Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General .357 Mag Lever Gun Options

Looking to add a .357 Lever action rifle to the tool chest. Would prefer to keep the barrell 20" or less.

Here are some options I am looking at:

Henry 10 + 1 357/38 Special Lever Action w/Octagon Blue Barrell $655
http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/26449

Rossi 357 Magnum Lever Action w/20" Round Stainless Barrel $424
http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/56503

Marlin 1894CSS 357 Mag. 18" Stainless Walnut Stock $608
http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/59486

Puma 10 + 1 357 Magnum Lever Action w/20" Round Stainless $495
http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/86093

I like the idea of stainless, and have heard various comments around the strenght of one action vs. the other.

Why Puma vs. Marlin vs. Rossi??

Would appreciate your comments. Thanks!

a couple months ago i bought a used like new henry big boy 357. it was an early gun with SN# under 2000.
it wouldn't chamber correctly, the round would come up and hit the bottom of the chamber. if you jiggled the lever it would then chamber. contacted henry and they sent me a pre paid UPS shipping label. in 3-4 weeks the brown truck pulled up and i had a brand new-replaced henry in the box. hard to beat that kind of service. the henry's are pretty heavy and a little nose heavy for balance. the old gun (new one still in the box) showed good accuracy. i wouldn't want all of my guns to have the shinny brass frame but i do like having one. i know the marlins are good guns too but if you read they have their problems as well. i have never owned the other brands you mention so no experiance with those. so follow thru and choose one , as the 357 rifle is fun to shoot......

Good article on the Marlin 1894CSS .357 by Brian Pearce in the November, 2010, issue of Rifle Magazine. They were still displayed on the magazine racks as of last Saturday

I've got a couple of the Marlin 1894 CS and they are nice. 357 Mag is a good round. Put it in a rifle and it's really a good round. They really come to life. 100 yard deer rifle with the right bullet.

I bought a Marlin 1894 357 magnum rifle, one of the last ones made before they moved the plant. I bought it to replace a 44 magnum Marlin 1894, its just no sense shooting deer with a 44 when a 357 will work and I have pistols chambered in same. The first time loaded out of the box at the range it jamed and would not feed, I sent it back to Marlin with a note that if it did not feed 180 grain Remington SJHP's they could send me my money back. The tag was still hanging from the magazine when I sent it back. I got it back with the mag tube scratched in a couple of places and a couple of dents in the stock. Calling Marlin the lady I spoke with did not seem to care. I took it to the range and it fed and fired 180 grain Remington SJHP ammunition just fine, the gun acted like it was made for that round. I was busting tennis ball sized chunks of cinderblock off a rail at 20 yards with the open sights. I do not plan to change this gun in any way, no extra Xsteme sights, no scope, just buy cartridges for it and shoot it. It makes a very handy carry carbine, and has been with me when hunting on the ground in a ground blind. I have not killed a deer with it yet but next year I will try to take a doe with it early in the season. My biggest complaint is that the loaded shells I paid $29.00 a box of 50 are now $40.00 a box of 50. Personally I don't understand why ammunition continues to go up exponentially.

Have a EMF Rossi Hartford 92 clone in stainless with an 18 inch octagon barrel. It's a real shooting machine. Matches my Freedom arms octagon barrelled 5 shooter. The both handle the Beartooth 185 Grain Gas Check very well.

I've got a Puma/Rossi stainless.

Despite the negative hype about quality vs. affordability ...

I find mine to have excellent fit and finish, smooth action,feeds anything I've put through it, digested 500 of my favorite cast loads straight on without a trace of leading or other issues of any kind, and destroys water filled soda bottles at 50 yards off hand with such regularity as to make it hard to remember if it misses at all.

What more do you need?

I own and love my Marlins and Winchester 94's, but you'll find it hard to beat the feel of a 92 based action.

i shoot the stainless Marlin 1894CSS, but cant compare it to the others since i havent played with them...so far the Marlin has only had a couple hundred rounds through it, mostly plinkin with .38's. It cycled reliably, shoots plenty good enough for me as "just in case something needs shot" gun that i pack around when filling feeders, checking cameras, etc. never know when a hog or coyote or something will pop up as a target.

i stuck an XS ghost ring on back and a Fire-Sight bead up front, been real happy with it.

I love my Marlin 1894CP with a 16 1/4" tube.

I have a Puma, blued model, good working rifle, plenty accurate. Does not like lead 38 specials, but .357 mags cycle smooth as silk.

Try .38 Special and .357 Magnum handloads that measure 1.550" and see how it shoots. I have minimized the feeding problems with the longer cartridges.

Henry's are excellent rifles. They are heavier than the others, but part of that is due to the size of the octagon barrel. It's like equipping a rifle with a bull barrel. Right now no one can compete with Henry in the customer service end of the business.

Rossi's are based on the Winchester action so are MUCH more complex to work on, but people who own them like them. Also, If I remember right, Puma and Rossi are both owned by Taurus. As far as service go's, one of the gun shops here puts it this way. "If there's anything requiring factory work to fix, you send it in and then spend the next couple months whistling dixie waiting for them to get to it."

I have an 1894C which will feed anything. The only reason I bought it over the Henry is that I wanted a shorter barrel. Reason is my 1894C fills the slot most people use a shotgun for. It's my home protection gun. One caveat. Sometimes they'll have problems feeding a particular round. The service has been moved to Remington and reports coming back on the customer service are pretty discouraging. So if it won't feed a particular round, there's no guarantee the Remington service guys will be able to fix it. Or it may take as long to get back as a Rossi.

Picked up this Winchester Trapper in .357 Mag. just before Winchester went out of business a few years ago. It was at a local gun shop for $185.00 because it "just wouldn't sell" !!
About 2 months later they were selling for $700.00 and up !

Shot this fox at about 50 yards with 170gr Gold dots @ 1825 fps. He dropped at the shot.




Gun does real well at 100 yds.
I shot 1 shot to "Dirty the barrel" then 3 for group...
Can't complain !!

Does Speer make a 170gr factory Gold Dot load or is that a handload?

Mine are hand loads with Lil'Gun powder

Speer makes a load with the 170 GD, in a pistol the MV is 1180...

357 Magnum Part# 23959

Look at the bottom of the page at this link under "Speer Handgun Hunting". They now call the "Gold Dot" bullet the "DeepCurl" bullet, but it's the same bullet...

http://glarp.atk.com/2011/2011_Catalogs/SpeerAmmoCatalog.pdf

Ah. Thanks!

I have an original Winchester 1892 half magazine rebored to .357 with a 22" nickle steel barrel.

I'll let you know how it shoots when I get it out of gun jail
next tuesday (Cal 10 day waiting period).

I have an 80's vintage Marlin 1894 in 357 I bought used, blued, gold trigger. Loads 38's and mags flawlessly, shoots great, great trigger. I think its a micro-grouve but it still shoots lasercasts very well. I found a old weaver for $20 and stuck it on. Perfect look, fit. My revolver bore snake cleans it in a snap.

Cabelas has them on sale; 1894C, 3 calibers for $549.00...

BGunn,

Is that the entrance hole or exit hole on that fox?

Ed