The lever dragon is a cut-down lever-action rifle, most commonly a Springfield trapdoor rifle or a Martini-Henry (the latter was massively imported by British authorities in Australia for colonial policing). The enormous recoil is offset by the fact it can only fire one shot at a time. Due to the fact these weapons' cartridges were designed for much longer barrels, lever dragons produce enormous amounts of flash and flame, doubling as directional flashbangs (hence their name, reminiscent of the French dragón from which the term "dragoon" comes from).