More on Lever Guns

Jeff Higgins · 06-04-2009, 07:56 PM

It's no secret here that I'm a lever gun and single shot fanatic. I've gone on and on regarding the virtues of the lever gun not just as a hunting rifle, but as a viable, effective defensive or "combat" arm. Especially for the civilian concerned with urban unrest of some sort.

It's advantages are many, when weighed against the immensely popular modern "black rifle" in all its guises. Chief among these advantages is its tubular magazine, in that it can be continuously "topped off" without taking the gun out of action. It can be fired every bit as quickly, if aimed fire is the goal, as any "black rifle". It's available in a broad range of chamberings, from revolver calibers to some very powerful rifle calibers. The revolver caliber guns can share ammo with, well, your revolver.

The public at large finds them less offensive than those "evil black rifles". Lever guns remind folks of John Wayne rather than Rambo. They look rather unassuming. A pickup with one in the rear window gun rack barely rates a second glance, even in many big cities. A black rifle so displayed will bring out the SWAT team in short order.

I've also mentioned before just how much fun they are to shoot. And how much fun I have had over the years at the gravel pit, beating up on the Rambo wannabe's with their black rifles and "tactical gear" in friendly shooting contests.

Well, this month's Rifle magazine landed in my mail box last night. The first thing I always read is Mike Venturino's column. Lo and behold, this month's column is about "ugly rifles", or the often erroneously dubbed "assault rifle". In it, Mike relates a story about attending Clint Smith's Thunder Ranch tactical shooting school with, of all things, an 1892 Winchester of 1914 vintage, in .38-40 caliber. There is actually a far more important "big picture" message in Mike's column, but I really enjoyed the few paragraphs about his Thunder Ranch experience.

Yup, Mike is in there with the "tactical" crowd and, by the sound of it, giving them a little shooting lesson. I love it. We are certainly on the same page with this stuff; Mike's experiences so closely parallel my own. Great stuff (scroll down to Mike's column):

http://www.riflemagazine.com/magazine/PDF/R%20245%20Partial%20.pdf

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

The boy loves his Henry Youth Lever (with a BSA red dot mounted to it). Holds about 15 round and the action is smooth as snot. Never jams or fails to feed.

Interestingly enough it is smoother out of the box than the 39A. And better balanced. You can understand the "mystery metal" comments though - looks like cheap pot metal. But it works flawlessly.

Still breaking in the 1894, but it is dead nuts accurate and potent with .357 magnum loads. I think the Mini 14 beats it for accuracy and power but not by much.

Sadly, handgun rounds are proving difficult to find right now. I can get plenty of .223, but almost no .357.

campbellcj · 06-04-2009, 08:54 PM

Just curious - what is the reasonably accurate range on the 1894 .357? I assume it is shorter than the Mini-14?

You can fire .38 spl as well (right?), which should be cheaper and easier to obtain these days I suspect. Not as fun, though.

Bill Douglas · 06-04-2009, 09:00 PM

I LOVE lever action rifles. Very cool. Very American.

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

Mine can shoot both .38 and .357. Surprisingly .38 isn't much easier to find, and it isn't nearly as fun to shoot. You also have to be careful because not all .38 rounds will work. You aren't supposed to use wadcutters (though some say they work) and some .38 rounds are too short to feed properly.

I have shot both the 1894 and Mini14 out to about 300 yards (estimated) I'd say the Mini is a little flatter but if you compensate with the 1894 you can hit what you're aiming at (in this case, an orange traffic cone). I think from 150 yards in you can hit anything you want with the 1894.

jyl · jyl's Garage

How can lever guns be any good, without polymer, carbon fibre, or tactical rails?

Jeff Higgins · 06-05-2009, 05:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jyl

How can lever guns be any good, without polymer, carbon fibre, or tactical rails?

Yeah, walnut and blued steel is so last millenium.

Quote:

Originally Posted by campbellcj

Just curious - what is the reasonably accurate range on the 1894 .357? I assume it is shorter than the Mini-14?

You can fire .38 spl as well (right?), which should be cheaper and easier to obtain these days I suspect. Not as fun, though.

With the proper bullets, pistol caliber lever guns can be accurate out to 500-600 yards and beyond. Their very high trajectories make it difficult to hit, as range estimation becomes critical. Tang sights are available with micrometer elevation and windage scales that make the actual adjustment very precise (we use these on black powder cartridge match rifles out to 1,000 yards). The real trick is knowing where to adjust them.

I've never fired a Mini-14 that I would call "accurate". Three to four minute of angle is about par for these, which is just fine for their intended use. Clair Reese just happens to write up the new ones (after some major re-tooling at Ruger) in this very same issue of Rifle. He says they are much improved.