Which Lever Gun Caliber?

[webcruzzer]

454 casull

[Johneracer]

I didn't realize there were lever action 308s available, interesting. Are they inherently any less accurate than bolt action? They seem a little faster to shoot to me.

Why would anyone want a 308 lever?? Capacity will be 4-5 rounds and kick will be strong. Action is huge and unless scoped, that round is overkill for open sights. It is a flat shooting round made for scoped rifles. Dont even think about putting a scope on a nice lever rifle. If you want big power then just go 45-70. It was developed to stop an indian on a horse.....by going through a horse a killing the rider!

[idntwn2]

Then you didn't read the post. He's getting a 30-30, and wants advice on which second caliber to get.

My reading comprehension does not lead me to the conclusion that he has decided on WHICH 30-30.

"Or rather, I think I want two lever guns with the first one being in 30-30"......

[Epaphroditus]

454 casull

Yup, also can shoot 45LC for a wide range of power. Hard to beat.

[Epaphroditus]

Why would anyone want a 308 lever?? Capacity will be 4-5 rounds and kick will be strong. Action is huge and unless scoped, that round is overkill for open sights. It is a flat shooting round made for scoped rifles. Dont even think about putting a scope on a nice lever rifle. If you want big power then just go 45-70. It was developed to stop an indian on a horse.....by going through a horse a killing the rider!

My step dad killed many elk with his 88 ... now it's mine. Shoots real nice - I would never consider getting rid of it.

[Jeep Guy]

I love my Marlin in 44, my BLR in 308 but for something truly special, look for a Winchester or Browning Model 71 in .348.

[NapalmCheese]

Bah, if the OP doesn't want to get a .22 as the 'other' lever rifle then my suggestion would be to get an original 1895 Winchester if .30-40 or 7.62x54R.

If it was good enough for the rough riders, it's good enough for any of us.

[Killer Bee]

I didn't realize there were lever action 308s available, interesting. Are they inherently any less accurate than bolt action? They seem a little faster to shoot to me.

Why would anyone want a 308 lever?? Capacity will be 4-5 rounds and kick will be strong. Action is huge and unless scoped, that round is overkill for open sights. It is a flat shooting round made for scoped rifles. Dont even think about putting a scope on a nice lever rifle. If you want big power then just go 45-70. It was developed to stop an indian on a horse.....by going through a horse a killing the rider!

I posted some good articles on the BLR, Win 88, and Savage 99..

they are essentially faster, smoother locking bolt guns every bit as accurate at their bolt action brethren

the BLR and Win 88 I own are very capable hunting guns that take good advantage of the .308 cartridge..

and there are plenty of each of them available in a wide variety of calibers depending on your game.. BLR's are still in production in Miroku as far as I know.. my buddy has one in .300 with the BOSS system and he's dropped a lot of animals from 300yds+ with high quality scopes off a shooting stick..

all depends what you plan to do with it..

[Carcassonne]

So I think I'm going to start looking for a lever gun. I've wanted once since I was a kid and can't for the life of me figure out why I've waited this long. I haven't done any research yet but the first question crossing my mind is, "which caliber?"

Or rather, I think I want two lever guns with the first one being in 30-30 as I want something I could hunt with if I needed too and a caliber that isn't horribly expensive or hard to find. So what should the second one be? For the second one I'm just looking for a fun, affordable plinking caliber. So maybe 357 or possibly 45 Long Colt...but I know nothing about that caliber. Is it reasonably affordable? How does the ballistics of 45 LC compare to 357?

So...what do you guys think? Any thoughts and/or comments are appreciated. And if anyone wants to suggest which guns to look at, that's fine too. Like I said, I haven't ever started researching yet so I don't have much knowledge yet.

A 357 would be the cheapest, and lightest recoiling, to shoot, but for some reason it is the hardest to find and the most expensive. A 44 would be the most powerful of the pistol calibers in a levergun, unless you could find a Puma 92 in 454 Cassul.

I suggest a Big Bore levergun, like the 444 Marlin, 45-70, or 450 Marlin (which is almost impossible to find ammo and brass for). Guide Guns are nice.

http://www.marlinfirearms.com/Firearms/bigbore/1895GSBL.asp

.

[RNE228]

A nice combo of lever guns...
- Marlin 94C, in 357
- Savage 99, in 250-3000, 300 Savage, 243 or 308
- Browning BLR, 223, 243, 308
- Marlin 1895 in 45-70

I like the classic 94 in 357. Nice relatively inexpensive plinker.

For hunting, I don't care for the 94's, nor 30-30. Much prefer a Savage 99 or Browning BLR in a spitzer/HP round.

Really wish Savage would reintroduce the 99...

[RogueSniper]

Lever guns, get a Marlin 39A in .22 - it'll shoot all types of 22's (find one as a C&R)
and/or one in 44Spl/44Mag or 38Spl/357Mag

45 LC or 45-70 is great, if you handload.

[javithewrench]

45/70!!!
Don't like recoil? Buy a bow. want to save on ammo? Buy a sling shot

[Horrendo Revolver]

I say anyone who needs a lever gun should just get a 30-30. Good enough to plink AND hunt with.

