Good to find that a lever gun still has a place

[gejohnston]

OK, so I still like old school wood and steel. That doesn't mean I don't have more modern guns, but you know what they say about taking someone out of the west...............

[trouble.smith]

1. I'd love to buy some old lever guns

but semi autos seem more... sensible right now.

[gejohnston]

4. true, what's wrong with new lever guns? nt

[trouble.smith]

9. other than the lack of historical significance, nothing.

I really want a lever action chambered in .500 magnum. They aren't commonly available right now and, for the price of getting one, I could probably buy multiple 7.62 semi-autos. That, unfortunately, makes more sense to me presently. What I really like are the old flintlocks and percussion rifles. I love those old blackpowder kentucky rifles and the new ones being made too but, again, for the money, they don't make a lot of sense right now.

[pipoman]

33. You can get close with an Alaskan rifle..

http://www.wildwestguns.com/custom-guns-2/the-alaskan-guide-master-guide/

$1,500 base.

[trouble.smith]

36. It's available

http://bighornarmory.com/products/rifle.php
base price: $1989.00
It's beautiful and I want it but I just can't justify it. I won't be hunting dinosaurs anytime soon and $1989 buys a lot of other stuff that makes more sense.

[Eleanors38]

16. Passed on a Savage 99 in .243 ($180). My Stupid burns so-o-o-o much. nt

[jody]

5. Choice is one well placed shot vs. several in the area of a target. Ammunition discipline and all

that stuff.

[jody]

2. And so do bayonets as taught in Marine Basic Training. nt

[DonP]

3. Just picked up a nice used Winchester '94 in 30-30

Very clean and with a Williams rear peep sight and with some Hornady FTX Leverevolution ammunition accurate out to 150+ yards.

I'm not a hunter, but it's a classic John Browning design, his first for smokeless powder and has a nice natural balance in your hand.

Certainly nothing to laugh at as far as stopping power goes. Probably more whitetails and other mid to large game taken with the 30-30 than any other cartridge except maybe the 30-06.

[gejohnston]

6. I had a Marlin 336

when I was a kid. My son just picked up a used one.

[Hangingon]

20. Still have my 336

It is a .30-30 with a ghost ring and shoots great. Just ask it to do what it's capable of doing.

[ileus]

39. My first deer rifle was a 336 in 35rem.

I knew I wanted that 742 auto so I ditched it after two years. I sure wish I still had the guy...it's had a feeding issue and a problem with light strikes ? (I believe) nothing that a trip to the smith, and/or a good cleaning wouldn't have taken care of.

[jody]

7. DoD has been trying to replace John Browning's .50 caliber M2 and variants without success.

Browning's genus grows as time passes.

I remember one tale by an engineer who recounts Browning explaining what he wanted by holding his fingers apart. Engineers would take calipers and measure the distance.

True or not it illustrates the genius of dreamers with little formal education who started at the absolute grass-roots level and created the industrial giant that financed the greatest nation the world has ever known.

Where, oh where, are the geniuses like John Browning, Henry Ford, and others we need to take the United States into the 22nd Century?

IMO it's not from law schools that crap out most elected politicians.

[friendly_iconoclast]

26. One of those "necessary geniuses" just passed away- Stanford Ovshinsky

Inventor of the nickel-metal hydride battery, amongst many, many other things:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_R._Ovshinsky

Stanford R. Ovshinsky


Stanford Robert Ovshinsky (November 24, 1922 – October 17, 2012) was a prolific American inventor and scientist who had been granted well over 400 patents over fifty years, mostly in the areas of energy and information.[1] Many of his inventions have had wide ranging applications. Among the most prominent are: an environmentally friendly nickel-metal hydride battery, which has been widely used in laptop computers, digital cameras, cell phones, and electric and hybrid cars; continuous web multi-junction flexible thin-film solar energy laminates and panels; flat screen liquid crystal displays; rewritable CD and DVD discs; hydrogen fuel cells; and nonvolatile phase-change memory.[2][3] Ovshinsky opened the scientific field of amorphous and disordered materials in the course of his research in the 1940s and 50s in neurophysiology, neural disease, the nature of intelligence in mammals and machines, and cybernetics.[4][5] Amorphous silicon semiconductors have become the basis of many technologies and industries. Ovshinsky is also distinguished in being self-taught, without formal college or graduate training.[5] Throughout his life, his love for science and his social convictions were the primary engines for his inventive work.[5]

