When talking about 45-70 levergats, a random boomer told me Marlin makes the best lever action rifles. Oldest lever action manufacturer, and their quality has never dropped according to him. From my limited knowledge, QC became an issue when Remington took over, and when Ruger took over there were less QC issues but still some. Henry has been acceptable with some QC issues this whole time from what. I had to send in my bigboyx in 44mag for a feeding issue before I even shot the thing. Rossi is an unknown to me so I can't say anything about them. I don't think Winchester makes lever action guns anymore.
Who makes the best modern lever action in 45-70? Price should be considered to a degree, but I'm asking for the best. Bonus points for looking like the Medicine Stick.
QC was shit for years before the buyout. Remington buying them meant they could actually buy new tools and start making quality again.
Miroku makes lever actions under the WInchester name. Probably the best lever actions.
>miroku
Sounds interesting.
I was thinking the same thing. No point in trying to argue with the guy though.
>interesting
Yeah.
>QC was shit for years before the buyout.
This. Have a 70's '94 that's a clunky unreliable piece of shit, even after replacing basically everything but the receiver. I also have a 1895 purchased new in 2003 that actually functions well and is somehow accurate despite chatter marks in the rifling, but it looks like it was machined by a drunk moron with a Dremel. I actually wound up buffing the entire exterior and shooting it with molykote because I was embarrassed by its appearance, but evidently Marlin thought it looked good enough to ship.
Disagree. I have a 1950 JM 30-30 that's great.
>Marlin
>their quality has never dropped
Hooooooooooo boy...
>Who makes the best modern lever action in 45-70?
its still marlin, you might have to search for a good one but the base design is just straight up better. unless you want it to look historical
>base design is better
Good to know.
>lever gun in 308
I'd probably buy a 308 bolt action before a lever action. Are lever actions just as accurate as bolt actions? I understand that either might be more accurate than I can shoot them.
Can't find anything worth while for Miroku so far, but I haven't looked at auction sights yet.
>Are lever actions just as accurate as bolt actions?
The Winchester M88 rotating bolt is "The lever gun that shoots like a bolt gun." All advertisements at the time said so. The M99 left also takes pointies. The BLR and FinWolf also have rotating bolts, iirc.
>Can't find Miroku
Winchester 1886. Modern Winchesters are made by Miroku. They're pretty expensive but they're very strong.
Oh, I was having a moment apparently. How strong are we talking? In the link, there are three levels of loading. (https://static.hornady.media/site/hornady/files/load-data/basic-rifle-data.pdf) I assume I can't just go crazy with a marlin then. On the other hand, this doesn't list the pressures, and with different powders with different burn rates the pressures can be different. It's quite possible I'm just overthinking this.
Answered my own question. The pressures are accounted for with the loads given.
Side note, there are a decent number of dubs in this thread.
Marlins are in tier 2, which allows for up to 43,000psi. That leaves about a 40% margin of safety.
Modern 1886's(since the 80's), including the model 71 which dates back to 1935, are good for 50,000psi. It's not unheard of for guys to just use Ruger No1 data, though I back off a grain or two from max.
I keep seeing "JM marked" for listed Marlin guns. Seems like those are before Remington took over.
"JM" was a transition, "JM"(inside) oval is precedent.
Be careful with those. My dad bought a 336 marlin at the end of the original run at the marlin factory, it was JM stamped.
It shot ok. I put a receiver mounted peep site on it and then noticed the barrel was rotated to the right so bad couldn't get the front site in peep. put a scope on it and it's not noticeable. I'll keep it because probably can't sell if I tell the truth.
May need a fence post one day
Gunsmith can fix that.
I've read that when the barrel is turned back to line up the sights, the extractor doesn't line up with the cut in the barrel.
Any truth to that?
Several ways to tackle it, all of them are shitty.
If the front dovetail isn't too far off, remove the barrel, mill a little, cut a new thread to set the barrel in further. Then cut the extractor groove a little wider/deeper to compensate. This will necessitate two other shitty procedures: you'll need to chop off a little barrel so it isn't proud inside the reciever and then cut the chamber deeper.
Easiest thing to do is to to address the barrel on the front end. Just plug the dovetail/taps and then silver solder a front sight base on the correct place.
Sounds expensive.
And living in a small rural area, gun smiths around here are also the local meth cooks
Was it used when your dad bought it?
Nope bought new at a divks sporting goods.
