Article on improving lever action accuracy

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ilmonster

New member
Saw an article over the weekend in the current edition of Outdoor Life magazine on improving the accuracy of lever action rifles written by Dave Emary of Hornady fame. Basically says to have the screws fastening the magazine tube and barrel bands on the looser end of tight to allow the barrel to move a bit when fired as all barrels whip a bit (see super slo-mo video's of rifles being shot and there's an appreciable amount of barrel whip).

Think I'm going to try this on my Marlin 1895 and see if I see any change in accuracy.
 
If I were going to try this, I’d be sure to add a drop of loc-tite blue to keep the screws attached. I’m not sure I’d try it though. If I had an accuracy problem, I’d probably start with my technique and ammo selection first.
 
I have quite a few Lever action hunting rifles and a couple are 100+ yrs old. They all are good shooters or they wouldn't be in my rack. They all have iron sights so I don't think I
will be loosening screws to make them shoot better. I can see the theory though.
 
Sometimes leaving the screws a little loose will help by giving a little expansion room for a hot barrel. And sometimes it makes no difference at all. And most times it will take a scope mounted to the rifle to actually measure the difference. You don't know till you try.

Marlin seems to use the same OD on all their barrels. So the barrels used for larger calibers respond to this more than the smaller caliber barrels. Then you have rifles like the 45-70 I owned that shot just great with every thing screwed down tight. But my 44 mag likes the mag tube a little loose.

But most lever guns are used for hunting and firing 3-4 shots is rare. Most hunting work is done in a shot or two and it doesn't seem to matter.

Here is an article from Paco Kelly on how to relieve pressure on the barrel for an accuracy improvement.

http://www.leverguns.com/articles/paco/chapter23.htm
 
Howdy

I've tried but I can't find any screws fastening the magazine to the barrel on my 1860 Henry. Guess I'll just have to accept how accurate it is to begin with. Which is a heck of a lot better than my poor eyesight can take advantage of.

Barrel%20Left%20Side_zps45wyna68.jpg
 
I have a Browning BLR in .358 Win. that was at best on a good day (very rare) a 2" gun. I did some slight metal removal of the barrel band and wood on the forearm where it showed it was pressing against the barrel. Well the forearm does have a slight rattle now but groups on average run .75" to one inch depending on which bullet I use.

There is also an excellent article on accurizing lever actions in an early copy of RIFLE Magazine. Looked a bit complicated in some aspects so I never really tried my hand at it.
Paul B.
 
Typically with 2-piece stocked rifles, you either want it to be hard against the barrel and not touching the receiver, or hard against the receiver and not touching the barrel. The other issue most lever actions have to deal with is the fact that the weight of the magazine changes with each shot. But lever actions were never intended to be target rifles, just meat-getters, and moose, elk and deer vital areas are bigger than 2".
 
My older angle-eject Winchester has put a lot of meat on our table despite shooting 2.5 inch groups at 100 yards with 170 grain Power Point ammo. This carbine is fitted with a budget friendly Simmons Pro Hunter scope featuring 2-7X settings. I'm not worried about trying to gain a little extra accuracy from my faithful carbine. Majority of my shots are taken at 125 yards or less. As long as I aim for the kill zone, my 30-30 does the rest.

This photo came from a hunt within the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Jack

 
Adjusting screw tension and finding that "just right" spot is SOP for bolt action rifles.
I would look at the wood to metal fit for the fore end, and look at sealing the wood better in a humid climate.
In 1979 at 100 yards with iron sights I fired a 1.5" group with my Marlin 339-forget if it was factory ammo or reloads.
 
Loosing the screws a tad does help but it's not something you just do once. You have to find the sweet spot and hope that the ammunition you're using remains consistent. All rifles have harmonics that cause the barrel to whip. Having it create the same exact harmonics each and every shot is the trick.
 
I read an article from the 80s or there about on that same topic and the author thought he had found out a wizardly way to wring better accuracy from a lever by separating the tubes. Free floating the tubes didn't see to be worth it. His "results" were marginal at best. I have a lever and see no reason to mess with it.
 
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Lever actions have much to commend them. That's why so many are bought and used. But they have their limitations--just as any design does. Buy them for what they are and use them for the things that they are made to do well.
 
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