Looking for a Lever Gun -- Which one?

[swd]

A Winchester 94 Big Bore or a Marlin in 375 Winchester is a hell of a black bear rifle and the recoil is very manageable.

 

[Gman]

Not to derail this thread, but would a .357 Magnum chambered lever gun with a 20" bbl kill whitetails (cleanly & consistantly) @ 125 yards ? Or is that yardage too far for this cartridge to make clean kills on deer ?

 

[Dub]

Not to derail this thread, but would a .357 Magnum chambered lever gun with a 20" bbl kill whitetails (cleanly & consistantly) @ 125 yards ? Or is that yardage too far for this cartridge to make clean kills on deer ?

not in my opinion. 44mag wasn't real impressive at that to me either, but a better choice. My opinion only

 

[jimmymac]

Still love the looks and utility of the old Winchester Model 88. If I was buying a lever gun for myself, I'd track one of those down.

 

[Walt Krafft]

Many years ago (40?), a friend and I were hunting in northern Wisconsin. It was raining most of the day. Temps had fallen into the 20s when we got to the truck. I unloaded my rifle, a bolt gun, no problem. He could not open his Savage 99. Asked what to do and I suggested he shoot a tree. Click, now wtf do you do? Can't put it in the truck and just hope it doesn't go off when it thaws out. He banged the butt on a tree until the lever opened. Took the gun to the next gun show in his town.

 

[bluealtered]

Walt that is a very valid point I hadn't considered. We are about to go down to probably zero or below in the next few days and leaving it in our mountains for any reason over our winter would be a kiss of death, more so if it was any Savage 99, a first rifle favorite of mine.

 

[rockhound78]

I wouldn't hesitate to shoot a deer with a 357mag at 125yds, but that would be the max. distance and only if I was certain I could put the bullet right where I want it to go. IIRC, my 18.5" barreled Marlin will put a 180gr out at nearly 1800fps.

 

[DHall_37]

I’m definitely thinking 50-100, just kidding, or am I…….

Henry makes a 410 lever action, I’d say it could reach out to 125 with slugs and recoil would be manageable.

Winchester 1895 in 30-40 would be manageable too, however, they aren’t cheap.

 

[rockhound78]

38-55 would also be a good one. Load from round balls to 220gr or so