Lever guns popularity

[BB57]

My dad handed me his 94 when I was 13. He carried a Savage 99. We hunted whitetail together in the Black Hills, SD. Great memories. Last time I used it was in 2013, taking a spike in the northern Hills. Dealing with serious health issues that are now pretty much resolved, I handed it down to a younger family member with the promise to hand it down to his son. It needs to stay in the family.

I bought a replacement 94 now that my health is improved, and passed along another 94 to my brother so we could hunt deer together. I also have an 1873 Winchester Moruku in.357 and a Browning BL22. Levers are simply an American icon.

We’ve certainly hunted the same ground. I was raised out on the high plains and had zero us for a lever gun or the .30-30. However, I moved to Lead in my 30’s and discovered that the flat shooting bolt action rifles I preferred out on the high plains were not ideal for hunting in heavily wooded, and mountainous terrain.

I bought an excellent condition 20” Model 94 carbine in .30-30 made in 1956 for $275. I found it shot 1.5 MOA with a Lyman no 2 tang sight, and it proved to be the ideal tool for hunting hills deer.

Over the years I “regressed” to the even older .38-55 and found it is in most respects superior to the .30-30 as a deer and black bear woods cartridge, in both its original high velocity smokeless loading and its modern “.38-55 heavy” and very similar .375 Win loadings.

 

[BB57]

I doubt that a ban on semi-auto will happen anytime soon and real assault rifles are already banned under the NFA. Lever action rifles are as American as apple pie, in pistol calibers they can hold 10 rounds which is definitely a plus, and after decades of movies that featured such guns there is probably no American gun person alive who holds lever action rifles in any kind of disdain. And they're prettier than ARs….

Real assault rifles were not banned by the NFA of 1934, they were just taxed and required to be registered.

Reagan and his signing of the 11th hour Hughes Amendment to the Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986 is where the importation and manufacture of transferrable fully automatic and select fire firearms was banned.

Reagan was pro law enforcement but he was never in any way shape or form pro gun or pro second amendment. He just knew how to stay under the radar and/or put good spin on the anti gun legislation he passed or supported.


No argument about looks or handling.

I have a number of military style semi auto rifles and few can come close to the handling, balance and looks of a traditional lever action rifle.

 

[Truckman]

Sounds like the X Model and getting $1,200.00 for it does not shock me at all.

Yes, it was the X Model......Ben

 

[zeke]

22 lr's, 22 mag, 25-20, 30-30's, 307 Win, 32-20, 357 mag, 375 Win's, 44 mags, 444 marlin and 45-70. Mix of mid age Winchester' and Marlins. One henry.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

I was thinking the same. It looks like he is running a see-through mount so as to be able to see the irons.
I'd have to have quite a thick pad to get my head up far to use the scope.

Never understood having a huge scope on a lever 30-30 anyway.
Using a fixed 2 1/2x or 2 3/4x would not only eliminate the need for use of the irons, but would be lower, lighter weight and more compact.
If someone needs more magnification to peer into the brush, that's what binoculars are for.
Not sure what you are looking at ? Maybe don't point your rifle that way yet.

Ever been out hunting, seen someone in the distance, looked at them with binoculars, then realized they have seen you too and they are looking at you through their rifle scope ?
A bit unnerving to say the least.

Binoculars are for scanning, riflescopes are for making the shot AFTER the target has been identified.
Not nice to point your loaded rifle at other people just because you want to check them out and don't feel like packing along or getting out your binos.

Sorry, rant over.

I scan with high $$$ binoculars Meopta Meostar 12x50. I also hunt with LARGE quality scopes on ALL of my rifles. As I have stated here before. Our hours for deer are 1 hr before sunrise to 1hr after sunset. Those little weinie 2x"s, 4x"s small diameter tube scopes won't cut it. All my lever guns wear at minimum 3x10x50 scopes..........You can't shoot what you can't see.......

 

[balin]

Real assault rifles were not banned by the NFA of 1934, they were just taxed and required to be registered.

Reagan and his signing of the 11th hour Hughes Amendment to the Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986 is where the importation and manufacture of transferrable fully automatic and select fire firearms was banned.

Reagan was pro law enforcement but he was never in any way shape or form pro gun or pro second amendment. He just knew how to stay under the radar and/or put good spin on the anti gun legislation he passed or supported.


No argument about looks or handling.
.
I have a number of military style semi auto rifles and few can come close to the handling, balance and looks of a traditional lever action rifle.

Ronnie also supported The Brady Act and the assault weapons ban along with other anti initiatives

 

[bman940]

I use a Meopta MeoPro 6X42 on my Belgium Browning BLR .308 Win. It is an absolute tack driver when the temperature is above 30 deg. I Love the big objective for a wider field of view and larger exit pupil for those low-light situations. I have even used it to take feral swine at 100 yards with just moonlight. Quite impressive. Meopta also has a MeoStar (top tier glass) 7X56 that would be awesome to use.

 

[BB57]

Ronnie also supported The Brady Act and the assault weapons ban along with other anti initiatives

Most definitely. As governor Reagan signed the Mulford Act which banned open carry in California. That was aimed at ending armed citizen patrols that would now be termed “cop watching” at a time when police were disparately using force against minorities.

That, like the Hughes Amendment to the FOPA can be arguably defended as “pro law enforcement” and aren’t necessarily in contrast to his views previously stated views on the second amendment. Reagan’s stance during his campaign for President was that violent crime would never be eliminated, with or without gun control. Instead, he said efforts to curb crime should target those who misuse guns, similar to the way other laws target those who use an automobile feloniously or recklessly.

But his support of the Brady Bill and the AWB of 1994 were 180 degrees away from his prior position on gun control.

Fortunately, two of his four Supreme Court appointments, Scalia and Kennedy, were still on the bench in 2008 for the DC v. Heller decision and again in 2010 for the McDonald v. Chicago decision.