Thread: School me on lever action rifles ?

Originally Posted by Mr Browning

There is only one lever action on my bucket list. Winchester '94 30-30. There doesn't seem to be many nice examples on the market these days though.

I have a Win Big Bore 94 in .375...does the damage...my go for it rifle on stags in the thick stuff.

I bought a new rossi 44mag once, it was a heap of shit and they replaced it, second one was better but still junk and I traded it in on something.
Would like to have another lever some day but a decent one.

@veitnamcam yeah I hear you. I am of the opinion the old ones are way better than the new ones. Mine did have an issue with ammo very occasionally getting stuck under the lifter (that's is an almighty PITA) but I sorted that out

Originally Posted by csmiffy

@veitnamcam yeah I hear you. I am of the opinion the old ones are way better than the new ones. Mine did have an issue with ammo very occasionally getting stuck under the lifter (that's is an almighty PITA) but I sorted that out

Might well be the case as it is with lots of other things as they race to the bottom.

Yep great piece of kit and since that Leverlution (sp?) ammo came out, you can push the range a bit more with the better BC than those big arse flat nose rounds. I will never sell my one

Originally Posted by Mr Browning

There is only one lever action on my bucket list. Winchester '94 30-30. There doesn't seem to be many nice examples on the market these days though.

Under the first-shot-is-your-best-shot the one up the spout doesn't need to be a flat nose...just need to know where it shoots compared to the others.

30-30 or 35 rem (sister loads) in marlin 336
or if you are a reloader pickup a used Sav 99 in 308 ($5-600 typ) and get a new barrel fitted ($800-1000) in 358 win and reload.
Large deer & pigs load 225gr at >2400fps nails any thing in NZ out to 300 mtr. (unless you cut down to something real short ie 15").
then 357 pistol hollow points for goats over trail boss at say 1500 fps, or all lead HP 220-240 gr at 1050fps for quiet decimation of goats in the tight stuff.
Z

Originally Posted by ZQLewis

30-30 or 35 rem (sister loads) in marlin 336
or if you are a reloader pickup a used Sav 99 in 308 ($5-600 typ) and get a new barrel fitted ($800-1000) in 358 win and reload.
Large deer & pigs load 225gr at >2400fps nails any thing in NZ out to 300 mtr. (unless you cut down to something real short ie 15").
then 357 pistol hollow points for goats over trail boss at say 1500 fps, or all lead HP 220-240 gr at 1050fps for quiet decimation of goats in the tight stuff.
Z

For a few years I had a 358 Win '94 lever gun...it came into the country new as a mistaken 307...sold it to a collector of such things, probably never to be fired again.

Originally Posted by DavidGunn

For a few years I had a 358 Win '94 lever gun...it came into the country new as a mistaken 307...sold it to a collector of such things, probably never to be fired again.

358? Surprised to hear that. You don't mean 375 or 356 maybe?

Originally Posted by Got-ya

358? Surprised to hear that. You don't mean 375 or 356 maybe?

Ummm...you might be right...356...based on 307 cartridge...mate had a 358...based on 308 cartridge...blame it on getting old.

I used to own a Henry .44 mag, only thing I didn't like was the lack of a side loading gate. They just released a model which has that, could be worth checking out. First lever action I shot was a marlin 30-30, used to do A LOT of goat hunting back then and one weekend we took this fella who I won't name out...he had a ton of rifles with him and despite the shots fired he wasn't hitting much. He kept claiming his rifles must have been knocked and weren't sighted in correctly, he had just been shooting at a group of goats about 150m away who were now high tailing it out of there...me being a curious young 17 year old and thinking the 30-30 looked pretty fun to shoot I asked if i could have a shot, he said "well there's one bullet left and you won't hit anything because the sighting is out but sure, here you go" so I looked through the scope and the 3 goats were now at trotting speed heading off horizontally along the hill face directly above us, I compensated slightly more than I would've for my .308, gave it some lead and BOOOOMFA the goat got piss bowled over, my dad and the guy who taught me to hunt started howling with laughter and congratulating me on what a good shot it was. He just had this defeated look on his face when he saw the goat go down as it killed his narrative and to salt the wound was a neck shot, part of me felt a little bad for him but damn was it satisfying.

One problem I have had with my Sav 99 in 358win relates to feeding the short blunt pistol bullets. Sometimes the short cartridge moves forward in the mag, this caused issues around the angle the bolt picked up the case not allowing the short blunt cartridge to tip up enough to engage the feed ramp. never an issue with the longer bullets.
Z

I've owned and own a few mostly Winchesters, Marlins
and BLR. Scoped, red dots open sights.
They are a world of fun, fire power and function in
Imo. Great in the bush. Not the easiest to pull apart
and clean, especially BLRs. They operate fast, easy to carry, especially the sleek little 92s and 94s aren't too bad too. Every hunter needs a good lever action. Get amongst it. You'll have a great time.

Originally Posted by jim160

But not as good since Remington took over

@jim160 have you seen the models produced over the last few years? They appear to have lifted their game right back up.

I've got one of the 336 Dark 30-30's and it is a great rifle, very well made, nice action.

Those 1895sbl have a good rep and sure look nice too.

my mrs has a year old marlin 30/30. has a very nice finish on it, whereas a couple of the second hand ones for sale had awful furniture on them