Lever Actions.

In my opinion the more lever actions on the market the better! I'd be especially interested in the 6.5 Grendel.

.45

is a very soft recoiling round in a lever gun,
.454 is not

As "pointed" out on the other forum, the pointed bullet noses would prohibit standard ammunition in either caliber in a tube magazine.
You'd need Hornady to produce their LEVERevolution, or somebody to produce round-nosed loads.
Denis

DPris said:

As "pointed" out on the other forum, the pointed bullet noses would prohibit standard ammunition in either caliber in a tube magazine.
You'd need Hornady to produce their LEVERevolution, or somebody to produce round-nosed loads.
Denis

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Not necessarily.

One could have a box magazine fed lever gun ala Winchester 1895 that would be great for those spitzers! Make it feed from stripper clips for a REALLY good time! !

Doc,
Who is "they"?

Cool,
I was referring to existing platforms, not new levergun designs, and the big '95 Winchester is hardly an introductory "kids" gun.
Denis

Browning ought to be able to a BLR in any of several 6.5mm cartridges fairly easily. It uses box magazines and is already made for assorted rimless cartridges.

No. A levergun chambered in those cartridges would not interest this levergunner. Although they do interest me in a boltgun. They tried marketing the 1895 in .270 and .30-06 and they were a dismal failure. I also agree that it's about as far from a youth rifle as you're gonna get.

So what exactly is wrong with the .30-30???

The tube mag has detonated enough pointed rounds through history to cause me to say no. I would not risk it.

Not familiar with Ranger Precision & can't find it on Google.

The Browning would be a passable choice, still not a "small" gun for 8 year olds.
Denis

Savage 99, no problem with pointed rounds

Savage wouldn't build a new 99 & altering an older one would be impractical.
If new ones were in production, a decent choice for adults, bad one for kids. Sizable rifle, long lever stroke.
Denis

It is my opinion that a lever gun must be light and handy and should never, ever be scoped. My opinion.

In my opinion, the lever gun is a 200 yard gun (see position on optics above). The 30-30 is capable on deer and hogs out to 200 yards. For bigger critters, the 454 Casull, the 444 and 45/70 are great. For sub 150 yards, 45 Colt, 44 mag, 44-40 and even the 357 Mag are all great. So while I love the 6.5 mm family in bolt guns, I don't see their place in the lever gun family, although if I were given a 6.5-30/30, I would be quite happy to enjoy it!

If Savage started making the 99 again at $1,000 (with nice wood and finish) would I be tempted by a modern spritzer cartridge caliber? Probably.

What I really want is a Marlin 336 (pre Remington) in 30-40. Capable of loading to 308 levels or throwing big hunks of lead in a handy, compact, beautiful rifle.

i think a savage 99 in .243 could be rebored up to .260 rem. or rebarreled complety. the action and rotory magizine or removeable magizine work with the .260 and that includes a browning BLR. i own several .260,s, a rem bolt, a browning single shot, a rem pump and a rem xp-100R and think its a super deer caliber along with the 7mm-08. eastbank.

There's oodles of recipes out there for lower powered 30caliber loads. I'd suggest just get into reloading and make something that kids can handle. Even a "proper" .30-30 launching a 150gn bullet can be toned down by 20% and still pack a good wallop while having a greatly reduced recoil.

For long term desires I guess it depends. But I seriously doubt that there's enough of a lever rifle market for non traditional chamberings of this sort to make anyone rich. It would end up being largely a niche sort of thing.

Now that's for a NEW production. If Browning chose to make their BLR in such chamberings then that's different. They could run off a batch then move on and the community would trade them around over the next bunch of years. Sort of like how Ruger does it with their single shot rifles.

On the issue of tube magazines and pointy bullets. Yes, when laying down the rimmed rounds commonly used along with tapers or shoulders will ensure that the points don't rest against primers. But during recoil all the stuff jumps around. And what's to prevent a round coming to rest with the point against a primer? That sets up a bad situation for the next trigger pull.

Just because it's not common doesn't mean it can't happen. And how are "they" testing this at RP? If the gun is clamped in a rest it'll greatly reduce the movement compared to a shouldered gun being shot by folks of widely differing body weights. So results on how things kick around inside the magazine tube are going to be highly variable. And it only takes "one time".

It is my opinion that a lever gun must be light and handy and should never, ever be scoped. My opinion.

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There are people with other opinions.

What I really want is a Marlin 336 (pre Remington) in 30-40. Capable of loading to 308 levels or throwing big hunks of lead in a handy, compact, beautiful rifle.

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They are not as light as you may think, they are only produced in 30-30 or 35 Remington and yes they are beautiful rifles.

Jim

This is more along the lines of thoughts, ideas, and how you guys feel (If it turns out to be safe).

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What you can do is load a spire round as the last round in the magazine. That will be the first round in the chamber when you cycle the rifle. The balance of rounds in the mag would be round nose or flat point. That is one way you can use pointed bullets in a lever action rifle.

Jim

I think those are great cartridges but isn't 338MX already chambered in a lever action?

http://www.marlinfirearms.com/firearms/308MarlinExpress/338MX.asp

This is what keeps custom gun makers in business. There isn't near enough demand for a major company to make such an offering. It doesn't solve a single problem, or do anything any better than any currently produced rifles do. Having a custom rifle made offers those who just want something different the option of doing so.

Winchester and Marlin have both tried several times to offer better performance from their levers. No one bought them. The Browning is the best platform to work with, but 99.99% of shooters wanting any of those calibers would much rather have it in a bolt action rather than deal with the negatives of putting it in a lever action.

Marlin 336 ER in .356 Win is A great rifle. Did not sell well. 218 bee is A cool rifle if you can find one.

A lever action 6.5 Grendel would be a really complicated way of getting a .25-35. You can just go buy a .25-35.

The Marlin Express cartridges are pretty neat.

jim243 said:

There are people with other opinions.







They are not as light as you may think, they are only produced in 30-30 or 35 Remington and yes they are beautiful rifles.



Jim

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Which is why I stressed "my opinion"

I have 336 Texan in 30-30, my favorite carry rifle, and a Glenfield in 35/30-30 which is a great old northeast wildcat deer cartridge. I find them plenty light.

i would think that a lever in 460sw that doesnt run over 2k would be great. will it happen? doubtfull