Lever gun ejection

Status
Not open for further replies.
B

beag_nut

Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2011
Messages
1,551
Location
Seymour, CT
Here's a quickie question for all the lever gun owner/experts out there: Of all the models currently and recently available (Winchester, Browning, Uberti, Marlin, etc., etc.), from where on the rifle do the empty cases eject? Top, bottom, side, ??? I already know about the Henry's.
Thanks, loads.
Partly concerns my left-eye dominant, right hand strong situation.
 
They are all different. I have both side and top ejecting lever actions. On the side eject, mine all go to the right.

I struggle with the same issue (right handed/left eyed). It doesn't factor into it in the slightest on a levergun imho.
 
I am also cross eye dominant (right handed, left eye) and shoot my Marlins (1895G and 308MX) off my left shoulder. I have never had a concern about the brass even though they are side ejecters. My 1892 bounces brass of the rim of my hat, but I guess it would do that no matter what shoulder it is on.
 
ClickClickD'oh said:
I am also cross eye dominant (right handed, left eye) and shoot my Marlins (1895G and 308MX) off my left shoulder. I have never had a concern about the brass even though they are side ejecters. My 1892 bounces brass of the rim of my hat, but I guess it would do that no matter what shoulder it is on.
Click to expand...
I had to chuckle at the hat problem. I don't have that issue with my lever actions but several of my semi autos like to bounce brass off my hat... or forehead if I am not wearing one. Frankly, I got used to it years ago and don't even notice it anymore.

Like just about every cross-dominant shooter out there, I tried to shoot as a lefty for a long time and just never became nearly as proficient as I am with my right.
 
Not to hyjack but....

I have only recently started shooting again after a long long break. I have often wondered, with a right hand person with left eye dominant(me) what is the correct way to be shooting?
 
My 1894 Winchester ejects out the top, same as my Uberti 1873 clone, out the top. My Marlin 94 ejects out the right side. My Winchester High Walls, out the back.
 
redrover1 said:
I have only recently started shooting again after a long long break. I have often wondered, with a right hand person with left eye dominant(me) what is the correct way to be shooting?
Click to expand...
My father was that way and he shot left-handed.
 
redrover1 said:
I have only recently started shooting again after a long long break. I have often wondered, with a right hand person with left eye dominant(me) what is the correct way to be shooting?
Click to expand...
It's gonna take practice whichever way you do it. My wife is also right-handed, left-eye dominant.

You can shoot right-handed and just close your left eye, and get used to focusing through the sights with your non-dominant; or shoot lefty and just get used to manipulating the gun (and keep both eyes open). I'd choose the latter, if I had to make that decision.

Whatever you do, don't give up. It can be done. Lots of guys who are RH and RED still practice shooting left handed, with the left eye, for situations shooting around cover.

I've started practicing and it's certainly not instinctive, but making progress. If I can do it, so can anyone else.
 
I have only recently started shooting again after a long long break. I have often wondered, with a right hand person with left eye dominant(me) what is the correct way to be shooting?
Click to expand...


You have to work that out for yourself. If you were a totally new shooter, left. But since you have shot right, you can try both and see, I guess. I'm left eye dominant, both shoot mostly off the right shoulder. I do practice shooting off the left, half the corners in the world go that way....;) I shoot pistols right or left, better bullseye left, combat right.
 
My Marlin 44 eject to the right. And I shoot a rifle left handed & it never bothers me at all.
 
Can't speak for all others however all Marlins eject to the right side from the right side. Some Winchesters eject from the top straight up and others from the top to the right.

1895gunner
 
Howdy

All Winchester lever guns, and their replicas, including the 1860 Henry, 1866, 1873, 1878, 1886, 1894, and 1895 are/were top eject. Some such as the Model 1894 had versions designed for scopes which throw the empties to the side, but they are still top eject.

The early toggle link guns; Henry, 1866 and 1873 had no ejector. The rising carrier shoved the empties up out of the action, so how far the empties flew was dependent on how vigorously one worked the action. Later models had an actual ejector.

It does not take long in CAS to learn that the most important function of a cowboy hat is to keep hot brass from falling down inside one's shirt. More than a one lady shooter wearing a daring neckline has discovered this the hard way.

In this photo you can see one empty spinning in the air directly over the frame of my 1860 Iron Framed Henry. Really fast shooters will have a cascade of empties curving up over their heads.

BlackPowderCountryPond_zpsc1361063.jpg

All Marlins eject to the right.
 
Driftwood,

Ain't you never seed how Jimmy Stewart worked the action on his Winchesters to prevent that issue and the chance of hulls dropping back in the action while trick shooting?

Well it looked neat when I was a kid.

Dark Jimmy was always a bit scary to me.


-kBob
 
Howdy Again

Empties do not fall back into the action. Unless you are incredibly slow. The action will be closed and back in battery by the time an errant round lands back on top of the action. Usually they bounce right off. That's where the hat comes in handy.

Sometimes I will get one that lands on top of the receiver and does not bounce off, but sits there grinning at me interfering with my sight picture. No, I do not do the Jimmy Stewart thing, I don't want to remount my rifle. Instead I just flick the offending round away with my right hand and keep on shooting.
 
I have shot left handed and right handed. I am right handed but for years I had 20/40 left and 20/100 right eye vision. (My cataract surgery ten years ago restored me to nearly 20/20 both eyes.)

Marlin right-hand ejection on the .22 M39 and .30-30 M336 was never a problem to me shooting left-handed.

Shooting left-handed, right-hand ejection with semi-auto rifles IS a problem, but that is due to the blowback of smoke and debris in semi-auto actions. A bigger problem with semi-autos for lefties is that the controls are on the right-hand side.

Levers and pumps are more or less ambidextrous. I don't find the Marlin right ejection to be a problem left-handed.
 
Partly concerns my left-eye dominant, right hand strong situation.
Click to expand...

The easy answer is to just close your left eye. That's what I do. I did not realize until about fifteen years ago that I am left eye dominant. Discovered it when I took up Trap shooting. There are a bunch or solutions for this, such as putting tape over a spot on your left lens so you cannot see clearly with the left eye but still have binocular vision. I tried all of these solutions but nothing really worked until I started closing my left eye.

That worked and still does.
 
My 2 guns that I recently purchased that got me shooting again are both bolt actions - a Swiss K31 & a Lee Enfield. I will have to try them left handed. In my mind the K31 is going to be a real challenge. We shall see.
 
Thanks, so far, to the people who indicated the ejection tracks of various rifles. I have already adjusted to my left eye/right hand situation ( took about 50 years) with rifles. With handguns it all sorted out by itself. The OTHER part of the question has to do with scope/red dot mountings.
 
Winchesters have been scope mounted before even though the are top eject. The scope is usually offset to the left of the receiver. Marlins are generally super easy to scope mount, most the receivers come pre-drilled for it. There are even options to do scout scope mounting forward of the receiver on the Marlins. I have a red dot scout mounted on my 1895G.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

S
  • Locked
Why fewer side eject levers?
2
Replies
42
Views
4K
Scrumbag
S
B
  • Locked
Top Eject vs. Side Eject for Lever Actions
2 3
Replies
51
Views
17K
tahoe2
tahoe2
N
  • Locked
Wait...Winchester levers eject out the top?
Replies
8
Views
3K
David4516
David4516
H
  • Locked
Why don't more lever guns eject from the side instead of the top
2
Replies
27
Views
5K
vette20
V
OLDE RETIRED COASTIE
lever guns
2 3
Replies
51
Views
2K
dobedo
dobedo
Back
Top