Random thoughts on Lever Rifles

[Shawnee]

I've seen the new Mossberg. Nice piece of work. Not quite as svelte as the Winchester but it doesn't miss it much and the workmanship seems very good.

 

[TehK1w1]

Ever handled a M1886 in 45/70 or a M1895 in 30-06? Very heavy for the caliber.

19th century designs are heavy, expensive to build, not very accurate, limited capacity and are limited in what cartridges they can use.

I dare anyone who has fired full-power loads out of a Marlin guide gun in 45-70 to tell me they are overly heavy for their caliber.
Additionally, every marlin lever gun I have fired(not much experience with winchesters) has been sufficiently accurate to take game at 200+ yards. My 444 Marlin groups right around an inch at 100 yards-that's as accurate as most bolt guns off-the-shelf
As for cartridge limitations, there are levers made in everything from 22 LR and 223 all the way up to the venerable 30-06 and massive whompers like 450 Alaskan.
As for magazine capacity, some of the pistol-caliber rifles have a major advantage over just about anything but an 'EBR' - 10 rounds of 44 mag in a Winchester 1894 seems to me like it would be more than enough to get the job done.
I will however concede that unloading a lever action is a PITA.

 

[georgeky]

The Savage 99 is rumored to come back fairly soon.

Movies have nothing to do with the continued popularity of leverguns. How many new westerns have been out lately? Very few.

Cowboy action shooting has helped with more traditional models being brought back into production such as the Marlin Cowboy rifles. Just look and see how many companies are making Winchester copies. Henry has even expanded their line of leverguns to include 44 mag, 45 Colt, and now the 30-30. I doubt they would have brought these forth without a demand for them Marlin still sells 10's of thousands of new leverguns every year. They have introduced several new calibers including the 450, 308 ME, and soon to be released 338 ME. Don't know much about the 338 yet as it is in field testing now. The 308ME is making the old levergun into something it has never been before. 300 yard deer rifle it is. Lot's of 45-70 have been sold in the last 10 years and they continue to sell good in various models.

Last year was the very first time in history that the 30-06 finally surpassed the 30-30 in ammo sales. This does not take into account all of us folks that reload for the old 30-30. Take a levergun hunting with you and see what hunting is about. It isn't just about shooting at 500 yards. I bet more deer are still killed with old Win 94's and Marlin 336's than any other type of gun.

Some fellers around here make fun of my 30-30 but I have taken more game with it than most of them will ever see. Including lot's of deer, several feral hogs, and even a 420 pound black bear with one shot using factory Rem 170 grain CL ammo. Took a nice bull elk in CO with a Win 94 BB in .375 Win. One shot was enough with it as well.

My heaviest Marlin rifle is my 1895 Cowboy with a 26 inch oct barrel. It weighs a whopping 8 pounds until you load it with 9 of those bone crushing 45-70's in the tube. It will take game out to 300+ yards if the shooter is up to it.

 

[Cosmoline]

I dare anyone who has fired full-power loads out of a Marlin guide gun in 45-70 to tell me they are overly heavy for their caliber.

I think we were talking about the Winchester 1895, not the Marlin 1895, but I agree not all the 19th century leverguns were overly clunky or heavy. Some of the Winchesters perhaps, but they're still cool. The modern Marlin 95 is not clunky, heavy or inaccurate.

 

[SwampWolf]

Ever handled a M1886 in 45/70 or a M1895 in 30-06? Very heavy for the caliber.

Well, not all 1886s are too heavy. My 1886 "Extra-Light Weight" repo carbine weighs in at 7 1/4 pounds. I don't think I'd want a rifle chambered in 45-70 to weigh much less than that.