Lever action

[Smellydog]

My old Winchester 94 in 30-30 is available for around £500.

Sako 85 S Bolt Action 22-250 0 Rifles- Gunstar

Sako 85 S Bolt Action 22-250 0 Rifles for sale in Stafford, Staffordshire, West Midlands

www.gunstar.co.uk

 

[TringSaint]

Which model out of interest?

A marlin thing. The one out of Jurassic World- some guys heard they were good for hunting t-rex’s

 

[HonestJohn]

My old Winchester 94 in 30-30 is available for around £500.

Sako 85 S Bolt Action 22-250 0 Rifles- Gunstar

Sako 85 S Bolt Action 22-250 0 Rifles for sale in Stafford, Staffordshire, West Midlands

www.gunstar.co.uk

Why selling?

 

[harrygrey382]

Have shot the same model but 3 different rifles- all the same accuracy.

Well I can’t say what’s going on. There are two common denominators there though…

My 1895 is a 1.5 MOA rifle, that’s not unusual - most people report similar accuracy. As Muir says, it’s a popular 1000y target rifle. In fact your complaint is the first I’ve ever read claiming they’re inaccurate. Obviously no one is expecting 1/2 MOA out of them it has to be taken in context.

Even if they didn’t - 3” at 100 yards is very usable for a closer range open sighted off hand rifle

 

[Smellydog]

Why selling?

I bought a as new unused legacy AE model. It has a 24" barrel which is good as my eyes are long sighted. I can see the front sight better.

It was a gamble as the older one is a shooter with a nice trigger.
This is it. I was plinking with out to 500yds with reduced loads. A friend was testing his 6.5 creed thingy and couldn't believe how close I could get with it so I said " here, you have ago" and he did similar.
It has a good barrel.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Well I can’t say what’s going on. There are two common denominators there though…

My 1895 is a 1.5 MOA rifle, that’s not unusual - most people report similar accuracy. As Muir says, it’s a popular 1000y target rifle. In fact your complaint is the first I’ve ever read claiming they’re inaccurate. Obviously no one is expecting 1/2 MOA out of them it has to be taken in context.

Even if they didn’t - 3” at 100 yards is very usable for a closer range open sighted off hand rifle

Every review I've read or video I've watched (which is quite a few now...) on the 1895 seems to agree they'll shoot 1.5 MOA. The most comprehensive test I found had them shoot three, three-shot groups with 4 different loads. The best two loads were sub MOA averaged over the 3 groups, the worst was 1.6. I've struggled to get factory copper that groups 1.5 out of my .308, so I'd risk 1.6 from a Marlin!

 

[TringSaint]

Well I can’t say what’s going on. There are two common denominators there though…

My 1895 is a 1.5 MOA rifle, that’s not unusual - most people report similar accuracy. As Muir says, it’s a popular 1000y target rifle. In fact your complaint is the first I’ve ever read claiming they’re inaccurate. Obviously no one is expecting 1/2 MOA out of them it has to be taken in context.

Even if they didn’t - 3” at 100 yards is very usable for a closer range open sighted off hand rifle

This was scoped off a rest!! Maybe they were loading crap ammo, but throwing the bullets would have given a similar result.

As for 1000 yard, you must be aiming at 45 degrees to get it there!

 

[njc110381]

I think your biggest snag here is that you seem keen to buy new. Some people do feel the need to do that but on the other hand, I've picked up some stunning rifles on the used market so I personally feel that you're really limiting yourself for no reason other than the modern trend of second hand being a bit dirty!

When folk bought a washing machine in 1970, they expected it to run, and run, and run. There are still old folk out there now using knackered but functional 1970's machines 50 years later. How many 5 year warranty modern machines do you reckon there will be, still working, in 2070? I rest my case!

My advice - pick a cartridge (the hard part), slap in a variation, and get looking. There are 1970's lever guns out there which have barely been fired, they're considerably better than new. As you know, my .45-70 is on offer - I'm passing it on because I've now got a .375 Winchester. I don't know the age of that because I bought it based on condition and manufacture ended for that model in 1986! But none of the lever gun cartridges are what you would consider overbore. The barrels on them will last decades, centuries even with a bit of care. Don't be afraid to handle a few, even ask for them to be checked over with a bore scope if you're worried, but most will be fine. They've been racking cartridges for 50 years and will do the same for another 50 with absolutely no trouble.

