One night my granddad, grandma, and uncle (at the time 17) were home on night, they lived way out in the boon docks, and a drunk man came pounding on the door at 2am in the morning. My granddad opens the door and carefully begins dealing with this man. The man drunk, irate, and demands that my granddad drive him to Bandara. Of course my granddad refuses and lets the man know that he'll call the police for him. The man becomes enraged, starts screaming, and then my uncle cocks his lever action rifle he's holding behind the door, that sobers the drunk up real quick. He apologizes, walks off and is picked up be the police a few minutes later. It turns out this is the second house he had gone to that night and the cops where on their way.
So I guess a lever action may have that pump action shotgun effect, every one knows what they sound like and what they can do. As far as my opinion on the usefulness in the home, I'd imagine it would be much like a pump action, but I would be curious to know the ballistics.