URING their earlier years, Colt made several different types of rifles, including a lever-action rifle, which brought them into conflict with Winchester. However, good sense prevailed and the two parties came to a gentleman’s agreement to stick to what they were good at – Winchester would not produce handguns and Colt would cease production of lever-action rifles. Ah, but here the Colt boys were clever. They still had their eyes on the growing rifle market and although, to keep Winchester happy, they had promised not to make lever-action rifles, there were other ways to get around the agreement. The loophole was found in a patent held by a certain Dr. Elliot for a repeating rifle that worked using a slide-action under the barrel. This action was faster than a
