Colt's Lightning rifles were introduced in the 1880s in an attempt to get Colt involved in the lucrative repeating rifle market dominated by Winchester, Marlin, and Remington. The Colt's prior attempt, the Burgess lever action rifles, was halted shortly after production began supposedly due to a back room agreement with Winchester that Colt would steer clear of lever action innovations and Winchester would not compete against Colt's revolvers. That agreement must not have included other repeating rifles given Colt released the Lightning the following year. They were manufactured until 1904 and though well received, hardly put a dent in Winchester's lever action sales. These medium frame rifles and carbines were the most popular because they were chambered for many of the same cartridges as Colt's famous Single Action Army. This example was manufactured in 1893 and has the standard later production markings and features and also has a tang mounted peep sight. The accompanying factory letter confirms the 26 inch octagon barrel in .32 caliber, blue finish and "wood" stock and states the rifle was shipped to Farwell, Ozmun, Kirk & Co. of St. Paul, Minnesota, on March 13, 1893.

Fine. 70% of the bright original blue finish remains overall. The balance has silver gray and dark brown patina, and there is some light spotting. The wood is fine as modified on the comb for the tang sight to rest and has crisp checkering, scattered minor marks, and some small chips including on the edge of the comb from the peep sight. Mechanically excellent.