243 vs 7.62x39/300 Blk/30-30/Etc in manual repeater?

[okie john]

How do you make a 30-30 lever safe to sling, other than what Malamute described for Winchester levers?

I have no idea. I'd defer to his experience on that.


Okie John

[Malamute]

How do you make a 30-30 lever safe to sling, other than what Malamute described for Winchester levers? Which still isn't something I'd be comfortable trying under stress unlike putting safety on an AR, Remington pump, or the Ruger. Some newer leverguns have safety but IME Marlin's crossbolt are not easy to use and hard to tell if on or off, not like Rem 870/760. Think some newer Winchester levers have tang safety?

What I like about 243 beside possibly low enough recoil for me is the factory ammo selection, you can find loads that should behave like 223 in gelatin like 58 grain or 87 grain varmint loads, but you can also get 100 grain partitions or 80-85 grain X bullets (tipped non tipped etc).

The angle eject Winchesters, meaning anything made in the past 30 years are mostly rebounding hammers, they are safe to lower the hammer and forget about it. I have one with a tang safety, my inner traditionalist wants to dislike it and the rebounding hammer setup, but its not a bad system, especially for someone not raised on the older type with half cock safety only. Im not fond of the crossbolt safeties, but the Winchester one is probably less likely to be unintentionally moved off compared to the Marlin version. The rebounding hammer type Winchesters are safer to handle and carry with regards to drop safe than the older half cock safety guns are in general. Some half cock safety guns were made with inertia firing pins, but thats another discussion and not directly related to this question. The need to clear the chamber in most cases for basic carry safety is reduced or eliminated with the rebound hammer type.

Im fine with hammer down (half cock or at rebound rest) then pull the hammer to full cock as needed when raising the gun to shoulder level to fire, and has worked fine for me in hunting running rabbits and such, but using the tang safety with hammer at full cock is also quite workable, just not programmed into me like hammer down/half cock is.

The angle ejects also have a pretty good scope mounting ability, the Leupold bases and low rings are lower than others Ive looked at and make fast sighting very possible, yet dont cause me any trouble with hammer access, with or without a hammer widget to give better control. Mine was a 20" that I cut to 16 1/2". Its pretty handy, the 1-4 Leupold is a good setup for it.

[MK11]

To my surprise, supersonic .300 Blackout is the second cheapest centerfire rifle caliber at my local Bass Pro and plenty available. Subsonics are still pretty expensive, but no worse than .243 or .30-.30 and the Ruger American Ranch is a slick little package.

[sharps54]

For me the big negative to the Winchesters and Marlins are the current cost, if you don’t have one it is a fair bit cheaper to set up a bolt action or AR. I do have a 1894c and 336C (?) in .35 Remington but the factory ammo situation for the latter is abysmal and with the new 360 potentially replacing it in new rifles I can’t see it getting any better.

[Malamute]

For me the big negative to the Winchesters and Marlins are the current cost, if you don’t have one it is a fair bit cheaper to set up a bolt action or AR. I do have a 1894c and 336C (?) in .35 Remington but the factory ammo situation for the latter is abysmal and with the new 360 potentially replacing it in new rifles I can’t see it getting any better.

I dont keep up with them all that regularly, but a look at gunbroker showed a lot of overly optimistic sellers, and a few priced in the $500-$700 range for fair to decent examples of the 94 angle ejects. If you want the 16" so called trapper version, they seem to run a couple hundred more than the 20" guns, which was why I cut one down myself. Past experience indicates theres many that arent exactly where you would expect them, meaning just looking at model 94 AE may not show them all, they tend to get buried in the bulk of plain 94 listings. I think I paid about $400 for mine, and it was very clean.


In the bolt rifle category, I could get interested in a 6x45 as a less than 243 level round. Cheap plentiful brass, 6mm bullets, relatively mild muzzle blast, long barrel life.

[mmc45414]

I have a Ruger Ranch in 300BO, and it is kinda nifty, and it is pretty cheap, and ammo is relatively cheap.
Contemplating something like that Brownells 1x6 illuminated scope for it. You could probably have the Ruger with a LPVO on it for less than a currently priced lever gun.
It feeds from PMAGs. Maybe the bolt gun is more socially acceptable in your area, but if you still wanted an AR it could eat from the same trough.
If there ever was a circumstance when you were forced to shoot it without ear protection it would be a lot more friendly than a .243 (.243 would obviously be a better longer-range cartridge).

The only thing that is holding me back on mine is I am contemplating swapping it off for the same thing in 350 Legend, since I am contemplating deer hunting here again and Ohio is a straight wall state. Not sure where OP lives, but that might be another consideration.

