Both the Volcanic and Henry designs used an underbarrel tubular magazine that allowed a number of cartridges to be loaded and held ready for immediate or later use. This was an improvement over existing single-shot breechloaders and the muzzleloading arms that were still ubiquitous. In magazine capacity, the Henry rifle holding 16 cartridges reigned supreme during the American Civil War with its nearest competitor, the Spencer, accommodating a magazine of only seven cartridges. The Henry lever-action could fire, eject the spent casing, and chamber a new round with a simple forward and back cycling of its lever. It could be fired quickly and its higher magazine capacity meant that additional shots, if required, could rapidly follow. These features attracted civilian and military attention to the lever-action rifle. While not widely used during the Civil War, many civilian scouts as well as soldiers privately purchased repeating rifles like the Winchester Model 1873 for use in the Indian Wars.

Smith & Wesson Lever-Action Repeating Pistol
A Winchester predecessor, this lever-action repeating pistol design was produced first by Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson, and later by the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company. This .31 caliber example is one of only 1,200 pistols made by Smith & Wesson in Norwich, Connecticut. A six-shot, .31 caliber handgun, it fired a self-contained cartridge which combined the primer and powder inside a hollow projectile. While innovative, the design was not dependable, for if the cartridge failed to fire, there was no provision made to easily extract defective rounds.