KansasTrapper77
Member
They way I look at it, it comes down to use and cartridge characteristics.
The straightwall cartridges do gain velocity with longer barrels but it’s rarely 100s of FPS. So shorter barrels don’t hurt performance as bad.
So in my *opinion* 20” and shorter lever guns firing straight wall cartridges make sense. You get workable velocities and its handy. A 16” Rossi in .357 is so convenient. It goes in and out of truck cabs so nicely. It could fit in a backpack. It weighs nothing and recoils mildly.
The Marlin Guide Guns 18” barrel, a happy medium between the 20” and 16”, I think they balance at the action decently as well. 45-70 out of an 18” is still happily over 2000fps with 300gr bullets and heavier.
*Personally* a 16” .308 doesn’t make much sense to me. You lose what I *personally* think is too much velocity to get a “handy” rifle. The tanker M1s were necessary because of confinements and a need to stick to the standard military cartridge of the time for obvious supply issues. As a private citizen with the world at your fingertips I believe a different cartridge could do the same thing better.
Now in the other direction. A long barreled lever gun or straight wall cartridge gun makes sense if you say hunt deer in Iowa and are restricted to cartridge and want maximum range. Others might say “ I like the longer lever guns because they’re historical” and sure. But why do you think they were so long? They were restricted to a cartridge of the time and wanted maximum range. .
But the beauty of it is. Most of us on this forum live in America and can buy and shoot whatever the hell we want!
The straightwall cartridges do gain velocity with longer barrels but it’s rarely 100s of FPS. So shorter barrels don’t hurt performance as bad.
So in my *opinion* 20” and shorter lever guns firing straight wall cartridges make sense. You get workable velocities and its handy. A 16” Rossi in .357 is so convenient. It goes in and out of truck cabs so nicely. It could fit in a backpack. It weighs nothing and recoils mildly.
The Marlin Guide Guns 18” barrel, a happy medium between the 20” and 16”, I think they balance at the action decently as well. 45-70 out of an 18” is still happily over 2000fps with 300gr bullets and heavier.
*Personally* a 16” .308 doesn’t make much sense to me. You lose what I *personally* think is too much velocity to get a “handy” rifle. The tanker M1s were necessary because of confinements and a need to stick to the standard military cartridge of the time for obvious supply issues. As a private citizen with the world at your fingertips I believe a different cartridge could do the same thing better.
Now in the other direction. A long barreled lever gun or straight wall cartridge gun makes sense if you say hunt deer in Iowa and are restricted to cartridge and want maximum range. Others might say “ I like the longer lever guns because they’re historical” and sure. But why do you think they were so long? They were restricted to a cartridge of the time and wanted maximum range. .
But the beauty of it is. Most of us on this forum live in America and can buy and shoot whatever the hell we want!