357 lever action rifle

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Bruno2

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I was wanting to buy a new lever action 357 magnum rifle . What is out there and is a good rifle ? Does winchester still manufacture this cal in a lever gun ?
 
my buddy has a marlin lever in 357 mag and he loves it a lot.good shooter and great if you reload:rolleyes:
 
As you may or may not know, that is the most popular cartridge used for Cowboy Action shooting. Most of the fast guns use the .38 Special out of either an italian import or one of the above mentioned lever guns.

I personally am a big bore man, in more ways than one I am told, but several of my friends shoot them. Few, if any have complained about the rifles or the cartridge.

Ammunition is available, usually, but most reload.
Good choice for plinking.
Not sure I would want to choose it for hunting larger game though.
JMHO YMMV
 
Love my Marlin. Much easier to strip and clean than a Winchester design, built really tough, but still light and handy.

Shoots light .38 Special loads, and heavy .357 Magnum loads.

No recoil on the .38s, and very accurate. With the right .357, it's no .308 but it turns in respectable performance. Fun, too.
 
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There are also couple of options for pump action .357s that are also old-timey and a viable alternative. Taurus makes less expensive ones, others make more expensive ones.
 
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I don't believe that any of the .357 pumps will shoot the hot stuff you can shoot in the Pumas and Marlins.

I'd only consider them to be viable alternatives for CAS and plinking, not for hunting.
 
I have a .357 Rossi 92 clone on order for my sons xmas gift. I have one of the Rossi's in .45 colt and I love it.

A buddy has a Marlin 1894c in .357 and it's an awesome shooter as well.

I think the Marlins run about $75-100 more than the Rossi's but either should be a great rifle.
 
I have a Model 92 .357 Mag Rossi Puma (LSI) from the last year that PUMA was made by Rossi for LSI. It is really a nice rife. It is the "short rifle", 20" octagon barrel, but no barrel band; CCH finish. These are less expensive than the new Itialian LSI Pumas-- many dealers still have them in stock. A friend was checking with www.budsgunshop.com, and they had three different .357 model 1892 rifles in stock. The Rossi Puma was everybit as nice as the new Puma (from Italy), but a couple of hundred less. If money were not a concern, Uberti 1892's are very, very nice. But for significantly less, the Rossi is also very nice and very strong.

I have a few Henrys in .22 cal-- and I really like them-- smooth as silk and good shooters. I don't know anything about the design of the action on the Henry Big Boys-- but as ArmedBear indicated above the Marlin/Rossi/Puma 1892 clone levers will handle anything you can fit in the chamber or casing-- it's a really great design (ok, I know the Marlin is not a clone-- but it also is a design over a century old and stong!)
 
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If you like something that looks historcally cool and shoots accurately, get a Uberti/Cimarron 1873 rifle !

it's a NICE gun !!!

1873.jpg
 
I've got the Marlin .357. I put a Wild West trigger and a peep sight on it and it's turned out to be (at least with my reloads) one of the most accurate and fun guns I shoot. Knocks down the plates at 100 yards so well that it's almost boring.

Pete
 
A Model 1873 is about an 8 lb. gun; kinda heavy.

Model 1892 is about 6 lb.

With 20" barrels.
 
Good choice

I have a m92 trapper in puma357/38. It's a hoot.i like the big loop because i have tubby hands.the 16" barrel swings fast but still does well to 100yards+ in 357.
 
I've got the marlin and the rossi in 357. marlin is heavier and smoother, the rossi is lighter and seems to cycle 38's more reliably. I prefer the marlin. the wood on the rossi is very dark and plain.
 
For close up deer hunting it would work great. I can't see more then a few yards on my place so the deer have to be close to shoot at them.
 
I have Marlins in both .45 Colt and .357 and love them. The Win 92 clones are also very strong and excellent rifles. Both the Marlin and the Winchester-Puma are strong actions that can be loaded hot for hunting. The 73 clones can be slicked up and have short throw levers installed that make them faster than the 92s and 94s (assuming you will spend the time to develop your technique). However, the 73s are not as strong and should not be souped up, and as mentioned above are heavier, if that is a concern.

Sounds like you are about to jump into the pistol cartridge rifle pool, I think you will enjoy it, and there are many many good choices. Buy with confidence, any of the major players will provide a good gun that you can enjoy for years.
 
One significant advantage of the Marlin 1894 over the various 1892s, in my opinion, is the shotgun-style buttstock. The '92s have that goofy crescent butt supposedly made for shooting from between the bicep and the rotator cuff, instead of from the pocket of the shoulder--that's not something I can get too excited about, especially in a 6lb. rifle that I might be launching heavy .44 magnums and .45 Colts from. I guess I shouldn't knock that until I've tried it, though, but as a shotgun guy, I would prefer the shotgun-style stock that much more.
 
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