Out-pumped

By the early 1880s, Colt was the undisputed leader in the handgun field. Wishing to capture some of the rifle market, however, Colt acquired the rights to manufacture arms designer Dr. William H. Elliot’s sliding action rifle. Elliot borrowed elements from the 1870 patented Robinson tube-loading repeater and the Spencer repeating shotgun of 1882, but his improvements to the design made the action of Colt’s new Lightning magazine rifle reliable, fast and easy to operate. Rather than a dr