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My son and I went on guy shopping trip the other day. Mom was working, so we played. We did a bunch of guy window shopping, guns stuff, tractor stuff, hardware store, pawn shops, went to a BBQ joint for lunch etc.
A recent post in Hunting Rifles got me thinking about levers again.
I have owned some really nice lever actions, but was never infected with leveritis. They all went down the road, sold to more appreciative people. A 1930's Winchester 71 that had a factory bolt peep that I killed a couple does with. A stunner of a 444 Marlin that only saw the range. A Browning BLR in 358 Winchester that shot a doe and a couple of hogs.
My older son loves his Winchester 22 magnum and would like to get a gig game lever action. We have a couple of friends that have hunted with a 1950's Marlin 336 in 35 Rem and a 94 in 30-30.
So during our travels, we looked at lever action rifles. I think we looked at ever lever action available: Winchester, Marlin, Savage, Uberti, Rossi, Ruger, Browning.
The rifles that fit the best were the pistol grip Marlins, 336's and 1895, even though I would really like an 1894 in 44 mag. The straight stocks do not fit me, and I do not like the feel.
So after much research and handling, a Marlin 1895 SBL in 45/70 came home. After checking everything out, cycling the action, cleaning, and remounting the rail it is time to go to the range. Bought a box of Hornady 325gr FTX, only factory ammo all they had.
To be continued........
Arcus Venator
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Great gun. Simple action to take apart and polish certain parts to smooth it up really nice. Wild west makes a stainless trigger that makes it feel like a target gun. But those are all things that can be done anytime. Out of the box it should do well. Lots of load choices and handloading gives even more options.
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Well that was FUN. The box of 20 did not last very long. Target was an interactive cube, started at 30 yards and ended up about 70 yards. Through a bunch of snow and never even checked zero with the open sights. PIcturesSon had a blast, ordered brass, bullets, and dies last night along with a Burris Fast Fire III sight for the rail. Love the skinner open sights too! Already looked at the replacement safety and trigger. Have not been this excited about a new rifle for quite awhile, I finally may be afflicted with leveritis.
Arcus Venator
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What safety? A safety blank? I wouldn't recommend a safety delete with the wild west trigger. The trigger is quite light and in a hunting situation, it's nice to have the safety to rack all those cartridges out after hunting. Or when on a sling
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Yeah, I was thinking of the safety blank. No alterations are going to get done for awhile. Just going to shoot it and enjoy.
Arcus Venator
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Installed Wild West SS trigger yesterday. Even easier than videos make it look. Tool familiarity helps but just watch a couple videos on 1895 disassembly and maybe one on trigger install and go for it...slowly and thoughtfully. Love the WW trigger and it is a big improvement.
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I have a SS wild west trigger which I have kept through several rifles. It puts the Marlin lever action ahead of most bolt actions so far as trigger pull.
I also use a safety delete from Clyde Ludwig but you can achieve almost the same thing by torquing down the screw under the butt stock a bit more. I had a bad experience with my first Cowboy 1895 and a very protective mother black bear with 2 cubs. When we got all done, I looked down and saw that the damned cross bolt was in the safe position. That would have been the loudest "click" in the world if I'd needed "kaboom". I didn't know about either the safety delete or adjusting that screw at the time so I sold the gun.
Tom
Anyone who thinks there's two sides to everything hasn't met a M�bius strip.
Here be dragons ...
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A rubber O ring also works to keep the safety off. Dropped the hammer on the safety with a deer in the scope. He didn't mind the click, but he really didn't appreciate the 250 grain Barnes through his lungs the next time the hammer fell a few seconds later.
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Great rifle. Recommend 405-420 WFNGC (.459) with RL-7, H4198, 5744 or Unique, especially if you are a handloader. Get yourself some 3M Ultra (black) scouring pads and your finish will always look new.
Last edited by SheriffJoe; 03/12/18.
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