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BlacktailStalker
10-31-2006, 10:21 PM
A buddy of mine uses a real nice lever action for island deer hunting. Think its a 30/30.
I like the thought of using an open sight gun, as the majority of deer I shoot here on the Island are under 75 yards.
It makes it more challenging and gives a guy reason to practice more with another gun aside from his favorite rifle. Would be nice not spending an extra grand on a scope too!
I'm not too familiar with lever actions, what are some good calibers and models out there you guys use? One that can serve a dual purpose and can be loaded right down for deer and loaded up for use as a guide gun in grizz country.
Thanks in advance!

brotherjack
10-31-2006, 10:36 PM
Most lever actions are 30-30, 45/70, and other flat-nose rounds. The only exceptions would be in the more 'modern' lever action designs (such as a Winchester Model 88, Browning BLR, or a Sako who's model I can't remember offhand). I'd vote for one of the clip fed, regular rifle calibes if it was me, but it depends on what you like.

Fisher-Dude
10-31-2006, 10:53 PM
Model 88 Winchester in 308. Awesome gun, versatile calibre. I took a lot of game with mine. My dad also used one for many years for elk, moose, and deer. We always used 180gr Core Lokts for the best groups.

The M88 has a really smooth action for a lever, and a 5 shot clip. Mine is scoped...but most that you find at the gun shows still have the iron sights. Prices seem to vary a lot, as I've seen some for $400 - $500, but I did see one on Guns America for $1495 US (maybe a collectors' S/N?).

Caveman
10-31-2006, 10:58 PM
To be honest with you Blacktailstalker, 75yds with an open sight, I think is actually easier than with a scope. At least if the action needs to be quick, if you have time to set up with a rest etc., okay, but if a buck jumped up in front of you that close the open sight would be easier, imho. I have a Marlin Mod 336 in 30-30 and up to 150 yds open sights it's deadly accurate. It's in the longer distances that you have to start bringing balistics, and optics into the picture. The gun is light, short and easy action. It will go to my son soon to start his hunting career.

Marc
10-31-2006, 10:59 PM
I've got a marlin lever 45/70 with a 22 inch barrel and I love it. I find it kicks less them my 300 win mag and it'll drop anythting that comes infront of it easily out to 100 yards. Shot my blacktail buck at 68 yards front to rear with minimal damage all considered.

I've hunted with a BLR in 308 and I didn't like the way it shouldered.I don't mind the tubular magazine and if you plan on using spitzer type bullets you might as well stick with a scoped bolt rifle.

Mr. Dean
11-01-2006, 12:56 AM
I've got a marlin lever 45/70 with a 22 inch barrel and I love it. I find it kicks less them my 300 win mag and it'll drop anythting that comes infront of it easily out to 100 yards. Shot my blacktail buck at 68 yards front to rear with minimal damage all considered.

I've hunted with a BLR in 308 and I didn't like the way it shouldered.I don't mind the tubular magazine and if you plan on using spitzer type bullets you might as well stick with a scoped bolt rifle.


I have one as well. except mine has a 24" tube.

Pretty much like Marc say's. They are fast and handy. Not a great gun for road hunting out of the truck, but really shines when in hand and on the trail.

Ronforca
11-01-2006, 07:36 AM
I shot a lot of my Deer with a Browning BLR in 243 handloaded with 95 grn.Nosler partitions going around 3100 fps. and it is deadly medicine for Deer.Good to 300 yds.A thought about scopes versus open sights.When you get good with a scope it proves to be faster than open sights for a lot of people.With open sights you have to line up the front sight with the back.Two things.With the scope all that you have to do is line up the cross hairs.Not just my opinion but the opinion of a lot of shooters.

boxhitch
11-01-2006, 09:14 AM
Most guns will accept a Williams rear peep sight, which I find superior to open iron sights. Faster to accuire, better picture, durable. Remove the aperture for the 'ghost ring' effect, or buy the 'ghost ring' insert.
Next ? - what cartridge for cross-over shooting of blacktail and g. bear ? .358
A dream gun of mine has been a 'switch barrel' BLR in .243 and .338 Federal.

