School me on leverguns

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Weetabix
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School me on leverguns

Post by Weetabix »

I don't have a lever gun. And I don't have a real revolver. I'm thinking it would be fun to pair some up.

I like the idea of .357 for the usefulness of the revolver. In one of Termite's threads of a while back, he told us of his daughter's success with deer, and NVGdude said a .357 is about the same as a 30-30. With a .357 levergun, I could hunt deer short range and brushy?

So, what do you guys think? What manufacturers do you like and why? What calibers do you like and why, remembering the sidearm tie in.

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Precision
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Re: School me on leverguns

Post by Precision »

My only lever gun (currently) is a Marlin 336 in 30-30. I have shot a few in .357 and 38. They are nice and handy, fairly light and great fun. The distance ballistics suffers from being a pistol round both from lower speed and crappy BC. But that is balanced by cheap shooting.

I have been looking at the various 357 lever guns and trying to figure out what I want. There are pros and cons all across the board. I will likely get a .357 over a 38 just because of the capacity for either and slightly better velocity / hitting.

I am limiting myself to .357 (vs .44 etc) as I have no desire to carry a .44 /.45 LC (etc) handgun and part of the desire is to have commonality between the carbine and the pistol and I already reload for .357/38.

I will be following this thread / referring back when the money is available.
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Darrell
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Re: School me on leverguns

Post by Darrell »

I have .357 covered with several revolvers, the pat answer would be "GP-100" as a balance of cost and performance. I'm sure the S&W and prancing pony guys will chime in.

As for lever actions, I can only comment on what I have--a (Rossi) Puma M92, blued, 20" barrel. Holds ten rds of .357 or eleven of .38 spc. Mine has been faultless since I've had it, and is a frickin' laser. I think I paid all of $370 for it at Sportsmans Warehouse some years ago. One downside--the 1892 action's top ejection makes using a scope problematic. The Puma/Rossi has a silly little safety on the top rear of the receiver. I just ignore it. Some people remove it and plug the hole, or put a peep sight in its place.

Though a 4" barreled GP-100 is my default revolver, I also have an older Blackhawk in .357 that would pair up nicely with the '92 for looks as much as anything. :)
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First Shirt
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Re: School me on leverguns

Post by First Shirt »

I've got a Rossi M-92 clone in .45 Colt that has been outstanding, and it likes the same heavy loads that I use in my Vaqueros.

The Boss has the Trapper model of the same gun, in .357, and hers is paired up with either a GP-100 or older Security-Six.

Neither the long guns, nor the revolvers are for sale.
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Yogimus
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Re: School me on leverguns

Post by Yogimus »

+1 on the rossi. The trapdoor on mine is a bit hard to feed rounds through, but getting the bullets out of her is a flawless exercise in one-ragged-hole-ology.
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First Shirt
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Re: School me on leverguns

Post by First Shirt »

The loading gates on the Rossis tends to be pretty stiff, The Boss has a little trouble with hers. But it weighs about 5 lbs, handles .38s as well as it handles .357s, and will shoot into the same hole with monotonous regularity at 50 yards. She's taken a couple of deer and several pigs with it.

And if I ever sell it, she'll divorce me!
But there ain't many troubles that a man caint fix, with seven hundred dollars and a thirty ought six."
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Rod
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Re: School me on leverguns

Post by Rod »

Uberti 1866 Yellowboy in .45 LC, three Uberti single action armys in .45 LC, and recently picked up a 7 1/2 inch Uberti Remington 1875 single action in .45 LC. Ain't gonna change out now.
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Aesop
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Re: School me on leverguns

Post by Aesop »

If a scope is a probability down the road, get a Marlin, rather than the Winchesters and clones of same.
They side eject, and usually include top-tapped threads for a scope mount.
I've had three of them in .45LC, for cowboy shooting since almost before CAS was a thing, and couldn't be happier with them.

The only cautions are, that those set up to handle .38/.357 are a tiny bit more finicky about feeding because you're throwing a longer thinner round into a smaller hole than those in .44 or .45LC, but at normal (as opposed to cowboy match time-is-standings) speeds, this will likely not manifest itself.
If you're ever faced with needing to jack 10 rounds through the action in 3 seconds anywhere not a shooting competition, your bigger problem is "why didn't I bring my mag-fed battle rifle clone to this party, and invite all of my friends with mag-fed battle rifle clones as well?", and not "I should have gone with a caliber that starts with 4."

The only other cautionary tale is that, after seven or eight thousand rounds of hard match usage, there are a couple of less robustly designed failure points on lever guns, necessitating a trip to a 'smith about once a decade or so (or a certain home facility with repairing mechanical devices, and having Brownell's parts department on speed dial).
Under normal plinking and hunting foray use, it's fifty-fifty whether or not you'll die of old age before you have a part failure.
(But when something does go tits-up on a levergun, it is almost never field-correctable. Tools and a workbench will become necessities at that point. I've had two catastrophic failures, one owing to shitty cheap-ass manufacturing bean-counter choices, and one to the vagaries of even commercially loaded ammunition. Both rendered the weapons inoperable in the moment.)

And compared to a handgun, shooting max load .357s (or even .44Mags) out of a lever-gun is downright sedate, except for anything in the beaten zone of your impact area.

For anything short of modern battlefield operations, a person equipped with a GP-100 or equivalent and a solid .357 levergun would be fairly well-equipped for most contingencies, not least of which is having simplified their ammo supply problem by an order of magnitude.

It's the same reason for having both a .22LR pistol and rifle, IMHO.
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evan price
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Re: School me on leverguns

Post by evan price »

I would love to have a revolver caliber lever gun, but so far they've been pricey...and then Ohio decided to allow straight wall rifle for deer this year, and consequently prices got even higher.
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D5CAV
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Re: School me on leverguns

Post by D5CAV »

I have Marlin 1895G Guide Guns: http://www.marlinfirearms.com/firearms/ ... /1895g.asp

I have one in .450 Marlin and one in .45-70 Gov't.

If I was to have one, I'd go with the .45-70 Gov't. If you reload, you can stoke the .45-70 up to .450 Marlin velocities and safely shoot it in the Marlin 1895 action. It is a very strong action. The only reason for the .450 Marlin is so idiots don't put full-power .45-70 rounds in their old trapdoor Springfields, and blow themselves up.

Neither round is that common - you'll be hard pressed to find them at Wal-Mart. If I'm buying ammo locally, I'll bring the .450 Marlin, since that ammo is loaded at the factory to reasonable performance levels.

Most of my hunting is with a bolt action, so I don't use the lever guns much. The only benefit I see to the lever gun is it fits better into a horse scabbard. I can count the number of hunts I've done from horseback on two hands and have fingers left over, so not rifles I use much.

If you want a pistol tie-in, Magnum Research makes a .45-70 pistol: https://www.magnumresearch.com/Firearms ... Barrel.asp

I've shot some pretty nasty pistols, and I have no desire to shoot that one.
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