In 1960, Ovshinsky and his soon-to-be second wife, Iris Dibner, founded Energy Conversion Laboratory in a storefront in Detroit, dedicating the laboratory to the solution of important societal problems using science and technology.[5] Focusing on the critical areas of energy and information, their new company, reconstituted in 1964 as Energy Conversion Devices (ECD), went on to become a forefront invention and development laboratory whose products have built new industries, many of them aimed at making fossil fuel obsolete. ECD continues (through joint ventures and license partners) to be a leading solar energy and battery production firm.[6]

Roughly a year after Iris Ovshinsky's death in August 2006, Ovshinsky left ECD and established a new company, Ovshinsky Innovation LLC, devoted to developing the scientific basis for highly innovative and revolutionary energy and information technologies. In October 2007 he married Rosa Young, a physicist who had worked at ECD on numerous energy technologies including a hydrogen-powered hybrid car and on Ovshinsky’s vision of a hydrogen-based economy...

http://boingboing.net/2012/10/22/rip-stanford-ovshinsky.html

RIP Stanford Ovshinsky — inventor with an eye on energy and communication

Maggie Koerth-Baker at 9:40 am Mon, Oct 22

America lost a great Maker last week. Stanford R. Ovshinsky was a self-taught engineer and inventor who held more than 400 patents when he died on October 17th at the age of 90. The name may not be familiar to you, but his work is. Ovshinsky is credited with inventing key technologies behind flat-panel liquid crystal displays that we use to watch TV, work on the Internet, or play with our phones.

He was also the inventor of the nickel-metal hydride battery — a rechargeable battery that now powers everything from laptops to the Prius. Ovshinsky (along with his wife, Iris, who held a Ph.D. in biochemistry and was his research partner for much of his life), began working on improved versions of batteries, solar cells, and other energy technologies beginning in the early 1960s. More than a decade before climate change became a well-established fact, Ovshinsky was concerned about the pollution and political instability that went along with fossil fuels. He spent the rest of his life developing better alternatives....

[Eleanors38]

12. Have the same '94/Williams sight set up. Reasonably accurate, more so w/ Leverevolution...

Good stopping power due to the surface area of the .30, though a .35 Rem (undergoing a rersurgence in popularity) is better and a bit more accurate (the Marlin 336 which it is made for has by all accounts a stronger action, but the rifle is heavier). Frankly, if the grid went down and it hit the fan, and having no semi-auto carbine, I would take that .30-30 in my bug-out kit, and leave the sub-moa Rem. 700 with a friend who needs something. Good fire-power, speed of action, cheap ammo which is widely-available.

[bluedigger]

8. My uncle used to collect them.

He had more than a hundred 1873's with octagonal barrels in his collection. That was his thing. They were all stolen in a professional job back in the late 1970's I think.

[Eleanors38]

15. Oh, that's rough. So many '73s were used up by Hollywood oaters, they fell to using '94s.

[bluedigger]

18. He was devastated.

Four decades of effort - had nothing to do with the money - it was a very good collection. He had a special room in the attached barn with it's own alarm and locks, etc. They assumed somebody targeted the collection and paid for some pros to take it, as none of the guns ever showed up on the market.

[aletier_v]

10. Is this a Ronald Reagan movie?

[gejohnston]

11. his training movies were US Army

I don't think he made any Westerns. He is best known for Bed Time for Bonzo (and the only movie of his I actually saw). Why didn't James Stewart or Henry Fonda come to mind?

[aletier_v]

14. I'm pretty sure he made a couple of westerns. :)

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm4118452224/nm0001654

[Eleanors38]

13. He hosted a T.V. series in the late 50s/early 60s (?).

[MicaelS]

17. Death Valley Days.

I remember watching it on TV as a kid. Yes, that dates me.

[Eleanors38]

31. Yeah, I remember those sbows. Foundation for his presidential run.

[GreenStormCloud]

37. +1 N/T

[oneshooter]

19. I prefer my lever guns in larger calibers.

44 Mag or 45 LC 16" barrel M94 The trapper model, also got one in 30/30




Prefer a longer barrel for the larger bore rifles. Marlin 45-70-350CB



These are getting a little pricy now.

[holdencaufield]

22. To get a good Marlin ...

... you will need a time machine. Marlin quality control has gone to the Devil. A shame really, they used to be amongst the best lever rifles on the market.

