Lever Love?

[theduracellbigd]

Since Covid-19 hit I have had more time at home and been on CALGUNS forums more. It seems that there are many Lever Lovers on the Centerfire manually operated forum. I ask why the Lever Love? I am a hunter and recreational shooter and I even grew up on westerns and Chuck Conner's and The Rifleman, but all my rifles are either bolts or semi autos and my shotguns auto, break and pump. The only lever I have ever shot much is a friends 38-40 and it was a nice low recoil rifle however saw no benefits over others or need to go out and buy one. So CALGUN Lever Lovers am I missing something? What is your reason for Lever Love? Any benefit over the more mainstream(majority of guns on racks at stores)?

[DueceMcGurk]

Yes, you are missing something. About 130 years worth. lol

[pennstater]

I like 'em partially for nostalgic reasons, you can get them in handgun calibers, and those have very little felt recoil, they'll hold 10 rounds, if that is important.
And the big plus is, they're just plain fun to shoot! Hope this helps a bit.

MLC

[PoorRichRichard]

You should contact FighterPilot. I hear he has a special room in his house strictly dedicated to lever lovin’

[PoorRichRichard]

...sorry, I couldn’t resist.

[bergmen]

Well, historically speaking the lever action rifle was the first reliable repeating action. When introduced, it started a revolution in the rifle world. Prolific designers (John Browning being the most prominent) began perfecting the lever action and produced many designs that are still with us today.

To me, this is in the same category (historically) as the legendary Colt Single Action Army revolver, again, still with us today.

Personally, my Dad was a lever action lover. His first center fire lever action rifle was a Winchester Model 71 in .348. He said it kicked like a mule so he sold it to one of his best friends (too much wheaties for deer anyway which is what my Dad loved to hunt most). Next up was a Marlin 1936 that my Mom bought for him as a gift. He hunted with it for a few decades before going to a Winchester Model 88 in .308 Winchester in 1961. I inherited both the 88 and 1936 and added a modern 336CS in 1994. I have added three more levers to my collection and have a few more on my "want" list.

Dan

[Calif Hunter]

They are fun. They can also be effective in the field within their performance.

Mainly, they are fun and some people like to shoot for fun.

[Oceanbob]

Nothing better than a good Lever Gun.
A real hoot to shoot.

Get a JM built Marlin. Not a Remlin.

Be well
Bob

[Garv]

Quit being an operator and go have some fun.

Not my first choice for hunting or precision shooting, maybe they just take me back to the nostalgia of 60's TV westerns.

My .357 levergun can go to the indoor range which is convenient compared to the more distant outdoor ranges.

[200Apples]

I get that the OP may be asking this question in a conversational way, because the immediate answer would otherwise be, "If we have to explain, you wouldn't understand."



So, with that in mind, lever carbines are light, handy, friendly, accurate* and very fast repeaters. What's not to love?





*As for some of the bolt-action rifles that hunters may use, I'll paraphrase Jeff Cooper by saying, "If that rifle were half as accurate as it is, it would still be twice as accurate as it need be."

[Kokopelli]

A side gate lever is the only gun you can reload while keeping it shouldered and firing. You can top off the magazing between trigger pulls.

The Turks defeated the Russian army using Winchester lever actions at the battle of Plevna.

Confederate soldiers were decimated by that Yankee Henry that you, "Load on Sunday and shoot all week."

John Wayne

The Winchester 94 is purported to have killed more deer than any other rifle.

Did I mention how fun they are?

[Jeepergeo]

Since Covid-19 hit I have had more time at home and been on CALGUNS forums more. It seems that there are many Lever Lovers on the Centerfire manually operated forum. I ask why the Lever Love? I am a hunter and recreational shooter and I even grew up on westerns and Chuck Conner's and The Rifleman, but all my rifles are either bolts or semi autos and my shotguns auto, break and pump. The only lever I have ever shot much is a friends 38-40 and it was a nice low recoil rifle however saw no benefits over others or need to go out and buy one. So CALGUN Lever Lovers am I missing something? What is your reason for Lever Love? Any benefit over the more mainstream(majority of guns on racks at stores)?

The lever can be the means of operating the bolt, so a lever action can be a bolt action. The folks at Browning explain it here.

https://www.browning.com/products/firearms/rifles/blr.html

On a Browning BLR in 30-06, you can see what they describe as a lever operated bolt action. Moving the lever twists the bolt just like the traditional hand bolt does.

Shooting a lever action is as fun as it gets. The lever actions are very versatile and cover a lot of ground, from rimfire to potent centerfire, from entry level shooters to high end collectables.

[therealnickb]

I have but one. Win trapper in .357. And yes, I love it.

[Verdha603]

Easiest answer for me is this; I'm left-hand dominant, left-eye dominant. Because of that I mostly shoot semi-auto and lever action rifles for practical applications (competition and self-defense training), because a lever gun is effectively ambidextrous for a lefty, and has an added bonus of a side loading gate can be loaded with my off hand without taking my hand off the trigger.

I'll also admit I have a love for lever-actions due to growing up on Westerns, so a Winchester lever gun is iconic in my book, more so than even a single-action revolver or a side by side shotgun for me. From a practical aspect they're interesting as THE original pistol caliber carbine since you could have a lever-action that took the same ammunition as your revolver, and THE original "assault rifle" of the 19th century, since you could dump a tube of ammunition rapidly and with an acceptable degree of precision with little difficulty, providing a degree of versatility I can appreciate in a lever-action.

At this rate I think the only reason I haven't gone out and bought my own center-fire lever-action (already have a Henry .22), is because I have expensive tastes and I just haven't been able to justify spending 1.7K on a Taylors & Co M1892, and thats if I could even find one in stock right now.

[Jwalt]

They're fun.




Personally, I love pistol caliber levers. I like having the option of just taking one caliber with me and just reloading one caliber, and getting time with a rifle and pistol even if all the longer ranges are booked for the day (Burro Canyon).

Sure, it's partly the history, but even if they hit the market today I'd think they were fun to shoot.