Yep.

[jigenax]

Why stop at 2? I have 4 and plan to get more.

[Wrangler John]

Lever action rifles are to firearms what the steam locomotive was to railroading. The attraction is nostalgia, the desire to connect with an earlier time when history fled the present to become the past at a slower pace. Being an anachronism myself, growing up at a time when the world was more understandable, when great Daylight passenger trains were still thundering through California behind bright orange, red and black, Northern steam locomotives, and airliners such as the Lockheed Constellation were plying the sky. I lived in a throwback Edwardian period, after the Victorian and before the Titanic disaster and World War I destroyed all innocence. My father was born in 1893, my mother in 1908, and I at a time when men still lived that remembered the frontier, and counted down the years leading to 1900 and a new century. I worked with an elderly former Marine that performed in President Benjamin Harrison's Own Marine Band, led by John Philip Sousa prior to 1892, we groomed horses together, in a world of harness, and Viceroy carriages, road wagons and sulkies. It was my honor to work with a retired Montana sheriff, from a time we only glimpse in museums. My boss was a man that trained replacement cavalry horses for the U.S. Army, was a movie stunt man and a true horse master. If that is your attraction to lever rifles, to commune for a moment with a time when America was still free, when open spaces ran from horizon to horizon larger than your imagination and more expansive than your dreams, then you should give credence to that dream rather than just considering any rifle as a thing alone. Consider that rifle a pillar of the past that holds up the present, why you are here now, and one of the last vestiges of freedom you still may enjoy.

Given that wondrous power to transform and inform us of our traditions and history, I would suggest that anyone seeking to buy a lever action rifle look at various Winchester rifles, even modern reproductions still available on the market as one of your selections:

Winchester 1894. It's so ubiquitous as to be familiar, everyday and commonplace, it came late to the show, but can still be had in several configurations. It fires a cartridge from 1895, the .30 WCF or .30-30 that was never loaded with black power, and has a "Made in Japan" stamp on it these days next to the Winchester brand, but is that such a bad thing given the how the Japanese honor tradition and manly virtues? Or find a good used rifle, one that has picked up some character from honest hands that fed and protected a family.

Model of 1895. Here is the ugly duckling, a rifle that found much use with Czarist Russian troops among others, and some American police organizations. It sports an internal box magazine, can use pointed bullets and has been produced and reproduced in .30-40 Krag, .30-06 and .401 Winchester. I have a reproduction in .30-06 and it is a reminder of that particular champion of the design, Theodore Roosevelt - probably the most interesting and accomplished of all American Presidents.

Model of 1886. A design of John Browning. Too late for the frontier, but a powerful and heavy rifle, the first to handle the most powerful of black powder cartridges. It can be found in original guise in obsolete cartridges, or the .45-70 Government. Or new reproductions from Winchester and Browning can be had chambered for .45-70. I had two Browning reproductions, they are heavy, accurate and capable of taking any game anywhere. One stands with a foot in history just holding one.

Model of 1873. The rifle that was said to have won the west, this would be my choice. Winchester is offering a reproduction chambered in .357 Magnum, .44 WCF (called .44-40 by Marlin so's not to advertise Winchester), and .45 Colt. The .45 Colt cartridge was never offered by any manufacturer in any firearm except Colt, until modern times. Even the Army issued the .45 S&W cartridge for the .45 Colt SAA to simplify supply. The .45 Colt is a lousy rifle cartridge and my favorite revolver cartridge. The .357 Magnum didn't come along until 1935, so the only acceptable historical cartridge is .44 WCF. I had an original Marlin 1894 Saddle Ring Carbine in the chambering, and found it quite accurate, surprisingly so. Marlin no longer makes an 1894 in .44-40, so that brand will have to be searched for as a used item.

Model of 1892. A scaled down Model '94 this one is a gem. Still available in what has been labeled .44-40 Winchester, and several historically abominations including .357 Remington Magnum, .44 Remington Magnum, and .45 Colt. Anyone who has fired a light rifle with .44 Magnum factory loads, knows they are not that comfortable to shoot.

Model 71. This is the last Winchester variant of the 1886. Introduced in 1935 it was chambered in the oddball .348 Winchester that uses .348" diameter bullets. I have one reproduction from Browning. The cartridge was designed to duplicate the effect of the .30-06 in a lever action, but it never sold well. Ammo is hard to find as are the cases, and only two manufacturers list .348" bullets. It's mostly a handloading proposition these days, if one has to have a 71 they will have to scour the used rifle market.

So there you have it. Romance in blued steel and walnut, an object that allures us with a phantom aroma of oiled leather saddles, horse sweat, and hay and dusty roads. That brings us to remembrance of things we never recall as part of our lives, such as the pungent perfume of Hoppe's Number 9 Powder Solvent, originally formulated for black powder, now reformulated for modern powders. Enjoy the search, enjoy the discovery, find an anchor in history that assures your future will be rich with understanding of the past.