Poguebilt
11-01-2006, 09:25 AM
I have a stainless marlin guide gun in 45/70, 18.5" barrel with the Williams fire sight peep set (FP336). I also have the skeletonized hood too....

great gun and reasonably priced.

todbartell
11-01-2006, 09:38 AM
Marlin 1895 XLR in 45/70. Awesome rifles

Mr. Dean
11-01-2006, 10:02 AM
Marlin 1895 XLR in 45/70. Awesome rifles

Thats the mod. of mine. They truly are unreal.




Most guns will accept a Williams rear peep sight, which I find superior to open iron sights. Faster to accuire, better picture, durable.

YUP!!!

Once you get a range session in, the system lines up naturally. And the cartrige will knock down ANYTHING you desire.

Marc
11-01-2006, 10:08 AM
I've got the XS ghost rings on mine and it's amazing how fast you can get on target.

Phil
11-01-2006, 10:52 AM
Last year I used a 30-30 all season with open sights and found it to be a good gun but a little slow to load. This year I am using a Browning lever action with a clip and have found it to be fast loading and no where near the hastle of my old side loading 30-30. My new BLR is a .325 short mag. I use a 200 grain bullet with a nylon tip. I have shot a doe and a buck this year with minimal damage to meat. Needless to say I am very pleased with it and it should kill anything.

Marc
11-01-2006, 11:42 AM
The way I look at it is you should only need one shot, and chances are he'll be gone before you can get a second one in anyways. I can load a single shot into my marlin as fast as someone can put a clip into a BLR and work the action. Clip fed levers are great for hunting out of a truck or quad but they've got no advantage over a tube fed in the bush besides shooting spitzer style bullets and the spitzer style bullet has no advantage at close range.

Ronforca
11-01-2006, 06:30 PM
I agree with Marc on the one shot.That is why my other favourite rifle is a Ruger # 1.I can say that I never need two shots but that would be a lie but two shots are very,very rare.I can load a second round pretty fast if needed.

Amphibious
11-01-2006, 06:32 PM
Marlin in .45-70 or .450 should fill the bill nice. I use Willaims peeps on mine, firesite on front. best of both worlds, leave apature in for hunting (no worries 200yrds on moose), unscrew for ghostrings when not hunting or extra fast handling is needed.

30-06
11-01-2006, 06:49 PM
nice browning BAR 308.win there is a nice one here with a scope on it for like 450$

sgt.maj
11-02-2006, 08:24 PM
My old Win 94 in 30-30 open sights has never let me down.

HuntNHookSports
11-02-2006, 08:56 PM
Model 94 Trails End in 357 mag. Holds 11 cheap rounds. Shoot from the hip. Lots of lead in the air.

cdub
11-02-2006, 10:02 PM
I always enjoyed carrying my old 300 savage 99. Not for grizz but good island gun with short barrel. Only reason stopped using was all the rain here so I bought a stainless stalker.

huntcoop
11-02-2006, 10:23 PM
I love my Marlin 336 in .35 REM. Need to get a set of Ghost rings thou, according to Marc they sound like they are the cats meow.

Johnnybear
11-16-2006, 10:17 PM
I had a winchester trapper (short barrel) in 30-30 and a winchester timber in .450 Marlin both shouldered and got on target quickly with open sites. The ghost ring set up is nice for sure. If I were to buy another lever it would be the new Marlin XLR in one of the heavier calibers. XS sights makes a really cool scout scope mount for the marlins and looks really interesting for both eyes open shooting.

30-06
11-16-2006, 10:40 PM
browning BAR 308. 4 shot clip plus 1 in the chamber..good gun

bad arrow
11-17-2006, 09:24 AM
I have a 307 cal in model 94 win, its basically a 308 with a rimmed cartridge and a snub nose, shot a moose and 2 bucks with it sure seems to knock em down, its not to popular as I think the cartridge is only about 20 years old. Model 94 is hard to beat in any calibre.

rocksteady
11-17-2006, 09:52 AM
I like my dads Winchester Model 88 . 308, detachable clip. 4 power scope, smooth function.

