Crossover with Hands, by Andrew Joshua Talon.

Friendly word of advice, link to that story. Please respond to this comment.

8538828
Thanks, I didn't realize I'd made such an error. I put the link in the beginning of the first chapter, but it wise to also place it in the story synopsis. Sorry about that, this is only my first time using the fimfiction.net posting interface.

>“Too many moving parts! Can’t use it prone! Too slow to reload! Limited types of ammunition! Just about the only military that used them were the irregulars in the Spanish Civil War. It’s only good for hunting.”

Dead wrong. The Natives at the Little Big Horn steam rolled Custer with lever actions. Granted him and his men had trapdoors, but even with bolt actions the fire rate increase over bolt actions would make a lever action superior as an "assault rifle". Lever action rifles are also superior for cavalry and overall handiness, as they don't have a big ass bolt handle sticking you in places and hanging up on shit.

The real reason militaries focused on bolt actions was they had this very *false* hangup on long range marksmanship. They wanted solders engaging targets out to 600 (or more) yards. This is bullshit and it cost Custer his life. In close quarters level actions wreck bolt actions.

Also the linkages for a lever action isn't that complex really, for example the Marlin 336
http://www.urban-armory.com/diagrams/marlin336.gif
Granted this design is from the 1940s, and as such somewhat more developed than the older Winchesters.

The ammo is limited to flat or round nose bullets, assuming you aren't counting the modern soft ballistic tipped shells they've got now. But within 200 yards it really doesn't matter if you are using spitzer rounds or not.

Oh, and also the Russian did in fact use Winchester 1895's chambered in 7.62x54R back in WWI. The guns were well liked.
http://www.guns.com/2015/10/26/the-winchester-1895-rifle-winchesters-other-lever/
Oh, what's this, a level action gun that is using a modern (--ish) spitzer round with a internal magazine *and stripper clip fed*.

Also, not all guns have to be front line military in usage. Her thinking is just straight up wrong. Level actions still have great niches even today. And has a guide, hunter, or scout in an area with dangerous wildlife a lever action "guide gun" chambered in something like .45-70 would be very useful.

Edit: fixed spelling bold action -> bolt action. WTF I must have been tired.

8582845
I appreciate your feedback. I will be honest, I got much of the information on lever-action weaponry from Wikipedia. Melissa may have been only considering the military perspective of things, as much of her knowledge base on firearms comes from that area. Those other niches you spoke of simply didn't occur to her, she was devising weapons for combat and little else, at most just guessing that the military gear would cover any problem. I also didn't know clip-fed lever-action firearms even existed, that might be useful in the future.
Cavalry in the traditional sense just didn't occur to me when writing, thanks for pointing out that oversight. Are there any sources of information you can recommend to me on late 19th century/early 20th century warfare?