Quote:
Originally Posted by jyl
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.
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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.