It makes me nervous having the tip of one round resting on the primer of another.

 

that's why 30-30 is round nosed and not ballistic tipped.

I think a lever-gun in .357 or 44 Mag would be awesome. Like a Marlin 1894C.

 

I love my .357 lever. It definately fills a niche that longer guns do not.

 

Im with you raglan mine is in 357 mag with a 24" barrel, yep its heavy but it gets the job done. :thumb:

 

Actually there is little danger as long as you use round nosed bullets. Hornady has come out with a spitzer bullet called Leverevolution. The tip of the bullet is made of a soft flexible material that prevents it from detonating the primer. It also allows you to reach out to abbout 250yrds. I've never tried thm but I hear good reports.

 

Bolt and lever guns are still serviceable as main weapons...all depends on the user.

 

Highlander and keltoboi

which 357 lever rifles do you have?

 

Rossi .357 magnum with a 16" barrel. Got last fall for $100 bucks from my brother in law.

It is a dream to shoot. Its my bush gun. I usually carry it with me when scouting or in dense cover when I do not want something heavier but still need punch in case of an opportunistic shot at a hog or a coyote.

View attachment 13451

 

Winchester 30-30 carbine here. That 30 cal blunt nose hits much harder the a 7.62x39. At least by watching a 8" dia. log of oak bounce around.

 

levers are good still have some old timers around you cant buy ammo for any more you have to make your own,im useing a military bolt action carbine as a main rifle w/10 rd mag.

 

sounds like youre rocking a 303 british lee enfield.

a couple of uncles of mine have enfields. including one with the barrel and stock cut down to make a pistol out of it. they tied it to a tree because they were all scared to fire it until my drunk uncle showed up and called them chickens and grabbed it off of the tree and fired it.

my uncle said "it shot fire about ten feet and almost knocked me over, anything you missed would die from the third degree burns anyways".

im going to see if i can borrow it some day.

 

Remember that your not limited to the round nose or handgun bullet selections if you have a Browning BLR, Savage 99 or Winchester 88...You can get them from .22/250 to .358 Win with long range, flat shooting calibers like the .308, .30/06, .264 Win etc...

The only revolvers I have are in .41 Mag so I got a Marlin lever to go with it and like the combination but is too powerful for sustained CAS events...

 

People's rifle needs vary. IF you live in a high population area or an area close to a large population center, a semi-auto would be a better choice. IF one lives in a rural area with a large open yard, a lever action or bolt would work fine.

I own both lever action and sem-auto rifles. I enjoy my newer model marlin 336 in .30-30 very much. It is accurate, relatively low on recoil, and well balanced. I hunt in the woods and rarely hunt in open areas. I can get 2-3" groups while sitting on a bench at 200 yards. I also shoot at 300 yard range, however if your shooting that far you need to know your range within 20 yards for an accurate deer hunting shot. If I relocate to an open area, then I will go with a flatter shooting rifle like .243 or .270 winchester. The marlin has a 3x9x40 nikon prostaff scope. Clear optics, decent in low light, and no internal fogging in several nasty fall and winter storms. Even survived the shower test at home.

I also own a stainless steel 24" barrel .38/.357 magnum lever action. This is a nice choice. If you do not reload, this is possibly the cheapest traditional centerfire caliber rifle cartridge out there. I buy 50 rounds of remmington for about 15 bucks. Every gun shop I went to recently had alteast 1000-2000 rounds in stock, no shortage anywhere on thus one. The .38 specials are a very quite round from my 24" barrel, and good up to 100 yards. The rifle is just a bit louder than a 22lr shooting standard velocity bullets. 130gr standard velocity rounds are the quietest. If you need further range, consider shooting the .357 magnum. This is my foul weather gun (my reason I said I needed it). It is hard to beat the price of purchasing .38 specials versus reloading them. Accuracy is lower on the .38 rifle though. About 3" groups at 75 or 100 yard ranges w/ 38's. .357's are a bit better overall. However, this is enough for deer hunting.

Also, I own a henry 22lr lever action rifle. Another good one. As with my navy arms 38/357, I keep this one open sights. It is as accurate as any good 22, however I use this as my quick target practice rifle. The action of cycling the rifle seems to duplicate the loss of aim the recoil of a centerfire semi-auto. Another fun to shoot, reliable, and good looking rifle. 22 magnum is a nice choice too. A bit more powerful IF your skeptical on the 22lr rounds low power. Also shoots flat up to 125-150 yards versus the 22lr's 75-100.

As I use my SKS's more I am gaining trust in these affordable rifles. However, every november my marlin is going to the woods.

 

Do not consider it an adequate substitute for a MBR, but I like my leverguns.

Savage 99
1895
and Various Marlins and winchesters...

 

I heard somewhere any thing that'll drop a whitetail is good enough for two legged vermin and I really like that people don't go crazy when they see me carry my marlin or win. 94 to the car.

 

I have two Winchester model 94's in 30-30 and a Marlin 1894 in .357 magnum. I consider the lever rifles to be my urban assult weapons along with my SKS'sand M1 carbines.

The main point is the levers don't draw the negative attention that the military pattern weapons do. After all their just deer guns right?

 

Who else besides me gags at the sight of a scoped levergun?

 

Gag away, I love mine with a scope...

