Lever Action?

[ACfixer]

My 1922 model 1892 takedown with the octagon barrel in .44-40.



And a classic American thing of beauty, a plain ol' model '94 left to me by my dear father.

[Starslinger]

OP, I think I may have something similar to the lever action home defense set up that you'd want if you decide to go lever action.

I have a Henry Big Boy Steel Carbine in .357 magnum. It has a slender, comfortable and attractive wood stock. It's just under 36 inches long, weighs about 6.5 pounds. It hold eight rounds in the tube (either 38 special or 357 magnum) plus one in the chamber. I manually decock the hammer and store it fully loaded with 357 magnum. My Henry has a transfer bar so it will not fire the first shot unless you cock the hammer then pull the trigger.

I have a Leupold Deltapoint Pro red dot (turns on automatically with movement of the rifle) mounted with a mounting plate that Henry sells specifically for the Deltapoint. On the front is a Streamlight TR1 HL weapon light mounted on a mounting bracket sold by Hill People Gear (designed for .30 caliber but it works on the 357 magnum). My home defense ammunition is Hornady American Gunner 357 magnum 125 grain XTP. An article that I read indicated that this round out of a 16 inch barrel approaches 2000 fps and has about 85% of the energy of a .223 round.

I am not an expert shooter or a long range shooter but the Henry is accurate enough at 50 yards. Easy to aim with the red dot but I'm still learning how to work the lever without letting the red dot stray from my target. My Henry feeds 357 magnum perfectly but tends to misfeed sometimes with 38 Special, which bothers me a lot. I just shipped my Henry in for warranty work hoping they can fix it so that it feeds 38 Special more reliably.

I like this gun and set up but I'm not 100% sure on using it as a home defense gun. If it continues to misfeed 38 Special I may end up buying a Ruger PC Carbine in 9mm and using that instead.

[SDDAVE56]

Here we go... simply a preference. Side loading gates are a PITA! slow. The tube type magazine works flawlessly. Also tube type much easier to unload. BTW Henry now makes side gate loader.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5EbnnOiB2w

[Epaphroditus]

Rossi 9 is low priced but with a modest amount of work they function flawlessly. A 16" barrel chambered in 38/357 is super fun to shoot and is easy to reload for.

FYI someone above asked about critical defense ammo. It will work but remember critical defense ammo is specifically engineered for short barrel semiautomatic pistols so you are far better off using critical duty instead.

I'm biased towards 45 caliber and would much prefer a 454 Casull chambered rifle which can also shoot 45 long colt. I have a model 92 20" octagonal barrel - it's heavy but very much a fun and sweet shooting rifle.

Take a hard look at the kind of rifles the cowboy action shooters use. You won't find many Henry rifles. Henry's are fine but they really can't be tuned much.

[Epaphroditus]

Ghost ring or a red dot work fine for us older guys with eye issues.

[RNE228]

Top load or magazine load is much nicer for rifle cartridges.

The Savage 99 internal rotary magazine is much easier and smoother to load than than a Win 94. And yes, some were made in 30-30 250-3000 and 300 Savage are much nicer cartridges though.

The later box magazines in the Savage 99, Browning BLR, and Win 88 is much nicer than those gate loading too.

Side gate for rifle caliber IMO, ala the Winchester 94 in .30-30 as the good Lord intended. Tube load/feed for a pistol caliber Henry is fine.

And those are my two choices. And no I wouldn't choose either for my HD gun. Too many better choices out there, like almost all of them.

[smle-man]

Here's yer firepower right here! 5 rounds of .30 M2 ball will settle any miscreant's hash. Easy to load too, stuff 4 rounds into the magazine from the top and slide a 5th into the chamber and you have 5 rounds of .30 goodness at hand.

Theodore Roosevelt approved!

[200Apples]

5 rounds of .30 M2 ball will settle any miscreant's hash.

It will indeed!

Theodore Roosevelt approved!

I like your style, sir.



Jeff Cooper was a T.R. aficionado, but considered the slightly shorter brass and resulting shorter action of a .308 chambering to be the ticket for his scout rifle concept, but I'm splitting hairs.

When a "lever action" thread pops up in here I default to thinking of pistol (revolver-) caliber carbines and short rifles; that's just me. There is something *very* special about a lever rifle chambered in aught-six. I am very glad you have reminded me of it's existence. One day...

[pennstater]

Hmm, it would seem 'ol Apples is going on a search soon. Enlightening!


MLC

[200Apples]

Hey Tom. Nah. Not for a year at least. I have to pay off a credit card first. Went on a vacation road trip in June...

One day, though.

[Nick Adams]

I have a Rossi 92 in 357 and it has been a great gun. It eats everything and is plenty accurate. Inexpensive gun, and 38 is cheap.

[snowdog650]

I have a Marlin 1894 CSBL ... it's a pretty amazing little carbine. I haven't noticed any of the alleged quality control issues ... the rifle shoots straight, the action is smooth, and I've had no FTEs or other malfunctions in 500+ rounds downrange. The ghost ring is set for CQC, in my opinion, as the ring is too big to get a consistent sight picture at distances beyond 50 yards.

I have mine set up with a Sig Romeo and a light for HD. I'm very comfortable using that and my S&W 686.

I use these because I destroyed/got rid of/lost all semi-autos because I want to be a good servant of Comrade Gavin.

* Last sentence was for CAL DOJ.

[vino68]

Yes, didn't seem drastically different from plinking loads. Both Critical Defense and Barnes 225gr XPB lead free from Buffalo bore. The Buffalo bore lead free seemed to feed a little better/easier. Recoil wise it was not much different than a warm plinking load for my SAA, I have also shot the +P option from Buffalo bore in my '92 but of course not in my SAA. My normal plinking load with Trail Boss is really nice in the '92.

Thank you for that information.

[Ki6vsm]

I can only give an opinion on #1 and #2.

If you are considering .357 or .44 you are really shooting a magnum handgun round from a rifle. As such, the recoil is manageable. IMO .44 is more recoil than .223 perhaps but certainly nothing like a large rifle round so the recoil pad isn't necessary. If you wanted one you have the option to install one aftermarket in most cases.

Unless you're shooting prone. Then you might want a pad. LOL My 44mag 1894 has a surprising mount of punch when firing my med-power hand loads. It's possible to fire softer loads I guess, lighter bullets with lighter power loads. But I mainly just shoot the standard 240 gr Jacketed bullets, coming out the muzzle at around 1500 FPS.

On a desert trip last year, After a day and half of shooting my ARs, which obviously don't create any kind of recoil issue, I pulled out my Marlin and lay prone on my mat to shoot for groups at about 40 yds distance. The first shot, BOOM. I'll bet the people at the next shooting spot over could hear me yell. LOL Hurt like an SOB since the butt of the rifle (mine's just hard rubber/plastic) hammered into my collar bone. The next thing I did was strap on my PAST shoulder pad.

[SigSauerP226]

All these lever action threads were calling to me! I decided to grab a Marlin 1895GBL, got it for $529, so I think I got a good deal. Mine's still in jail, but the lever action rifle just seems like a lot of fun. Thought about going with the 1894, but decided to go big bore. Going to get my butt kicked Shot a .45-70 out of a light rifle with a steel butt plate once, ow. I already bought a limb saver and the thing feels like it has decent heft, though not heavy. If you haven't already decided, I'd say go for it if you are interested. I think the big calibers out of a long barrel would serve you fine as an HD/SD weapon, just the obvious ammo limitation is the only thing I can think of. I'm not really considering my .45-70 for HD, but I bet it'd take the fight out of a BG