Gun review request: AWA lightning rifle

[Marshal Halloway]

Howdy!

Got this question from DirtyDerby yesterday.

What do you know about the AWA lightning rifle? Is it any good, it sure is pretty. Makes me think of the old 22 pump I learned to shoot on 60 years ago.

Since I haven't had my hands on this rifle, I have to farward the question to the posse.



The specs on the rifle can be found at the AWA website.

[Hardtack Henry]

Well Marshall,

    I can summarize my evaluation of the AWA Lightning as such:

I bought one, I shot one, I sold one...

when it went back to the shop THE THIRD time, it was time for us to part!

[Doc Shapiro]

Not only that, AWA is out of business.  Draw your own conclusions.

Doc

[Marshal Will Wingam]

My cousin bought one. He had to send it back to be worked on. It still didn't work when he got it back. AWA went under before he got it back to them again. It collects dust in his safe.

Another friend of mine got one. He sent his back to AWA three times. It still doesn't feed correctly. He's gladly sell it to someone if they showed interest. It collects dust in his safe, too.

I had two on order, one for my wife and one for me. I cancelled the order when I heard about their problems. AWA went under not too long after that. I'll wait for the Taurus to show its colors before buying one made by anyone.

[Marshal Halloway]

Not only that, AWA is out of business. Draw your own conclusions.

Doc

AWA International Inc is out of business. This company was owned by investors not gun people.

AWA USA Inc took over in December and is owned by gun enthusiasts.

The new company can be reached at 877.AWA.GUNS.

The website link at the top is still valid, but AWA USA has still not updated the pages.

[Doc Shapiro]

Sounds like Russel is keeping the AWA name then.  Hope he can make a go of it.  And I hope he has some business type folks working for him.  He'll need that type of help.

Doc

[The Arapaho Kid]

I have an original Colt Lightning that I swapped a Winchester 73 (.44-40) for.  It needs a new barrel sleeve and a little work on the action and that's being done.  When I test fired it the first three, or four rounds made round holes in the target.  The rest were kind of oblong which told me the bullets were tumbling, which told me a barrel sleeve was needed.  The action was fairly smooth, but it did jam on occasion.  I'm guessing that having not been fired in a long time and probably a little dirty in the action department probably caused this.  It's going to cost me 200+ to get that rifle back, but I think it'll be worth it?