Side-loading .22's?

[Big_E]

I have always enjoyed .22's and lever actions. So I thought I would look around for one. However, the only ones I have seen (Marlin, Henry) load from the front of the tube.

I would like to have the lever action load from the side of the receiver (i.e. Winchester 94, Marlin 336, etc...) Are there any .22's like this? Or am I out of luck?

 

[mainmech48]

The only .22 RF LA I've ever heard of that used a loading gate in the receiver such as you described was the original Lewis L. Hepburn-designed Marlin 1891. Only the earliest model incorporated it, and it was soon replaced by the system we see today.

My guess is that it just proved to be both easier and faster than trying to shove tiny RF cartidges, especially the then-very popular Shorts, through a necessarily skinny opening against the combined pressures of a loading gate spring and a magazine spring. One didn't damage ammo or fingers nearly as often, and the task could be done much more positively and quickly to boot.

 

[Big_E]

I guess you're right. I do notice that sometimes it takes some effort to load .30-30 rounds into my 94. I really just don't like pulling the follower out and whatnot.

I guess I will just have to find a .38/.357 marlin and reload for it. Won't be as cheap as .22lr, but then I could always use it for HD.

 

[rcmodel]

I think the reason is, if you applied enough force to a .22 LR to depress a loading gate like on a 94, it would bend the bullet out of the case.

It doesn't take much side force at all to dislodge a soft .22 RF bullet from the case crimp.

rc

 

[woof]

I'm sure someone could design a loader where you put the round into a loader at the side and then push a follower to shove it forward. The gate might have to flip up and stay open unlike a model 94 etc. My guess is very few would find that convenient and it would be unlike the coyboy loading image enough that it wouldn't even have that panache going for it. No sale.

 

[Big_E]

Actually, I wouldn't mind a Spencer rifle tube feed. Only because Spencer rifles are so cool.

Sorta like the Remington Nylon (i think)

 

[mainmech48]

Another great little RF that has a "Spencer-type" tube magazine in the butt stock is the Browning Automatic. Sweet! You can still find NIB or like-new Norinco copies on the auction sites for about half the price of the current Miroku/Browning models and less than a third of what a nice Belgian one will bring.

Another non-traditional tube loading option would be one of the (unforunately) now-rare .22 RF Uberti Henry replicas that Navy Arms used to import.