School me on lever action rifles

The Rossi 92 in .357 was the first gun I bough when I moved to NH - it's my daughter's deer rifle. (I know, need close shots - doesn't really matter, we don't see them anyway)
I keep thinking about getting "my own" in .45 to pair with my Ruger Blackhawk.

I'm not a fan of the loading gate, though. I think I'd prefer a Henry type tube: my sausage fingers have issues with the gate on anything smaller than 20 gauge, and I don't see any instance where I'd need to top off the magazine.
 
tuna said:
I'm not a fan of the loading gate, though. I think I'd prefer a Henry type tube: my sausage fingers have issues with the gate on anything smaller than 20 gauge, and I don't see any instance where I'd need to top off the magazine.
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I have a side-gate Henry and can't remember if I've ever even used the loading gate on it. I think not.

Loading the new R92 is exactly the same experience as with its earlier incarnations. The loading gate is stiff, so there's that, but on the fixable side of things, I probably should cut a few inches off the spring off since it extends 6" or more from the end of the tube with the cap off.
 
meh said:
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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My Miroku Winchester 1892 can do the same. It was very surprising when I ran the powder charge up.
 
Been a henry fan for years own a handful in 22, 410, and 357. Started looking for a companion for my 629 revolver so been pooping around for a nice 44 mag lever action. Had every intention on getting a henry 44 steel carbine but......this winchester 1892 miroku made .44 caught my eye. Wow is the fit and finish absolutely head and shoulders above henry. It cost about 300 more than the henry.....it's lighter.....thinner profile.....and balance are just amazing. It followed me home


Target is at 50 feet standing off hand 6 oclock hold.....sights are dead on out of the box. 20250129_141721.jpg 20250129_141902.jpg 20250129_142004.jpg 20250129_142219.jpg 20250129_152245.jpg
 
whacko said:
Been a henry fan for years own a handful in 22, 410, and 357. Started looking for a companion for my 629 revolver so been pooping around for a nice 44 mag lever action. Had every intention on getting a henry 44 steel carbine but......this winchester 1892 miroku made .44 caught my eye. Wow is the fit and finish absolutely head and shoulders above henry. It cost about 300 more than the henry.....it's lighter.....thinner profile.....and balance are just amazing. It followed me home


Target is at 50 feet standing off hand 6 oclock hold.....sights are dead on out of the box. View attachment 959217View attachment 959218View attachment 959219View attachment 959220View attachment 959221
Click to expand...
Nice.

I think Winchester (Miroku's) are likely the finest production made Levers out there. I have a Miroku 30-30 short Rifle. Some of their high grade offerings are downright fantastic. The wood and fit and finish is amazing. Tough to justify near 2K on a lever gun that might get used is all.

The new Ruger Marlin's are probably the second best and have several itterations of the 1894 in 44 mag on those.

I've seen some Henry's that are great, but I've seen some not so great.........its good they are out there though.

Even some of the Rossi's new Marlin 336 action type stuff...not all that bad.....prices are down on that stuff too.
 
Ruger recently purchased Marlin (2020?), and has revived many of their classic lever actions, supposedly being made on more modern equipment and to higher quality standards.
I'm looking at getting one of the 1894 models in 357 Magnum/38 Special.
Earlier Remington manufactured Marlins seem to have lot of quality problems, probably should avoid these.
 
Mark from ? said:
Nice.

I think Winchester (Miroku's) are likely the finest production made Levers out there. I have a Miroku 30-30 short Rifle. Some of their high grade offerings are downright fantastic. The wood and fit and finish is amazing. Tough to justify near 2K on a lever gun that might get used is all.

The new Ruger Marlin's are probably the second best and have several itterations of the 1894 in 44 mag on those.

I've seen some Henry's that are great, but I've seen some not so great.........its good they are out there though.

Even some of the Rossi's new Marlin 336 action type stuff...not all that bad.....prices are down on that stuff too.
Click to expand...
I looked over quire a few henrys yesterday up at ktp.....I was a little disappointed in the fit and finish and a couple of them the rear sight wiggled.....alot. then I saw this winchester and fell in love with it. Im a henry fan but haven't bought one in 4 years......id say from what I saw yesterday the quality has gone a little downhill. I spent about 300 more over what the henry would have cost me......looks like money well spent so far. Sights are dead on out of the box. Can't say that about any of the Henry's I've purchased.....they all needed to be adjusted for zero.
 
whacko said:
Sights are dead on out of the box. Can't say that about any of the Henry's I've purchased.....they all needed to be adjusted for zero.
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Not to mention that the stock sights on the Miroku are way better than the stock sights on a Henry. I have a Miroku just like it in 357M, and I kept with the stock sights. If I ordered another Henry, I'd order some kind of sight replacement at the same time. Any reasonable semi-buckhorn has a smooth curve leading to the sighting notch. Henry's take on the semi-buckhorn has a flat (the top of the adjustable/reversible insert) with weird rabbit ears on each side. It's horrible. I'd be much happier with a classic Winchester blade (no "buckhorns" of any kind).
 
meh said:
Not to mention that the stock sights on the Miroku are way better than the stock sights on a Henry. I have a Miroku just like it in 357M, and I kept with the stock sights. If I ordered another Henry, I'd order some kind of sight replacement at the same time. Any reasonable semi-buckhorn has a smooth curve leading to the sighting notch. Henry's take on the semi-buckhorn has a flat (the top of the adjustable/reversible insert) with weird rabbit ears on each side. It's horrible. I'd be much happier with a classic Winchester blade (no "buckhorns" of any kind).
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I like the winchester buck horn quite a bit so far. Proof is in the pudding it's accurate. My 357 Henry i put a skinner in it right away......first trip to the range they were way off on elevation and tough to adjust with that stepped notch......and the sight was pretty wiggly. Skinner....solved that problem
 
peter_nh said:
Ruger recently purchased Marlin (2020?), and has revived many of their classic lever actions, supposedly being made on more modern equipment and to higher quality standards.
I'm looking at getting one of the 1894 models in 357 Magnum/38 Special.
Earlier Remington manufactured Marlins seem to have lot of quality problems, probably should avoid these.
Click to expand...
Late model Remlins weren't that bad. Ive had 3 and they are all GTG. I got them for a song before Remington quit. The wood on my 1895 45-70 is excellent and high grade. I sold the 336 and bought the Ruger version, and have two 1894 Ruger made 44 mags which are excellent.

Ruger just has a better wood and metal finish and you can be pretty sure wood to metal fit will be tight.

Henry has been very spotty and I've seen guns with loose forearms, and not so good wood to metal fit. The metal finish on the barrels isn't great either.
 

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