I don't own a lever-action rifle, nor do any of my immediate family, although I did reload and put back a crate (300 rounds) of .30-30 for Matt just in case he ever runs into one (or to hand out to the neighborhood good old boys in the event of a zombie apocalypse). D.W. Smith at Bearing Arms says everybody needs one. Here is the case he makes:
Part One.
Part Two.
Part Three.
Welcome your comments.
20 comments:
I own and use a pre 1964 model 94 and the new Hornady Lever Evolution ammo. Multiple deer in the freezer.
Excellent article. Here's another on the subject from 2012:
http://straightforwardinacrookedworld.blogspot.com/2012/06/proper-leverage.html
(Read the comments for the best use of traditional buckhorn sights)
I like the concept. I have a Rossi 16" in my favorite caliber, .357 Magnum; the .38/.357 or .44 nicely complement revolver(s) in the same caliber. Also have a Marlin 336 in .35 Remington. Took a young buck with the latter year before last.
This was the third leg of my "how to get armed" strategy from the panic of 2008. YMMV ;)
III N TN
I would categorize lever action rifles as fun guns to own but as being a low priority that probably will not get funds allocated any time soon. When you already have 20 firearms including multiple battle rifles, shotguns, bolt action rifles, and pistols, it is hard to justify buying one more when other areas are higher priority spend areas.
Have a 300 Savage-hand-me-down from my pop. this article may inspire me to use it again this year deer huntin'!
I have owned 2 of them in 30 30, sold them both. Scope mount sucks and I can't hit a thing with their iron sights. The only thing I can see using one for is Marlin 45/70 for the mountains on horseback in case of bear attack. Although I used to really like "The Rifleman" when I was a kid, I will pass. If I still owned one I would bury it with a couple hundred rounds "in case".
I will take a bolt gun any day.
theyI've hunted with my Marlin 30-30 lever gun for a lot of years. Even owning plenty of other rifles, the Marlin is the only one I take to the field. It was made in 1952, and has never failed me.
Lever actions also have the benefit of being able to cycle very econimical cast bullet reduced loads. A reduced load with a single piece of greased 00 buck tapped into a .30-30 case makes a cheap and quiet small game load. In a .22 like the Marlin 39A you can cycle 20gr Super Colibri. Heavier bullet .30 caliber loads at subsonic velocities are also very quiet. (Secondary Explosive Effect cautions must be observed.)
I will do one better. Everyone needs to own a rifle like the TC Encore. You can buy a frame and stock for around 400 bucks. Then hunt around for multiple chamberings. Everything from shotgun, rifle, pistol calibers. And if you like a muzzleloader barrel is available. The barrels go for around 250 dollars. So what is not to love? Yes its a single shot, but it addresses the SHTF "I just stumbled across a box of xxx ammo".
Interesting read. I believe you've seen my one lever gun. Synthetic stock, ghost ring sight.
I've not spent very much time with it. It always gets pushed aside for other projects.
I bought it mainly for nostalgia and with boolit casting in mind (although I've yet to move into rifle casting).
I also see it as something you could get a new recruit up to speed on quickly if the other side pushes our cold war hot.
I've not been impressed with the accuracy of my example. 3-4 inch groups at 100. My AR, M1-A and Garand all do better. I don't know if it's a problem with the gun or my aging eyes with the ghost ring sight.
I'm thinking of trying some sort of optic on it next whenever other projects reach a point to allow some time to spend on it.
I have a Winchester M94 rifle (not the carbine) that I will not part with. It has the octagonal barrel (roll marked "fluid steel -- especially for smokeless powder"), a full length magazine, and curved steel buttplate. It is in .30 WCF, the original name for the .30-30. They don't hardly make them like that no more. ;-)
When push come to shove, and the Fudds have thrown the last of their semi-auto "assault weapons" and their bolt action "sniper rifles" onto the piles in the police department parking lots, some of us will still own legal lever action rifles.
Until they get around to finally banning "that damned Yankee rifle that you can load on Sunday and shoot all week".
I own three lever action rifles. I also own 4 AR platform rifles and a semi-auto 12 gauge, so don't go calling me an old codger from yester-year. The lever action gun include a Marlin 30-30, a Henry .22LR and another single shot .22 lever action made by a company I've never seen again in modern times. I'm one of those John Wayne fans and believe in the utility of the old lever action repeater, so much so that I made sure I could shoot that 30-30 for the rest of my life even if no more ammo was available. I ordered a bulk case of "power point" ammo for it.
If I had to choose which one or two defensive guns to bug-out with, I'd probably take the Marlin and the Henry.
Offensively, I'd take the Rock River AR M4 and screw the Gemtech Trek on the end.
