Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General Most accurate lever rifle in deer/hog caliber?

What would your choice be in a lever action rifle in a deer/hog rifle under 150 yards?

As much as I love my 30/30's, and I do love them, when it comes to boars it's comforting to have a little bigger hole in the end of the barrel I think. My pick would be a good 300 grain bullet in a 444 Marlin. Recoil is a little less the than the good old 45/70. Come to think of it, I really love my 375 Winchester also.....

Hard to picture anything more accurate than the 444 Marlin I owned for many years? And it smacked stuff pretty damn hard, too.

I love a M-'94 Winchester in 38-55 WCF a 265 gr Beartooth hard cast flat nosed bullet with a max charge of RL-7 shoots very flat and hits very hard out to 200 yards through a Lyman receiver peep sight.

Have had three '94's so chambered, they have all been accurate shooters with the above combo, penetration is phenomenal as well.

Gunner

A 444 Marlin shucking out 310 grainers of 30/1 alloy will flat knock chit flat!

It would be hard to go wrong with an older Marlin 336 in 35 Remington using the Remington 200 grain factory stuff. That bullet expands well at just about any velocity and penetrates very deeply. It kickes less than the 444 or 45-70 and comes in a rifle that weighs less.

I have never hunted hogs, but if you can find a .356 Win I would guess they would work. Mine shoots into 1.5" with 250g PP

I was going to say .356 as well,although mine prefers the 180gr Speer,with the 220's doing almost as well.Either way I'd feel quite confident.

Browning BLR in 358 Win at that range is tough to beat.

The several BLR's I've seen and handled have shot better than most Winny's and Marlins. You can get them chambered in a great assortment of cartridges too. I prefer the SA chamberings though as the LA variants have a longer lever throw and are not as silky as the SA BLRs.

I love mine in 358Win.

Most accurate? Varies rifle to rifle. Anything but a 94 has potential to be a tack driver. 94's would work great to the range you mentioned though.

A .308MX is quite the accurate rifle/cartridge combo. The extra velocity never hurts energy levels either. The .338MX has to be a little "mo betta."

Ditto 356 !!!

I've hunted hogs with a Marlin 444 and 1895 45-70. I've used the Hornady XTP 240 gr (at 2400 fps) and 265 gr FP (2200 fps) in the 444 and both will flatten a hog in it's tracks, but the 240 is too frangible and will send shrapnel everywhere. I load Speer Unicor 300 gr at 2200 fps in the 45-70 and it is just a little more of the same, but no deadlier than the 444. The accuracy will surprise you at first. I've owned five or six Marlin big bores (still own a couple) and all would shoot at MOA or better (some cloverleafs) at 100 yds with my handloads and scoped. All my loads are chrono'd.

A very good bullet. It holds together at that speed very well, and matches the trajectory of my .30-30 close enough not to worry about any difference to 200 yards. As for the .444, I would much prefer the 265 you mention over the 240 XTP. The new Speer "Plinkers" are Unicor construction, but I've not tried them at .444 speeds. They are doing pretty good at .44 mag speeds in a rifle, though.

Vic, it was you that turned me on to that bullet 2 or 3 years ago. Thanks again! It's the only bullet I load for my 45-70s and at 2200 fps, my MPBR is right at 200 yds. Unless I was going after the great bears, I can't see a need for anything heavier.

You didn't mention price.

Probably a Winchester model 88 in .358 Win.

DF

Savage 99 nuff said!

Good deal, and you're welcome, glad they worked out!

I've played with some 540 grain LBT-style bullets at 1550 or so fps, and my first thought was "who's gonna get the worst end of the deal here, me or the bear?". But off the bench and in field position, they aren't so bad. On me, that is. Them things penetrate!

Sorry for the hijack and now back to our regular programming.

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