Smith & Wesson 1854 America 250 44 Mag 19.25" 9rd Rifle

Smith & Wesson built the Model 1854 America 250 as a limited run marking the country's 250th year, and the commemorative treatment shows up all over the gun. The receiver is laser engraved, the stock and forend are walnut, and the barrel and receiver are stainless steel wearing a black Armornite finish. A gold bead sits up front. Underneath the dress work it is still an 1854: a lever action 44 Mag with a nine round tube, a large loop lever, and a receiver topped with a Picatinny rail.

The 1854 is Smith & Wesson's return to lever guns, and it was built for the way people use them now rather than as a museum piece. The stainless barrel and receiver handle weather better than a traditional blued and walnut classic, the rail takes a red dot or a low power optic without a gunsmith, and 44 Mag out of a 19.25" barrel picks up real speed over the same round fired from a revolver. That makes it a genuine woods gun for deer and hogs at brush distances. Nine rounds in the tube is a lot of 44 Mag on tap, and the threaded muzzle is there if you run a brake or a can. Between the engraving and the walnut, this one is as much a keepsake as a hunting rifle.