Favorite Lever Action Caliber for Plinking...

[Quartus]

Whoa! OT, but I had to tell you. I was just scrolling down reading this thread, and my daughter saw the pic above and asked what it was.


She was informed that it was "a gun and a bullet in it".



By my 2 1/2 year old!


The kid's gonna be great!



BTW, my daughter commented on the nice grips on the wheelgun. She's got good taste!

 

[Bainx]

I am fortunate enough to have a Winchester 1873. The real deal. Made before 1900, in 38-40. It has nail marks in the stock from the origional [?] owner which gives it character. T.E. Goss is the name.
Georgia Arms supplies the needed ammo and I keep it going.
I hope to aquire a revolver of the same era and caliber sometime.

 

[cheygriz]

Pre-64 Winchester 94, .30-30 loaded with 174 GR cast gas checked bullets at about 1300 fps. Almost no recoil, and accurate to 100+ yards.

 

[Erik Jensen]

now, granted, it was 11 degrees outside when we went to the range this afternoon, so needless to say, I was well-padded, but I took my roomate's dad's Marlin 1895SS (Blued) in 45/70 out for the first time today, running Winchester 405 grain softpoints through it. way less recoil than I was expecting, though the two rifles I own are Mosin Nagants. after 20 rounds, I was totally bummed that I only bought one box of 45/70! my shoulder feels fine, and it hit right where I was aiming at 100yds, after a little fiddling with the rear sight. I could plink with that all day.

however, barns the world over can breath a sigh of relief when one of my mosins are in my hands.:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: I really need to work on that...

 

[The Tourist]

Beretta92F,

You bring up a very good point about recoil and pressure. Remington commercial ammo, even stuff over 400 grains MUST be safe enough to fire in trapdoor Springfields.

When a 45-70 is at the top of the data for MODERN guns, you are at the bottom of the data for .458's.

I do think Marlin did us all a favor when it switched these Guide Guns from microgroove to Ballard rifling. The handloaders can now put some 'spit' behind those 405 slugs.

 

[SASS#23149]

Right now,i'ts my 57 year old Marlin 30-30 with cast gas-checked bullets.pics clays off of the 135 yd. bank with no problem.
As soon as I get another 45-70,ask me again.
Off the shouldeer the 45-70's are a ball to shoot,especially water jugs at 100 yds.! and steel at that range sure rings nice.

 

[Gewehr98]

Another vote for the Winchester 9422.

Cheap to feed, accurate, serious giggle factor when the wife's chasing golf balls at 100 yards with hers!

 

[Mulliga]

.22 LR is cheap, plentiful, and has a good effective range, but it doesn't do much to the average water bottle/piece of fruit/etc.

.45-70 is probably the best way to get noticeable results. As Chuck Hawks calls it, this "super .30-30" would make a decent explosion of the average watermelon.

 

[Nathanael_Greene]

I'll cast my vote for the 38/357. We're talking fun times!

 

[David4516]

.30-30 Winchester

I've got 2 Winchester Model 94s, both in .30-30 Win. One of them was made in the 1950s, the other in the 1970s. The older one is in great shape, and was a gift from my grandmother, so I don't shoot it much anymore (it says safe in my gunsafe). The newer one is all rusty and beat up, so its my plinker. I like the Winchester lever guns more than the marlins, because the Marlin guns are just too bulky. The Winchesters are light, and well, just plain handy.

And if you handload, you can make great plinking rounds for the .30-30. One of my favs loads is 110 gr Speer JHPs loaded to about 2250 FPS with IMR 4895 powder. Almost no recoil, and they seem to be pretty acurate (I have not tried to shoot a group, just shot at pop cans at about 35 to 40 yards). I first came up with this load as a possible 'SHTF' round for my Model 94 (I thought that maybe a JHP would be a better stopper), but found that it's also a super fun plinker...