[oneshooter]

24. My Marlin was purchased several years ago.

My favorite lever gun is the 1892 that my Grandfather passed to Dad and him to me.
It was built in 1911 and the action is like oiled glass. 38WCF and holds 14 rds. I still shoot, and hunt, with it.
Dad also gave me the 5" Colt New Service that he received with the rifle. It is also a 38WCF, built in 1904.
Grand dad was a part time Deputy Sheriff in Quitman County MS. from 1923-1945. He helped many small farmers to hold onto their land during the depression.

[holdencaufield]

25. It amazes me that people think ...

... Democrats and firearms are incompatible. It is as if they have no knowledge of the Union Movement or the Depression at all.

For the record -- I covet your Grandpere's 1892 and honor the memory of his service to his community.

[oneshooter]

28. I don't know if you could find ammo for it.

I have 2-3000 rounds, brass and loaded. It is a little easier, but no cheaper, to find since the Cowboy shooters started using it.

Down under you could form brass from 45LC or 44-40, cast 180gr bullets and a charge of 40gr of 3Fg Black, or a light charge of smokeless.

[AtheistCrusader]

46. I have the slightly shorter second rifle.

It's about 20 years old. Fired it maybe 30 times.

Everyone stops to look at the range when you touch it off.

[holdencaufield]

21. Absolutely right!

I got started in levers when I live in Australia. The 1997 Gun Ban make it almost impossible to have any self-loading or pump action rifles or shotguns. But, and this is a plus, because people who write gun laws rarely if ever know anything about guns, they left lever actions out of the ban. So, the only shotgun you could get in Australia that wasn't breech loading double barrel was the IAC/Norinco replica 1887. Soon, because of the popularity of the lever, they started selling the Italian made Armi and Puma, which are much better quality.

This led me to get into Single Action Shooting so now I have a Winchester 1892 in .357 and a Winchester 1886 in .45-70. The 1892, in my opinion, is the best design ever and was Winchester's most popular gun by far (over 1 million sold) and is featured in just about every Western movie ever made (even if it's not historically accurate).

If you're looking for a good lever, unfortunately, quality control on many of the replicas is poor. Rossi and Norinco in particular are known for actions that are very rough out of the box and need to be cycled continuously to remove metal from poorly machined part. I can recommend buying from Winchester or Cimmaron Guns. Cimmaron are a small company who take modern caliber replicas from Italy (Armi mostly) and do their own quality control and custom gun-smithing to make sure the actions are smooth and sights aligned.

One more thing, because these weapons are historical, not black, and have no accessory rails (although they are easy to add) they tend not to frighten the "wimmin-folk" as much as would an AR or AK.

[trouble.smith]

23. your post perfectly illustrates why it doesn't make sense to purchase anything

other than semi-automatic rifles and semi-automatic pistols right now.

[virginia mountainman]

27. The Sheriff is correct... Some around here call those handy rifles "appalachian assault rifles"..

I love my semi-autos, and my bolt action guns, but I would not fill poorly armed with a good lever action as a house gun.

[PavePusher]

29. I dunno....

needs some rails... and plastic. Yeah, lots of black plastic.....

[gejohnston]

32. these guys can set you up

http://www.grizzlycustom.com/custom_lever_action_rifle_tactical.html
I think it is blasphemous, but it is better than the hideous (what looks like) varnished particle board I have seen on some of the newer Marlins.

[PavePusher]

34. Yep, I've seen that one.....

I'm sorely tempted to get one just to annoy certain people... And because it actually looks like an interesting and fun rifle. .45-70 would work. Sadly, I don't have the money to spare. Maybe if I win another raffle....

[glacierbay]

30. My lovely wife carrys

a Winchester Model 94 lever action 30-30 when we go deer hunting



While I carry a Savage 30-06 bolt action .

[PavePusher]

35. My grandmother has a 1894 Winchester .30-30...

with a serial number that puts it at approx. 1896 year of manufacture. She got a deer with it a few years ago, at the age of 85 or 86. Lots of memories in that thing.

[oneshooter]

38. Don't ever forget that there are those who would have such rifles destroyed in the name of "safety"

[PavePusher]

40. Those same people never volunteer for the confiscation teams.

I wonder why...

[Kaleva]

41. The .38/357 lever action carbine

I read this OP when it was first posted and since then have done a bunch of reading about lever action carbines. For those who are on a limited budget and wish to have a Swiss Army knife kind of gun, not great at any one thing but good enough for several tasks, the .38/357 lever action carbine may be a very good option.