If you are interested, I believe he is looking at selling.

I would love to take it off his hands but my gun cabinet is too full for my wifes liking..

Islandeer
12-04-2006, 04:37 PM
I grew up shooting a 25/35 here on the island. great gun, I killed a lot of blacktails with that one and will keep it in the family.

kishman
12-04-2006, 10:27 PM
I just picked up my first levergun over at the post office today, it came over from Wholesale Sports in Alberta, I got a BLR "Lightning" in .270wsm.
I'm just giving it the first look over as I'm typing away here, pretty sure I'm "beaming". Like I said, it's my first lever but it won't be my last.

30-06
12-04-2006, 10:30 PM
the 308. by winchester in model 88 i think it nice,,also the marlin 30/30 is a beauty gun

Kechika
12-04-2006, 10:35 PM
You guy have forgot the Classic.Winchester Mdl 71.348 Baby

LOC
12-04-2006, 10:36 PM
I have two good levers - a '99 Savage in .300 and an 1895 in 45/70. The savage is topped with a 1.5x old Alaskan scope and the 1895 has williams peep's.

Wouldn't trade either!

LeverActionJunkie
12-04-2006, 10:53 PM
Since you seem keen on the idea of a dual purpose gun, I'd suggest the Marlin1895 in 45/70, there is nothing on the continent you can't kill with it! Ask Youngfella:) And you can either use the tame factory loads for deer, or handload up some thumpers with well constructed bullets and shoot everything with them, they will just put caliber sized holes through your deer etc. and not damage meat like some super mag would do. My 2c, but you could sin and by something like a Blr and do alright though to.

Odd-6
12-07-2006, 07:09 AM
Both Winchester and Marlin are fine rifles, but I would select the Marlin, alot stronger reciever (thats one reason WInchester never went over a .30-.30).

I think Hornady just came out with some new ammo just for the lever actions which is impressive.

sawmill
12-07-2006, 09:35 AM
I shoot a BLR .243 with 100 grn Federal factory loads and it is a great deer gun,I have a 3x9 scope on it and it is a superfast and accurate little rifle.Whinchester quit making the lever 30-30 last year and it`s velocity was only around 2100 feet per with factory loads.Marlin does make excellent lever gun in big calibers but a 45-70 is a meat wrecker on deer,and it ain`t got near the range of the .243.I`m gonna piss a lot of guys of by saying this but I my humble opinion I think a lot of guys are overgunned.I shot a lot of moose with a .270 and I wonder why you need a .338 to do the job clean.It`s not what you shoot so much as the way you shoot.IMHO.

sawmill
12-07-2006, 09:37 AM
I forgot to say that I think the Marlin in 308 is a great all round lever gun.

rock
12-07-2006, 09:51 AM
Model 88 308 seems to be a pretty good caliber for deer as well as moose, but for deer I like the 30-30 great bush gun versatile and light to carry and its accurate and closer distances with plenty of knock down power great when the terrain is really thick specially with open sights just a fun gun to shoot.

Browningmirage
12-07-2006, 10:29 AM
Personally a huge fan of the winchester model 88, smoothest, prettiest looking lever ive seen for a long time, and not to mention, very handy, and light. In .308 it will kill anything.

recoil
12-07-2006, 06:39 PM
I also have a model 94 in .307 which i purchased from a member here, i have yet to shoot anything with it as it is my backup but i do have fun at the range with it, i would feel comfortable using it for deer and bear or even moose. Does anyone have this rifle and know where to get factory ammo? hub sports used to but not so much lately.

johnes50
12-08-2006, 10:21 AM
I like my Marlin 30-30 so much that I just bought another one yesterday.

