A good rifleman on a lever action can lay down some dang effective fire. Levers are also very reliable.
That said, people should be able to get whatever they fancy. I have levers, I have semi-auto, I like to mix it up sometimes when I’m out shooting.
On a side note, I was pumping out surplus .308 in my robinson arms this morning and it was actually performing quite well. I can consistently hit little 4 inch clay discs at 200 yards with that ammo.
At Plevna, the Turks cut the Russians to pieces with Winchester 1866 .44 rimfire rifles. The Russians then starved the Turks out rather than face that firepower.
In WWII, The Germans thought they were under machine gun attacks when the British opened up on them with their .303 Enfield bolt action rifles.