"Ideal Lever Rifle"

I kinda got a warm spot for a Winchester 1895 in 30-06...but thats how I roll!

savage 99 in .308

A modern .38-55?

BLR in .308

Winchester 94 in 38/55, or .32 Special. Carbine holds 7. Or a Marlin in .35 Rem, or a .444, don't know how many it holds,The Winnie is my preferred carbine. I'm not saying they are better, just saying that I like em better.

Yep, Winchester 94 in 38-55. Twenty six inch, mag holds nine. Two hundred eighty five grains at close to 2000 feet is certainly more than a 30-30.

I love mine!


Cat

Old model Marlin 1895 C/B holds 9+1 barrel is 24 or 26 inches long. I never shoot it much futher than 200 yds. Hornady makes there new lever referloution with the soft rubber spitzer bullets. I use 405 gr hard cast bullets and a light charge of 35 grs of IMR 3031. I use this to cowboy shoot with and also hunt Hogs and Deer with and it works just fine for me.
ken

The desire to avoid flat/rounded nose bullets limits you to the Browning BLR or one of the other magazine fed lever options. A couple of those being the Savage 1899 and Winchester 1895 models.

The rest use tubular magazines which means that you can't use pointy bullets lest you find out what a magazine exposion feels like.

Now as far as I know this limits you as to round count. None of the box magazine fed levers will accept 6+1 rounds. For that it seems to need a tubular magazine. If you want spitzer bullets then it's all about compromise.

I have a couple original 1895 Winchesters.... 30-40 Krag and 30-03 Govt.
They are hard hitting but not well balanced for a long term carry in the bush.

A Savage 99 in 300 savage, 308 win, or even better yet in 358 win is a real dream to carry.

I have a 1886 carbine in 45-70 that carries well and has enough power for anything within 200 yards. the action is butter smooth and very strong. And it has NEVER jammed or mis-fed.

For what I need a Lever action rifle for the 30/30 Marlin 336 is the ideal Lever action rifle.

If I need something that shoots a larger round I'll grab the Garand or the 91/30 MN.

I agree, for my uses a 30-30 is all I want, but you described a BLR in 308. A 308 is a 400 yard elk caliber. With lighter bullets it is a fine deer caliber, and with heavier bullets will take the largest game in NA. No need for larger calibers.

duh, savage 99 in 308 or 358

Win 94 with the Hornady LeveRevolution ammo. You get your Spitzer round and turn it into easily a 200 yard rifle.

1. Either a BLR or a Marlin b/c I like hammers on my guns.
2. Prob a BLR b/c it would be magazine fed so we could use spitzers.
3. It would need to have 6-7 +1.
4. I was considering either a 454 Casull or a 460 S&W, but in all honesty, it doesn't need to have a big bore, but it needs to have hitting power.
5. The range would have to be 300 max because I can't see the little 8" white plates any farther than that anyway.

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Enter the Rossi M92 in .454 Casull.

1) Not a BLR or Marlin, but your goal was to have a hammer. It has one.
2) .454 does not use spitzers, so this becomes a moot point.
3) Has 10+1, so it actually exceeds your spec requirements here.
4) Chambered in .454 Casull, one of the two rounds you mentioned.
5) Add a rear peep sight, and that 20"bbl ought to give enough sight radius to be as accurate as any other iron sighted, handgun cartridge, levergun out there.

Other pluses: a) The Rossi's tend to be a bit lighter than the Marlins and BLRs. b) They cost less.

Fit and finish won't be as nice as a BLR, but with Marlin in it's current state, I might be tempted to take the Rossi even if they were the same price.

FWIW- I have a Rossi M92 in .357mag and I love that little rifle.

1. Either a BLR or a Marlin b/c I like hammers on my guns.
2. Prob a BLR b/c it would be magazine fed so we could use spitzers.
3. It would need to have 6-7 +1.
4. I was considering either a 454 Casull or a 460 S&W, but in all honesty, it doesn't need to have a big bore, but it needs to have hitting power.
5. The range would have to be 300 max because I can't see the little 8" white plates any farther than that anyway.

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I think if you want a 300 yard gun (5) you need a real rifle round. Even the heaviest pistol rounds like the .454 Casull or a .460 S&W are still relatively "short range" choices. I'm also not aware of any rifle round lever-actions that hold 6 or 7 rounds in the magazine. Not sure why you feel the need for that in a hunting rifle?

Given your other requirements, I would look at either:

Marlin XLR in .308 Marlin Express - An uncommon, proprietary chambering (I don't think anyone but Marlin offers guns in this caliber), but with modern LEVERevolution ammo its easily a 300 yard deer gun. Note this is a tubular magazine but it does meet your performance requirements.

Browning BLR in .308 Winchester - A true box magazine opens the way to all sorts of modern rifle cartridges. The 7mm-08 Remington would be another good choice in this rifle. I don't see much need for the magnum or short magnum rounds in a 300 yard rifle, but they are available, too.

EDIT: Looking back, I guess my recomendations were based on the idea you are looking for a hunting rifle, but you didn't actually say that. If its just a range gun, you could also look at the BLR in .223 Remington, instead. Cheaper ammo and less recoil.

One thought

IIRC, the Winchester 1895 has its locking lugs at the rear of the bolt. I don't know about the savage.

Winchester 1895 and I find them to be wonderfully balanced. Mine's a .405 but the late model guns were also produced in .270WCF, .30-40 and .30-06. All they need is a trigger job and a peep sight.

My personal lever action holy grail is a straight gripped Schnabel forend Savage 99 in .308 with aperture sights. I'm not sure this was a factory configuration - I've been told all stocks were pistol gripped by the time the .308 was developed.

Ideal lever

I have three of them, for different applications, a Savage model 99 in 300 Savage with a 1.5-6x42 scope(good to 250yds).
A Marlin model 375 in 375 Winchester with a Williams peep sight (good for 150yds),
and a Winchester 94 top eject in 30-30 Winchester with a Williams peep sight (good for 175yds).
I'm sure they are capable of more, but in my hands that's about it.
These are plenty good for the Western Coastal woods of Washington state,
if I hunt Eastern Wa., I would bring my 7x57 Mauser or 280 Rem.

I think Marlin has done that...... .338 MXLR...

And with a small amount of engineering and some stainless tubing and a barrel band we can make it hold 8-9 rounds?

I think the .308 MXLR would fit this as well, since they have halted production on the .338 Hope they get there heads removed from ... well .... and get there production problems straightened out.

:banghead: They should have never moved the Company.... but I am sure it will straighten out..

They should have never moved the Company.... but I am sure it will straighten out..

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I know, talk about taking a good thing and completely screwing it up!