shaped to accept a hammerspur extension for use when a scope is installed. S&W kindly provides a hammer extension with the rifle. Our sample’s trigger pull averaged 4 pounds, 5.8 ounces over a series of 10 measurements with an RCBS trigger pull scale. The measurements ranged from 4 pounds, 4 ounces to 4 pounds, 10 ounces. There was some take-up, but letoff was crisp, with no detectable overtravel. By the way, S&W suggests dry-firing the Model 1854 only with the safety engaged, thereby preventing the hammer from striking the firing pin, so that’s how I did it when measuring the trigger pull. The rifle has a crossbolt safety located high up on the rear of the receiver that prevents the hammer from contacting the firing pin. Push the crossbolt to the left to “Fire,” and in that position, a red ring around the crossbolt is visible. The hammer has halfcock and fullcock positions, and the rifle has a trigger block that is deactivated when the lever is closed fully. The Model 1854 weighs 6.8 pounds and is 36 inches long overall. The length of pull is 13.63 inches. Before I get into how the Model 1854 handles and shoots, I will mention that a special version with high-grade walnut and polished black PVD finish is being offered, but its production is limited to 1,854 rifles. Its MSRP is $3,499, and the standard-production stainless-steel/synthetic stock version’s MSRP is $1,279.

On the Range

I first handled the new S&W Model 1854 at this year’s SHOT Show held in Las Vegas from January 23 through 26, and I couldn’t wait to get one at home to put it through a thorough shooting review. Luckily, by the time I got home from the show, a Model 1854 had arrived. I didn’t waste any time getting it to the range, and as you can see from the accompanying chart, it shot quite well. I fired five .44 Magnum factory loads with bullet weights ranging from 200 grains to 305 grains. The details are listed in the chart. I broke with Shooting Times protocol this time and instead of firing five-shot groups, I fired three-shot groups in accordance with the rifle’s nine-shot magazine tube capacity. The range was 50 yards, and I shot the gun from a Caldwell Lead Sled. My best accuracy came with some old Winchester 250-grain Partition Gold ammo. Each three-shot group had two shots touching, and the overall average for the three groups was a very pleasant 1.75 inches. The loading averaged 1,528 fps with an extreme spread of 38 and a standard deviation of 14.

The second-best average accuracy came with Hornady’s .44 Magnum Handgun Hunter 200-grain MonoFlex ammunition. It averaged 2.00 inches, with a velocity of 1,441 fps and an extreme spread of 28 and a standard deviation of 13. By the way, all velocities are the averages of five rounds measured 12 feet from the gun’s muzzle with a Competition Electronics ProChrono Digital chronograph. I just have to mention the HSM Bear Load 305-grain Flat Nose Gas Check (FNGC) cast-bullet load because its standard deviation was just 6 fps. Single-digit ballistics are something to crow about, so I’m doing that! The load’s extreme spread was 17, its average velocity was 1,494 fps, and its energy was 1,511 ft-lbs, which is by far the highest generated by any of the five factory loads I test-fired. Its accuracy wasn’t too shabby, either. It almost tied the Hornady Handgun Hunter ammo for second place but was slightly larger at 2.03 inches. On a different day, it easily might have done even better. Overall average accuracy for all five loads was 2.08 inches. Be aware that I did not install an optic for my shooting session, opting to see how the Model 1854 would do with the iron sights. I wear prescription eyeglasses to correct my 63-year-old eyes, but even so, my vision isn’t perfect, so I strongly suspect that shooters with better eyesight will achieve better accuracy than I did. It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, a scope undoubtedly would improve my accuracy. Smith & Wesson’s new Model 1854 .44 Magnum lever-action rifle handled well, operated smoothly, functioned perfectly, and achieved very good accuracy. It will serve well for home defense, hunting, and plinking. And if you have one or more .44 Magnum revolvers, this new lever gun will make a perfect companion.

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