School me on lever action rifles

OggieO said:
I have a Marlin 1894 Cowboy and my nephew has a Henry Big Boy, both in 45 Long Colt. Both rifles smooth actions, are quite accurate and fun to shoot. You can't go wrong either way. Then there is the obvious choice. The Winchester Repeating Arms 1873. I am not talking about the not-so-cheap Italian knock offs, but the real thing. The current production generation 3 Winchesters. I am saving for one now. Why buy a reproduction when you can get them real thing? That's my thinking. You can literally own the current production of the gun that won the west.
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The new ones may bear the famous Winchester name, but how can it truly be the real thing when they're now made in Japan by Miroku ???
 
Coyote33 said:
Not seeing much mention of the 444. A friend had one for Mass black bear hunting.
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If you want one for bear hunting, get one in a pistol round, so you can hunt with both rifle and revolver. Like .44 mag or .454 casull. You can revolver hunt bear in the early fall in ma, and any time you want in VT. But sometimes you would want the rifle too, like if it was a really long shot
 
Spanz said:
If you want one for bear hunting, get one in a pistol round, so you can hunt with both rifle and revolver. Like .44 mag or .454 casull. You can revolver hunt bear in the early fall in ma, and any time you want in VT. But sometimes you would want the rifle too, like if it was a really long shot
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I believe the .444 also takes .44 Mag, .44 Special, and .44 Russian. They are all shorter versions of the other.
 
Why is it impossible to find a lever action in .357? All I can find are tube loaded Henry's. Nothing gate loaded. I might as well just buy a .22LR instead with that being the case.
 
Bonesinium said:
Why is it impossible to find a lever action in .357? All I can find are tube loaded Henry's. Nothing gate loaded. I might as well just buy a .22LR instead with that being the case.
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I guess you haven't looked hard enough.
Rossi currently makes the R92 in .357, 44M and 45LC.
They're available in many different configurations too, such as stainless, case hardened, round barrel, octagonal barrel, 16", 20", 24" lengths etc.:

http://www.rossiusa.com/product-list.cfm?name=R92 Lever Action Rifles&page=1

Marlin also makes their 1894C in .357, and Browning made their B92 in .357, but these are a bit tougher to find.
 
Zappa said:
I guess you haven't looked hard enough.
Rossi currently makes the R92 in .357, 44M and 45LC.
They're available in many different configurations too, such as stainless, case hardened, round barrel, octagonal barrel, 16", 20", 24" lengths etc.:

http://www.rossiusa.com/product-list.cfm?name=R92 Lever Action Rifles&page=1

Marlin also makes their 1894C in .357, and Browning made their B92 in .357, but these are a bit tougher to find.
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Even the Rossi 92 in .357 is hard to find these days. I'm not sure why. They seem to be back ordered
 
after having now owned my Winchester 94ae trapper in .44 magnum, still zero regrets on the purchase. The thing is amazing. Absolutely fun as hell, accurate, and I get a lot of people who want to shoot it. Something about 'Merica and Lever actions
 
Dexion1619 said:
Even the Rossi 92 in .357 is hard to find these days. I'm not sure why. They seem to be back ordered
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I got mine through Steve's Gunz and had him do a tune on it and bead blast the stainless.

They turn up used at Four Seasons every few months, but do not sit long.
 
Zappa said:
I guess you haven't looked hard enough.
Rossi currently makes the R92 in .357, 44M and 45LC.
They're available in many different configurations too, such as stainless, case hardened, round barrel, octagonal barrel, 16", 20", 24" lengths etc.:

http://www.rossiusa.com/product-list.cfm?name=R92 Lever Action Rifles&page=1

Marlin also makes their 1894C in .357, and Browning made their B92 in .357, but these are a bit tougher to find.
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The Rossi 92 in .357 is not available anywhere that I can find. The other calibers, no problem.

Marlin (Remlin) stopped making the 1894c in .357 like seven or eight years ago. Thanks Remington. (Actually, I think they produced some for like a month a year or two ago.)

The Browning 92 is only found on auction sites and going for 1K+. No thanks.


Dexion1619 said:
Even the Rossi 92 in .357 is hard to find these days. I'm not sure why. They seem to be back ordered
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Yep.
 
JES Consulting said:
Hi all,

After many, many years of AR's and Glocks, I am taking a completely different approach to firearms.
Now I prefer wood and metal, case hardening makes me drool.I think its my version of midlife crisis. So be it.

I am looking into buying a lever action rifle, my first.
Probably 38sps/357, I do not reload and this rifle will be range/fun only.

To my limited knowledge, it looks like quality only available from Winchester -made in Japan or Uberti -made in Italy, may be Browning , however I did not really liked their lever action rifles.

I am all ears, let me know what you guys think.

