S&W 1854 PCC

T

taylorce1

New member
I just looked at an email I recieved from S&W and it was promoting their 1854 lever action carbine in .44 Magnum. I've never been much of a PCC fan, but afer a friend passed in 2022 leaving me a Ruger .44 Carbine I might be changing my tune. While I don't shoot that carbine a lot, it is always fun when I take it to the range for a few rounds.

So the email they sent shows a 416 stainless forged reciever and barrel, 9+1 capacity, synthetic stock and forend, as well as a couple M-Loc attachment points on the forend. 19.5" threaded barrel for muzzle device of choice, pic rail with aperture rear sight built in for attaching optics.

The one feature I'm on the fence about is a removable magazine tube for unloading the rifle. It looks like it works just like a tube fed .22lr as far as removal. It should work well, I'm just happy it has a side gate for loading.

There is a satin black PVD coated SS carbine with walnut for the more purists of the lever action crowd. The price tag is $1200 for the SS synthetic rifle and $3200 for the wood stocked version. The price on the SS is a little cheaper than the used SS 77/44 Rugers I've been looking at.

I don't really have a practical reason for these carbines. They aren't legal to hunt with here in CO as they don't usually have the required 1000 foot pounds of energy at 100 yards for a rifle to be legal on big game. However, who says you need practicality to own a rifle in a pistol caliber?
 
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Interesting that the model name and the promotional literature harken back to the Volcanic, which was the basis of the 1860 Henry, and the “toggle link” Winchesters, primarily the 1866 and 1873, but the rifle appears to be based on the Marlin 336 (as is the Henry Big Boy).

The nine round magazine capacity means it won’t be a good choice for cowboy action; then again the “tactical” version has features that make it illegal under current SASS rules.
 
Pretty interesting--looks semi-tacticool but enough "trad" that it could be very well take off. I remember when Mossberg tried a tactical lever gun with AR-ish features in 357 and it flopped. Maybe this S&W hits just the right balance. Not sure I'd call $1,200 cheap--but it's been a while since I've bought an off the shelf NIB lever gun so I suppose they too have gone up significantly.
 
keep up

A move to keep up/erode Ruger-Marlin sales? Temp check....... I'm lukewarm and predict low sales and short production run. Regret to say maybe the same for the Ruglin too. Over a grand for a design that has established competition and established fanbase (the Ruglin). Rossi has the other end of the price scale at around $700.

For the same money one could buy two bare bones AR's, a better AR with an optic, maybe 3 Ruger American's , two Americans with a servicable scope for one, etc. The industry (and the politics behind it) have just about priced the sport out of the reach of the blue collar man (or the retired man).
There's a reason Rossi's, American's, Tisas, Hyundai's and heaven forbid Hi-Point's, sell so well, it's about all the average guy can afford.

What S&W should have done is come up with design for a semi .44mag carbine like either of the old Rugers.
 
Not sure I'd call $1,200 cheap--
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MSRP for the base model is given as $1279, and then add in taxes, and any fees, and you're going to be around $1400 and that's out of my "cheap" range, even allowing for the increase in price of everything these days.

I had to look that one up, from the pictures, it clearly has Marlin DNA in its ancestry. I hope the rear peep folds down, otherwise it could become an actual
"ghost" ring easily since its not protected.

Big loop lever, seems to have the pushbutton safety, and, from the text, apparently the mag tube is removable for "safe unloading".

I think its a smart move, offering both the "tactical" and the traditional models. We'll have to see which one is more popular, I guess.

I think if it was priced at $800 they'd sell them by the truckload. At nearly $1300, I think not so much.
 
I am a long time S&W fan but would much rather spend too much money on a original Marlin, or even a new Ruger/Marlin. The newer Mossbergs (non-tactical) lever guns would also be preferable to this new Smith for my self.
 
Not too many rules these days for who will be producing what. I will say though that a comfortable retirement has done more to slow down my gun buying than any politician could ever have done, except that maybe they did have a significant part in these crazy prices.
I’ll go ahead and take a Henry 9mm instead.
 
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I’d definitely be in under $900.00 and if they’d add a .357 mag version. I think the deal with the high prices on a lot of these current ‘tactical’ lever action rifles is that they are targeting people in the states with their unconstitutional laws.
 
I wouldn't call it a true tactical carbine, there are only three M-Loc slots on the forend. It's no where near tactical when compared to the Mossberg SPX.

I agree the MSRP on them is a little daunting, especially on what would be a range toy for the most part. If I made a habit of running cats and bears with dogs, then I could easily justify one.
 
Folks always complaining about how expensive lever rifles are now and yet they are the most involved and complicated rifle to manufacture. Their use-to-be inexpensive price range is probably one of the reasons all the original lever rifle companies are now owned by someone else or made overseas. These new S&W rifles are in the same price range as the new Ruger made Marlins. I was looking at one of the new stainless-steel Rossi R95's and it was $999 at a local gun shop. The MSRP is $1212.99 so even the Rossi is about the same as the new Ruger made Marlins in price range. The days of the inexpensive lever rifle are gone and that probably includes used ones as well for the most part. One might find a bargain on occasion, but those days are slipping away quickly as well.
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Folks always complaining about how expensive lever rifles are now and yet they are the most involved and complicated rifle to manufacture.
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OK, so how did it work back in the 70s when a new Win 94 was $105 and a new Model 70 (standard grade) was $180???
 
KYGUNCO has both versions of the 1854 available. The stainless synthetic is just under $1200, and the black PVD and Walnut is right at $3500. They're not backing off MSRP very much.
 
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