I'm going to leave it as an open sight gun and probably put a ghost ring on it. They are a nice, easy to carry, balanced rifle and not too heavy especially without a scope. John

PS: Sawmill, I don't think Marlin makes a lever gun in .308, although that would be a nice gun if they did.

Correction: After thinking about I realised you meant .308 diameter lead not .308 cartridge.

Onesock
12-08-2006, 10:47 AM
I shoot a Marlin 444ss. Great little gun and will knock down anything you wantto shoot at. Shot a black bear this spring and the bullet went in the neck and out the a$$. Great liitle gun.

bogie
12-24-2006, 01:19 AM
Check out the new Marlin Leverevolution series. High energy loads in 30-30 and coming out in 2007 with a 308 Hornady. $750 for the stainless 308 and $709 for the stainless 30-30 at SIR. They have stock on the 30-30. Pretty.

Will
12-24-2006, 09:40 AM
The 336 Marlin in 35 Remington is a Great little package..does everything the 30-30 does but with abit more Poop !

If I was buying a Brand new Lever though......I'd go Marlin in a Stainless 95, most likely 45-708)

Bushman
12-24-2006, 11:45 AM
It'll be darn hard to beat the Marlin 1895 Guide Gun in .45-70 or .450 Marlin for an all-round lever-action rifle suitable for the majority of British Columbia's big-game.

Of course if you can find one in a suitable caliber you could also use any of the tried and true 1886 Winchesters, 1894 Winchesters, 1895 Winchesters, 1899 Savages, Browning's BLR series (or reproductions) and Marlin's Model 336 or Marlin's new .308 Express.

Check out the following link for a few great ideas on big bore lever rifles:
http://www.wildwestguns.com/index.html

Mattimoose
01-15-2007, 01:05 AM
The newer Browning BLR's with the flush fitting detachable box magazine and the articulated hammer are the safest, fastest and potentially most accurate of any of the levers. The older model 71's with the dorky, patent-dodging magazine of the 70's have all kinds of feed issues. The new ones have a shorter lever throw and cannot be accidentally discharched by a blow to the back of the hammer. Many hunters have been accidentally killed when the half-cock notch failed when their partner slipped and fell behind them with a hammer gun. Browning's hammer will take a dive and miss the pin if struck from behind.

Browning BLRs lock-up in the front of the action, making them potentially as accurate as a SAKO Finnwolf or Winchester M88 save it's 2-piece stock construction. The classic, rotating bolt-head lever guns in their one-piece stocks were potentially as accurate as bolt actions in similar calibers. The Rotating bolt-head, Browning BLR is the strongest lever action ever and routinely handles loads in excess of 50,000 lbs. as evidenced by the magnum calibers they chamber handily.

It's Winchester model 88 style magazine feeds reliably and inserts and locks readily. It also allows for the lowest and strongest scope mounting of any lever. The box magazine also eliminates any change in balance point between the hands as the magazine is emptied unlike tubular magazines.
The detachable box magazine is also infinitely safer than any tubular magazine repeater as it is instantly emptied and made safe without having to cycle every cartridge going through the chamber. Using pointed bullets is of no consequence to safety, and you don't need to hunt for obsolete semi-rimmed cartridges like the .307 or .356 to feed it. In jam or failure, cartridges don't get stuck or double-fed in the gun like tubular magazine guns; disconcerting if presented with a wounded animal. Breaking the little, investment cast feed-interupting teat on the floor plate of a post 64 Winchester 94 would turn you into bearshit in a hurry. The resulting Jam is impossible to clear or close without complete disassembly.

Friends of Teddy Roosevelt pitched-in and bought him a good double-rifle for Africa, because they were horrified when they found-out he wanted to do everything with Winchesters and Springfields. 2 complete rifles in one gun is hard to beat for safety, unless you were extremely unlucky. Good quality English Double Rifles are too expensive for anybody I know; so we won't go there.

Of course, the safest and most elegant practical firearm is the Ruger Number 1, preferably an open sighted RSI, in a sensible calibre like .308. Can't beat-it.

