Lever Spoons
 

I know just enough about em' to get in trouble.
My interest is in pistol caliber. .357 is about right.
I've had a couple and know what I don't want. I want a side loader of good quality.....new or used. Winchester or Marlin seem a good bet
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Yes, this is a braintrust query. A good spot to find one would help.

I bought my marlin lever on impact. Took couple weeks to ship in, but it was by far cheaper then the competitors.

Bought a 10$ picatinny rail on Amazon and and a holographic sight. Can say it is my favorite rifle to shoot...

I have no idea what those trinkets are???

I had a Browning B92 in 357 (they also made a 44 mag). Great gun, Rossi makes one similar but not near the quality. I have been looking for a Winchester 94 in 30-30. Savage 99's are nice but never made in a pistol caliber.

https://www.henryrifles.com/rifles/big-boy/

Henry Big Boy Carbine 357 Oct Large Loop H006MR : Lever Action Rifles at GunBroker.com

We have an Marlin 336 Texan in 30-30 that was made in 1974. It is a shooter in good shape.

There are various styles and calibers available everywhere and you won't spend a lot.

I have always liked the idea of having a pistol-carbine set.

Friend of mine happens to have a pair of .357 Winchesters, inherited one.

While I love pistol caliber carbines, I've never been a fan of a lever gun.

How about a mag fed one? Unfortunately, Ruger only made the 96 in rimfire and 44mag... RUGER MODEL 96 .44 MAG ESTATE GUN : Lever Action Rifles at GunBroker.com

I have the Henry in .44. Fit and finish is fantastic. Killed a deer with it first day out in the woods. I've got the black 'steel' version.

Henry Big Boy in .357 is what I would buy.

Higgy will be by soon enough :).

I've had my Marlin .30-.30 for almost 40 years, and picked up another in .357 some years back. The newer one was before they changed factories or something, but the quality just isn't up to par with the older one, but it doesn't suck. Also have a Henry Golden Boy in .22lr and it is sweeeeeet :). Higgy's gonna tell you that the Henry's aren't built well, but I'm not running a bunch through any of them. Soooo....I'm gonna tell ya to check out a Henry....didn't you buy a Henry .22 some years ago too?

Henry makes pistol calibers. Marlin 336 (get an older one) or Rossi. I personally like the rossi. I had one in the shop in 38 special. offered to buy it from my customer. He wouldn't part with it. Browning lever guns are gear driven. Don't EVER take one apart. There is the winchester 88 as well. Another never take apart gun...

You can't go wrong with either a Marlin 1894 or a Winchester 1892. Both are the traditional slab sided, tube magazine, side loading port configuration we all think of when someone says "lever gun". Winchester did make the 1894 in .357 mag as well, but the action is needlessly large for that (it's better as a .30-30).

The .357 mag makes for a fantastic lever gun round. One of the best aspects of this caliber is that the guns have proper rifling twist rates that will handle all popular bullet weights. The same cannot be said of the .44 mag and .45 Colt, which continue to be made with the old, traditional, 1:38 twist. Far, far too slow for standard bullet weights in these calibers. I do hear, however, that Winchester has corrected this on their newest Miroku made '92's. If so, and you want a bigger caliber, that would make that the one to get.

Back to the .357... Dirt cheap plinking, wonderful kids' training gun, and just plain good fun when loaded with .38 Specials. An honest close range deer rifle when loaded with appropriate .357 mag's. And a hand loader's dream, being one of the most versatile and easy to feed combinations going. Brian Pearce has tested and published loads with Li'l Gun and 158 grain bullets that pretty much equal .30-30 loads, believe it or not. Whatever you want it to do, a .357 lever gun will work pretty darn good.

As far as the Henry rifles, I hear they have really upped their game. They still make the cheap cast zamac receivers with cheap stamped sheet metal over the top, but they also make real, all steel receivers now as well. I understand those are fairly nice rifles.

