DocUSMCRetired
Member
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2014
- Messages
- 152
Cali, and others. This is what we are trying to accomplish. Something that is affordable to the general public, that can push the limits of what people believe a lever action can do.
I've had a Browning BLR in .308 for several decades, have yet to find a negative.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.
That's a strange statement. Not sure how you define "successful", my M99 and M88 are very successful in my way of thinking. They were manufactured for many years and are still highly sought after today, as is the Sako. The BLR speaks for itself, of course.There has yet to be a truly successful box - fed levergun.
Winchester still produces the Model 95 from time to time, and it has a box magazine. And if we could get Savage to produce the Model 99 again, its spool magazine will take any bullet style.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.
The M99 Savage has a very short receiver. It cannot take a cartridge any longer than the .308 (the 7.62X51mm NATO) -- in fact, Savage had to slightly open up some space in the rear of the receiver to allow them to offer the M99 in .308. So the M99 could be offered in .260 Rem (which is based on the .308 case) but not a cartridge like the 6.5X55 Swede.Shame about the Savage M99, I wish I had purchased one when they were "cheap". Of the traditional lever actions, the M99 could be chambered in a high pressure round. I consider the 308 Win a modern, high pressure round, and the M99 was chambered in that cartridge. A M99 in a 6.5 cartridge, like the 260 Rem, would make an interesting combination.
I would love to see a photo of it.I amused myself for a while by designing an AR-based lever-action carbine with a 10-round closed-bottom box magazine. It had a loading hatch that was vaguely reminiscent of a Krag and used an almost stock AR upper with the gas port blocked and a little machine work on the bolt carrier to connect it with the lever.
.223 Lev-AR, anyone?