Anyone here have experience with the Mossberg lever actions? I just saw a brand new .30-30 for $330.
I had a Winchester '94 and a Marlin 336 some 35 yrs ago but traded them off to help pay for kids. Fast forward to 2012 and kids are grown and I've rebuilt my firearms collection (and then some). Got to thinking about getting a thudy-thudy just because and looked around at availability and prices.
Winchester's floppy actions and triggers were still there but the quality was down from my pre-64 version and they've got that safety. Marlin's fat stock and forearm and and safety version still turned me off like the '59 version I dumped long ago.
Heard that they'd fixed the issues with the extractor on the Mossberg 464 so I gave it a look. I liked the heft and shouldering of the walnut pistol grip stock version. The action was a bit tight but it was smooth and the trigger was actually fairly decent for a levergun. Marbles sights were a plus and the fit and finish was great. For the price, under $350 NIB then, I decided to give one a try.
I was pleasantly surprised that it only took a couple hundred cyclings to ease up the action before I took it to the range. There, I let go with a couple boxes of some 150grn Winchester Power Point ammo and was pleasantly surprised at how well it cycled, balanced, and shot. (I handload but my kids gave me 2 boxes of ammo for a present as I hadn't gotten my handloading components in yet.)
Now, 5 years later and close to 500 rds later (all but 40 my handloads), I couldn't be happier with it. It's absolutely stock, as the Marbles sights are great, and has had zero issues. It's surprisingly accurate at 200yds with my handloads as I go after bowling pins with it (my favorite reactive targets).
While it's not a hunting rifle as our typical shots are longer range, it's actually a fun plinker. I've even worked up some plinking loads using X-Treme's 150grn plated bullets at about 2,000fps and with them it's a blast to shoot. The recoil pad, combined with the plinking loads makes it a favorite with the younger shooters and women at our club when we host familiarization shoots.