My only centrefires are a 223 rem and a 44mag for all my hunting. Before the 44 I had a 357 mag for hunting. I spent quite a bit of time looking at different lever action options over the years. I dont use bottleneck cartridges in lever actions, including the 30-30 so can only offer my opinons on the pistol sized cases in the current common options.
1892 actions are the smallest, lightest and also possiby strongest pistol cal lever actions. They come in originals and repro's like Rossi, Chiappa, Winchester/Miroku and Browning 92. Regards the repro's mentioned that is also the order of their ascending price and rarity. My guns were all Rossi 92's. Its the cheapest but possibly strongest of all the 92's and with some after market care and polishing perform as smoothly as anything.
1873 actions. This is an older action design, inherently weaker but arguably considerd more stylish, as they won the west, They come in originals and modern repros like uberti's, winchester/Miroku which tend to be pricey. The action was designed for low powered rounds, however uberti has loaded 357 and 44 mag in them for years. They havent blown any actions up but some believe over time the increased pressure of magnum rounds can effect the headspace of these guns. The 1873 actions are considered the favorite of the cowboy action shooters as they can be modified with 'short stroke kits' to reduce lever travel for fast action shooting. Note this modification weakens the action from high pressure or hunting loads.
1894 action. Good, simple, almost as strong( or arguably as strong) as modern 1892 repros. When Remington took over this action a few years back they had quality issues but not sure how they are now. For a while the catch cry was to 'get a JM stamped Marlin' which is the older better made models. The advantage over the other two types above is they are side eject meaning you can mount a scope in the normal position if you wish.
For 1892 and 1873 actions which are top eject, the scope has to be mouned forward of the ejection port in the 'scout position' which requires a long eye relief scope.
henry actions, no interest for me as no side loading gate.
Main Calibre choices.
357mag, great all rounder, with 38 special ammo( or 357 loaded down to 38 special recoil and noise is low, good gun for plinking or kids). 357 kills above its weight division, its good for big hogs and deer with the right bullets.
44mag. The 357's big brother. Similar comments apply but it has more power. Can also fire the shorter 44 special ammo in it for plinking or low power options.
44-40. Older calibre, in original loads and guns its low powered, in a modern repro and loads its comparable to 44 mag
45 colt. Same comments as for 44-40, old slow round but can be stepped up to high power loadings in modern guns.
There are several other pistol cases in levers, 32-20, 38-40, 454 casull, 480 ruger etc but they are rarer and I have no experience with them.
Some notes. While lever actions like the 357 and 44 mag can fire their shorter older cousins the 38 special and 44 special, whether they cycle through the magazine is a different story. Lever actions can be cartridge length dependant. Sometimes you buy a 357 mag lever and it loves short 38 specials, sometimes you get one that jams with them.
If you were to run a thread on "which action has the best chance of feeding both magnum and special length cases", guaranteed you will get equal votes for 1894, 1873 and 1892 and each with a reason why that action type is the best and how the other actions arent! In other words, there are no guarantees. Usually the guns likes both types of ammo, sometimes it doesnt. Sometimes a gunsmith can tweak the action to get them firing both, the other option is just downloading the longer magnum case to special levels or seating bullets out in the special case where possible to find a length your gun likes.
For the record I have owned 3 x 357 rossis and a 44 mag rossi and all 4 digested both the standard magnum cases and shorter 38 or 44specials no problems.
Bore sizes: in lever actions it is all over the place. For example a 44 mag pistol may be .429 but different manufacturers may vary in 44 lever actions anywhere from .429 to .435! 357 is not quite as variable as a rule. Its boggled the minds of lever action owners for years why manufacturers seem to throw sheeps knucklebones in the air to decide the bore size of their latest offerings. For jacketed bullets it doesnt effect accuracy too much, however for loading accurate cast bullets you may need to slug the bore of your gun to figure out the actual true bore, and adjust cast bullet diametre accordingly.
Twist rates. Another subject almost as bizarrely inexplicable for lever action owners. Pistols all have fairly tight twists but lever actions can vary from 1:16 to 1:24, to 1:30( rossi's), to 1:38( standard marlins) !. Generally for regular ammo at modern magum speeds any twist will be fine. The RPM will be high enough to stablise even heavy hunting ammo. However if you are loading either unusually heavy bullets or very slow bullets you may need to see how your twist handles them . The 1:30 twist of the Rossi and 1:38 twist of the marlins in particular may be too slow. My 357 Rossi would stabilise 180 JHP grain bullets at full power but dropping back to subsonic speeds I found 158 was the heaviest its twist would stabilise.
I looked at 94's, 73's and 92's over and over for hunting, survival, SD purposes and each time for me the Rossi 92's won out. Light, nimble, almost feel like a kids toy cowboy gun(!) they are so handy but its serious medicine, can probably handle the highest pressures of any pistol lever action and its the cheapest to buy. They can be rough diamonds from the factory( as in rough edges, load gates, extractors nicking edges of rims type thing) but there are numerous DVD"s and threads on polishing and smoothing them up. I will add a cavest to that, the latest batch of Rossi's marked CBC are much smoother out of the box than any I have seen. One particular thing is the Rossi load gate traditionally has sharp edges and needs polishing but the latest ones your thumb keeps all its skin
Other advantages to pistol calibres.
Combination with a side arm.
Quiet if supressed
Can still cycle when supressed( unlike semi-autos which become a single loader)
Low powered loads still have some 'oomph'( being a 38 or 44 special is still a legitimate mankiller and small game getter)
Economic
Plinking or survival. With low powered loads, a few grains of powder, cast bullets, brass that lasts for ages, barrel life almost infinite, you have a gun that can keep you fed or having fun for ever with just a few hundred bucks worth of components. A 38 special load with 3 grains of powder means 2333 reloads per 1lb can of powder.
In the 357's case, also its very light ammo weight for packing out. Loads weigh only slightly more than 223, About 3lbs per 100 loaded rounds. Compare this to about 5-6lbs per 100 for 308 or 10lbs for 12ga shotgun. 357 also packs tigher than 223 in storage, about 1500rounds in a 50 cal can.