I'd also take the Remington Model 700 .308 bolt gun and screw the Gemtech HVT on the end in case I had to reach out long distance.
For close up wet-work on sleeping, blatant violators of the constitution, I'd take along the Amphibian.
God bless the lever-action rifle. Wouldn't be America without it.
Too late - I've been using lever guns since 1961.
Merle
When folks discuss the situation we're all facing, the assumption is outright civil war and/or some sort of societal/systems collapse.
What isn't discussed much is Normalcy Bias and how that might be expressed. And if you cannot envision a time where all hell is breaking loose, yet the Average Joe (along with the politicians this sort of person tends to vote for) will cling tenaciously to any possible way to deny it, you're not looking at the same America I am.
I can easily imagine a situation where open carriage of a rifle comes to be grudgingly accepted, yet carrying an AR/AK will still get you proned out.
"Aw, that old coot with his cowboy gun? He ain't nothin' to worry about"
A Winchester 1892-style rifle and a Ruger GP100 won't ever be my first choice, but that's considerably better than an AR you need to keep separated in a backpack to keep Johnny Law off your back.
Come on folks. We subdued a continent with lever guns in pistol calibers. What did we ever *win* with ARs? THe perfect brace is a 30-30 and and a 308/30-06.
Always have old standby Marlin 336 present. Iron sights. Still shoots straight. My old eyes still pretty good. ;-) Never know. Taz, FL
What everyone seemed to miss is the Browning BLR rifles that are mag fed, can be had in breakdown style and can be chambered for any hunting round. I have 308 and 300WM versions and can steadily hit out to 1000 meters. Mine wouldn't be recognizable from original since they have bull barrels, collapsible stocks and and 20 round mags. Great gun.
Good piece. The lever gun is robust when used within its limitations. It is also less likely to atract attention from those who spin up over the apppearance of the AR platform. I've got one in 39WCF with a scout scope that offer a good rate of fire. The other is 45-70 with peep sights if I run across a mastodon. Both are shooters, particularly with careful hand loaded ammo.
"I can easily imagine a situation where open carriage of a rifle comes to be grudgingly accepted, yet carrying an AR/AK will still get you proned out."
At that point we are at war and the guys doing the "proning out" should be killed.
But I guess I like levers because I have several. One can hardly get anything more handy and care-free than a stainless Rossi .357 with a 16" barrel, easy to stash in a vehicle if needed yet still can take deer and do defensive duty. This gun has hit potential WAY above any handgun. I wish I could get one in .327 Federal.
I also have a Browning BLR in .358 Win, a very handy deer/elk gun and bear defense gun with great striking power in a light weight package.
Count me among the big fans of the levergun. For my money, if I'm not trying to run a glass optic, I don't know of anything more compact and efficient than a "trapper" length, short-length-of-pull lever-action carbine. In either .44 Magnum or .45 Colt, it will do what needs to be done out to where most of us stop hitting effectively with irons.
Is it a main battle rifle? No, and I'm not sure anyone is trying to say that it is. But it is fast. (If necessary, you can hit the guy with the main battle rifle before he hits you, and...well, then you have a main battle rifle. Sometimes it's all about attitude. :-)
As others here have said, the levergun can run a range of loads that would choke any autoloader. Reliability is usually unquestioned. It's short and flat and shallow, and that really does count for a lot. With a good set of ghost-ring sights and a modicum of technique, you can hit out as far as you can see with irons.
Everything has drawbacks; I think the tube-fed levergun's most serious one is in the reloading operation--not so much the speed of it, but the risk of fumbling it under stress. It's not like replacing a box magazine or charging with a stripper clip. One really would want to train in this...but hell, one should be doing that anyway, right?
The way I see it, everyone needs a general purpose rifle and general purpose carbine, first. From there, one can add others that specialize and optimize for specific things: hunting, fighting, etc. To me, the general purpose rifle is Jeff Cooper's "scout rifle", and the general purpose carbine is the short, tube-fed levergun. Beyond that, to specialize for fighting, you can simply add the main battle rifle and carbine of your choice, and be happy about it.
Some good posts here.
I would add if using irons, replace the front bead with a square post (more precise), and the rear sight with a ghost ring aperture. A wider than usual (say, 1/10" vs.1/16") front post makes for faster pickup.
Train to reload with two rounds per every two or three shots fired, and you can keep up a pretty good volume of fire, especially if you are behind hard cover (as you should be anyway right?).
There are also designs somewhere on the net for tubular speedloaders of the 3-gun shotgun competition type.
If you can't afford a "battle rifle/carbine", and you eiter already have a lever gun or come across an affordable one, a combination of sound tactics, keeping your cool, accurate fire, and well-trained gunhandling will make you a very dangerous person.
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