Lever action cartridges

F

f2shooter

Moderator
Evening all,

I just aquired a Marlin 336 from a gentleman up the road a bit. Not my first 336 or even my first 30/30 but this one is a beauty. Bought new in '91 it has fewer than 50 rounds through it and is in superb condition. Okay, enough bragging. It got me started wondering again what other cartridges, preferably smaller, would be useful in this type of rifle. I've heard of lever guns in .357, .44 and several others but have never tried one. For some reason a good pistol cartridge in a lever gun appeals to me. In some ways less useful but it seems like it would be a lot of fun to shoot. So what works and has shown itself to be worthwhile in a lever action?

Rick H.
 
Pistol caliber lever guns appeal to a lot of people.

Ok, going off the top of my head, (And I'll probably miss a few) the cartridges I can think of that have been chambered in various lever actions...and in the order I remember them, :D

.22LR (including S, L, & LR)
.218 Bee
.219 Zipper
.25-20
.243 Winchester
.25-35 Winchester
.250-3000
.22 Savage High-Power
.300 Savage
.303 Savage
.32-40
.32-20
.44-40
.45 Colt
.357 Magnum
.44 Magnum
.41 Magnum
.284 Winchester
.308 Winchester
.307 Winchester
.358 Winchester
.30-30
.32 Special
.375 Winchester
.38-55
.405 Winchester
.45-70
.450 marlin
.30-06
.270 Win
7.62x54R
.35 Remington
.348 Winchester

and a host of totally obsolete black powder rounds.

I'm sure I've left out some.

Now, for modern pistol rounds in lever guns, I've had both a .357mag and .44mag Marlin, and I really like the .357 best.
 
Not all lever guns are similar.

There are lever actions designed for rimfire cartridges. Marlin 39A, Winchester 9422, Browning BL22, these are plinking rifles designed to look like their bigger brothers.

Some need flat point, short, mid-power cartridges. This class of rifles is like the Winchester 1892 and Marlin 1894. Short, handy, but not designed for longer range/higher powered cartridges. You can't really call them pistol caliber rifles, because they came chambered for some special purpose cartridges, but think pistol cartridges when you think of this class of lever actions.

Some need flat point, higher powered cartridges. Think of your Marlin 336, Marlin 444, Marlin 1895, Winchester 1894/94, Winchester 1886, Henry Big Boy, etc. Still very easy to handle, but a little bigger and more recoil, and able to take large game animals up to and including bear and moose. Winchester 1895s and Savage 99s also fit in this class, but they are kind of a special animal, as they can handle pointed bullets due to the design of their magazine.

Then there are the lever actions capable of firing higher pressure cartridges you would see in many bolt action rifles. Wincheser 88, Sako Finnbear, Savage 99, Browning BLR and BLR II. Heavier rifles, designed for mounting scopes and fire high pressure cartridges like 243, 7-08, 308, 358, etc. Essentially, these are modern rifles with a nostalgic touch.
 
I would not say that about the 99 Savage. I just picked up a nice .308 Featherweight from the early 50's. I rebarreled an early .308 that had square threads and I believe this one does too. They were just ahead of their time. They really did not "Beef up" or modify their receivers like the other companies did to chamber hotter rounds.
I still have my first .22, an Ithaca single shot lever gun. Now there is a company that played the nostalgia game. Remember the potmetal receiver lever shotguns?
 
Wasn't the 44 lever action one of the first and most popular versions?
44 special fired from a .44 Magnum rifle is still about as fun as it gets.
 
I believe the .44 Volcanic was Winchester's first (and only) lever action pistol.

The early Henry designs were popular in .44 rimfire, and when the .44-40 came along, it "ruled the roost".

Note that the .45 Colt was NOT chambered in the lever guns in the old days, indeed its only been chambered in lever gun is recent decades. This was because the rim of the original case was very small, and simply did not allow the guns to work well. Modern .45 Colt cases have a slightly larger rim, and while its not much bigger, it is enough to allow tolerable working through the traditional levergun designs.
 
