Best Lever Action for the UK?

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scrumbag

scrumbag

Well-Known Member
Hi folks,

I was thinking about Lever Action rifles for the UK and what the best chambering would it.

It seems to me that the best chambering would be something that was large deer legal in England and was also easy to shoot at 25 and 50yds on old pistol ranges.

Seems to me the new Remington cartridge, the 360 Buckhammer, might do it nicely.

Our member on here @1895Gunner has posted some load data:

1700562060483.webp

If you notice, a 180gr Corelokt bullet will get you to that magical Scottish number of 2,450fps (All bullet weights easily do 1,700ftlbs for England)

Also, the chambering will apparently do well with Accurate 5744 (~Lovex DO60) Accurate No. 2 (~DO32) and Hodgdon Titegroup will give you subsonic loads with a 200 gr bullet (Should think could be adapted to work with a 180gr Shellhouse bullet as well):

1700563505664.webp

So, interesting stuff for UK shooters who want an all deer legal rifle that you can easily shoot on indoor ranges that could be an answer (Might be easier than trying to make 44 mag do it all and that 5477 / DO60 load has a lot of potential for cast boolits at that pressure).

If you're interested in Straight wall cartridge and lever action stuff, check out 1895Gunner: some very good resources.

Scrummy
 
scrumbag said:
Hi folks,

I was thinking about Lever Action rifles for the UK and what the best chambering would it.

It seems to me that the best chambering would be something that was large deer legal in England and was also easy to shoot at 25 and 50yds on old pistol ranges.

Seems to me the new Remington cartridge, the 360 Buckhammer, might do it nicely.

Our member on here @1895Gunner has posted some load data:

View attachment 338212

If you notice, a 180gr Corelokt bullet will get you to that magical Scottish number of 2,450fps (All bullet weights easily do 1,700ftlbs for England)

Also, the chambering will apparently do well with Accurate 5744 (~Lovex DO60) Accurate No. 2 (~DO32) and Hodgdon Titegroup will give you subsonic loads with a 200 gr bullet (Should think could be adapted to work with a 180gr Shellhouse bullet as well):

View attachment 338214

So, interesting stuff for UK shooters who want an all deer legal rifle that you can easily shoot on indoor ranges that could be an answer (Might be easier than trying to make 44 mag do it all and that 5477 / DO60 load has a lot of potential for cast boolits at that pressure).

If you're interested in Straight wall cartridge and lever action stuff, check out 1895Gunner: some very good resources.

Scrummy
Click to expand...

Just get a Savage 99, Finnwolf or BLR and skip the straight wall faff...
 
scrumbag said:
Hi folks,

I was thinking about Lever Action rifles for the UK and what the best chambering would it.

It seems to me that the best chambering would be something that was large deer legal in England and was also easy to shoot at 25 and 50yds on old pistol ranges.

Seems to me the new Remington cartridge, the 360 Buckhammer, might do it nicely.

Our member on here @1895Gunner has posted some load data:

View attachment 338212

If you notice, a 180gr Corelokt bullet will get you to that magical Scottish number of 2,450fps (All bullet weights easily do 1,700ftlbs for England)

Also, the chambering will apparently do well with Accurate 5744 (~Lovex DO60) Accurate No. 2 (~DO32) and Hodgdon Titegroup will give you subsonic loads with a 200 gr bullet (Should think could be adapted to work with a 180gr Shellhouse bullet as well):

View attachment 338214

So, interesting stuff for UK shooters who want an all deer legal rifle that you can easily shoot on indoor ranges that could be an answer (Might be easier than trying to make 44 mag do it all and that 5477 / DO60 load has a lot of potential for cast boolits at that pressure).

If you're interested in Straight wall cartridge and lever action stuff, check out 1895Gunner: some very good resources.

Scrummy
Click to expand...
Being in the USA, I’m very familiar with lever actions and many of the newer straight wall chamberings. Just as a little background on what has driven the recent development of multiple straight wall cartridges. Several States here used to only allow shotguns with slugs for gun hunting deer or black bears. And most of them have recently lifted that regulation, but have said that only straight walled rifle chamberings are allowed. So the manufacturers have responded by creating several of these new straight walled cartridges to make center fire rifles allowable in these states with those restrictions. If you look at the data on them, they all more or less replicate or slightly improve upon the old 30-30 Winchester or 35 Remington. So while there’s certainly nothing wrong going with one of those newer calibers, there’s also nothing lost going with the older calibers I mentioned. Assuming that you don’t have regulations disallowing the use of bottleneck cartridges. Also I’d be interested to learn about your energy requirements? I’m not familiar with that as we don’t have those here in the states as far as I know. Cheers from the USA!
 
