I begin the discussion on choosing, manipulating, shooting and loading your lever action rifle. lever actions are versatile, rugged, affordable and a useful gun for your homestead
I like the 30-30 chambering. I bought a 2016 Marlin 1895 CB 45-70. It has the 18.5” barrel, 6+1 rounds. American Black Walnut. It is so accurate it is a great lever gun. Fit, finish and function.
Lots of fun geeking out on lever guns. Thanks for the video! I've been toying with the idea of a lever gun in .44 mag as a homestead gun. I was looking at the Ruger-made Model 1894, but as someone who has cleared more than a few "Marlin jams," the idea of Henry's removable magazine tube is pretty attractive.
Thanks for the view and the comment. Smith and wesson just came out with a .44 that has the removable tube. Be interesting to see how those play out. I have several big boys from henry pre loading gate and they are very smooth guns! Good luck with your search. Hope this helped
A couple years ago I found a 1984 Winchester 94AE in 30-30 with no side safety, great shooting lever gun. You got some really nice rifles along with a very informative video too. 👍🏻
Cool rifles! A handy .30-30 is never a bad choice for dense woodlands. I've opted for a Remington 870 Wingmaster 12 gauge pump for "around-the-homestead" work. Birdshot for small rodents and waterfowl hunting, 00 buck for Eastern coyotes and grey wolves and slugs for the marauding black bear or opportunistic moose hunt. 😀
Great choice! I also have a 12 gauge hanging over the back door for the same reasons. Got a similar video on shotguns in the works. Thanks for watching and for the comment!
Thanks for the video love Lever Action guns FYI Marlin 336 never came in the Marlin 444. It had its own model # It was The Model 444 In 444 Cal. But on the other hand the 336, the 444 and the 1895. Were all the same actions.
Thanks for the clarification Matt. I have always like the idea of the .444 but it's tough to find ammo for it around here. Never handled one personally. I'll add that as a note on the video. I also quite love lever guns. There will be a part 2 at some point once I get the rest of the up here from my in laws place. Limited on space right now. Thanks for watching and for the input. Be well
the 22lr conversion unit is $250, and a good AR, brand new, can be had for $600 out the door. The silencer can run you as much as the gun. The 22 unit rides nicely in the thigh pocket of a set of BDUs or cammies. The caliber swap is 20 seconds or less and the accuracy is 2" or less at 50m. Plenty accurate enough for small game. The 22 unit is saving you 40c per shot when practicing snapshooting, so it pays for itself a few months. In a year, it has paid for the silencer and in another year, it's paid for all of the other goodies, scope, night sights, trigger job, etc. You can sell your plasma for $50 an hour, once per week. That's $2600 per year, A $3000 half time college loan has no interest charged on it as long as you're in college half time or more. So you can repay that loan in a year and get the entire set up for the AR and a reloading set up, too. and pay off the loan easily.
My favorite lever 22mag is my win 9422M XTR. My 22LR lever is a 1960 marlin 39A. Both high quality rifles. Some modern levers have “alloy” receivers. I’ll pass and will only own steel receivers.
Lever action carbines are near a universal daily use rifle. Especially short light carbines. From a practical standpoint the .30-30 and .357 magnum make the most sense for a variety of reasons. I have a tremendous amount of respect for both cartridges for their game killing capacity and flexibility with a variety of different loads. If you load your own ammo both are or used to be very economical. .30-30 ammo can get 200 shots to the pound of powder, and .357 is about 400 to the pound, and can actually be even much better if you don't regularly need full charge ammo. .38 Special or .38 Special level loads in .357 brass being an option, allows extreme economy for powder easily approaching 1000 shots to the pound, and in my experience can be used for anything you would have normally done with a .22 LR. Currently powder, primers, and bullets are at an all time high price and some are spotty in availability, but can eventually be found with a little effort.
A few things to consider. Lever guns are legal in ban states. Also the Marlin jam. At a point while cycling the action on Marlins the cartridge is free floating and if you hesitate it can jam to where the gun needs to be disabled to clear it. I had this issue with a Marlin 94 in 44mag
... I have a Taylor-Chiappa Alaskan 92 takedown in 44 mag with a 16" bbl ... more money than the Rossi but much smoother out of the box and I've yet to have a hiccup cycling any ammo ... the takedown feature facilitates cleaning and transportation in suit cases and pack sacks ... and the Chiappa doesn't have that stupid pigtail safety on top of the bolt like the Rossi 92s do
@user-po9hy9th7w awesome! Always liked the looks of those rifles. Glad to hear you're happy with yours. I'd love to get the take down 1886. Sounds like you have a great choice for a utilitarian rifle
I believe the website is gunstockcovers.com. the guys name is John. He does fantastic work. I have 4 of them. All hand made. This is the "mountain man" but he has a lot of designs and materials. The winchester is wearing the sitting bull and the rossi has the rough rider
not to smooth on some of the 30-30 shots. the rifle was twisting slightly on working the lever, but all in all I really like the red dot scope. what brand is it. On second thought I believe the action needs smoothing. That's why it's hanging up.
Thanks for the view and the imput. It's possible it was me, I'm not claiming to be an expert, however I believe that specific cartridge does not feed great in that marlin. The winchester and my other 336 don't mind it but not the same rifle. Perhaps the action needs work but I'm incline to try some different ammo and some lubrication first and see how it does. Thanks for the suggestion. It's a burris fast fire 2
Well, let me preface my answer with saying you should not pass up a rifle soley based on having a cross bolt safety as it’s largely personal preference and you can work around it. Several reasons I do not prefer them. The first being aesthetics. I like how they look with a solid receiver vs. the safety. 2. With the winchester I have had the cross bolt safety bump on when I did not want it to, attempt to fire the rifle and it’s on safe. 3. Function. I prefer to carry my rifles on half cock. This allows me to cock the hammer while shouldering the rifle and fire quickly. I predominantly track and still hunt. This means that the bulk of my shot opportunities are 4 seconds or less and often on running game. Bringing the rifle off half cock is far faster and more intuitive than disengaging the cross bolt safety. This same scenario, I’ve also had issues when the safety gets bumped on accidentally and I snap the gun to full cock and try to fire on a running deer and the hammer falls to a click on the cross bolt safety. The Rossi I have has a safety mounted on the hammer and I just don’t use it. i use the half cock instead. I prefer that style of safety or a tang safety like the mossberg 464 to the cross bolt as it alleviates issues 2,3 and 4. The last issue with it particularly in the winchesters is they are not as desirable. This is a pro and a con as it allowed me to purchase that 94 for relatively cheap compared to post ’64’s without cross bolt safetys. Again, if that’s what you have it’s not a huge deal. You can certainly work around it and be effective. BUT If given the choice I’d rather have one without. Many of my shotguns and rifles have half cock hammers and no safety and that is what I am used to. I would prefer to keep that the same with all my hunting or frequent use rifles to provide some consistency with manual of arms.
I have several from gunstockcover.com Jon Klein makes good butt cuffs. I also have one from Diamond D Leather and Hill People Gear. All good cuffs. My favorite are the gunstockcover ones
