Thread: Lever guns - What do ya reckon?

The other night my friend and I went out with the objective of shooting some goats at medium to longer ranges on a private block with our larger calibre rifles.

To our surprise as we cruised around a corner we found a mob of goats at close range sitting low down on a face. A good backstop, close range, easy shooting, couldn't ask for much more really. Although it was easy shooting, I found myself slightly hampered by the fact that I was fielding a rifle clearly meant for hunting at a bit more range up close, and naturally my wallet cried because I was using the most expensive caliber that I reload with.

I thought, in this situation, a lever action carbine of some description would be the ducks nuts. Fast, short, and hard hitting.

So therein lies my questions:
- What experiences have you had with lever guns hunting, good or bad?
- What lever gun cartridges are the most effective and which ones cope the best at range (ethical kills at 200m)?
- Who here is left handed and uses a lever gun, what brand and model do you prefer?
- Did you feel like it was more of a hinderance than a help in comparison to just using a shortened bolt action?

BLR in .308/243 etc has to be about the quickest and most accurate.....a scoped 30/30 or 44 magnum or 357mag in that order after that....although I BELIEVE Henry have put out a lever action .223...IF you could find one that would just about be the ducks nuts.in saying that I would back myself with bolt action .223 to drop 6 from 6 at that range,and reload and get more before out of range if not out of sight.

How did you find the performance of the 30/30 in NZ conditions?

used a open sighted .30/30 as a teenager and shot alsorts of things out to 200 yards without issues.
use .22magnum a fair bit...bit on light side for quick kills on goats
the .357 you need to be picky on ammunition choice as there are some really good and really bad options.
.44magnum is dirt cheap to reload and easy to do super cheap subs...but so will the others..might allow first two shots away before goats twig whats going on.

Originally Posted by Floundering Around

How did you find the performance of the 30/30 in NZ conditions?

Ive pondered this many times in last 35 years since I swapped it for bolt action .270 and if completely 100% honest with myself at least 75% of animals Ive shot in that time I could have done just as easily with the 30/30.I killed red stag,big pigs,goats galore and even a few rabbits nothing was a bother.hit them well forwards and they just go down dead.

thanks for the wisdom as always!

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

BLR in .308/243 etc has to be about the quickest and most accurate.....a scoped 30/30 or 44 magnum or 357mag in that order after that....although I BELIEVE Henry have put out a lever action .223...IF you could find one that would just about be the ducks nuts.in saying that I would back myself with bolt action .223 to drop 6 from 6 at that range,and reload and get more before out of range if not out of sight.

The BLR suits a scope. Mate just had his trigger done on a new BLR in 223. Most lever actions these days have a really low comb on the stock so that when lookin through the scope your cheek floats in mid air - bloody hopeless.
He had a Henry Golden boy in 22 mag before that and while it looked flash, was a heap of shit. Another old mate (who's dead at the moment) used to hunt with an old Winchester 3030. He shot everything with that including deer, pigs and even chamois

You just gotta know your rifle - simple as that

If you change from a bolt to a lever or semi you need to retrain your instinctive shooting or you will fire one shot and grab for the bolt handle.

Straight pull 223

3030 150 grain flat nose will easily do the business at 200 yards. Tube mags limit bullet style but the flexi tip designs improve ballistics a bit not that it's a real issue out to 250 or so yards. But pointy bullets look more lethal don't they.
If you reload and have a BLR then the world's your oyster. However I think It's a pitty the savage 99 is never coming back it's probably the best designed lever gun ever.

Originally Posted by Brian

If you change from a bolt to a lever or semi you need to retrain your instinctive shooting or you will fire one shot and grab for the bolt handle.

I think this is a very valid point. If you want to seriously use a Centre fire lever, get yourself a lever rimfire with the same manual at arms. It makes a big difference in how effective you are with it.

However, levers are very addictive. You have been warned.

I used a BLR 308 for 25 odd years , loved it as most of my hunting is point and shoot so a BLR is ideal. There horrible trigger is the only thing that lets them down, but did not seem to be a problem shooting at a deer, only when sighting in.
I keep thinking i should sell it but its always good to have a 3 O LATE in the safe.!!

Lever actions are cool. But if I really wanted to shot a lot of goats quickly I'd use a Howa mini with a bunch of spare mags.

I've had a couple of levers. I found i just couldn't get the hang of the different way to hold your trigger hand and griping the stock. The pointy bullets in tube mag comes up a lot, Has anyone here actually ever had a round go off in the mag?

The point with lever actions, and particularly the Winchester 94'in .30/30, Winchester / Rossi 92 and the Marlin, is not that you can shoot fast with them, although they are faster than a bolt action, but the point is that they are perfectly fitted for off hand shooting, and specifically for off hand shooting with open sights. There is no hunting rifle more purely natural to handle and shoot than a open sighted Winchester lever action for standing up and shooting at deer.
Only the Marling can be suitably scoped without ruining the rifle. None of teh rifles I mention are chambered in cartridges that are much used over 200 metres. But I hunted for years with a Winchester 94 carbine in .30/30.

Using a lever action is more comfortable and instinctive to work than any bolt action. If you really want one, and in a modern cartridge, then you need a BLR in .308.


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