Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Gun writers and leverguns

Yes I know a turn bolt action rifle is accurate and dependable ordinarily. Add some do dads, fancy optics and earth rotation data and bullet can go miles. OK, this is a given, they are a little dull however.
How about a lever action rifle? In a high intensity, bottleneck cartridge?
Or an oldtimer, in a 150 year old chambering? ....now this gets my attention!
Maybe ol'John Browning had a hand in it, maybe Fabrique Nationale or Miroku.
Why isn't there more development in this very quick to handle, American designed rifle option
Please enlighten me ( us) The great unwashed....

Lever-actions don't sell nearly as well as bolt-actions these days. They can be very accurate--I've owned several factory lever-actions that consistently shot 3-shot groups of 1/2" or less, sometimes with factory ammo. have also written plenty of articles on handloading for lever-action rifles of several makes, my most recent a .30-30 Winchester Model 64, but not long before did one on my Model 1886 Winchester take-down in .33 WCF.

But there's not much "development" in lever-actions because most hunters don't care anymore, partly because they don't need to fire repeat shots as rapidly as they did back when most hunters hunted slowly through cover to find big game, rather than sitting in an elevated stand, or shooting in more open country at far beyond iron-sight ranges. "Quick to handle" isn't the big factor in choosing a big game rifle anymore.

Hi John, I so look forward to your writings. I would like to see you put some of the modern leverguns on your test bench. You are followed and quite influential. I like a turnbolt but like the feel of a lever rifle. I use a BLR for my mountain hunting...I always thought the BLR would entice other rifle makers to experiment a bit. Cheers

BLR is a good rifle. Savage 99 no longer in production, but my goodness, quite a rifle. Henry has recently introduced their "Long Ranger" but I've never shot one. I'd think that in 6.5 or 308, it might be a mighty fine lever action rifle.

Others have been tried over the years.

Me? I really like a traditional Marlin and am quite willing to accept the old design. It just feels good!

I sometimes think that the 45/70 Marlin 1895 has kept the lever action fires burning. Great combo.

Guy

Glad you like my writing!

Did an article not many years ago that mentioned my BLR .30-06 that put 5 shots (not just three) into well under an inch. Apparently it didn;t help sales....

One problem with lever-actions (with the exception of the "pre-mil" Savage 99's) is the triggers aren't all that great--and aren't all that easilt replaced. Which leads me to another point: Lever-actions can't be dinked with as easily as bolts, either to "accurize" or to put together "parts rifles," as so many moduler bolt actions can today.

My advice is to buy as many older lever-actions as you can afford. The situation isn't going to get any better.

Hi Mule Deer

I guess you are principally writing for a US audience, but there are those of us who aren't in the US, and for whom hunting conditions and regulations are different. Here in Oz for example there's still a place for firearms which can fire repeat shots rapidly, especially when culling (and also taking account of the fact that bag limits are largely not a factor here). There's very few who shoot from treestands, and people do, by and large, mostly hunt by sneaking slowly along through cover on foot. We also have very stringent restrictions on self-loaders, which takes them out of reach of many (don't get me started!).

As a result, lever action, as well as pump action rifles and some newer designs using various straight-pull mechanisms are pretty popular here. Lever action shotguns too, for that matter - there's a fair few different models on the market here, both Winchester 1901 clones and more modern designs.

I too enjoy your writing, and would love to read more of your thoughts on lever actions, as well as some of these other types.

I've always been a levergun fan but have never owned a modern lever gun. I've always been satisfied with the 30-30/32/35 Rem level of performance. Have also had a few of the bigger 44/45 caliber thumpers. If I want a modern cartridge I guess I want it in a bolt gun.

Over the next 5 years you'll see an uptick in lever sales mainly due to all the legislation passing at the state level.

Fixed it for you.

I have owned old and new and they suit my needs really well.
I gravitated to the takedown version of the BLR as a trial and liked it so much I bought another.
I use a scout scope on them with quick detach rings, and can put the whole works in my pack.
This is great for my Bighorn and mountain Goat hunting. The trigger take a little getting used to, but it can be refined.
A great subject for the a writer like JB. Just Imagine!
Or the m95's, 94's ( old and new) 88's, 99's or the Longranger etc.
Enjoy the day, folks.

I've gotten into lever guns in my dotage for hunting, I'd like to take my 99 for elk, my 71 for moose and around here my Marlin 1895 Carbine (1951 manufacture) for hogs and deer.

The lever action is far from dead. Writers still write about them, more than you would expect. I have worked with Mike Venturino on many such articles and books. Phil Spangenberger, John Taffin, Brian Pierce and others still write about them. Lever actions are here to stay...

I've got several lever guns in the stable, and I've spent time hunting with one every year since 2002. They are fine for whitetails (which is my primary game). However, as I've aged, I find less reason to be lusting after one. I just bought yet another over the winter that I'll probably rebore to 38-55--you can tell I'm conflicted.

There is nothing better for generating glurge than a lever gun. Make it an old one. Place a kid in the story, and you've got the making of a good outdoor story. The only problem is that there is less and less of a market for glurge these days. Readers are far more interested in technical stories with hard facts, charts, and words like secant ogive and runout tolerance. I love writing glurge. I'd do it all day if someone would pay me to do it.

The Glenfield

To me, what's killing the market for Levers is the MSR. My son has one. He dotes on it. It has all these possibilities for upgrading and accessorizing. So far I've seen him put 3 different sighting systems on it. His latest buy was a chamber cover with WW1WGA laser etched on it.

