Lever action rifle allure

I’m a huge bolt action fan and they are my primary hunting weapons. I own enough of them in just about the full spectrum to cover varmint to dangerous game hunting.

BUT, nothing feels like a lever gun in your hands. It is difficult to find a rifle that feel more “alive”. The older ones in particular are slim and light and are chambered in mild mannered cartridges that kill beyond their “specs”.

I have examples in many calibers from .22 through 32-20 to the 30 WCF and then up to the mighty .444 Marlin. Currently on the hunt for a late 1800s-early 1900s Marlin or Winchester in 38-50 and I also want a 45-60. I also own several “modern” lever designs like the Savage 99 and the Winchester 88. Two guns that I absolutely love…

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Sing it Willie!

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I don’t recommend trying to “Rifleman” a Marlin 1895 GBL. Love that gun!

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I shoot left handed so the lever gun is good. And have physical issues it makes a versatile rifle for hunting and home defense. The Hornady flextip works great in the rifle and improves accuracy.

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The primary advantage to a lever gun?..It fits in the saddle scabbard properly. It doesn’t matter if you prefer a beefy cartridge to take game or the “Cowboy Concept” of the same round for rifle and handgun (the early PCC), if you go horseback a lever gun is the only way to go. IMHO.

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Agreed! I have a Henry X Model chambered in .44 Magnum. During disassembly, I confired the transfer bar is indeed installed and verified the trigger needs to be squeezed to engage it.

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@Dale62 Welcome to the community. A fine rifle in a fine caliber. :+1:

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Using a lever action while on a horse - that now makes perfect sense.
Maybe a little slimmer than others, can be used with either hand, and can be used with one hand for those proficient with it, and that means you can keep one hand on the reigns, the other on the rifle, which is probably a good thing if shooting a rifle while riding a horse - have to have good control of both.

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Welcome aboard @Dale62

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I don’t get it.

@KillJoy You have never shot a SA revolver or a lever action rifle and not felt a bit like Grizzly Adams? :grin:

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Additionally, most lever guns lack the "evil’ detachable magazine and ‘scary’ profile of the Black Rifles.

Less for the Anti-gunners to be frightened of and a definite advantage in environments hostile to 2A like California, Etc.

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Did you know Chuck Connors rifle was “tricked out” so that it fired upon closing the lever? You can read about it in this article I wrote several years ago.

https://www.gunsmithusa.com/blog/cowboy-heroes-and-their-guns/

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Yes I have. The pic is blurry to me. Couldn’t make it out.

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The primary draw for me is the nostalgia and appearance. I just really think they are very classy looking. On my short-list is a rifle similarly configured like the one Chris Pratt’s character carried in Jurassic World

Having said that…

I shot a friend’s lever action (i think a Marlin 1894?) chambered in 357, and they really are a very handy and agile rifle. You can put in very soft shooting (and less expensive!) 38 special rounds. Great for recoil sensitive shooters and general plinking. You can then swap in full power 357Mag rounds which while substantially more recoil than 38special was still very manageable.

Rate of fire, while slower than a semi-auto, was pretty good and 9(?) rounds in the tube (also varies by caliber) is sufficient for most purposes. Accuracy using iron sights was very good, and you can always add an optic of some kind if you want. If I lived in a restricted state with either mag size limits or AR bans I would not feel undergunned having a lever action by the bedside instead.

Regarding the reliability… In my very limited interaction with a lever action, in ~100 rounds all fired just fine except once, where a FTE caused a jam that required a pair of pliers to get out. I don’t know how common that is, or if it was ammo related, or user induced, or what.

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My choice of a lever action was in response to standardizing self defense ammo. I got a Marlin in 357/38 so I can feed it the same ammo I feed my revolvers. That 357 wrist thumper ammo shoots like a dream out of a rifle and I don’t need to stock up on a differing caliber. 38 +P ammo is now a respectable load in the Marlin. The only issue is you can’t safely use the round nose FMJ bullets because of possible recoil initiated primer strikes in the tube magazine. Flat points are readily available and work just fine. Hornady’s LEVERevolution ammo has a pointy round (more aerodynamic) with a soft tip that is safe in lever action rifles. This was fun writing. I think I am going to grab it and go to the range.

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I’m waiting for Ruger’s Marlin lever action offering.

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I have only shot one, but, as stated, handgun calibers in lever guns are simply a blast! Maybe I can find one in .38 Superb one of these days.

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@Enzo_T >>> back in the day the Win. 88 was the meat and potatoes rifle. My first center fire big bore image
was the Savage 99E / 308, pore Deer.

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