Lever wraps for easier handling

DrSpaceJam

DrSpaceJam

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My wife just purchased a new BLR in .223. It's her first firearm that isn't a pure utility piece, functioning mostly as a range toy since she loves lever guns, pretty guns, and guns that shoot .223. All considered, it's pretty much a perfect match except for the function of the lever. It has the normal stiffness of a rifle that isn't totally worked in yet, but because of my wife's small hands she also finds after a few magazines of reasonably quick operation her hand hurts. I'm guessing it's because she has some actual distance while moving from the stock to the inside of the lever, so she's rapping her fingers/knuckles on the lever.

We were considering making a leather wrap to go ont he lever. I've seen some people making use of these and wanted to know if anybody has experience with them here. In particular, can anybody recommend one that can come on and off easily? She's worried about the wet leather being in contact with the gun if we go shooting in the rain or something.

Any other ideas/advice would be appreciated.
 
You can get black pipe insulation at any hardware store. It is split lengthwise to allow you to slip it over a pipe. If you get the stuff made for 1/2 inch pipe I would think it would slip over the lever easily. Just a thought.
 
I think lots of folks have been wrapping leather around there lever loops for ages, if your concerned about trapping water I would think that you should be able to wax the leather up really good, and maybe the lever before you wrap it to help seal it up.

You could also look at smoothing up the action a bit? If there's some parts the rub you could apply lapp compound to them to try and work them in, though it may remove some finish if they are blued, or just try oiling up the internals better.

There are some gunsmiths that do work specifically smoothing up lever actions as well, which may or may not interest you.
 
I have used a flat piece of adhesive backed window insulation and wrapped that with a rawhide strip. The weatherstripping can be doubled up to adjust the space in the lever loop. For the cost if I want to tear it off and redo it it is cheap enough, but maybe not as quick a process as you are looking for. There are some guys on Ebay that make specific lever wraps for the Cowboy Action Crowd maybe try them. cheers Jed
 
There are two styles I've seen.

One is the wide lacing that is spiral wrapped around the lever and tied off at the end with some form of knot. The one I looked at had a lace that was about 1/4 inch wide spiral wrapped around the lever and then the tag end was split into 1/8 wide laces and the end knotted off in some manner that looked attractive and difficult to tie. Look up "turk's head knot" to get an idea of what I think I saw. Or it may simply have been some fancy looking Granny knot he came up with at need.... :D

The other style is a strip of glove leather about 3/4 inch wide and long enough to wrap around the lever loop enough to cushion from the forward curve upward all the way to half way up the curve at the back. There was a notch cut in this to clear the cocking loop to trigger guard loop at the joint. A thin lace of leather was then used in a basic over/under crisscross pattern to lace it together. The strip of leather having a line of holes punched to take the lacing along each edge.

Of the two styles the second one would be easiest to incorportate over a strip of weather stripping for some extra padding. Although with care both would do the job.

Of the two I'd say that the wide lace spiral wrapped around the lever would be far easier to untie and unwind then replace when dry. The other would take a good 20 minutes to unlace and another 20 to lace back up. With the wide spiral wrap once you and she figure out the macrame knot at the end the wrap could be removed in likely under a minute and replaced in about two or three.

A good product to coat the lever with to resist rusting from trapped moisture is a wax/oil product sold for rust proofing cars. I've also see a similar product that dries to a hellishly sticky and water resistant state called Maxima brand "Chain Wax". It's sold as a chain lube for motorcycles and it resists water like no one's business. But it's sticky as heck. So coat the lever with it, wrap some Saran or similar over it and THEN wrap the leather and/or padding around the lever. Trust me, if that rusts with this goop in there then the rest of the rifle will already be brown and red and crusty.... :D

And tell your wife for me that she has EXCELLENT TASTE in firearms. Lever guns are GOOD guns.... Um, I may be a little biased on this one :D
 
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I wrapped my Guide Gun lever with paracord. Not traditional leather, but hey, a BLR isn't a traditional lever gun.
 
Lexthedestroyer said:
Got any pics of how you did it? I'm thinking of doing my Savage 99 in paracord...
Click to expand...

I'm thinking a regular cobra braid would work quite nicely. Seems to me that most of the patterns would work as you're just substituting the central cord for the lever.

I'll probably do that when I get my BLR...when I finally decide on a caliber...
 
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