£500 and a bit of leg work will see you with a better rifle than if you go and put down £1500 on a new one. I haven't bought a new rifle for years and in the 30+ guns I have bought, at least 75% have been second hand and I haven't had a bad one yet.

Oh, and if you want a light rifle for knocking over deer in a wood, don't buy a .45-70. They're massive. Get a .30-30 or .35 Remington if you can find one. By all means have a go with mine (the offer is always there), but it's a big old brute and much better suited to offering the big bore bang and recoil buzz than a quiet walk in the woods! I guess it depends what you're looking for, and that's not always an easy decision to make.

 

[25 Sharps]

I know it's been discussed before, but I'm starting a new thread anyway and you can't stop me...

Talk to me about lever action stalking rifles.

I vowed a couple of years ago that I would treat myself to a brand new rifle and scope combination to cover every UK stalking eventuality, and that I'd get good at shooting it, and be happy that whenever I booked stalking or received an invitation, or even got asked to go and look for a fox, I'd just reach in to the cabinet and pull out the only CF in there.
So, I bought brand new Tikka T3x in 308, a brand new meopta 3-18 scope, and had my moderator Cerakoted to match the barrel of the rifle. Job done. I'll never need another rifle for anything larger than a rabbit, anywhere in the UK.

Never need another rifle.

Still, those lever actions look really cool, don't they? And I bet they'd be a lot of fun to shoot. And it's not the same as just buying another bolt action in a different calibre. And even though my Tikka has an 18 inch barrel and a slim, over-barrel moderator it's still a bit long and it's quite heavy...

You can see where I'm going with this.

I know there are a few folks on the forum using various lever action rifles for stalking. I see the 30-30 and 45-70 mentioned a fair bit. I'm not sure if there are other deer-legal chamberings in lever action flavour?

I suppose to make it worthwhile, I'd have to make it quite a specialist tool for close-up woodland stalking. I'm thinking of occasions when I've bumped deer from basically under my feet, or when you stick your head around a rhododendron and theres a deer there staring back at you! I've seen a few on US sites with either reflex/red dot sights or very small, low-mounted scopes. A few seem to prefer the long eye relief models mounted forward of the hammer.

Talk me into doing something silly...

Get a 45-70, if it’s short range work it will put anything down including rabbits. Yes, they thump like a mule but that is half the fun!!

I have just put in for one for target with a secondary deer condition. I have a marlin SBL on back order which will allow a conventional scope in QR mounts and use of ghost ring iron sights at the Club or if I fancy it for deer.

I’ve also got a .357 Rossi octagonal barrel, all intervals polished by the previous owner, it’s a lovely little thing. I’ve shot rabbits and one lovely munti buck with it. If you do a lot of shooting with scoped BA rifles there’s definitely something to be said for hunting with open sights on a lever gun every once in a while.

 

[25 Sharps]

I think your biggest snag here is that you seem keen to buy new. Some people do feel the need to do that but on the other hand, I've picked up some stunning rifles on the used market so I personally feel that you're really limiting yourself for no reason other than the modern trend of second hand being a bit dirty!

When folk bought a washing machine in 1970, they expected it to run, and run, and run. There are still old folk out there now using knackered but functional 1970's machines 50 years later. How many 5 year warranty modern machines do you reckon there will be, still working, in 2070? I rest my case!

My advice - pick a cartridge (the hard part), slap in a variation, and get looking. There are 1970's lever guns out there which have barely been fired, they're considerably better than new. As you know, my .45-70 is on offer - I'm passing it on because I've now got a .375 Winchester. I don't know the age of that because I bought it based on condition and manufacture ended for that model in 1986! But none of the lever gun cartridges are what you would consider overbore. The barrels on them will last decades, centuries even with a bit of care. Don't be afraid to handle a few, even ask for them to be checked over with a bore scope if you're worried, but most will be fine. They've been racking cartridges for 50 years and will do the same for another 50 with absolutely no trouble.

£500 and a bit of leg work will see you with a better rifle than if you go and put down £1500 on a new one. I haven't bought a new rifle for years and in the 30+ guns I have bought, at least 75% have been second hand and I haven't had a bad one yet.

