Lever actions for deer hunting?

Hibrion

This came up in the minimum deer hunting caliber thread and I was curious about it and thought it best to start a new thread rather than hi jack that thread.
What are the benefits of using a lever action for deer hunting?
Are there many people that use them in Ireland?

Browning now do lever actions in more common deer calibers such as 308. Does this make them better than the more traditional lever action rounds?

Just thought it might be a good debate.

Tackleberry.

I'd love a lever action 308, Looking forward to seeing this thread throwing up some info, Marlin do a lot of lever action. but what do any owner's think of them??

CJhaughey

Marlin use their own proprietary .308 Marlin Express round, they have tubular mags so the rounds need to be truncated.
Browning have a box mag so they can use standard CF rounds, 243, 7mm-08, 308 and .270
I would tend to gravitate towards the box mag simply for ammo availability.
Never used one so I can't comment on accuracy but I know they use them chambered for the 30-30 in NZ for really close pig shooting and follow-up shots.

Sika_Stalker

The browning lever action rifles are good for one reason, That being that you are able to use spitzer style bullets due to its box magazine.
Out of the other lever actions the marlin is the best design and best built and you'd be looking at around an inch and a half group at 100 meters.
Then there is the mossberg model 464 but the build is not the same as the marlin.
I'd be looking for a marlin 336SS it looks the bit and the 30/30win. will do the job on deer.
Remember with the tubuler magazine you can only use flat nose bullets appart from the hornady ftx bullets in the leverevolution line.
Dang it CJ got in there before me....

happyjack

The Marlin .307, I think you can single feed in normal .308's if you want to be able to use them, but they are not safe in the tube magazine as the pointy bullets can hit off the primer on the round infront and cause a chain explosion.

I'm suffereing with sciatica for over 4 years now, and it's given me the hots for a 44 magnum in Marlin, my .308 weighs to much for snap shooting, it's got a 26inch bull barrel which prevents quick swings on to game, plus lugging it around is a pain. I know it gives me tiny groups, but tiny paper groups arent needed for killing deer.

This tread's a great idea.

HJ:)

happyjack

Met a bloke once who had a 410 winchester lever action, he used to fire 2 and half inch remington slugs out of it, at 50 yards he was getting decent groups to, lovely job, the only thing is I'd prefer a 410 with a 3" chamber for better spread when your using pellets. But you can get 410 lever action shotguns here. Depends on what you'd need them for.

HJ:)

Grizzly 45

I'm suffereing with sciatica for over 4 years now, and it's given me the hots for a 44 magnum in Marlin

,

Why not get a Ruger 44magnum semi auto??Basically an over grown 10/22,and save yourself the bother of cranking a lever??Great snap shooting gun

Hibrion

They are a very attractive rifle to look at, there's no question about that.

Is the 30 30 a good deer round. I've not encountered anyone that uses it over here.

I have heard good things about the Browning BLR tho.

rowa

the only lever action i ever really liked was the savage 99 , it looked nothing like the traditional winchester 94 and had a proper box mag instead of the tube , and was chambered for powerful real rifle cartridges , and was hammerless , don't think they make them anymore though .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs5-0qMk9eA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pRY2d2ZxCs

he gets pretty eager with that knife !

CJhaughey

Hibrion wrote: »

They are a very attractive rifle to look at, there's no question about that.

Is the 30 30 a good deer round. I've not encountered anyone that uses it over here.

I have heard good things about the Browning BLR tho.

Popular in the states for Deer, rarely seen over here.
Ballistically it is only good out to 150-200 max, but close in with 150g+ heads it is a great stopper.
Very effective on pigs as well.

s-cogan

Sika_Stalker wrote: »

Remember with the tubuler magazine you can only use flat nose bullets appart from the hornady ftx bullets in the leverevolution line.
Dang it CJ got in there before me....

shooting sports magazine reveiwed the marlin1895 mxlr in 450 marlin in their december magazine. commented on flat nose rounds now no longer neccessary as hornady have developed LEVERevolution ammunition with Elastomer tipped rounds to prevent chain detonation in tube mags.



also mentioned recoil is not as severe as expected in that calibre. 325gr heads in the 450 marlin

hope this helps





s.cogan

CJhaughey

s-cogan wrote: »

shooting sports magazine reveiwed the marlin1895 mxlr in 450 marlin in their december magazine. commented on flat nose rounds now no longer neccessary as hornady have developed LEVERevolution ammunition with Elastomer tipped rounds to prevent chain detonation in tube mags.
s.cogan