Anyone know of a .40 lever rifle?

I shoot a Navy Arms .357 1873 model in a monthly pistol cartridge lever gun match. I love it! Cheaper then buying a early Winchester 1892 or Marlin. They come up used often on gunbroker and gunauction for $800- $900. The 1892s are lighter, but the 73 is well balanced for stand up silhouette and target matches.

Navy Arms - Winchester 1873

The old .38-40 is actually a .40 caliber. About the only rifles you might find in this caliber are an original Winchester 1873 or an 1892. To my knowledge, at least, there has never been a more modern .40 caliber offered in a lever gun, such as the .41 mag.

A quick word on '73's: I know folks love these rifles. Good ones are a slick as they come, with their toggle link actions. It is, however, an exceedingly dangerous design. More than a few shooters have been killed when one of these launches the firing pin out the back of the action, through their shooting glasses, and into their skull. Granted, millions and millions have been manufactured, billions of rounds fired, so chances are right up there with being struck by lightening. It's a chance I won't take, though. Too many other safe choices.

Rimless is really hard to do in a lever gun...

The Henry is available in 41 mag though...

If you live in a Free state and want a 40 carbine, I'd look at a Glock mag compatible lower AR type.

Such an arm will rob one of his soul. A proper lever gun will, on the other hand, add to one's charisma and overall manliness. Black plastic and parkerized aluminum vs. real walnut and blued steel. Hardly any kind of fair comparison, really. Overall effectiveness leans towards the practiced hand with the levergun over the duffer with the latest wiz-bang toy, hands down.

Handle a Miroku (the shotgun people) lever action. As smooth as silk. It makes other lever actions feel decidedly clunky. Beautifully finished too, and as accurate as you will get with a lever action.

True. Their .22 lever action does indeed have cast 'soft' metal parts. Their Big Boy comes in brass or steel. The brass is an alloy, and sturdy enough to stand up to .45-70.

I have one lever gun, and I think the companies are missing a chance to improve the ergonomics.

The loop lever is thin hard metal, and uncomfortable on the tops of the fingers, at least if you have bony fingers and/or soft office worker hands. And the motion of pushing the lever down is unnatural, your hand is not designed to exert force in the "opening" direction, it is designed to exert force in the "closing" direction.

A modern lever gun should require very little force to move the lever to the open position, in fact I think it should have a spring and a detent so you push it partway and it self-opens fully. Then all the work of cycling the action should be done as the lever is closed, when your hand is working in the direction that it is designed for.

The Savage 99 works as you describe. It does not self-open, but all of the effort is on closing. It cocks on closing, with cocking the hammer or striker being the greatest part of the effort in operating the lever in any levergun.

This sounds like it should be better, but in effect, it well and truly sucks. The angle of the lever is simply too shallow, and we wind up having to hook the thumb over the grip in an effort to squeeze the lever shut. Otherwise, we are left to try to lift the lever closed and into battery, with no leverage at this awkward angle. We are not pulling back on the lever to return it to battery - we are lifting up in that last inch or so of motion.

On other lever guns, the cocking effort is on opening, and we are using our shoulder muscles to push the lever away from us - a very powerful motion. The lifting and closing part of the motion is then effortless. Believe me, I have fired thousands of rounds with both systems. Give me the Winchester / Marlin any day over the Savage.

I'm trying to reduce my ammo calibers, and have a Winchester 1894 in 30-30. The SN puts it in the range built around WWII. Blueing 98%. I bought from a dealer in Maine, who picked it up from an estate sale. PM with e-mail address if interested.

I have seen magazine fed in 9 mm that use Glock magazines. Pull the slide off the pistol and put the lower part on the semi auto carbine upper. It is given that it is not a JMB design, but I don't think it would make your soul fall out if you shot it, even if I would prefer a lever gun in .357

I had a 30-30 Marlin years ago.....didn't care for it.
The Henry .22Mag was sold in a moment of weakness.