Thank you in advance for your time.
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please do yourself a favor and research Henry-
even read the history- very interesting (Henry ties back to winchester) imo, it doesn't get better than Henry for lever action. I own 3 myself. look you the .22 golden boy, the Henry big boy .44 mag or .357. Henry makes a lever for just about every cal size.
 
Saltydog said:
Enjoying this thread on leverguns and I'm right there with ya - Big Fun !! I have a suggestion while you are looking around. Check out the Marlin 1897 Cowboy in .22 LR. They are great guns, cheap to shoot, don't feel toy gun-ish like the Henry .22's do but... are hard to find and are expensive. Unless you know where to look !!
I just listed my Marlin 1897 Cowboy on the NES Classifieds and it's a beaut !! As new in the origional box, was sold to me as unfired but I don't think so but it hasn't been shot much. Not a scratch on the metal or wood, PERFECT !!
and don't just take my word for ithe 1897, here's a video from Hickock45.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxlTDv3hVG8

PM me if you'd like to see it / shoot it.
Saltydog
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"toyish" like the Henry's do??? that comment made my jaw hit the floor. what exactly about the 20" hexagon barrel, the polished brass receiver, the walnut stock and brass buttplat or the perfectly silky smooth action feels "toyish" to you? 🙄
 
beergut said:
"toyish" like the Henry's do??? that comment made my jaw hit the floor. what exactly about the 20" hexagon barrel, the polished brass receiver, the walnut stock and brass buttplat or the perfectly silky smooth action feels "toyish" to you? 🙄
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Are you aware that you are replying with vex ...... to a post made over 5 years ago

=:-I ?
 
I just picked up a new Rossi 92 trapper in 45 Colt, stainless. I'm impressed with the fit and finish, especially compared to the old ones. The forearm is no longer bulbous, though it is not as thin as a WInchester, the wood is stained red instead of crap brown, and the satin wood finish is good--it doesn't feel like I'm holding a chalkboard. Trigger is good (as expected). The stock ejector spring is still set to launch brass into the next zip code, which I guess is so that people don't get the usual Winchester ejection to the brim of a hat. Fine, but it's too big a price to pay since the only grittiness felt when cycling is the compression of that spring. I ordered the Palo Verde spring kit, so I'll be fixing that, anyway. I got it to have a knockabout 45C lever gun for shooting in inclement weather. I'll probably take it apart tomorrow to get these springs changed out and do any deburring it needs. Looking forward to shooting it. Oh, and the twist looks to be about 1:20. It's definitely not 1:30, which I know the old 357M ones were and which I've been told they all were at some point. That's good for me because my plinking 45C load is 300 grains.



R1.jpg
R2.jpg R3.jpg
Not perfect, but not bad.
 
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meh said:
I just picked up a new Rossi 92 trapper in 45 Colt, stainless. I'm impressed with the fit and finish, especially compared to the old ones. The forearm is no longer bulbous, though it is not as thin as a WInchester, the wood is stained red instead of crap brown, and the satin wood finish is good--it doesn't feel like I'm holding a chalkboard. Trigger is good (as expected). The stock ejector spring is still set to launch brass into the next zip code, which I guess is so that people don't get the usual Winchester ejection to the brim of a hat. Fine, but it's too big a price to pay since the only grittiness felt when cycling is the compression of that spring. I ordered the Palo Verde spring kit, so I'll be fixing that, anyway. I got it to have a knockabout 45C lever gun for shooting in inclement weather. I'll probably take it apart tomorrow to get these springs changed out and do any deburring it needs. Looking forward to shooting it. Oh, and the twist looks to be about 1:20. It's definitely not 1:30, which I know the old 357M ones were and which I've been told they all were at some point. That's good for me because my plinking 45C load is 300 grains.



View attachment 649854
View attachment 649855View attachment 649856
Not perfect, but not bad.
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I just picked up the same except in 357, same opinions/observations. Haven't shot it yet but action is pretty smooth despite being new.
 
meh said:
I just picked up a new Rossi 92 trapper in 45 Colt, stainless.
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Got the springs in. Got it sighted in. Just so you know, this was before sighting in, at 25 yards, from a rest.

45.jpg
A 1" group at 25 yards with iron sights is about all I can see well enough to do. I'm sure those are the 250 grain pre-XTP-era Hornady JHPs. Modern XTPs tend to shoot a little more accurately in my other 45C lever guns, but not by much.
 
BTW, one of the flaws of my earlier Rossi 92, that one in .357M, is that it leaves the brass bulged in back. This is not unique to Rossi R92's, but it is worse in some lever guns than others. I've seen it noted in Chiappa-made 1892's as well. One guy had three of them and observed it with all three when using HSM bear loads. This one has it, too. After resizing, there is a .483" bulged area that the resizing die can't get to. That's .003" over the nominal case diameter. It turns out to be a small enough deviation that a resized case still plunks into my gauge, but I will probably tend not to use my new Starline brass in this lever gun.
 

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