Price wise they are not bad as I've seen them listed for just under $500 to a little over $600, depending on the manufacturer of the gun, at various sites.

People have said that using handgun ammo, there is very little recoil when shooting the carbine. With a 16 inch barrel, the carbine is easy to manuver around within home and the gun is lightweight.

The carbine firing .357 magnum rounds is accurate and pwerful enough to take down white tails up to about a 100 yards and I imagine it'd really put the hurt on, if not outright kill, bad guys out to that range too.

The carbine holds enough ammo to deal with the vast majority of home defense situations without the need to reload. The carbine with a 16" barrel can hold 8 +1 rounds while the 20" barrel varsion can hold 10 +1 rounds.

The ability to fire the .38 special round makes target practice or plinking cheaper.

And then there's the plus of having the option of purchasing a revolver that fires the same ammo.

Being on a fixed income and having much higher priorities such as replacing windows, doors and buying food, I'm not going to be buying a gun anytime in the foreseeable future but I will always keep in the mind the .38/357 lever action carbine because of it's versatilty. As I said earlier, it's not great at any one thing but it certainly is good enough for anything I could possibly need a gun for.

[gejohnston]

42. I used a Marlin 336

.30-30. The .357 would not have been legal in my state. While the pistol round could take a white tail in Texas and Florida, I wouldn't recommend it against the larger mule deer.

[Kaleva]

43. If I wanted a dedicated deer gun, I'd go with something more powerful then what I mentioned.

But your OP does highlight the versatilty the lever action carbine has.

Plinking/target shooting
Hunting
Home defense
Non-scary looking gun factor
Affordability

[rl6214]

48. That's exactly what I'm looking to purchase next

To go along with, my revolver I reload for.

[DonP]

49. FWIW the Rossi Puma is a nice gun and reasonably priced

They're available in a 16 inch trapper size (8 rounds of 45 Colt) , a full 20 inch saddle ring carbine (10 rounds) or a 24 inch rifle.

Affordable, easy to slick up with the tips available at Leverguns.com and cheap to shoot.

I chose 45 Colt, but their 38/357 is also available with a large loop, ... if the spirit of Chuck Connors visits you in the middle of the night and you want to learn to do the "Twirl" like he and John Wayne did in Stagecoach and True Grit.

[Kaleva]

50. I saw a Rossi 92 357/38 on sale at on site for $485 plus shipping

These guns can be had for a very reasonable price. While purchasing any gun is way down on my list of priorities, I do think that in the future, if I decide to buy such, a lever action 357/38 would be the way to go.

But another option would be a lever action .30-30. Used ones with minor wear can be had for $300 to $400.

I grew up shooting and hunting with a lever action .30-30 and even though I haven't hunted in a few decades, every time I do hold a lever action carbine to this day, it just feels right. Like holding onto my favorite coffee cup. And that's probably the most important consideration for me in possibly purchasing a rifle. One that I immediately feel comfortable with in handling.

[Remmah2]

51. The .44mag or .357mag rifles have lots of extra mass, recoil is nada.

My wife plinks with them all day long. I was lucky enough to buy Marlins before they moved the factory south.

[Berserker]

44. I have a lever gun I really love

My father bought it new and passed it down to me it's a 1954 model 94 Winchester 30-30
Ignore the G19 she is just jealous and wanted to be in the pic they are like dogs pet one and the other wants the same.


[IMG][/IMG]

[DonP]

45. Four lever guns ... so far ... maybe five

Last edited Sat Dec 1, 2012, 08:50 PM - Edit history (1)

A Winchester '94 in 30-30. The new Hornady FTX Leverevolution bullets make a world of difference beyond 100 yards

2 Puma '92s, a 16 inch trapper and a 20 inch SRC both with large loop levers, in 45 Colt that I hand load for, to get plenty of power out of those old cartridges. A lot better than the downloaded cowboy rounds available off the shelf.

1 Marlin 39A, circa 1954 in .22 S, L and LR

... and of course the Daisy Red Ryder carbine I got a couple of years back to start the grand kids out on.

On top of that ... Winchester '73 was on TV this AM, so as usual I got started on my to do list a little later than planned.

[rl6214]

47. I'm looking to buy a lever action in 357 mag

That will match a revolver I own and make it easy for reloading.