MRP
01-15-2007, 11:15 AM
One thing not mentioned here about the Marlin lever action unless I missed it, is that by removing one screw that the lever hinges on you can completely remove the bolt and clean the rifle from the breach not from the muzzle. I suspect that the reason that lever actions have a bad reputation for accuracy is crowned damage by overzealous rifle cleanering. I once owned a 250 Savage that shot under 1 inch groups, also a Browning lever action 243 that also shot easily under an inch consistently. I was given a Marlin 3030 that had severe crowned damage I suspect from poor cleaning habits. The boer had been damaged quite a ways back, to correct the damage I would have to cut the barrel back beyond the front sight and the bottom feed tube. So I decided to try an experiment taking a sharp new half inch drill bit I drilled an inch and a quarter into the muzzle. I figured it couldn't shoot any worse than it did before, to my surprise it shoots quite well better than I ever expected.

scoot
01-15-2007, 02:19 PM
I notice that the Win Model 88 mentioned several times now. I have one and it is the only rifle I have ever hunted with. mattimoose said it. With the rotaiting bolt, this rifle is said to be as or close to accurate as a bolt action.

The Winchester M88 is smooth, great for bush as it is a little bit shorter, and is a good all round caliber.

BigD
01-15-2007, 03:32 PM
It is interesting to hear what people have had to say about lever actions. I have both my dad’s old Win Model 94 .308 (1952) and his Win Model 88 30/30 (1966), which he gave me for my twelfth and thirteenth birthdays respectively, and I recently gave the 30/30 to my son for his twelfth birthday. A very unbiased opinion obviously but they are both awesome guns for just and since I have always used them I feel uncomfortable with anything else.

Frango
01-15-2007, 03:53 PM
My first gun was a 30/30 savage.It was a great gun.They are old school rifles.Tough, easy to use and a gun you did not need to baby.Having said that I still prefer syn/stainless and something with a high end scope.

Mattimoose
01-15-2007, 04:35 PM
Yes MRP, counterboring is a goou idea in those situations. I have an 1889 Marlin thet's been in my family for over a century, and whenever the accuracy fell-off from cleaning and corrosive priming, someone took a coupla inches off the barrel. This 44-40 started t 26" by the serial number, but is now 20.5" and can still hit a coffee can at 100 yards with jacketed factory ammo.

MRP
01-15-2007, 05:02 PM
can still hit a coffee can at 100 yards with jacketed factory ammo.

Of all the kinds of target shooting a guy can do nothing brings the kid out in the guy like the plunking tin cans and hear them tumble.

Mattimoose
01-21-2007, 10:55 AM
Of all the kinds of target shooting a guy can do nothing brings the kid out in the guy like the plunking tin cans and hear them tumble.

The most fun I ever had shooting was when I got laid-off from Primo Foods for Thanksgiving to go Moose Hunting. I was a Rotary Cooker operator and would produce 25000- 100oz. cans and 60000-28 oz. cans of stewed or diced tomatoes nightly in a 12hr. shift. Dented cans would not go through the labelling machine and our job was to eject them on their way to the labelling machine/palletizer-depalletizer.

My routine was to take a can every 20 minutes to check that the internal temperature was 120 degrees celsius as part of our quality control, so we'd lose about 60 cans a night that way by poking a hole in them for the thermometer. Pierced cans went to a landfill. So would the dented cans but, not if I had anything to do with-it! It was late in the season and some Tomatoes that were frozen in the field and otherwise broken were now candidates for dicing. I had already gleaned half-a truckload of good, early-season whole, stewed tomatoes for mum to make sauce, but, since it was my last shift, I needed to catch-upon the most important task of accumulating targets of opportunity.

