Lever Rifle Reliability

[DaisyCutter]

I've got an old Rossi M92 in 44 Mag. It's been slicked up and the trigger is amazing.


However, it seems very sensitive to cartridge length. It likes a very long overall cartridge. The bullet type doesn''t seem to matter.


Even when shooting it's preferred 1.620" overall length cartridges, it's not the most reliable platform. It works best if I positively and swiftly operate the lever, but it still doesn't remotely match a pump shotgun (my basis for comparison).

It ejects fine, but has problems going into battery. Are the feeding issues the nature of the beast, or is there a real problem? I rarely empty a tube of rounds cartridgess without a stoppage of some kind.

I'm thinking of selling this M92 because I don't like it's feeding issues. I know I'll probably never find a good used M92, pre lock, again.


Is a Ruger bolt 44 Mag a good alternative and reliable option for a .44 rifle?

 

[RPRNY]

People have spoken very highly of the M77/44. However, I would be looking for another Ruger. The Deerfield or .44 Carbine. These were very cool semi auto carbines in .44 Mag. The early ones Deerfield (name discontinued after Ithaca issued a cease and desist) and .44 Carbine came with a tubular magazine. At some point in its 1960 - 1974 history it switched from a tubular to rotary magazine. 18.5" barrel. Very cool .44 Mag rifle.

 

[Revoliver]

The Ruger 77/44 is a fine alternative to a lever action, however, due to the rotary magazines you're still going to have to be careful of the COAL, unless you chamber load every round, in which case you might be able to get away with a longer COAL than the magazine will allow.

 

[BCRider]

A couple of factors with a 92 lever action. They will not chamber well if you short stroke the lever cycle. THey need to be run right to the end in a smooth manner as the cartridge elevator is activated by the last small portion of the lever travel. If that elevator is tight and jamming or was slicked up too much so that it doesn't snap up correctly into position then it can limit the travel or let it fall back as you begin the return stroke on the lever. And either of those will make it problematical to load smoothly. But when tuned correctly you should be able to cycle them 100% reliably even with a smooth and slow lever cycle to the point where you can look down in the action and see each part of the cycle occuring.

With the gun empty you can check for this by racking the lever foward and looking down in the open action. You want to see the elevator all the way up so a round laying on it is positioned to be pushed smoothly into battery. Then as you begin the return stroke watch to ensure the elevator does not fall back. It should stay up and locked until part way through the return stroke where it's snapped back down by the bolt traveling forward.

Another tuning feature is that the side bars are shimmed to just barely let the casing fit through. However this does make the guns sensitive to ammo length to some extent if you're up near the max OAL. The bars can either be shimmed a hair more open or the rounds can be loaded to an OAL which works with the gun. Shimming a hair more open on the bars can then lead to the cartridges sticking up and either pointing at the sky or catching on the upper end of the chamber mouth if you're cycling the lever fast and rapidly. But if you can learn to pause at the end of the lever stroke for even a tenth of a second instead of "bouncing" the lever off the forward stop and into the return stroke off the end of the travel it'll let the round fall back onto the elevator and load smoothly.

 

[shafter]

That is not the nature of the beast. Leverguns should operate as reliably as anything else if everything is in proper working order. It seems to be hit or miss with Rossi because mine has been flawless from day 1. I bought it used and it feeds ANYTHING I run through it.

 

[jmr40]

Levers are the most complex design of any repeater. They have always been less reliable than any other action type. Much more to go wrong and many more places for dirt and debris to get into causing problems. Do not read that to say unreliable, just less reliable. Some are better than others.

 

[dak0ta]

What about the Marlin side-eject design? Reliable?

 

[TwoEyedJack]

I have a beautiful Marlin 1894FG in .41 mag. I always have a screwdriver handy when I am shooting it. If you try and ease the lever up, it ties up so hard you have to remove the screw that holds the lever in place to unjam it. I know how to work it, but when I let others shoot it, sometimes it jams. Longer cartridges seem to be worse, but pretty much any reasonable length can jam it.

 

[WALKERs210]

Back in the late 70's I had a Marlin 44mag lever that cost me $67.00 fine. (In the 70s that was a lot of money) On a management area in Alabama my friend and I were loading up in the pickup to go back to camp area. I started to empty out the tube and the rifle started jamming and damaging the brass that I just cleared the action and put it in the truck. Went about one mile and game warden flagged us down, asked if the rifles were loaded. I explained that nothing was chambered but shell were in the tube and reason they were there. The officer took the rifle and smooth as silk emptied the shells and started writing a ticked, that was the end of ever wanting a lever until I got my Henry 22. I just don't trust them.

 

[CraigC]

I'm a levergun nut, own a dozen of them, 90% of my rifle shooting is done with them, I'm about to add another Winchester to the stable and have never had an issue with reliability.

 

[Cosmoline]

Most lever actions are pretty complex, particularly where they incorporate a tube mag that requires an elevator to grab a round and bring it up. I've had quite a few problems with them over the years. Generally you will do best sticking to a set parameter of loads and bullet types. It's also a good idea to not slam them around too much. With later designs like the Win 95 and '99 Savage they became stronger and less liable to break down because a tiny screw breaks. I could rack the lever of my old 99 very hard and fast without issue, but I would not try that with a 92 or 94 Winchester.

 

[dak0ta]

I also noticed that all the screws on my Marlin 336 tend to get loose after a while. Do you recommend blue loc-titing those screws on the receiver? And maybe just leaving the lever take-down screw alone for cleaning?