Finally got bit by the Lever bug. Think I want a Marlin.

[H4831]

And shoot the thirdy-thirdy, or 44-40 bullet.

Yes.
Levers are great in light to medium pressure cartridges, like the 30-30 class, which includes the 35 Remington and 44 magnum, which will not expand the cases enough to have to worry about sticking a case in the chamber.
But as a long time hand loader I do not want any lever action in the pressure range of the 308 Winchester and 270 class.

 

[SHELL SHUCKER]

Yes.
Levers are great in light to medium pressure cartridges, like the 30-30 class, which includes the 35 Remington and 44 magnum, which will not expand the cases enough to have to worry about sticking a case in the chamber.
But as a long time hand loader I do not want any lever action in the pressure range of the 308 Winchester and 270 class.

Browning BLR users have no worries with any loads, factory or handloads, that keep within SAAMI pressure specs. I've shot plenty of these rifles over the years & owned 1 as well in .243 Win. They all functioned fine with the loads fed them. That said, the folks that let me fire their rifles used ammo that didn't push the envelope & neither did I.

I liked my Marlin 1895 that I had in the 70's. The quality was good but found it lacked decent accuracy with lead boolits due to the Micro Groove rifling. The newer ones with the Ballard type rifling are dandy for lead though.

 

[umpherda]

nothing wrong with a winchester 88 in 243 or 308, had a 1886 in 33wcf and a1894 in 38-55, bought a 35 remington Marlin for my daughter used - she has so far shot the biggest buck we have taken in 32 years...don't damn the rifle - it's the person behind it

 

[H4831]

I didn't want to start any discussion on a fore or against, any type of firearm.
I simply stated that I do not like high power cartridges in any lever action rifle.
Millions of you do like lever action high power rifles, but I don't. It's as simple as that and it is my opinion.
Each of us are entitled to our own opinion.

 

[kamlooky]

I've got a wee bit of both and while I did enjoy them there Winchesters in 92 and 94's, the
eyes don't anymore.
Kept me old 92 in 44-40 and on the rare occasion bring it out to shoot short range.
Marlins keep me entertained, but the go to is the mighty BLR81 in 358win.
Case full of powder and the only thing that changes in bullet weight is elevation.
No chit, 180's, 200's and 250's.
No windage discrepancies if I do me part.

Just scoped me Marlin tree tree six in terdie-five and loaded up some ammo.
Funny this old gal, took all the hardware off to sell it and put it all back on.
Shuvved the bore site in the end oh the bawrell and pull me weenie, bang on.
Ne'er chit me pantalones.

Sometimes no effort means great results.....................huh?..............

 

[Gunoholic]

The Miroku BLR is actually a lever actuated bolt action with rotating lugs which turn and lock into slots in the base of the barrel and is stronger than many bolt actions.
As far as pressure is concerned my Rossi 92 handles top pressure 454 Casull loads (over 60K psi) all day long.
It was stripped and critical parts mic'd by a machinist/gunsmith I know on 4 separate occasions over 4 years and there was NO expansion or stretching of any parts in the receiver and chambers because of pressure.
So the idea that lever action firearms are not suitable for high pressure cartridges is not based on fact.
I've had no problems with extraction or excessive case head expansion with either gun.

 

[Felonius]

I've got an 1895 SBL from around 2 years ago, or 3. I forget which exactly.

Bought it on sales at Lebarons for $724 + tax which was the cheapest I could find it anywhere at the time. I think Lebarons going price at the time was $900ish.

They seem to go for around $1050ish now new I believe.

Fit and finish on my rifle was good, that being said I am by no means a perfectionist when it comes to my firearms. I've used it bushwhacking for deer and its served its purpose very well (it has all the accompanying scratches from the bushwhacking, but has held up fantastically), a short stout rifle for dense cover shooting, quick pointing, and easy on target shooting.

I carry it around all day when hunting, I could see how some might find it a tad on the heavy side for all day carry. It doesn't bother me however (5'11 200lbs athletic) to carry all day without a sling (though I would recommend a sling for those times you need both hands free (climbing a stand etc), I will use one this year).

I've shot it with 405gr Remington, and Hornady leverevolution 300gr. I find the Hornady rounds to be more accurate (bench rest), but the 405 has the super fantastic knock down power and accuracy is still great for deer

I love my rifle for its purpose (hunting) and would not sell or trade it.



Cheers,
F.

 

[Gunoholic]

I

I didn't want to start any discussion on a fore or against, any type of firearm.
I simply stated that I do not like high power cartridges in any lever action rifle.
Millions of you do like lever action high power rifles, but I don't. It's as simple as that and it is my opinion.
Each of us are entitled to our own opinion.

on the opinion entitlement but because you are one of the more experienced reloaders/shooters on the forum I and no doubt others would be interested in your rationale.

 

[Gunoholic]

I've got an 1895 SBL from around 2 years ago, or 3. I forget which exactly.

Bought it on sales at Lebarons for $724 + tax which was the cheapest I could find it anywhere at the time. I think Lebarons going price at the time was $900ish.

They seem to go for around $1050ish now new I believe.

