Pistol caliber lever rifle availability?

Soli

Soli

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Hey everyone :D

I'm looking for a lever rifle in pistol caliber. Does this exist, and if so, what are my choices?
 
winchester 94. marlin 1894. rossi/puma copies of winchester 92, italian replicas of winchester 1873 and 1892. ruger 96. there is henry as well.

you're looking at 357, 44 mag, 45 colt, 454 casual, and i think there are a few 41 mags,475 and 480's out there too.
 
What's the most affordable pistol caliber in there? I want something with a bit of kick, so 22lr is out of the question... which leaves the centerfire stuff :)
 
A lot of choices available. Sometimes they are difficult to find though. Do you have a pistol to go with the rifle? My stainless Puma goes real well with my S&W 65s.
 
you can go all the way down to 22 if you want to- i went the double 22 route, b/c i made a heck of a deal on a win 94 trapper in 44 mag, then got a redhawk to back it up-
 
My Rossi Puma Win 92 clone feels like a "real" rifle when shooting .357Mag loads. But with .38Spls it's pretty soft feeling.

I've shot the same Win 92 clone but in .44Magnum as well as a Marlin 1895 in .44 Magnum. Both of them were VERY NICE!

Either magnum option would see you wanting to get into reloading REALLY quickly. Otherwise you'll shoot more than the cost of the rifle in no time.

Rossi also makes a .454 Casull chambered lever gun that can also shoot .45Colt. With the Casul rounds it feels much stronger than a Win 94 shooting .30-30.
 
.44Mag Marlin 1894SS

newish078-1.jpg
 
Your best bang for the buck would be a Rossi M92 or Marlin 1894 in .357 Mag.
If you get into handloading with lead bullets, then .44 Mag. and .45 Colt are cheap to load as the price of brass for these calibers is reasonable.
Example: A bag of Winchester .44 Mag brass (100) for around $40.oo compared to a
100 lot bag of .454 Cassul @ over $90.00.
 
I'm also looking for a lever action rifle. I would like something in 357 but I know nothing about those rifles. Where is the extraction window? Is it possible to use those rifles with modern optics like red dot or small scope?
 
This is favourite pair.:)

I really like my Rossi M92 Puma 16" in .454 Casull.
M92SRH1206web.jpg


I also like my Marlin 1894 in .357/.38 Special.

Many .22 LR pairs.:D

I've also owned a Marlin 1894 in .44 Magnum, and a Winchester 94 in .45 Colt.

Handloading for a .357/.38 combo, means that you could shoot for the cost of .22LR..
Or cheaper if you scrounge bullet metal and use free range pick-up cases.;)

IMHO. Pistol caliber lever rifles are a TON of fun.
The .454 Casull with heavy loads, would be my rifle of choice for bear defense.:rockOn:
 
If I may, I'll bring this topic back from the dead for a moment.

I've been seriously shopping for a week online now. My eyes are bugging out and I'm literally dreaming of lever actions at night. I'm thinking go cheap with the 24" Stainless Rossi M92 for $617, at 5 lbs! I keep reading that the fit and finish is poor, springs too strong.

I know about Steve's Gunshop in the USA, he fixes them up and all that, but I'm on a tight budget. I'd like to do this stuff myself. Is there a writeup on how to do this stuff? I'm certainly no gunsmith, having cleaned my guns no more than about two dozen times, but with a background in machining, construction, woodworking I think I can handle it if someone shows me.

Any advice?
 
pointfive0 said:
If I may, I'll bring this topic back from the dead for a moment.

I've been seriously shopping for a week online now. My eyes are bugging out and I'm literally dreaming of lever actions at night. I'm thinking go cheap with the 24" Stainless Rossi M92 for $617, at 5 lbs! I keep reading that the fit and finish is poor, springs too strong.

I know about Steve's Gunshop in the USA, he fixes them up and all that, but I'm on a tight budget. I'd like to do this stuff myself. Is there a writeup on how to do this stuff? I'm certainly no gunsmith, having cleaned my guns no more than about two dozen times, but with a background in machining, construction, woodworking I think I can handle it if someone shows me.

Any advice?
Click to expand...

There's a pretty good amount of information online as well.

How to field strip the Rossi 92 clones;
http://www.leverguns.com/articles/taylor/field_strip.htm

Some general mods and loads info;
http://www.leverguns.com/articles/taylor/rossi.htm

Slicking up the Rossi 92;
http://marauder.homestead.com/files/Rossitune.htm

And there's other sites out there if you google for "rossi 92 trigger" or "rossi lever tuneup" and other similar key words of that sort.

I did most of what they identified in the slicking up article. But I kept the ejector spring stock. Big mistake. It makes the lever action stiffer at the end than it needs to be and results in .38's getting flung away nicely but .357cases literally fly 10 feet up and back behind me. I'll be installing a softer spring soon. And I suggest buying Steve's springs regardless of if you buy the video or not. If nothing else the links above will help you determine if you're comfortable or not in doing the work.

If you're not there's a number of smiths that specialize in slicking up these guns for the cowboy shooters. And even if you don't they are actually not all that bad even right out of the box. I used mine for quite a while before I went inside. Admitedly it's nicer now but it was no slouch at all in stock form.
 
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