Lever Action Rifle Talk

[Scott]

Greetings, I am not a gun guy but I am interested in obtaining a lever action rifle of the '73 or '94 Winchester variety. While visiting a local gun show I found prices that varied anywhere from $600 to $4000.
I also saw that there were varying lengths to the barrels.

I know NOTHING about this stuff. I just appreciate the look and feel of the lever action rifle.

What I want is a 30 caliber, not a 22.
A longer barrel, I think 24 inches was the longer of the two.
It does not have to be an original or a Winchester. I saw a Marlin that I really liked for $600.
I'm sure some of you guys know more than I ever will and would like to ask you what to look for? Any suggestions? Hints? Warnings?

Oh yes, I am also not going to pay a boat load of money for something that will probably only be fired a few times in my life. Unless of course I really take a liking to it.
In otherwords, I'd like to keep it under the $600 range. I don't need a collectable.

Thanks in advance.

[Scott]

Good to know Sixgun.
Yeah, that $3000+ is a little more than the budget will allow.

[Scott]

Thanks Reb.

[M.D."Doc"Ingalls]

Reb,

Your right about the Rossi being a little stiff as it comes from the factory. But I put a couple of nights into polishing the action and it slicked up nice. And it uses a coil main spring that's kind of stiff. A couple of coils taken off fixed that problem. I personally have never had a problem finding the half cock notch. My Rossi has a good feel to the action and clicks with athority when manually cocking the hammer. Feeds both .357 mag. and 38 spl. nicely. I was a little stand offish when I first saw it in the rack at my favorite pawn shop, but the price was more then right. I wanted a long gun to go with a sheriffs model I had in .357 mag. So I bought it and haven't been sorry.
The .30 WCF (30-30) came out in 1895 as Winchester was having problems coming up with their nickle steel barrels that wouldn't erode with smokeless powder. The first 1894's were in 38-55 and 32-40 caliber. Both black powder cartridges.
The "WCF" (Wichester Center Fire) stamping came out with the 1873, to seperate it from the .44 caliber Henry rimfire that proceeded it.
Just sold a 1959 vintage 1894 in 30-30, and it was nice on the action. But my favorites for smooth actions are still those weak old toggle link actions. The Henry, Model 1866, Model 1873 amd Model 1876 are about the smoothest actions around. But as stated, they are weak and can't be loaded with as powerful a cartridge as the later lever guns. They came out with a "High Velocity" .44 WCF (44-40) for the 1892 design, and a lot of Colt's Model P's and older 1873 Winchester's were beat to death by the cartridge.

M.D."Doc"Ingalls

[Scott]

Thanks for all the information. I am sure this will not be the end of my questions.

[Mike Franklin]

As novice shooter you'd likely do well getting a .30-30 Winchester or Marlin. The round is one of the most common in the civilian world. If you like the .30-30 then you can ad more guns to your arsenal. BTW, a .30-30 will do for 90% of anything you might wanna shoot in North America.

[Sixgun]

Scott you can get blanks for the 30-30 as well.
Six

[C. F. 'Charley' Eckhardt]

Marlin made Glenfield, a lower-priced, not as finely finished gun but, as far as functioning goes, every bit as good as a Marlin. It is a Marlin, just with a different brand name & the wood's not as nice. Marlin also made Western Field for Montgomery Ward, which was a Marlin as well. Some of the Western Field rifles were every bit as finely finished as the best Marlins.

As far as a '94 Winchester goes, check with a good gunsmith for the final serial number for 1964. After '64 Winchester contracted out the manufacture of the '94 to a firm in Japan & frankly, post- '64 Winchester '94s are junk. The Model 1895 Winchester isn't as popular as the '94, but it's every bit as good as a hunting rifle. Its most common caliber is .30-40, which is more potent than the .30-30. Since it has a box magazine rather than a tube it's possible to use pointed bullets rather than round-nosed. However, be prepared for considerable felt recoil. The straight-line design of the stock causes a hefty kick.

[Scott]

Thanks for the information Charley. That gives more to consider and more to work with.

[Scott]

Thanks Rio, that's a pretty piece.

[Wolfgang]

Scott . . . in your initial post you were asking about '94s & '73s. A world of difference between them. '73s whether original or modern copies are a pistol caliber rifle. The '94 is a different mechanism designed by John Browning and made to handle a longer smokeless cartridge ( ie. .30-30 and others ). The '94 has been produced in pistol calibers also but is considered prone to jam with the shorter pistol cartridges as it is designed for handling longer cartridges like the .30-30 or the .38-55. What to get depends quite a bit on what you may use it for ? Hunting ? '94 in .30-30 is great. Cowboy Action Shooting ? . . requires "pistol caliber" lever action rifles. I did a lot of research before buying a lever gun and finally purchased and original Winchester '73 in .44-40 caliber.

You can have a look at : WWW.DrBurkholter.Com/cf4.html if'n ya care to do so.

[C. F. 'Charley' Eckhardt]

Probably the best lever-action rifle in production today is the Browning Lever Action or BLR. It has a removable box magazine & is chambered for several calibers including .308 Winchester, which is the 7.62mm NATO round. With the possible exception of Alaskan brown bears, the .308 Win will take any game on either American continent & most Asian & African big game. Obviously it's not an 'old west' rifle or an 'old west' caliber, but it's a fine rifle.

[Ricochet]

Since Winchester stopped production of the classic '94 Mossberg has stepped up to the plate to produce the 464 Lever Action. This rifle follows the lines of the 94 and is available in 30-30. You should be able to purchase from most gunstores for around $500 and if you have Big 5's I have seen them on sale for around $400. http://www.mossberg.com/products/default.asp?id=31