Lever action - what calibre?

mChavez

Well-Known Member
Hi All,

I am thinking of getting myself a lever action and I would be grateful for some advice.

I currently have a 308 which I am very happy with, but fancy trying either a lighter roe calibre or a heavier red/potential driven boar round.

On the lighter calibres, are there any deer legal (scotland) traditional lever actions? Perhaps 30/30 can be made roe legal? How's their stopping power?

If none of the classic cartridges are deer legal, then I guess I'm limited to Browning BLR? These seem to be mainly sold in good old 308 or 270WSM, and I can try finding a cheap old BLR that needs a new barrel and getting it converted into something funky? I read that a 270WSM can have a bit of a kick without a mod and I guess will be a bit of an overkill for roe? Is brass easy to buy?

Am I right to think that you need at least 7mm for boar in Europe?

Thank you.
 
Hi All,

I am thinking of getting myself a lever action and I would be grateful for some advice.

I currently have a 308 which I am very happy with, but fancy trying either a lighter roe calibre or a heavier red/potential driven boar round.

On the lighter calibres, are there any deer legal (scotland) traditional lever actions? Perhaps 30/30 can be made roe legal? How's their stopping power?

If none of the classic cartridges are deer legal, then I guess I'm limited to Browning BLR? These seem to be mainly sold in good old 308 or 270WSM, and I can try finding a cheap old BLR that needs a new barrel and getting it converted into something funky? I read that a 270WSM can have a bit of a kick without a mod and I guess will be a bit of an overkill for roe? Is brass easy to buy?

Am I right to think that you need at least 7mm for boar in Europe?

Thank you.

30-30;is more than roe legal:D
 
45/70 but then you are in scotland, and although it was almost solely responsible for making bison extinct, Scottish law knows best in these matters by saying it is nit good enough for roe deer!
 
45-70 would be great, as would 444, however as has been said you'll struggle to hit 2450 fps with either. As a boar only rifle, 45-70 in a slick lever gun is a handy tool.
If you want it for deer as well then BLR is the way forward. The WSM line is good but brass is always going to be more expensive and harder to get than other more popular cartridges.
If you are buying new then you have the option of 300 Win Mag. Maybe won't cycle as fast as the short action WSM range but would certainly be legal everywhere. If you handload you don't have to stoke it up either.

Personally, as you already have a 308 for deer, I'd go 45-70 and have a great little thumper.

30-30;is more than roe legal:D

Unfortunately, in his neck of the woods it would only be deer legal with lighter bullets regards velocity, even then he would be relying on max loads which of course give different results in different rifles.
He would be pretty limited to powder and bullet choice. Which is a shame as its a nice light recoiling cartridge usually.
I have however never owned one, just fired one, so if you have experience with handloading the 30-30 and I'm wrong please correct me.
 
You can get a 405Win or a 7-30Waters, also the 375 Win or the 307 and 356 are excellent all around rounds. Get a 307 which emulates the 308. For boar a 375 or 356 would be good.
 
Thank you for the replies.

30-30 might actually be a good call. Looking at wiki data (referenced to hodgdon), 110 and 130gn heads seem to just about comply with the deer regulations. Of course, given a short barrel, there's a risk that they will not reach their full potential. I guess that will just give me another reason to play with the loads ;)

Does anyone have a 30-30 on their deer ticket in Scotland? I wonder how the police look at this.

How easy is it to get heads and brass for this calibre?

How would 30-30 perform on boar? Say, 150-170 gn load?
 
Thanks.

With .444, there seem to be a lot of .44 heads that are 180gn. Can these be loaded into .444? what velocity would you expect from them? Surely they got to be over 2450? Anyone had any experience with them?
 
My .444 will get 2,400 fps with a 240-gr bullet, but it has a 24-inch barrel. It does best with 265, 270 and 300-gr bullets.

The BLR comes in .308 Win, 7mm-08, .270 Win, .30-06, and .325 WSM. I have a 7mm-08. If you want something that will knock over a red deer, or big boar, get the .325 WSM. It will reach out there, too, when loaded with the high-BC 8mm bullets. That will take almost everything in Africa as well as a .338 Win Mag.

The cream of boar and bear lever guns is the Winchester 71 in .348 Winchester ( or the Browning reproduction.)
 
My father has a 30-30 lever gun, can't remember which one off the top of my head (its a top ejector). You will struggle to get it fast enough in a lever gun to be roe deer legal. There was a thread a couple of years ago when i looked at it and it was never clear enough to say that it would be.

Andy7mm
 
You will get a 130gr bullet to the correct speeds no problems and you might even get a 150 gr to be as well, I know a few people using a 30-30 in germany on boar with copper bullets having great success as well, atb wayne
 
The problem with most bullets in the .30-30 is they are pointed, so cannot be used in a tubular magazine, with the point against the primer.
But there are good 125-gr FN bullets, and some solid copper HP bullets for the .30-30. But for a hog, you want the 170-gr bullets, IMHO.

Seriously look at a .325 WSM in the BLR. Handload it mildly with 150-gr SPT or 170-gr RN for deer ( 8x57I or .30-30 power), or step it up like a .308 or .30-06, or a tough 180-gr CoreLokt ( made for the 8mm Rem Mag) bullet, or a Barnes at 2,700 to 3,000 FPS for big game at 300 yards. And the 195 to 200-gr SPTs and SPBT bullets with BCs of .600 will do it all at 2,800+ fps.
 
The problem with most bullets in the .30-30 is they are pointed, so cannot be used in a tubular magazine, with the point against the primer.
But there are good 125-gr FN bullets, and some solid copper HP bullets for the .30-30. But for a hog, you want the 170-gr bullets, IMHO.

Seriously look at a .325 WSM in the BLR. Handload it mildly with 150-gr SPT or 170-gr RN for deer ( 8x57I or .30-30 power), or step it up like a .308 or .30-06, or a tough 180-gr CoreLokt ( made for the 8mm Rem Mag) bullet, or a Barnes at 2,700 to 3,000 FPS for big game at 300 yards. And the 195 to 200-gr SPTs and SPBT bullets with BCs of .600 will do it all at 2,800+ fps.

good post, the smaller 130 was only meant for keeping deer legal in scotland my loads for tracking are 173gr cast they work a treat, atb wayne
 
The problem with most bullets in the .30-30 is they are pointed, so cannot be used in a tubular magazine, with the point against the primer.

Remember that you can choose to use it as a single shot rifle with pointed ammo.
 
Remember that you can choose to use it as a single shot rifle with pointed ammo.
Yes, indeed, and I do that in my 24-inch barrel Marlin 336 Deluxe, making it a very accurate 125-gr two shot with good trajectory, too - a Poor Man's Falling Block. You may get feeding problems if the bullet is too long, but no problems for me, so far.

But that defeats the utility of a lever action rifle for quick second and third shots in the woods, at moving game, especially coming at you with teeth.

The OP already has a .308 Win, but my Savage 99A carbine in .308 is a handy thing.
And the BLR now comes in a takedown, with extra barrels for about $270.00 USD. A .358 Win is about ideal for his purpose.
 
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