Thread: old lever actions in NZ?

There were plenty of interesting times in NZ from the early 1800's through to the beginning of WW1. Our gold rushes (1860's - 1880's) were every bit as lawless as the old West and most people had pistols and rifles. You could buy handguns without any form of licence in all hardware stores up until 1920. 1892 Winchesters were very popular here for hunting and sold new up until WW2, mostly saddle carbines but a lot of rifles as well.

Originally Posted by gundoc

There were plenty of interesting times in NZ from the early 1800's through to the beginning of WW1. Our gold rushes (1860's - 1880's) were every bit as lawless as the old West and most people had pistols and rifles. You could buy handguns without any form of licence in all hardware stores up until 1920. 1892 Winchesters were very popular here for hunting and sold new up until WW2, mostly saddle carbines but a lot of rifles as well.

Thanks gundoc sounds similar to Australia then. Interestingly the restrictions on handguns happened in the 1920's for both countries as well.

Pretty sure the majority of early firearms were either brought back by soldiers from WW1 and 2, or made available from Government stock to deer cullers, or just sold by retailers because they were military surplus. Some more unusual rifles and calibres found there way here with early overseas trophy hunters. Most common hand gun would have been the "Kea gun" which was a .410 pistol, available right up til the late 1960's. Most high country farmers owned one and no doubt there'll still be the odd one under the sheets somewhere