Best lever gun caliber for a 16in barrel

G

Gulfcowboy

New member
I'm looking for a shorter barreled lever gun. I want something handy and short in a lever action. I have a marlin 336 in a 20in barrel I was thinking of having it Shorten to 16", but it is an original jm stamp Marlin , and its 30-30 I don't know How much it affects its ballistics. I was also looking into 357 or 44 magnum Marlin.
 
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16" is the sweet spot for 357 magnum
16-18" is where 44 magnum peaks out depending on bullet weight
20-22" is where 30-30 hits its stride

Me personally, I wouldn't cut down a JM 30-30 to 16"
I would just find a 16" 357 or 44
Maybe sell the JM?

What is the rifle going to be used for?
General use, hunting, maybe pressed into HD?
Yes 20" will make it a bit less convenient, but its utterly workable and a solid firearm as is
I would be perfectly happy using one :)
 
It would be a general use rifle. I might just get another forestock and trim some fat off of it. Love the feel of the winchesters, but I'm not into top eject. The marlin forestock makes them feel alot chunker than a winchester.
 
.357 Mag, .41 Mag, .44 Mag, .45 Colt. If you handload, you can make 16" the sweet spot for any of them. All are offered in 16" from various manufacturers with the .41 having the least models.
 
Nothing wrong with either 44 or 357 mag out of a 16 inch barrel. Both do well in over 10 inch barrels with a very good bump in velocity from 400 to 600fps. 357 is much better overall as a general use cartridge that's why it's more popular overall but 44 might be better in big bear country or if you just prefer big bores or want to hunt big game. 357 and 38 specials will run 30 to 50 percent the cost of 44 special and mag ammo but if you reload the difference is much less. A 357 at short range makes a 223 FMJ look wimpy. 38 special from a rifle would make a fine quiet home defense loading. You can expect 1750fps out of a rifle using 158 American Eagle JSP ammo. I would expect similar speeds with 240gr 44 mag ammo. Do you need the extra power and recoil? Decisions, decisions...... Did I mention 357 is cheaper and easier to find!
 
The pistol calibers don't really need more than 16". And a 30-30 does fine there too. The ballistics you see in print for 30-30 are from 24" test barrels and are overly optimistic for what you'll see from a much more common 20" real world barrel.

If you compare real numbers from 16" barrels from the optimistic printed numbers from 24" barrels 16" appears to suffer a great bit. But when you compare real numbers from 16" vs 20" barrels the difference is much less than you might think.

I have one of the factory 16" Marlin Trappers from 1988. It is a handy little gun. I used to have some chronograph numbers on file, but it is on an older computer that died and I never backed up that info so it is lost. But IIRC there was less than 100 fps difference between the 16" and 20" guns.

Any way you look at it 30-30 is at its best at 100-150 yards with 200 yards at most. Even a 24" barrel doesn't really change that. The pistol calibers are 75-100 yard guns with 150 yards at most. And once again a longer barrel doesn't really change that.

I'd select the barrel length that I thought looked and balanced best. And if 16" is going to be more handy in thick stuff then go 16".
 
barrels

Given that the future of Marlin is unpredictable, and the OP's Marlin is the real item and my general attitude towards severe mods on old and now valuable guns, I would not lop off a jm 336 either.

The OP does not state what use his short lever will be employed towards. As a general rule, I am a big fan of .357 lever carbines. In the current climate, the ability to fire two varieties of ammo (.38 & .357) could be a real plus. The .357 will be the cheapest(:() to feed, and there is a wide span of power levels available over the counter (well, usually). The same could be said of the .44's, and if I were to be frequently hunting game bigger than 150 lb whitetails, I would lean in the direction of the larger .44 cartridge. Both the straight walled pistol cartridges are easy to reload, the thin walled 30-30 not so much.
 
Am fan of short levers, especially in pistol caliber carbines. Prefer a 16 in barrel and if not a collector, shorten the stock. Got them short arms, and generally prefer short rifles. If considering hunting, would get the 44 mag. Although a 357 can be made to work.

IMO, huge advantage to have the straight wall case for reloading.

If talking a 16 in 30-30, they lose very little, if any, with the heavier 170 gn bullets. If memory serves.
 
I also have and am a fan of carbine style lever guns--but can also bear witness to the fact that a 22" octagonal barreled lever in 45-70 is a thing of beauty, balance and enhanced power as well.:D
 
Though I have yet to run it through a chronograph, I am very impressed with the accuracy out to 100 yards of my Henry Big Boy Carbine in .41mag.
 
for what its worth, Have a friend who is big into revolvers and lever guns. He said he very much prefers 44s to 357, cause the crack from the 357 seems a lot sharper to him than from the 44s. Both are loud, but something about the sharpness or shrillness of the tone.... having been there when he has shot both. 44 is a lot more tolerable than the 357.
 
The crack is a function of how they are loaded. If both are shooting factory ammo, maybe the bigger bore develops a less distinct pressure wave. I love shooting 1200 to 1300fps loads out of a 357 rifle for plinking. Very pleasant and useful load. The 1800fps factory 158s can sting a bit.
 
tex45acp said:
Though I have yet to run it through a chronograph, I am very impressed with the accuracy out to 100 yards of my Henry Big Boy Carbine in .41mag.
Click to expand...
Do you have the 16" barrel?

This is the next rifle for me and I am starting to get excited for it. I did not do a lot of work with the Marlin, but thinking I will use up a lot of LilGun in a 16" carbine.
 
I just got one if the new Henry side gate steels in 357, what a gun. It’s my dream rifle, sold my safe queen AR to fund it, no ‘regerts’ lol.
 
Not gonna get much capacity in a 16 inch rifle in .30-30 or .45-70. If you want capacity, you have to choose a revolver chambering, if you don't care about capacity you can't argue with .45-70 out of a 16 inch barrel, unless you are regularly shooting at over 200 yards in which case the .30-30 makes more sense.

As to revolver calibers in lever guns, I'm still not too sure myself which is best. .357 is the cheapest, that's for sure.
 
If it was my choice, I'd pay a good smith to shorten the barrel and tube magazine to 16.25 inches instead of buying a different rifle.

Jack
 
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