Rubber bullets of a sort!

s-cogan

CJhaughey wrote: »

Rubber bullets of a sort!

hmm...
not realy from the photos i dont think

http://www.gunblast.com/images/KellyWatkins-Marlin1895/kw1a.JPG

CJhaughey

I can't see that pic (Blocked :mad:) but I have seen them and they look like Ballistic tips but slightly blunter and made from rubber-ish material.
Thing is though where the heck would you get rounds for it?
I don't doubt they would be good and effective but ammo choice isn't great in this country.
I would still try and stick to conventional ammo that is more readily available.(Until reloading is approved and widespread:rolleyes:)

Hibrion

Think we will be waiting a while for reloading CJ:rolleyes:.
I suppose the attraction of the Browning BLR is their use of conventional and readily available ammo.
But what is the point of having a lever action over a bolt action?? Or is there any?

It wasn't me!

Hibrion wrote: »

But what is the point of having a lever action over a bolt action?? Or is there any?

Very fast reload time with no break from position, much easier to reload fast without losing track of quarry.

rowa

It wasn't me! wrote: »

Very fast reload time with no break from position, much easier to reload fast without losing track of quarry.

plus you can load on sunday and shoot all week

4gun

hopefully if this country comes ut of the depression next year the winchester 30/30 is going to be my 5th gun, I've even got the dealer lined up to import,
hopefully:o

newby.204

It wasn't me! wrote: »

Very fast reload time with no break from position, much easier to reload fast without losing track of quarry.

you should never need to take yoyr eye away from the scope to cycle a bolt!!

rrpc

newby.204 wrote: »

you should never need to take yoyr eye away from the scope to cycle a bolt!!

Depends on the length of the bolt

Bolt eye being the new 'scope eye'

happyjack

4gun wrote: »

hopefully if this country comes ut of the depression next year the winchester 30/30 is going to be my 5th gun, I've even got the dealer lined up to import,
hopefully:o

I think I know a dealer who has one S/H at a good price if your interested. That Super in Listo should issue a second deer rifle for close cover deer.

HJ:)

happyjack

rrpc wrote: »

Depends on the length of the bolt

Bolt eye being the new 'scope eye'

It depends on the eye relief on the scope, Leupold scopes have lovely long eye relief, to check a scopes eye relief, point the scope at a room light and zoom in and out a bit of paper behind the scope until you get a sharp clear circle, then hold the paper steady and measure the distance with a ruler, thats your eye relief distance for that magnification, the width of the circle is aloso important, thats how bright the scopes image is, anything over 7/8 mm is wasted, circles under 3mm are really scopes for bright daylight use only, Theirs a brand of rubber scope boot called "Bisley" I think, this fitted prevents a black eye from recoil, much more useful it stops the hunters pupil cutting down in size due to light near/around him, thus making the image in the scope brighter, plus it prevents ametuer lampers blinding out your vision from standing behind you whilst hunting.

HJ:)

It wasn't me!

newby.204 wrote: »

you should never need to take yoyr eye away from the scope to cycle a bolt!!

Even some long actions will make that tricky unless you like jabbing yourself with pieces of metal. Short actions shouldn't be a hassle, but long or magnum length actions, you're probably going to have to lift your head.

newby.204

It wasn't me! wrote: »

Even some long actions will make that tricky unless you like jabbing yourself with pieces of metal. Short actions shouldn't be a hassle, but long or magnum length actions, you're probably going to have to lift your head.

Fair point never thought of that

It wasn't me!

newby.204 wrote: »

Fair point never thought of that

It depends on your action, your stock length and your build. If you've a long neck, head far forward on a relatively short stock, then even a short action will come too far back, while if you keep your head way back on a longer stock, nothing will touch you.

4gun

Mossberg do a couple of nice looking lever actioned guns, but does anbody know anything about the quality of their production of firearms in general.
What way are their shotguns and other rifles. Is their stuff quality

Hibrion

There semi auto and pump shotguns are good quality 4gun... I have a semi auto and it serves its purpose well. No frills but a good gun.

4gun

Hibrion wrote: »

There semi auto and pump shotguns are good quality 4gun... I have a semi auto and it serves its purpose well. No frills but a good gun.

Know anthing about their rifles?

Hibrion

Ive heard good things about their semi 22s.