Home Forums Lever Action Central Big Bore Levers Which lever action rifle and caliber would be the deadliest?

hey guys new to the sight. imhop i have to go with winchester 95 in 405 loaded with 300gr barnesX

I certainly don't have vast amounts of experiance hunting really big game, but my 1895 405 win sure puts big holes in critters. I have had full length penetration of a whitetail (300gr hornady stopped under neck skin below ear). After examining a 300lb blk bear, my guide just asked "what the *ell did you shoot him with?"

My Browning 71 when loaded with 250gr Hawks is a heck of a rifle.

I would feel very confident with either rifle in almost any modest range situation.

Great pics, Klikitarik! Looks like home. I spent 25 years in Alaska - sure miss it!

I certainly agree that it is about where you hit them!

Klikitarik


Now Mark,you no Buffalo Bore has a 45-70 load with the 350 Speer at 2150 fps which was pressure checked according to Brian Pierce, at 39,500 CUP for that partucular lott by Hodgdons powder.Grizzly Cartridges gas a 350 at 2200 fps and Accurate powder has published data for the 450 Marlin with a 350 Speer at 39,000 PSI at 2247 fps in a 24" barrel.

Great pictures,as always..Take care,ya here...

Jayco

Jayco, the 350 Speer can be loaded for the Marlin - you're correct; I just happened to have loaded more IMR 4198 in those particular loads than I would want to fire in a Marlin. Still, the bullet could still be pushed at similar speeds I'm sure. IOW, the Marlin could have been used to do any of the deeds shown. I just happen to hunt with the #1 more often.

Klikitarik

Bullet/powder combinations makes for some good loads,as you no.You just can't pull up the powder you have handy and match certain loads and velocity's,again,as you no.

The man that gave you the North Forks load is 2183 fps with H-4198..Again,not the best choice for this particular bullet.But it works and is under Buffalo Bores load in pressure alittle.There are better powders for that bullet as well as the 350 Speer.Rumor has it Buffalo Bores uses Benchmark to get the velocitities he does with a very compressed load for the OAL for the Marlin.They chrono out of my Guide Gun at 2114 fps in about 70 degree temps.

Come on over and say hi once in a while...I miss giving you a hard time.

Jayco

50-110 Express out of a 1886 Winchester will stop anything on the planet with a 600 grain hardcast bullet and 110 grains FFg.

Wayne

A lot of good advise here. Fact is several calibers will fit what you want. Also, you seem to be good candidate for a match set. What I mean by that is a pistol/rifle set. The BFR comes in several calibers that match the rifle. I have a BFR set in both 444 and 450 Marlin, matching the 444s and the 1895M. The 444s is 22 inches, so may be a little long for what you want, but I wouldn't have any qualms about carrying the 18 and a half inch 450 Marlin Guide Gun in a scabard, and a 10 inch, five shot SA BFR in a holster. Grizzly or freight train, wouldn't make much difference....

The Savage 99 .375 would be good, maybe in .358 also... I don't know about other calibers in the 99 or other makes of leverguns but my .300 Savage model 99 with the rotary magazine IS a CRF rifle... I can chamber rounds at any angle including upside down 100% reliably... It has a fixed extractor kinda like a CRF bolt rifle...

1886 Winchester in 50 Express. 500 grains at 2000 f/s makes a pretty good one shot stopper.

Wayne

Gentlemen, this is an interesting topic, with a long life. My recent purchase of a Ruger No. 1 in .45-70 caused me to look in here, but being a fan of the BLR made this topic much more interesting than I thought it would be. My BLRs are .308, not big bore, but all this talk of custom big-bore BLRs have the wheels turning in my head. I find it amusing that some think the BLR is ugly; I think all post-war Marlins are about the ugliest rifles I have ever seen, but I don't worry about exterior beauty, as long as the rifle does its job. My next purchase may well be a .357 Marlin I have seen at a local dealer. My SIG P229R duty pistol is not a thing of beauty, either, but it puts decent bullets where I want them to go, so what's the issue? (Yeah, I'd rather those bullets be .45, but my chief says they will be .40, while on the clock.) While carrying a BLR, I can always have a nice CCH/blued SAA along with me to balance things out.

BLR's not only look like akward handling POS, they feel like them too. Glossy huntin' rifles are a joke, right down to the gold trigger. A POS in a fancy wrapper. In the 30+yrs BLR's have been around, they've had far more the amount of problems than Marlins have had in 100yrs. And that is a FACT, not an opinion. Anyone who would consider a BLR to be as reliable as a Marlin just don't know leverguns. I wouldn't take a BLR over ANY single Marlin or Winchester levergun design in history, reliability wise or looks wise, or feel wise.......

Handling qualities are subjective, individual characteristics. Clumsy to me may be graceful to another, and vice versa. I would take neither a BLR nor an unmodified Marlin willingly to a war or a gunfight, as I have much better alternatives.

Got source(s) for that "FACT"?

Andy

BLR's have been recalled in the past for this reason:

http://people.redhat.com/zaitcev/gun/blr-freeze.news

There are guys on this site that have had the same problem. As well as my wife's cousin....

Broken, chipped, or frozen gears.....

There was also a safety recall on them, long actions only. I think....

I'll check on the recall info and see if I can find anything........

Big Jake one thing you may have picked up on by now is 2 muchs boneheaded beligerent dislike of the BLR. He says he's got his reasons, and for several years now he's stuck to his dislike of the gun.
Just a damn shame he can't let it go and get over it, cuz there's abunch of us have owned and own several of them and have never ever had any of the problems he's claimed. So its best just to let him ramble and leave it go at that.

as always, Ranch!

I am picking one up on the way home UPS delivered it and the other I already have in the safe. I will post pics later.

I'm sorry, there's only hearsay and allegory there. You stated that more failures have occurred in BLRs than have occurred in Marlins (since 1907), yet still have no figures for either.

Make sure you get the figures on Marlin problems too, else the figures on BLR problems mean nothing.

I'm not knocking Marlins. I have one ('94 in 45 colt), and really like it. But it has had a problem here and there too.

Andy

Then there is the "Marlin Jam" so cussed and discussed. Probably VERY FEW Marlins have actually been really bad, but the term has stuck. Then, I see the upgraded ejector on the WWG website, which indicates at least some Alaskans think the stock ejector to be a little uninspiring. I say again, I am on the lookout for a nice Marlin in .357, so I am not saying Marlins are bad. One very firearms-knowledgeable friend has a customized Marlin .357, and has had no problems with it, before or since the customizing. It is his truck rifle, that he largely carries for defensive use; having been in gunfights while he still wore a badge, he will not carry junk.