Assuming I still had any money after October 24th.

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Expect the unexpected

I agree that in 1925 the majority of hunting rifles in the U.S. probably were lever action and .30-30 probably was the most common chambering. However, The market was flooded with European and U.S. surplus military bolt action rifles. It is not correct that "Uncle Sams guns would've stayed right put in the Armories." Among this crowd I can not just write U.S. Model 1917 .30-06s were sold as surplus. You'll want a source so here's a quick cut and paste from Wikipedia. "During the 1920s and 1930s many M1917 rifles were released for civilian use through the NRA, or were sold as surplus. Many were 'sporterized', sometimes including rechambering to more powerful magnum hunting cartridges, [...] It was so popular as a sporting weapon that [... blah, blah, blah]." Also, most if not all the .30-40 Krags were sold to civilians well before WW II. In 1925 you could have bought a new Model 54 .270 Winchester to go with your new S&W .44.

Actually, it is more likely that a man on budget in 1925 would would have bought an army surplus S&W 1917 .45 ACP than a S&W .44. That would have gone well with his surplus .30-06.

That's a real Duesy!

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

A post above says the Henry rifle took the .44-40 ctg. Not so. It used the .44 Henry rimfire, as did the Winchester M-66. The .44-40 dates from the 1873 Winchester.

Lever rifles probably did dominate in the 1920's, but Sedgeley, Griffin & Howe, etc. were making sporting rifles from Springfield and Enfield rifles and some Mausers. Savage made the Model 20 bolt action, some of which accompanied Dr. Roy C. Andrews on his famed Asiatic expeditions. He also used Mannlicher-Schoenauer rifles.

I still don't own a bolt rifle.

Of course the Winchester(Miroku made)1886 in .45-70 is a trifle more powerfull than the .44 WCF.
And my 1892 Rossi rifle is in .44 Mag.
Only the Uberti 1873 carbine is in .44 WCF. And I got the Uberti SAA in .44-40 to go with.

PS. Can't afford originals. And also can't afford any gun I would be afraid to shoot for fear of devaluation.

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Expect the unexpected

Yeah, '29 was the start of the really classic Duesenbergs, as I recall. (Not that I remember that personally. ) I think Jay Leno said the Duesenbergs from '29 on were all really '29's just assembled or sold in different years.

One of my prized possessions is a Motor Trend magazine from the late 1950's. They had classified ads in the back of each issue back then, and one of the ads was for a late 20's or early 30's Duesenberg in running condition...for $1500!! I kid you not.

And, perhaps the biggest reason for bottleneck cartridges in the old lever actions is-black powder.
Leverguns chambered in .45 Colt (straight wall) tend to get a lot more powder fouling in the action, than do the bottleneck rounds like .44-40.
That's a bigger issue with BP than with smokeless powder.

I voted .44 Spl, because it's my favorite handgun round.

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What would Jim Cirillo do?

Wow, I stand corrected on both of my misinformation. If it is the case.

I thought I read a few different times the Henry was chambered in .44-40. And I did not know they were selling off some of the bolt guns in the armories. It really doesn't make a lot of sense too. But I guess they did think it was the war to end all wars.

I know when WWII broke out there were a lot of units using 03's in the beginning. The story with my Grandpa's Unit (2nd Infantry Division) was that they kept their 03's until they were in France. Cuz the commanding General believed they were better.

I also thought the .44-40 was the more prevalent round in the old west. I'm pretty sure I read that when Teddy Roosevelt went west, he had a single action revolver in .44-40. But now that I've been corrected on other things, I have no clue if I am correct or not. LOL.

My apologies.

Modern Henrys and Model 66s ARE chambered in .44-40 and .45 Colt, due to no .44 Flat ammo is available and the fact that you can reload .44-40 & .45 Colt ammo.

The .44-40 was a popular cartridge in the Old West, but other more powerful rifle rounds were also popular. The US Army was using the .45-70 round, with several different loadings, in their Trapdoor rifles and carbines. Buffalo hunters mostly used single shot rifles chambered in rounds like .50-70, .45 -90 and some of the various .40 calibers.

Civilians have always liked military rounds, but many also wanted repeaters. The Marlin 1881 and Winchester 1886 were the first popular rifles chambered in .45-70.

Going back to revolvers, the .45 Colt was the most common round found in the Colt Single Action Army, probably because it was the US Army cartridge.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

ABPOS,
To keep expenses down I used a variety of surplus bolt actions to fire my home cast bullets. The U.S. 1917 is my favorite. I'm not a Winchester or lever action collector but the original Henry is one of the most famous rifles. The Henry rifle was only manufactured from 1862 to 1866 and only in .44 Henry rimfire. That was it until the copies chambered for centerfire cartridges were imported from Italy. Despite thinking I knew a lot before joining here I've been corrected a zillion times. If I could remember all the things I was corrected on I really would know a lot. It is easy to understand how the popularity of the current Henry rifle company's products would give the illusion that original Henry production lasted longer or that they were centerfire.

I have an 03A3 and love it. I've always lusted after a 1917 though. Don't even know why. other than it's different. And it's just kind of cool looking.