I bought a Henry .22 mag lever back in 2008...just because I wanted to salve over my regret.
Like you, I sold my Win. .22 mag 30 yrs. ago and regret it.
Never fired the Henry but the action is quite smooth.
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Since then, I've purchased two collectable .22 Win levers off Gunbroker.

Reminds me of a quick sea story.

My neighbor is every ground hogs worse nightmare. His GH to Valhalla tally averages 30 to 40 a year and he has been at it for over a decade. His weapon of choice is a Bushmaster Varminter, a phenomenally accurate gun.

And I basically gave the gun to him 11 years ago: I hated the Varminter, everything about it was wrong for me. I had some really long range GH kills with it, but I just did not like it. I traded it to him for a Ruger Ranch rifle, which he disliked.

In his hands the Varminter whistles GH's to a swift demise.

So the thing is, my advice like so many others here, see if you can shoot whatever you fancy in advance of purchase. Expectations of a match between shooter and gun are often off by Cardinal Headings.

I love the Ranch Rifle and the Marlin...other may not and I really get it.

Pic from Thursday's T-Day shoot.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1480182246.jpg

Soul:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1480192704.jpg

Soulless:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1480192751.jpg

Sorry, can't help myself. Both are fantastic firearms. The beauty of it all is that we each get to choose whatever tickles our fancy. And, even better, for most of us it's not an either/or proposition - we can simply get one of each. God bless America... :D

You're FOS funny....ONE, did you actually type that :)

Forgive my ignorance but will a rifle chambered for .357 magnum also fire .38 ? How is the trajectory/range down range with pistol ammo being fired through a rifle ? It certainly makes sense to combine calibers just from a ammo management perspective. So would a 180 gr. .357 shot through a rifle be similar in performance to a 30-30 ? Or 30-06 or ?

Because of course a EBR can't have nice wood...

Some recently posted for sale for the FN-FAL type...

http://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/...psrlnw2vvj.jpg

Yes, any rifle chambered in .357 will also shoot .38 Specials. Any rifle chambered in a handgun caliber will be on the low velocity end of the centerfire rifle spectrum, with a pretty high trajectory. They work great out to 100, maybe 150 yards, though.

No commercially loaded ammunition in .357 caliber will even begin to approach .30-30 performance in a rifle. They will provide about half, maybe a bit more, of the muzzle energy of the .30-30. Hand loaders can extract a good deal more performance from the .357 in a stout rifle, but this is well into "graduate level" hand loading.

Oh, and as far as the FN/FAL - one of my all-time favorite rifles. When I was looking to stick a toe back into the "black rifle" game (and was really looking for a wood stocked "black rifle"), the FN/FAL narrowly lost out to my new M1A. I had one in the past, back when they were pretty available and reasonably priced. Foolishly let it go when I got hopelessly mired in the single shot, levergun, and muzzle loader genres. One of the all-time "classics" for sure. And ya know, I'm having so much fun with the M1A and its little brother the Mini 14, that I just might have to start looking for a good FN/FAL.

Damn PPOT giving me an itch... I'm curious about the new Winchesters as well. I have owned a few spoons made by Miroku and all have been wonderful.

Want bad.. Model 1873 Short Rifle

LOL, yes, going on this free BBS has cost me a lot of money :)

Mike, just the sort of thing I had in mind, maybe a Henry.

Iron sights, not reaching out more than 100-150 yards anyway. .357 out of an 18" or 20" barrel will do just fine.

We are on the same page.

I have a huge soft spot for Winchesters. For me lever action = A Win. I know there are lots of other great makes out there but my eye does not wonder. I have owned a few dozen Win over the years but sold all but one mint 1957 model 94. These new Miruko have peaked my interest again.

I also like matching calibers. 22lr auto pistol with 10/22, my 9mm Glock with my 9mm AR..... And maybe a Win in 357 to go with my GP100.