recommend me a .357 lever action

[Nick Adams]

I have a Rossi 92, and I love it.

[Ki6vsm]

I believe the 1892 was designed around a pistol caliber. Kind of a scaled down 1886 is what I heard. Seems perfect to me.

Not that the 73 is bad. The 92 is just a little more streamlined, IMHO.

[oddjob]

Although a bit pricey I would look at the 1873 Uberti rifles. The Browning 1892 in .357 is nice if you can find one. I don't care for the safety on the Rossi, but its a nice rifle.
Ask some Cowboy shooters (SASS) if they know of a rifle for sale. Very popular in that circle of shooters.

[nickel plate]

Budget and availability comes to mind when I bought my NIB pre-safety .357 JM Marlin 1894C off of GB. Spent more than originally wanted to but isn't that the norm?
I've got 200+ rounds through it and still a little stiff but far better than those first few rounds. Had to scope it (Leupold 1-4x20mm) due to my aging eyesight. It's companion revolver is a Colt Python.
1981 Fit and finish is as good as it can get for a production rifle.

[tmh1]

I believe the 1892 was designed around a pistol caliber. Kind of a scaled down 1886 is what I heard. Seems perfect to me.

Not that the 73 is bad. The 92 is just a little more streamlined, IMHO.

The '92 was designed to handle more powerful cartridges (dual vertical locking lugs) than could be handled safely/repeatedly by the weaker toggle-link action of the '66's and '73's.

The '92 is beautifully streamlined, and is IMHO one of the most beautiful lever action rifles ever built.

The '92's however are a bit of a PITA to disassemble (and re-assemble!) for deeper cleaning. And most that we can buy new today are kind of "works in progress" when we take them out of the manufacturer's box. Rossi's and Chiappa's both save cost on machining and final fitting. As such, we need to complete the manufacturer's job for them, polishing and stoning internal parts for smoother action. Then we can take out the manufacturer's heavy springs (put into the guns originally to make sure they worked, even with roughly machined parts), put in lighter springs and get smoother & lighter actions.

(Some folks will say that the Chiappa's are "really smooth out of the box". Going off of an n=1 (the one I purchased), I don't agree with that statement and put them in the same "bucket" as the Rossi '92's. Plus my Chiappa seems to be the most ammo finicky (at least when trying to run it fast) of any '92 I have ever owned. I still don't have it running the way I want it too, and will probably have to take it to a 'smith to get it going right. It is a good looking gun with nice color case hardening, nice wood and great wood-to-metal fit, though.)

The Miroku built current Winchester '92's are the best machined and fitted out-of-the-box, but unfortunately now include lawyer mandated non-traditional features such as multi-piece firing pins, rebounding hammers and tang mounted safeties. The Chiappa's are next in line with slightly lower quality machining, materials (wood parts) and overall fit, but are probably the most traditional guns you can buy today. The Rossi's also need work out of the box, have an easily removed tang safety (with the hole plugged with the part by Steve's Gunz), and are great working guns. Overall fit will vary greatly gun to gun. I've had maybe 10 in the past, and only one was slightly ammo picky.

Modern Miroku built '73's are beautiful guns and work really nicely out of the box. I have 2 with color case hardened receivers, and one which is blued. They don't seem to be as lawyered up as the Miroku '92's, and the quality of materials and final fitting is excellent. The Miroku built '73's can go straight from the box to the range (or to the cowboy match) very effectively. With their removable side plates they are also quite easy and straightforward to disassemble, clean and re-assemble. Plus their toggle-link actions are the smoothest of anything out there. Even the Italian made guns imported by companies such as Cimarron, Taylor's & Company and Navy Arms are very good, as these companies cater to the Cowboy Action Shooters. Many can be purchased pre-tuned by the importer/distributor, with extremely smooth actions and lightened (proper) springs installed.

I am kind of a lever action snob as I shoot Cowboy matches, and I was not impressed with the Henry Big Boy rifle which I purchased. It is way oversprung, hop-up parts aren't readily available and (to me) front loading a tubular magazine is for rimfire guns (including original 1860 Henry's). Maybe it is just fine for occasional range plinking, and it is American made... but it was just not for me. But with its heavy springs, it definitely went "bang" every time I pulled the trigger!

The Marlin '94 is also a very good gun which is, unfortunately, no longer available new in 357 MAG/ 38SPL. As such, most will set you back at least $1,000 in the used market. I have a JM (Cowboy Competition model), a post-JM stainless steel gun, and am waiting for my latest '94 (Cowboy Limited with 24" barrel) to be delivered to my FFL. I shoot these guns almost exclusively now at the Cowboy matches due to my classification. These are probably about equal to the '92's to the smoothness you can achieve in the action. But neither the '94's nor the '92's will ever be as light and smooth as the '66 or '73 toggle-link action.