Levers are just something you love and cherish and shoot and clean. Where's the fun in that?

I don't own an MSR, BTW. I'm much more of a troglodyte. I'm still warming up to bolt actions. Therein lies my biggest conflict.

When I go looking for a rifle to do a job, I'm a guy who likes the cheapest, easiest solution to the problem. Levers generally aren't. Need a new deer rifle? You can buy a Mossberg Patriot in 308 for under $300, or you can by a Marlin 336 for $420. The Patriot gives you longer reach. The 336 gives you a warm feeling inside. The Patriot strips down without muss or fuss. You should have a Marlin 336 on a bench and be ready to catch a bunch of small pieces to take it apart. It's hard to talk up a lever action to a newbie unless you throw in sentiment, and even then it is a hard sell.

Now, don't get me wrong. My Opening Day GOTO deer rifle is a Savage 99, and my off-season walking around rifle is a Marlin 1894 in 336. However, I love the Savage 99, because it's just cool, and the Marlin 1894 could just as easily be my Mini-14. If it were raining out, I'd probably grab the Mini-14, because it's stainless. Were I talking to somebody new to the game, I wouldn't put forward a rifle that has been out of production for 20 years as a suggestion.

Solution? I know one solution that I can't abide:



That thing is an abomination.

Right now I own more lever action rifles than bolt action rifles.I prefer Marlins and have 93`s ,1936`s,36`s 39`s,1894`s,1895`s, 336`s.I also have some Browning 53`s and 92`s both super quality guns .I have to disagree with MD in that I think it is easier to do trigger work and accurizng on the lever actions that I own than bolt actions.Huntz

Yep, gotta make "tactical" lever-actions these days!

Kirk, yes, there will be articles about lever-actions as long as there are gun magazines, but the demand is WAY down from even 10 years ago, partly because Dave Scovill retired. He was convinced that the average gun-magazine reader was far more interested in old lever-actions than bolt-actions (or any other "modern" rifle, even though bolt-actions have been around even longer than lever-actions). This was because HE was more interested in old lever-actions. But as the writers who really like levers retire (or go to the big shooting range in the sky), there'll be even fewer articles about old lever-actions, because not many of the coming generation of gun writers has much interest, and hence knowledge..

This is partly because many of the really nifty old lever-actions are in larger collections of fewer and fewer older enthusiasts (like you and Mike) rather than circulating on the used-gun market. But there are enough of the more common lever-guns still around, at lower prices, to compete with the fewer NEW lever-actions being produced. Which is exactly why Savage never did start making the 99 again, even after saying they might for quite a while: Along with being a very expensive rifle to make (or at least make well enough to attract older fans of the 99), there are still hundreds of thousands of 99's already out there, especially the more common models. As a result, a new-production 99 would be competing against already existing 99's that would be priced lower..

I have done my part to write about lever-actions. In fact back when I was a 99 addict (once owned half-a-dozen .250's at once, amid the rest of my collection, from very early take-downs to the sometimes maligned post-1960 99A) I wrote an article for RIFLE on 'em. Guess what? A bunch of readers then quite seriously blamed me for driving the price up! More recently, however, the price actually seems to be dropping, especially for more common 99's like EG .300's, because demand is fading as older hunters pass on.

As noted, in the past year I did an article on my Model 64 Winchester .30-30, along with one of the new classic-style 94 Sporters. The 94 review was for GUNS magazine, but from recent changes there I would guess that there won't be as many articles on traditional lever rifles in the future.

In the past decade have also done articles on my Marlin 336 .35 Remington, the Winchester 92 in .25-20 I bought from you, along with my Model 71 .348, Model 1894 .25-35 (note the 1894, which is what Winchester stamped the early models--mine was made in 1898), and 1886 take-down .33 WCF, and back in my 99-addict days also did one on a Marlin 93 that had originally been a .30-30 but eventually was rebored and rechambered to .38-55. Oh, and I also did an article on the .32 Special, using a Winchester 94 made in 1952, and worked up handloads with black powder to see how well they worked, since the .32 was designed to be reloadable with black, because reloading with smokeless was considered pretty dangerous back then. It worked just as it was designed to do.

But the magazine market is driven by readers, which are now much younger than the Baby Boomers who were the backbone of the gun market (and other markets) for so many years. And aside from a very few exceptions, Gen Xers and Millenials simply don't care about lever actions.

Yes, lever rifles will always be around, but there are real reasons fewer articles will appear about them, especially as lever-fan gun writers get older. Even that "young" gun writer Brian Pearce is almost 60 now.

Lets make it fairfor the guys from Oz

I’d rather read an article on the ‘92, ‘94, ‘99’, ‘86, ‘73, 336’s, BLR, Henry etc. than any AR article. Alas, I’m in the Dave Scovill age bracket maybe older, I don’t know.

I see American Rifleman keeps up the AR on their front cover and I wish they were more oriented towards ~ 1900 to 1945 era guns. Maybe I should change to American Hunter...

My grandsons are coming of age and soon will be able to hunt their { my } rifles so the instruction presently is with one of my lever guns of choice...

They will as I did many moons ago be instructed to understand and become proficient first with irons... I see way too many younger shooters at the range that couldn't hit a bull in the azz with anything other than a scoped rifle!

Scovill liked lever-actions! Who knew?

Mule Deer, you aren't off the hook til you write an article on the 444!!