Reliable, lightweight lever action carbine in pistol calibers?

[03RN]

My first lever at about 12 was a winchester 30-30 cross bolt safety. I liked it. No real issues.
Marlin stainless .44 mag about 15 years ago iirc. I liked it a lot.
Winchester 94 20" canadian centennial.
I dont have those anymore and regret letting the Marlin go.

I do still have a 16" puma 92 in .45 colt and i just picked up a 20" rossi in .357.

The .45 has killed a lot of deer. I have a ton of ammo through it. Lots of 250gr swc over 18gr 2400 and a lot of 335gr wn-fp at max loads. Iirc its like 1600fps.

I also have a bunch of 250gr xtps over 2400 as well. Shoots to the same poi. Just in case.

Ive got xs front stripe sights on them. Awesome sights.

My .357 will shoot 158gr jsp AE factory loads, 158gr swc over 13.5 2400, 140gr xtps over 9gr unique, 130gr jsp over 9 gr unique all in the same 3x5 index card at 50 yards. I was excited at the consistency.

The m92s are significantly better handling than any of the more modern guns imo.

[03RN]

The handgun videos represent 150 yards for the 180gr and 200 for the 158gr.

[fatdog]

I believe fatdog has more experience or information in the use of the italian guns from cowboy action competition hes been involved with. .

I have several Uberti '73's, chambered in both .357 and .45LC and they have all been great fast accurate and reliable competition guns. The '73 action is without question smoother and faster than all the other lever guns, which is why it is popular in CAS.

The Uberti .357 version is just as happy if you feed it .38 special cases or .357 cases and I can tell you that is not the case with my '92 Rossi which wants to eat .357 brass loads only.

Despite my good Uberti experiences, if I were going to buy a new one for general purpose use and it was not for the NCOWS side of CAS, I would get the Japanese made Winchester '73 for sure. It was built with the short stroke action (making it NCOWS illegal but preferred configuration for SASS). I believe it has better metallurgy from the examples I have seen and shot.

I will have to say I think all of the Winchester '92 pattern and the Marlin 1894 rifles are stronger actions for sure. Uberti imported a .44 Magnum version of their '73 carbine for a while but they mostly disappeared from the market. I don't think the toggle length stands up very well to full power .44 magnums or certainly not the .45 Casul but the '92 actions certainly will.

The other thing to know about the '73's is that the timing of the action is quite complex. Your average gunsmith might not be successful either adjusting, or for that matter depending on what breaks, fixing one. There are a handful of gunsmiths, probably less than half a dozen, who have long served the CAS community who do the '73 tuning well.

[Clusterfrack]

I have a 94 Trapper .44 Mag that I inherited from my dad. It’s a handy little gun.

[vaspence]

Marlin CST .357
This is a fun rifle with 158 FMJ .38s and the can, very quiet. Quite handy without the can and 158gr .357 also.

[paul105]

Just a few random thoughts.

I have two 357s - An 18" Marlin 1894 and a 16" stainless Rossi '92.

If you want to mount optics, the Marlin makes it a lot easier.

The .357 is very versatile - 125s at 2,150 fps and 180 (buff bore) at 1,894 fps (actual from 16" rossi on my Labradar).

The .357 is fun to shoot.

The difference in recoil between the .357 and .44 Mag is significant.

I've had revolver caliber Marlins in 32-20, .357, .44Mag and .45 Colt and Rossi.s in .357, .44 Mag, and .454 Casul

Still have the .357s, rossi .44 and .454.

Just my experiece.

Good luck on your choice.

Paul

[4given]

Just a few random thoughts.

I have two 357s - An 18" Marlin 1894 and a 16" stainless Rossi '92.

If you want to mount optics, the Marlin makes it a lot easier.

The .357 is very versatile - 125s at 2,150 fps and 180 (buff bore) at 1,894 fps (actual from 16" rossi on my Labradar).

The .357 is fun to shoot.

The difference in recoil between the .357 and .44 Mag is significant.

I've had revolver caliber Marlins in 32-20, .357, .44Mag and .45 Colt and Rossi.s in .357, .44 Mag, and .454 Casul

Still have the .357s, rossi .44 and .454.

Just my experiece.

Good luck on your choice.

Paul

Do you have a preference between the Marlin 1894 and the Rossi?

[paul105]

I'm a big fan of the 92 (Rossi) platform - action just feels smoother (after some use) to me, gun feels more compact and handier, and the ones I've had seem more accurate. Small sample, I know and an abundance of personal preference.

My Marlin has a Bob Munden action job and I still prefer the Rossi -- again personal preference.

Again, the Rossi sights are pretty crude and probably require some gunsmithing to upgrade. Both Skinner Sights and Nate Kiowa Jones (stevesgunz.com) give you some options.

Pretty much comes down to personal preference and how much effort you want to put into sight options.

Big game hunting with the Rossi .454 - LOL.



Paul

[4given]

So what about the funky little safety on the Rossi 92? Does it function all right? It looks like it might be hard to manipulate especially under stress. What year did they start putting those on? So far I’m kind of liking the Rossi for it size. I like the marlin too but I know that late models have that cross safety that some folks like and some don’t.

[paul105]

It works fine. Use it, ignore it, remove it, or replace it with peep sight made for the hole ( https://store.stevesgunz.com/index.p...20nbuq2amgap37 ). It's in an odd location and not conducive to rapid disengagement.

I just ignore it but have one of stevesgunz peeps to replace it with - just haven't got to it.

I think it was Jeff Cooper who said leave the chamber empty and jack a round into the chamber as you shoulder the weapon. Or -- many ways to skin the cat.

Don't know when it was added.

I think you can replace the Marlin Cross Bolt with a screw or Saddle Ring. Found it https://beartoothmercantile.com/basi...-marlin-rifle/ and https://beartoothmercantile.com/saddle-ring/

Paul