[Dov]

I have a Ruger Ranch in 300BO, and it is kinda nifty, and it is pretty cheap, and ammo is relatively cheap.
Contemplating something like that Brownells 1x6 illuminated scope for it. You could probably have the Ruger with a LPVO on it for less than a currently priced lever gun.
It feeds from PMAGs. Maybe the bolt gun is more socially acceptable in your area, but if you still wanted an AR it could eat from the same trough.
If there ever was a circumstance when you were forced to shoot it without ear protection it would be a lot more friendly than a .243 (.243 would obviously be a better longer-range cartridge).

The only thing that is holding me back on mine is I am contemplating swapping it off for the same thing in 350 Legend, since I am contemplating deer hunting here again and Ohio is a straight wall state. Not sure where OP lives, but that might be another consideration.

I do have an AR already, in 5.56, so have mags and ammo for that since according to Ruger's website the current version of Ranch 5.56 uses AR type mags not Mini 14 or unique mags. And after reading some of earlier comments I was starting to think that might be a more practical choice to determine if I like the platform, even if a 5.56 bolt just seem "wrong" to me.

Hunting here is shotgun or handgun only, unless I cross state line (state border is across town, like 10-15 minute drive). And hunting, other than casual varminting, isn't something I've really done since my grandfather passed away.

[oregon45]

One consideration with the .243 compared to other cartridges is barrel life--specifically throat erosion. If you plan to shoot the rifle great deal (say more than 5,000 rounds) and you intend to shoot quickly with a sporter-weight barrel (throat erosion can be exacerbated by barrel heating) then a caliber other than .243 might be a good choice. Or you can just plan on replacing the barrel eventually. Given the cost of ammunition, even quality hand-loaded ammunition, you'll burn money faster than you'll burn your barrel.

[Lester Polfus]

I do have an AR already, in 5.56, so have mags and ammo for that since according to Ruger's website the current version of Ranch 5.56 uses AR type mags not Mini 14 or unique mags. And after reading some of earlier comments I was starting to think that might be a more practical choice to determine if I like the platform, even if a 5.56 bolt just seem "wrong" to me.

Hunting here is shotgun or handgun only, unless I cross state line (state border is across town, like 10-15 minute drive). And hunting, other than casual varminting, isn't something I've really done since my grandfather passed away.

I think if you've already got a 5.56 AR, I'd advise the Ruger American Ranch in 5.56. It would eat the same food out of the same mags. You'll likely find that 30-round mags are a bit much hanging off that rifle, but 20s aren't bad and 10s are perfect.

For optics, an illuminated 1-4x, or even a no-magnification red dot would be right handy.

If you do go the lever gun route, don't overlook pistol-caliber guns. My walking around gun is a Marlin 1894c in .357. 158 grain bullets are going 1700 FPS or so and drop deer really well. Both the report and blast are very mild and recoil is negligible.

[Malamute]

One consideration with the .243 compared to other cartridges is barrel life--specifically throat erosion. If you plan to shoot the rifle great deal (say more than 5,000 rounds) and you intend to shoot quickly with a sporter-weight barrel (throat erosion can be exacerbated by barrel heating) then a caliber other than .243 might be a good choice. Or you can just plan on replacing the barrel eventually. Given the cost of ammunition, even quality hand-loaded ammunition, you'll burn money faster than you'll burn your barrel.

This is the conclusion Ive come to, a barrel is a consumable. Thats part of the reason to make a switch barrel capable gun, I can do the swap myself after the initial barrel removal. Ive found a number of factory take-off Ruger barrels on ebay, so far theyve been OK barrels, and the cost has been between $40 and around $120. I wont need special tools, I can use M77 barrels and have the threads run back a bit for room for the nut or Ruger American barrels which are available either take-offs or you can order them from barrel makers, they use a nut, and have the same threads as the m77. Im going to try a set screw to index the barrel once headspaced and so the sights will index correctly if removed.

Savage started with the barrel nut thing ages ago, many sort of poo-poo'ed it, but its pretty handy. Its been adapted to Remington 700s and other guns and is now used by Ruger and others I believe on some models.

If you do go the lever gun route, don't overlook pistol-caliber guns. My walking around gun is a Marlin 1894c in .357. 158 grain bullets are going 1700 FPS or so and drop deer really well. Both the report and blast are very mild and recoil is negligible.

Im liking the 1873 Winchester carbine in 357 for a mild shooting walk around and truck-ish gun.