Anything to say about 357/38 special lever action?

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Hey guys,
I recently began shooting a friend's Winchester 94 30-30 and love it. Now I am thinking of getting myself a lever action but since I don't hunt I was leaning towards the Marlin 1894 357 Magnum/38 Special lever action. Reasoning...cheaper cartridges. Does anyone have any thoughts or experience with a 357/38 lever action rifle? If I were to take up an offer for a hunting trip here and there, would the 357 be sufficient for whitetail? Thanks.
 
Sure, you can hunt whitetails with the 357Mag,but I would limit my shots to probably 75yds.Shot placement is critical in my opinion.The 30/30 is a far better deer round and some people think it is marginable for deer.However if you shoot straight the 30/30 is a 150yd deer gun at least.so in a nut shell the 30/30 is twice the deer gun that the 357Mag is.And a good 308Win. is twice as good as the 30/30 at least as far as efective range is concerned.Dont forget about the 44Mag with it you would have a solid 100yd gun anyway,and you could shoot 44specials in it for plinking.
 
The .357 isn't that great for deer. Go for a .30-30 or .308.

My .357 carbine is a light and maneuverable rifle. Doesn't hardly kick at all, even with hot loads. With +P .38 special loads, it feels almost like shooting a .22.
 
You might want to search for old topics on this.

I have a Marlin .357 and love it for what it is. They advise against shooting lead in it due to the barrel type.

Real fun to shoot. I would suggest a receiver sight for it, cheap improvement, Wilson I think.

With the 180gr Partition the .357 is fair for deer. Just understand it's limits.

Marlin is supposed to be making their guide gun in .357 soon. I don't know why you would want the porting but the shorter barrel could be nice.

Good Luck with it.
 
I have a Win '94 in 45 Long Colt. It's great! My dad has killed several deer from a stand w/ his Rossi in .357 mag.
I like mine :)
Bob
 
Yes, I just saw the new 1894CP .357 Guide Gun in their catalog. I've been thinking about one of these off and on for a while. Mostly for a PC defensive carbine. What should I expect to pay for one used, in decent shape? I'm referring to the standard 18.5" version that's been around for years now.
 
Hello, all. I'm new to the board, this is my first post. First, I want to thank everybody for the information I've gotten from lurking here.

I'm interested in a .357 levergun as well, and while I see threads on it fairly regularly at various boards, there are some questions that I haven't ever seen asked...

The main attraction for me personally would be plinking with .38 ball. I know you get a nice boost in fps in .357, but I'm worried that .38's might actually come out *slower* from the long barrel. Is this true? Slight gain in fps? No gain? I'd really like to know if there's a slight gain or not, because to me that would mean leading up of the barrel with roundnose lead...anybody got chrono numbers on this?

I understand that some people have a lot of trouble feeding .38, and also that the newer models are better about this. From reading threads, it seems as if whether or not you'll like the gun comes down to how reliably it will feed.

I've gotten the picture loud and clear that it's marginal at best for deer. That's fine; I'd use the 30-30 I've got for that, anyway. That being said, how would the .357 do on groundhog? Coyote? I'm thinking this might be where the gun would shine, and with slow .38's maybe rabbit/squirrel. Where would you draw the line on .38 with small game? Would it do the abovementioned groundhog *humanely*? If anybody has any feedback on this, I'd appreciate it...

-tubeshooter
 
Love my Marlin lever gun, but it wouldn't be my first choice for hunting whitetail. It'll do the job, but we're talking headshots. Better to go for another caliber.
 
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