Fit and finish on my rifle was good, that being said I am by no means a perfectionist when it comes to my firearms. I've used it bushwhacking for deer and its served its purpose very well (it has all the accompanying scratches from the bushwhacking, but has held up fantastically), a short stout rifle for dense cover shooting, quick pointing, and easy on target shooting.

I carry it around all day when hunting, I could see how some might find it a tad on the heavy side for all day carry. It doesn't bother me however (5'11 200lbs athletic) to carry all day without a sling (though I would recommend a sling for those times you need both hands free (climbing a stand etc), I will use one this year).

I've shot it with 405gr Remington, and Hornady leverevolution 300gr. I find the Hornady rounds to be more accurate (bench rest), but the 405 has the super fantastic knock down power and accuracy is still great for deer

I love my rifle for its purpose (hunting) and would not sell or trade it.



Cheers,
F.

The Marlin 1895 is a great action.
It's much less ammo fussy that the Winchester 1886/92 action and cycling has been flawless with every ammo configuration I have tried.
I'm pushing 45-70 GVT Buffalo Bore and HSM 430 grain factory loads thru my Guide Gun as well as the 325 grain Hornady LeveRevolution ammo and the Buffalo Barnes 300 grain copper hollow point ammo at 2200 fps.
The gun shoots them all accurately though the LeveRevolution ammo will do sub 1" 3-shot groups @ 100 yards.
Leopold 2-7x28mm Leupold Ultra Light scope on Warne QD rings with EGW base.

 

[SHELL SHUCKER]

The Miroku BLR is actually a lever actuated bolt action with rotating lugs which turn and lock into slots in the base of the barrel and is stronger than many bolt actions.
As far as pressure is concerned my Rossi 92 handles top pressure 454 Casull loads (over 60K psi) all day long.
It was stripped and critical parts mic'd by a machinist/gunsmith I know on 4 separate occasions over 4 years and there was NO expansion or stretching of any parts in the receiver and chambers because of pressure.
So the idea that lever action firearms are not suitable for high pressure cartridges is not based on fact.
I've had no problems with extraction or excessive case head expansion with either gun.

Good points for sure. My Rossi's have had no issues with factory loads in .357, .44 mag., .45 Colt or .454 mag. I generally shoot a box of factory through most all of my lever guns (Except my Miroku/Winchester 1873) to test accuracy & function. After that, I start workin' on cast boolit loads for 'em. The 1873 Winnie ain't seen no copper clad bullets, an ain't a gonna as long as I have 'er.

All lever rifles are basically "bolt actions operated by a lever". The toggle linked systems employed in the early
Winchester models 1866, 1873 and 1876 do not actually meet the definition due to their lock-up design. This
design is best suited for cartridges loaded to below 15,000 psi. in original rifles, but the newer .357 magnum
versions of the 1873's by Japanese and Italian makers are capable of handling factory SAAMI spec. loads
and thus far, I've heard of no big issues with 'em.

For me though, I prefer not to pound on my rifles & long ago found out that reduced power loads never let
me down on critters dispatched with those loads within my chosen parameters for the game or targets I
used them for. "Kentucky" windage & elevation are a key to success on long shots.

 

[blueoval56]

I LOVE the Marlin 45-70's. I haven't owned one in any other cartridge but I dream of a 336 in 38-55.

I have a Remlin 1895 Guide Stainless bought new in 2012 and it was pretty damn good out of the box. Sights were straight, wood to metal fit decent(not excellent) and overall fit was good. It cycled fairly smooth, but I wanted it to cycle like a hot knife through butter so I did a little research and completely disassembled the rifle and gave everything a good polish job. Now this rifle is part of the "never sell" group. This rifle started my addiction to 45-70 and anything else that shoots a .458 bullet.



Even after the hours of polishing I would definitely buy another Remlin as long as the sights were straight and what not.

I then picked up a JM 1895 Cowboy from another member here and it is easily my favorite rifle of any I own. Hands down. Everything cosmetically on this rifle was excellent but it still needed some polishing on the internals to take it from "hanging up on every step" to the "hot knife through butter" stage. Now it is incredible.



Also very accurate. I consistently hit my IPSC silhouette at 400 yards with the factory sights dialed up to the max. I have settled on 450gr hard cast at 1500fps for this gun. I am now gathering up casting equipment to make my own bullets. There is so much fun to be had with the 45-70's.

You cant go wrong with the 45-70 and the Marlin is a hell of a lot of fun!

 

[Gunoholic]

For me though, I prefer not to pound on my rifles & long ago found out that reduced power loads never let
me down on critters dispatched with those loads

I shoot pretty warm loads in my Rossi M92/454.
If I wanted to shoot lower powered stuff I coulda got a Rossi 92 in 45LC cheaper.
The later Rossi 92/454s have a double threaded magazine tube that has a sliding inner tube like a Marlin 39A and you can feed it thru a slot in the bottom of the mag tube as well as thru the loading port in the right cheek of the receiver.
It also makes unloading much safer and faster as you do not have to cycle unfired cartridges thru the action with all the cartridge wear and tear that sometimes entails.
The outer mag tube threads into the receiver and is much stronger than a conventional Winchester model 92/clone mag tube.
The mag cap on the muzzle end threads into the outer magazine tube and doesn't depend on a small screw to hold it in place and won't fall off.