Andy Mauthe said:
Being in the USA, I’m very familiar with lever actions and many of the newer straight wall chamberings. Just as a little background on what has driven the recent development of multiple straight wall cartridges. Several States here used to only allow shotguns with slugs for gun hunting deer or black bears. And most of them have recently lifted that regulation, but have said that only straight walled rifle chamberings are allowed. So the manufacturers have responded by creating several of these new straight walled cartridges to make center fire rifles allowable in these states with those restrictions. If you look at the data on them, they all more or less replicate or slightly improve upon the old 30-30 Winchester or 35 Remington. So while there’s certainly nothing wrong going with one of those newer calibers, there’s also nothing lost going with the older calibers I mentioned. Assuming that you don’t have regulations disallowing the use of bottleneck cartridges. Also I’d be interested to learn about your energy requirements? I’m not familiar with that as we don’t have those here in the states as far as I know. Cheers from the USA!
Click to expand...
Law is that in England the muzzle energy for large deer has to be 1700 ft ilbs.
Small deer is a 1000 I think.
Larger tha .240"

In Scotland it also has a velocity requirement of 2450 FPS if I remember correctly.
 
Smellydog said:
Law is that in England the muzzle energy for large deer has to be 1700 ft ilbs.
Small deer is a 1000 I think.
Larger tha .240"

In Scotland it also has a velocity requirement of 2450 FPS if I remember correctly.
Click to expand...
And fallow deer the same size as a whitetail deer is considered as a large deer.
 
Andy Mauthe said:
Assuming that you don’t have regulations disallowing the use of bottleneck cartridges. Also I’d be interested to learn about your energy requirements? I’m not familiar with that as we don’t have those here in the states as far as I know. Cheers from the USA!
Click to expand...
No restrictions on bottle necked cartridges or anything like that.

As for energy:
England and Wales.
-Muntjac and Chinese Water deer- minimum .220" 50gr bullet and minimum muzzle energy of 1000ft-lbs.
- For all other species (which of course covers the above also)- minimum .240" and minimum muzzle energy of 1700ft-lbs.

Scotland.
- For roe deer, minimum 50gr bullet AND have a minimum muzzle velocity of 2,450fps AND a minimum muzzle energy of 1000ft-lbs may be used.
- For all other species (which of course covers the above also) minimum 80gr bullet AND have a minimum muzzle velocity of 2,450fps AND a minimum muzzle energy of 1750ft-lbs.
 
Greener Jim said:
No restrictions on bottle necked cartridges or anything like that.

As for energy:
England and Wales.
-Muntjac and Chinese Water deer- minimum .220" 50gr bullet and minimum muzzle energy of 1000ft-lbs.
- For all other species (which of course covers the above also)- minimum .240" and minimum muzzle energy of 1700ft-lbs.

Scotland.
- For roe deer, minimum 50gr bullet AND have a minimum muzzle velocity of 2,450fps AND a minimum muzzle energy of 1000ft-lbs may be used.
- For all other species (which of course covers the above also) minimum 80gr bullet AND have a minimum muzzle velocity of 2,450fps AND a minimum muzzle energy of 1750ft-lbs.
Click to expand...
Thanks guys! We don’t have energy or velocity regulations here but have a rule of thumb that 1,000 ft/lbs is a good minimum for deer sized game, and 1,500 for elk etc. but that’s just a recommendation for picking calibers. Where I am at in Western Pennsylvania, the woods is rather thick and it’s not uncommon for people to use pistol caliber lever action carbines chambered in 44 Magnum and 45 Colt for deer hunting. And quite successfully I might add. And both of those are well below the 1,000 ft/lb threshold. Thanks again for sharing the information.
 
Probably the limited edition Ruger No1 in 35 Whelen that was for sale in the Classifieds a few months and I decided against as the forend lacked the figure of the butt.

Still not sure if I should kick myself.

K
 
Andy Mauthe said:
I think he’s referring to the actual loading of the gun through the side gate. Otherwise I agree that statement makes no sense.
Click to expand...
Maybe but I have no issues with the side gate!
Folk tend to do it the hard way.
I do it by cupping the action in my left hand.
Start a round through the gate.
Use the left hand little finger to hold the round half way or more into the gate.
Now use the next round to finish pushing the first in then use the little finger to hold that one also.
Easy.
 
Smellydog said:
Maybe but I have no issues with the side gate!
Folk tend to do it the hard way.
I do it by cupping the action in my left hand.
Start a round through the gate.
Use the left hand little finger to hold the round half way or more into the gate.
Now use the next round to finish pushing the first in then use the little finger to hold that one also.
Easy.
Click to expand...
100%. I can’t see what is quicker about a straight walled cartridge, well I guess the cartridge being shorter takes a few milliseconds less to slide in, same with reloading. Although straight walls need a third die, so bottle necks might even be quicker to reload… I guess the lever throw is less on a pistol cartridge, and the rifle is lighter/shorter (not by much) so handling is a bit more nimble. In typical UK hunting situations this doesn’t amount to much.

30-30 would be hard to beat. If the stupid useless misguided out-of-place and plainly wrong UK muzzle velocity/energy laws concern you then just load some 150gr bullets up to full potential. If you don’t reload, well you should 🫢
 
Last edited:
Of course Marlins with that great big chunk of ugly metal hanging off the bottom won't make it as easy. Shame they made them wrong!













😂
 
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