Lever Guns

[Malamute]

I knew "Ranch Dog" from my days modding over at shooters forum during the late 90's and until about 2010.
His bullets were the shit!
There was another gent, Marshall Stanton in Idaho, who owned Beartooth Bullets. His Hardcast designs fed in levers as well, and were quite deadly to anything downrange. Sadly, Marshall has ceased production as well.

William Iorg and a handful of others on shootersforum did extensive load work and reporting on various levergun calibers, some truly epic work of good quality.

The Lyman/Keith 429421 bullet in 44 in magnum cases wouldnt feed in my Browning 92, being too long. Theres a way to alter the carrier (lifter) to allow them to work, but loading them in 44 spl cases, they worked fine in my example with no problem. They feed fairly well.

A guy on the leverguns forum modified his 92 carrier to allow the fat nose heavy (300-ish gr) bullets to feed better, he grooved the carrier surface somewhat at the front end so the cartridge was presented to the chamber slightly lower and/or was able to get over the hump so to speak and didnt hit and bind up on the top of the chamber when feeding.

92 actions can be variable on cartridge OAL, I believe they can be tuned without too much drama to feed somewhat shorter cases.

[OlongJohnson]

Trapper is announced.

https://www.marlinfirearms.com/s/model_1895trapper/

[HeavyDuty]

Trapper is announced.

https://www.marlinfirearms.com/s/model_1895trapper/

I’m hoping someone will make rear sight ears for that. There is something very evocative about a lever carbine like this.

I still hope Savage will do a repro 99, complete with rotary magazine and round counter.

[luckyman]

Trapper is announced.

https://www.marlinfirearms.com/s/model_1895trapper/

Dang it, I was really hoping next up would be a 357 or 44 model…..I understand this was way less work for them. Oh well.

[revolvergeek]

They are for sale here. My buddy grabbed one for $1350. Hasn’t shot it yet but it is light and fast just playing around with it. Going to kick like hell!

[gato naranja]

Dang it, I was really hoping next up would be a 357 or 44 model…..I understand this was way less work for them. Oh well.

You and me both. I want a .357 Ruglin 1894 CSBL so bad I can taste it, but I will probably be dead before they get around to making them. I would put a standard-sized lever and an Aimpoint Micro on it, and call it quits.

Short, light .45-70 carbines are fine within their niche, but I found them to be generally unpleasant critters from a recoil sandpoint. Some years back I mixed with people who were giddy about them for no other reason than that .45-70 was big, loud, "powerful," and had the allure of the past (add them up and you get "paleomagnumitis"). I succumbed to the siren call myself and developed one H of a flinch due to a Contender with a (WA-A-A-A-A-Y too light) 16" .45-70 barrel. Like an overpowered snubby revolver, it was meant to carry a lot and shoot a little. Very few who fired it once from a bench wanted to do it again, and that barrel was traded away after I started to dread the thing myself.

[Rick R]

You and me both. I want a .357 Ruglin 1894 CSBL so bad I can taste it, but I will probably be dead before they get around to making them. I would put a standard-sized lever and an Aimpoint Micro on it, and call it quits.

Short, light .45-70 carbines are fine within their niche, but I found them to be generally unpleasant critters from a recoil sandpoint. Some years back I mixed with people who were giddy about them for no other reason than that .45-70 was big, loud, "powerful," and had the allure of the past (add them up and you get "paleomagnumitis"). I succumbed to the siren call myself and developed one H of a flinch due to a Contender with a (WA-A-A-A-A-Y too light) 16" .45-70 barrel. Like an overpowered snubby revolver, it was meant to carry a lot and shoot a little. Very few who fired it once from a bench wanted to do it again, and that barrel was traded away after I started to dread the thing myself.

+1

“Paleomagnumitis” That hits the nail on the head!

While I have enough .45/70 rifles and a couple .44 Mag rifles, a short svelte 1894 Marlin (Ruger) in .357 would be a lot of fun to shoot and a great addition to my “why did he buy this?” collection my heirs will have to sort thru some day.

[gato naranja]

+1

“Paleomagnumitis” That hits the nail on the head!

While I have enough .45/70 rifles and a couple .44 Mag rifles, a short svelte 1894 Marlin (Ruger) in .357 would be a lot of fun to shoot and a great addition to my “why did he buy this?” collection my heirs will have to sort thru some day.

They are fun indeed. They also punch way above their pay grade; never once did I feel like I was using a second-best, "not enough gun" chambering just because of recoil mitigation and overall handiness.

The only - and I mean ONLY - reason I let my pet 16" Rossi 92 in .357 go was that the mounting of an optic proved to be unreliable ("unreliable" being the polite term). Had my eyes not gone south on me and made an optic necessary, everywhere gato naranja went the carbine would still be sure to go. It took some work to make it smooth and reliable, but once that was done, it was a peach. Nobody who got to try it out failed to appreciate it, though most kept - and still keep - putting off getting one.

Humans are weird.

The Marlin 1894 CS that was supposed to replace the Rossi is 2" too long and never has slicked up as nicely, but at least I was able to put a red dot on it easily and securely. C'mon Ruger... make an old cat happy one more time and get him an MSRP 1894CSBL before he manages to totally squander life #9.

[psalms144.1]

I've got my old Guide Gun just about the way I like it. With .45-70 "Cowboy" loads it's very pleasant to shoot, and perfectly adequate with XS sights to bang the 6" plate back to 100 yards all day long.

Should Ruger/Marlin ever get around to reintroducing the .357 1894, I'd probably snap one up, make it my "cowboy" rifle, and put a rail and some sort of optic on the GG.

[OlongJohnson]

The Marlin 1894 CS that was supposed to replace the Rossi is 2" too long and never has slicked up as nicely, but at least I was able to put a red dot on it easily and securely.

Some time last year, I suggested to Ranger Point Precision that they should make something like a CROM or even pistol optic mounting plate for the 336/1894 footprint. The lady who answers customer emails said she had passed the idea along to the guys, they liked it and would work on it. I haven't seen anything yet.

But I do like the idea of my 1894 with an ACRO or Micro mounted as low as possible.

@Wayne Dobbs - Kinda like the setups Aimpoint sells for the MkIII/IV and 10/22.