Don't be overly concerned with what folks say that you have to get a JM marked gun if you buy a '94. Yes, the JM stamped guns will generally be much more consistent in their high quality level, but having a knowledgeable 'smith work over your non-JM stamped gun can also give you a quality rifle in the end. Just know that a non-JM stamped gun is more likely to need professional service than an original JM stamped one (as long as the original owner didn't mess it up!)

Note that many of the guns I talk about above are not readily available year-round, especially in 357 MAG/ 38 SPL chambering. It seems like the manufacturers of these guns (especially Winchester/Miroku and Rossi) only make 1 or 2 build runs of these guns annually, and if you don't get them when available you may have to wait some months until they are available again. This seems to be less of an issue with the Italian made guns, which are more readily available year-round, even in 357 chambering.

A word of warning: Don't purchase a lever gun thinking it will be your only or last one. They have a tendency to multiply in the safe. At least mine did...

[Den60]

Can't beat Winchester 1873 in .357 Magnum, 20" or 24" rifle.

I have the Taylor/Uberti 1873 in 20" and .357. Very nice rifle. Action is better than my Henry H006 which is no slouch either.

How much does the OP want to spend? My taylor was just under $1,300.00 plus shipping and fees. My Henry was under $900. Marlins, I think, run under $700.00.

[Oceanbob]

The Gold Standard these days for a .357 Lever is the Marlin 1894C
JM barreled built by Marlin before Remington bought them out.

Try to get one of those.

Bob

[DrewN]

They have a couple nice Davidson's special Win/Mir 73's right now. I just can't swing $1500 at the moment. I also like tinkering,so slicking up a Rossi sounds more appealing to me. Plus, a lever .357 is likely to take a beating at my hands since I'd probably schlep it everywhere.

[Bobby Ricigliano]

I am also in the market for a .357 lever gun. Lots of good info in this thread. TMH1 touched on it, but I would love to hear more about the ease of maintenance / field stripping challenges of the different designs. I am leaning heavily toward a Henry Big Boy Brass at this point, but have no experience with lever guns whatsoever.

[RNE228]

They do! I have Marlin 1895C 45-70, Marlin 94C JM 357, late 1950's Win 94 30-30, and a couple Savage 99 in .300 Sav. Savage 99's are my favorite, 2nd is Marlin 94C 357. I'm scoping out a Savage 99 in 30-30...

You're missing some examples.
Savage 99
Win '95
Win 88

A word of warning: Don't purchase a lever gun thinking it will be your only or last one. They have a tendency to multiply in the safe. At least mine did...

[23 Blast]

I've owned three different Rossi 92s, all in .357 caliber. I sold two of them and kept one, a 20" barrel model. It was also the oldest of the three, I believe one of the first that came with the bolt-mounted safety. It is much slicker and has a higher build quality than the other two I owned.

[golfish]

Buying any kind of guns is a sickness. Here's a picture of a couple of my Rossi 92's in the 357 flavor. Both are good shooters.

[tmh1]

I am also in the market for a .357 lever gun. Lots of good info in this thread. TMH1 touched on it, but I would love to hear more about the ease of maintenance / field stripping challenges of the different designs. I am leaning heavily toward a Henry Big Boy Brass at this point, but have no experience with lever guns whatsoever.

'73 probably the easiest. Followed by the '66 (same action, but it doesn't have the removable side plate of the '73).

Marlin '94 is also easy - Take out the lever screw, remove the lever and the bolt and ejector come right out. Makes if very easy to clean from the breech end.

'92 definitely takes more knowledge and experience, but I guess that comes with time and some folks say "oh, it's not so bad after a while." Pretty easy to take apart. Not so easy (in my experience) to get back together correctly.

Never took apart my Henry Big Boy. Only shot it once, cleaned it from the breech end with a bore snake and swabs. Then sold it.

[golfish]

'92 definitely takes more knowledge and experience, but I guess that comes with time and some folks say "oh, it's not so bad after a while." Pretty easy to take apart. Not so easy (in my experience) to get back together correctly

Amen to that. I cussed for two days at the 20" Oct barrel I took apart. A little YouTube and luck was all I needed

[23 Blast]

Buying any kind of guns is a sickness. Here's a picture of a couple of my Rossi 92's in the 357 flavor. Both are good shooters.

The stainless 24" octogon barrel is the one I used to have, and it was a beaut....except when I tried to shoot it. It was marvelously accurate, but sooooooo finicky with ammo.

Still, now that I know more about how to smooth them out, I kind of miss it. What I want now is one in .45LC