 

@ lafayettela, mine is a Model 1873 "sporting" uberti

 

Marlin 16" ported barrel in 44mag - great gun!!
Put a scout mount on it - deadly to 100 yds with hornady's new ammo

 

got an old winchester 30-30...never really gave it a thought about running new ammo thru it..or the nose to primer factor..wow. ..so am I screwing up here? last time I bought ammo I bought 170gr. is that to high for the older models..

 

I will agree that a scope and a lever action do look a little odd. This rifle is my primary large game rifle. As of today, virtually all of us do not need to hunt, but we like to. If I am going to the woods to kill an animal for sport, I am going to make sure I hit him with an accurate, clean, and sufficiently powered shot. Under 100 yards I am fine hitting a deer w/ open sights. Over 100, I want a scope on it. MY foul weather stainless .357 lever stays open sights.

Smaller scopes look a little more at home on them.

 

I am a big levergun fan. I have a win 94 trapper in 38/357. This is my answer to "if I could only have one". This one came out of the box dead on accurate at 100 yards with iron sights. I tried a scope for a while, but found that it messed up the incredible balance of the weapon. I can cycle the lever and get back on target as fast as I can get a semiauto back on target. We regularly shoot clay pigeons hung up on the target stand at various heights and distances from 50 to 100 yards. The transistion, speed of aquisition and round on target is impressive.

I now also have an M1a scout that I am working hard to get used to. That is the thing with the winc. 94. It fit just right the moment I took it out of the box, no getting used to it needed.

At this moment, if I had to bolt from the house with one handgun and one long gun, it woul dbe my ruger gp100 and my win. 94 trapper... shared ammo, both deadly. I expect that the M1a will continue to grow on me and become my go to long gun, but I will never get rid of my 94.

John

 

I have a Savage Model 99 in .308 WIN. It has an internal rotory magazine that prevents the perceived problem of the tip of one round touching the primer of another. If this was really a problem, do you think lever guns would have stayed in production for 100years?

Anyway ... I love my Savage. It is my go-to gun for pig hunting here in California. Never had to use my S&W 686 sidearm when hunting with the lever gun. Can't say the same about my Saiga.

 

can those .357 rifles shoot .38's like revolvers can?

 

I cannot speak for them all, but mine can.

 

I haven't heard of one that can't. Mine can be a bit fussy occasionally with them when you cycle the lever slow. A typical western movie gun fight cycle speed, never a problem. The handgun stuff is easier to reload too. Less problems with case length and lubing the case before seating.

This rifle is perfect for recoil sensitive people. The long barrel on mine keeps the noise down pretty good too, but the thing is very heavy. With my rifles weight, even shooting 357's has little recoil.

IF you're not a fan of semi-autos, get a levergun. The handgun rounds also hold more bullets typically 10 versus 6 .30-30 rounds. If you do get a .30-30, buy all the ammo you can. It seems in my area .30-30 and .270 winchester is the next toughest caliber to buy lately next to the military rounds, even the handgun calibers are mich eaier to get than .30-30. Overall from my conversations with several marlin owners, more 150gr ammo makes group well than 170gr ones. Mine loves 150gr remmington cor-lokt, 170gr winchester super X, and all hornady stuff. Bought some federal boxes, but never fired them. MY reserves are virtually all 150gr cor-lokt. Besides the reloads.

 

i have quite a diverse collection of firearms-from an ar-15 to belted magnum bolt actions, to lever actions. If i only could choose one gun to take with me if the SHTF; it would be my Marlin 30-30 leveraction. I'd be confident it could handle anything on 4 legs to 2 legged vermin! :

 

I use mine as a MBR. I have a Marlin 336 in .30-30 (ofcourse!!!) and a Marlin 1894C in .357 Magnum.

Both when USED SMARTLY, and within it limitations in mind, you can do better than average with some preperation.


Both rifles have some issues that need addressing, the two biggest issues are the magazine tube and the sightes. The magtube can be dented and thus that kink in the tube can mess up it's feeding. The advantage of the Marlin series is theirs a "fix" available from DRC Custom Guns, of a much thicker magazine tube, to resist hard blows. Before some people start thinking this knocks it out of the ball park for contention, think of this the venrable AK series assualt rifle can be knocked out of commision by denting the gas tube!! Granted the Marlins tube is tougher than Winchesters and Rossis copies and tube "kinks" are very, very rare but it can happen. I'm just being honest.

The next is the sights. Before the ghost rings and "redot" sights their was the "Buckhorn" rear and rounded brass bead front. A great under 300 yard range fast game sight, or combat sights.

Now the .30-30 is capable of shooting out to 500 yards in it's factory form or with reloading and a small mode to the chamber how about 800 yards.

In addition to practice to accomplish this the sights need to be upgraded to a squared front and either a peep rear or a ladder rear sight. With this set up the rear "buckhorn" sight.

Now the only other weeknesses to the Marlin is the extractor and firing pin. The firing pin can break IF it's dry fired often, unless the safety is engaged on the models made with the usightly safety. That and the extractor looks fragile but I've never heard nor have had one breaking. But I still keep several of each on hand just in case.

To be continued......................................

 

30-30 is one of the easiest rounds to find in my area. Only $10 a box

 

where are you at