In the beginning, most lever actions were chambered in revolver cartridges to allow interchanging ammo. The fact that most people did not own a revolver, cowboys especially, made no difference to the marketing genius Ollie Winchester, et al.
One thing that usually doesn't work well is using .38 Special in a .357 lever action. Something about the lengths causing issues.
 
There are also all of the centerfires from Browning in 30-06, 7mm mag, 300 mag, 7-08, 22-250, 223, 270WSM, 270, 300WSM, 325WSM, 358, 450 Marlin, 7mm WSM, 243, 7-08, 308
 
In the beginning, most lever actions were chambered in revolver cartridges to allow interchanging ammo. The fact that most people did not own a revolver, cowboys especially, made no difference to the marketing genius Ollie Winchester, et al.
One thing that usually doesn't work well is using .38 Special in a .357 lever action. Something about the lengths causing issues.
Click to expand...

Actually in the beginning most lever actions were chambered in rifle cartridges. Its just the the rifle rounds 44-40, 38-40, 44 Henry Rimfire and others made better revolver rounds than rifle rounds. But they were chambered in rifles first.

I own a Marlin 357 and have owned a Rossi 357 and have never had a single issue with them using 38 special ammo unless you try to use flush seated 38 wadcutter rounds. I do have a Marlin 32 mag lever action and it WILL NOT cycle 32 long ammo. trust me, I have tried. I also own a Marlin 44 mag but have never owned a single 44 special round so I can't comment on how those work. But I have read they work fine.
 
pistol calibers

For a very long time, a .357 Marlin carbine was likely the long gun I shot the most. I ran all manner of cartridges through it, and the only problematic ones were .38 spl WC, which had to be single loaded. I shot A LOT of .38 +P+ 110 JHP out of the little carbine. A few .357 SWC designs burped once in a great while, but the little rifle fed most anything I cared to put in it. If I could see the sights, I'd still be shooting it...someday soon I will scope it.

True .357 mag ammo, with appropriate bullet weights, could suffice as a deer round, mild .38's served as plinkers, though eventually, I just ran reduced .357 lead reloads, and stopped using .38 cases altogether. For me, I have other deer rifles, so the .357/.38 lever worked just fine as a light utility carbine and a plain fun gun.
 
Marlin offered the 336 in 35 Rem for a very long time. It is often overlooked today, but back in the 60's and 70's most local hunters considered it a step up over 30-30 and it was much more popular. I'm not convinced it is any better, just different. At any rate you don't see them chambered in that round much anymore.

In the 1960's Marlin came out with the 444 Marlin. Basically a 44 mag on steroids. It has a small following, but the lack of good 44 caliber held it back. Most 44 caliber bullets were designed for handguns and the 444 never really caught on. There are some better options today, but the round is slowly dying.

In the 1970's Marlin reintroduced the 45-70. It does what the 444 does, and better. Original black powder level loads are quite anemic and only suitable for deer at close range. But modern loadings take the 45-70 to levels suitable for just about any game. If you can tolerate the recoil. Loads approaching 458 WM fired from such a light gun with a stock not designed for that much recoil can be a painful experience.
 
Many hunters overlook the RUGER 96 in 44 MAG. This model was built for less than 15 years but still available on the used market. Accuracy is superb! Mine has 1:20 twist to stabilize a wide variety of bullet weights.

Jack

 
44 AMP said:
(And I'll probably miss a few)
Click to expand...

The only two you missed that were obvious to me are the .300 WM and 7mm RM both of which are offered in the Browning BLR. Also in the BLR that I didn't know about were the .270 and 7mm WSM cartridges.
 
30-40 Krag in the M1895 Winchester. We need to distinguish between tube magazine lever actions and actions like the M1895-didn't have to worry about spritzer bullets in them.
 
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