Oh, and if you want a light rifle for knocking over deer in a wood, don't buy a .45-70. They're massive. Get a .30-30 or .35 Remington if you can find one. By all means have a go with mine (the offer is always there), but it's a big old brute and much better suited to offering the big bore bang and recoil buzz than a quiet walk in the woods! I guess it depends what you're looking for, and that's not always an easy decision to make.

What do you mean by massive? The SBL I shot at club last week was a lovely little thing, not much bigger in the hand than my .357 Rossi. Thumped a lot more though!

 

[njc110381]

What do you mean by massive? The SBL I shot at club last week was a lovely little thing, not much bigger in the hand than my .357 Rossi. Thumped a lot more though!

I have found them to be more bulky. Compare a Marlin 1895 to a 336, there's a good bit of difference. Everything is bigger - it has to be for the cartridge to fit. The barrel on my Winchester .357 isn't much bigger in diameter than a .45-70 cartridge!

 

[LeftHandGuy]

As @njc110381 suggests, 35 Remington is a fantastic round too. But since @SimpleSimon says he doesn't want to get into reloading, I think it'd be a poor choice for the UK.

Incidentally, the ability to manufacture ammunition for less commonly chambered rifles is really the main justification I can to think of for reloading anyway (certainly, it's the only way it saves me any money!)

 

[njc110381]

As @njc110381 suggests, 35 Remington is a fantastic round too. But since @SimpleSimon says he doesn't want to get into reloading, I think it'd be a poor choice for the UK.

Incidentally, the ability to manufacture ammunition for less commonly chambered rifles is really the main justification I can to think of for reloading anyway (certainly, it's the only way it saves me any money!)

I home load to save money on bigger cartridges, or to make things I can't buy. Last time I did the maths I could make a .416 Rigby round for 2.50, and factory ammo was £120 per box. Both have gone up since then so the savings will probably be even greater.

Speaking of cost, I just had a look at prices of lever gun ammo. Comparing like for like Remington, .45-70 was double the cost of .30-30 at my local RFD.

 

[25 Sharps]

I have found them to be more bulky. Compare a Marlin 1895 to a 336, there's a good bit of difference. Everything is bigger - it has to be for the cartridge to fit. The barrel on my Winchester .357 isn't much bigger in diameter than a .45-70 cartridge!

Fair one, my .357 is a heavy octagonal barrel, I still like it! The marlin 45-70 is only about 7 lb, the size worked for for me, might not work for everyone, though I’m not a big bloke by any stretch.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Get a 45-70, if it’s short range work it will put anything down including rabbits. Yes, they thump like a mule but that is half the fun!!

I have just put in for one for target with a secondary deer condition. I have a marlin SBL on back order which will allow a conventional scope in QR mounts and use of ghost ring iron sights at the Club or if I fancy it for deer.

I’ve also got a .357 Rossi octagonal barrel, all intervals polished by the previous owner, it’s a lovely little thing. I’ve shot rabbits and one lovely munti buck with it. If you do a lot of shooting with scoped BA rifles there’s definitely something to be said for hunting with open sights on a lever gun every once in a while.

Do you mind me asking how long the lead time is for your order? I'm strongly considering placing an order for one myself.

 

[25 Sharps]

Do you mind me asking how long the lead time is for your order? I'm strongly considering placing an order for one myself.

3-6 months.

The wait is killing me and I keep looking at remlins

 

[alberta boy]

3-6 months.

The wait is killing me and I keep looking at remlins

I've recently handled and shot a Ruglin 1895 SBL , it's worth the wait . Extremely well put together and the rifle I shot kept five shots inside about 1 3/4 inches at 100 yards with iron sights , that'll do nicely .

AB

 

[scrumbag]

I've recently handled and shot a Ruglin 1895 SBL , it's worth the wait . Extremely well put together and the rifle I shot kept five shots inside about 1 3/4 inches at 100 yards with iron sights , that'll do nicely .

AB

Hard to argue with that

 

[09mutley05]

3-6 months.

The wait is killing me and I keep looking at remlins

Still got mine needing a new home

 

[25 Sharps]

Still got mine needing a new home

That’s the one that keeps tempting me!