He probably didn't even take it out of the box to look at it. He had gotten older and had a bad case of don't give a shits
>Who makes the best modern lever action in 45-70?
I can't argue with this question, but a lever gun in .308 shits on .45-70 all day and night. And it gets even better in .358Win. The obsession with .45-70 boomer lore is unreal.
>t. 1 .45-70 Marlin, 2 .308 Win and Savage
>, and their quality has never dropped according to him
as the owner of a JM marlin with a microgrove barrel, this is incorrect. my loading gate doesn't even work and nothing had been deburred in the 40 years my gun existed before I got it. and yeah, I've tried to fix the loading gate, something about the geometry is fricked, I have to crack the lever open to load it.
Could it be that the loading gate just broke after 40 years?
the problem is that everything is there. there aren't any broken parts.
If you want performance, don't buy obsolete chambers.
This is moronic advice. Many of those old cartridges have huge case capacity and are capable of extremely high performance when loaded in a modern gun. If you wanted the maximum possible meme power in a levergat you're not really going to improve on a .50-110, the Miroku-made Winchesters can be handloaded to over 5000 ft-lb, that's full on elephant gun territory.
Agreed. I am amazed how an anon can have such smug moron tier takes.
>i want what i want
>stamps feet
Better is better, modern is better. Deal.
>Zoomcuck seethe
Cope.
I have no knowledge of lever-actions aside from they look cool.
What are the companies/brands to look for and stay away from?
I'd like to get a 308 preferably.
>I'd like to get a 308 preferably.
That is going to greatly limit your choices. Most levergats use tube magazines under the barrel. Those don't play nice with pointy spitzer bullets like most .308 cartridges use. There's only a handful of .308 models. Off the top of my head, the Henry Long Ranger, Savage model 95 and 99, Browning BLR, Winchester model 88...and that's about it. Winchester 1895 is worth mentioning, it's a great design and while it is not available in .308, they were made in .30-06.
1895 looks cool as frick, thanks anon.
>Marlin makes the best lever action rifles
No. These days the nicest levergats are the Winchesters made by Miroku, or Big Horn Armory. IMHO the Winchesters are the best deal going, it's hard to beat John Browning's design and Jap QC autism. The fit and finish of those guns is very nice and honestly they are great value for the money. Miroku's shotguns are also excellent, for example they make the Citori for Browning.
Big Horn is made in the USA, based on a beefed-up version of John Browning's action, they're more expensive but they are also super nice quality, and they have offerings in modern high pressure pistol calibers, if you want high performance then a .460 S&W or a .500 S&W can make very high power out of a rifle-length barrel.
The Big Horn Armory guns are weird because every video I've seen of people using them have had at least one feeding malfunction or problem(like rough action). They also raised prices ludicrously last year, if any company comes out with a cheaper alternative then I'd it would sell.
Not very impressed by what I've seen, for the money they should have a sterling reputation like Freedom Arms.
The best modern lever gun was manufactured in the 60s-80s. Buy a used marlin.
I have an early 2000s Rossi Rio Grande in 45-70 I picked up in a trade. Not super nice fit and finish wise but I can consistently hit steel plates at 300yrds with it off hand. I think they can be found for around 800 maybe...if you can find them? My 1950 Marlin has the smoothest lever I've ever encountered.
>scamlin reduses to chamber the 336 into 356 or 375 w OUT OF SAFETY REASONS.
I have held, but did not buy, a 336 chambered in .375 winchester.
>reduses
>the absolute state of the modern GT watcher
K.
>old ways are only ways
Keep fricking grandma, I'll bang the new stuff. Newer is better and you know this.
The W94 and W95 are not as strong as the 86/92. 95s were known to stretch recievers and setback bolts with modern 30-06 loads leading to excessive headspace. The bolts in both the 94 and 95 are very angled and the bolt will try to climb them under excess pressure.
The locking surface also isn't the Marlin's main problem, it's the reciever. They have huge cutouts on the right side and the bottom isn't solid either. The Winchester 86 and 92 have significantly more metal surrounding the chamber and reinforcing the entire reciever.
>bolts are very angles
Sorry, locking lug is very angled and the bolt will try to climb it. It's cold out.
>Win M94BB
I am forgotten.
Unnecessary when the 86 was stronger and would feed longer.
They beefed up the reciever in the wrong area(rear) and the ones that were angle eject were significantly inferior. The chamber needs the meat.