I had parked my 1/2 ton by the screen door and left the door cocked-open with a hockey stick handle I normally used to eject emptycans and cans with no lids from the can track before they jammed my cooker. Every few moments I'd look at Frank, my partner on the Labelling machine and slam a can against the steel post holding-up the grease-nipple gallery pulpit."Ding" this one's dented Frank! and toss-it into the back of my truck. By daylight, I had almost half of my box full, covering the cans and a little chunk of 2" food-grade stainless pipe I was going to use to fix my exhaust with a tarp before the long trek home. Of course, while I was out there, tarping at 4 AM; Frank and I managed to completely shrink-wrap Tariq's Ford LTD wagon but that's a whole other story.

Anyhow, it was a special "golden" age in Canadian Firearms history. It was Fall 1995 and you could still buy a Norinco SKS new in the grease and slap an American or Zytel plastic, 30 round, detachable banana mag into it and go to the pit. My best-friend and I had gone halvesies on a 1480 round wooden case of ammo and had fistfulls of stripper clips from the last-batch of corrosive, copperwashed Chi-com shit ammo ready to go. we spent almost an hour setting-up the cans, and as our other friends showed-up in another pick-up, the sun reflected gaily off the armour of our opponents! It was to be a grand spectacle.

We just had the 2 guns, and took turns alternately loading strippers and shooting. Stuffing the strippers in while empties were still falling from the sky; the sweet smell of diced tomatoes in the warming morning air. A 28 oz. full-can of diced tomatoes ,even-dented, shoots a red plume about 20-feet in the air when hit square with a 123 grain FMJ. 2 guns working a 100 oz. can borders on gory! We had to pick-up the empties with a shovel while the rfles sat on the tailgates making the Ping-ping noises of overheating and expansion. Likewise, we shovelled the tin cans in with the empties, leaving all that Tomato goodness for the Ravens and the Bears.

The only real purpose to this whole extravaganza was to try to get these guns to go into "Cook-off"; a phenomena what is supposed to occur when the breech temperature of a firearm reaches 270 degrees celsius I guess. This woulda been neat but it never happened, even when the hot gun was allowed to sit. I guess you need a belt-fed machine-gun for that. Similarily a coupla years later, when the reg force army guys were showing us the C7,C8 and C9, wenever even got close after several thousand rounds in full-auto shoulder fired. The C9 belts were broken into 100 round increments probably to the purpose of preventing a runaway gun butit woulda been fun to string all 1600 rounds together and at least try!

coyotebc
03-29-2007, 07:52 PM
When I used to hunt in the Cambell River area (1980'S) I used a marlin 30/30, win mdl 88 in 308 and a marlin 44 mag.
The marlins were both open sites and the winchester 3x9 leupold.
I wouldn't feel out of place with any of those guns on the island, plus my buddy used to use a blr carbine in 308, it was handy as well.
The only thing with a 30/30 or 44 mag is that ocassionally you may have to pass up a long shot over a clear cut, this never bothered me as I also bow hunt and blackpowder hunt. The only thing I would say about the island is if you are using a scope make sure it is a good one, that rain can play havoc on a cheaper scope

Jarrett
03-29-2007, 09:32 PM
as much as I'd love an 88 in .308 (my hunting buddy has one) I really do like my Model 94 in .307... it's more the classic leaver action...

recoil - I've found a couple shops tha had some old stock of .307 but when asked to get more it's been backorder - backorder - backorder for a long long time... you'd be better off sourcing some brass and re-laoding if you can...

bogie
04-05-2007, 08:32 PM
Marlin has a new XLR in 308 just coming into the market now. Check it out on the Marlin site- I think it is a 24in barrel too and available in stainless.

wjh131
04-05-2007, 08:38 PM
win88 in 308, savage 99 in 300 savage or blr 30-06, these would be my preferences.

30-06
04-05-2007, 09:31 PM
browning makes a nice on in 308.win..it's a clip feed

Woodrow
04-05-2007, 09:51 PM
i have the 1895 45/70 guide gun, so far ive shot my old mans cow with it. If you were wondering, i got her, one shot, big cow though, boon and crocket material! Like the gun but i put a scope on it