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LEVER ACTION RIFLES
Say 'Hello' to the Next Generation of 'Cowboy
Guns'
Shooting at big game over greater distances no
longer requires a bolt-action rifle and a
cartridge designed for such a rifle. Today’s
leveraction rifle has leaped once again to the
front of the development curve, with new bullet
designs that work very well in lever-actions and
extend their range considerably.
Over the past couple of years, new ammunition
breakthroughs – developed as a cooperative effort
between Marlin Firearms and Hornady – allow the
traditional lever-action with a tubular magazine
to step up to the challenge of shooting
effectively at longer ranges.
Spire-point bullets with soft but ballistically-efficient
synthetic tips that prevent the kind of accidental
discharges that have precluded the use of such
projectiles in tubular magazines until now are
giving new life to a rifle design that dates back
to the Old West. Oh, what cowboys and settlers
could have done with these rifles!
But whether the range is long, or very short, the
lever-action has been the choice for generations
of outdoorsmen and women from the deep woods of
Northern Maine to the craggy peaks of the Rockies
and Cascades. It is fast, sleek, relatively
lightweight and very reliable under all kinds of
conditions.
SIMPLE OPERATION
The lever-action rifle is one of the easiest
firearms to operate. The very first lever-action
firearm was actually a pistol, but the design was
to find its true destiny in the rifle realm.
Initially chambered for a rather mild cartridge,
leveraction rifles eventually were designed to
handle calibers stout enough to take deer, black
bear, elk and even moose and bison.
Ideal for hunting in brushy or wooded
environments, the leveraction of today is a
combination of 19th Century tradition and
engineering genius and 21st Century materials and
technology.
No longer merely a “saddle gun” with a rather
plain wood stock featuring a punishing curved
steel butt plate, today‘s lever-action rifle might
boast a stainless steel barrel and solid receiver
that is drilled and tapped for scope mounts, and a
stock that might be synthetic or a handsome
laminate that is impervious to moisture. Recoil
pads are now typical, to soak up the punch of such
cartridges as the .45-70, .450 Marlin and .444
Marlin.
The most common cartridge for which lever-action
rifles are chambered is the .30-30 Win., which was
once the most popular cartridge among American
deer hunters. The common denominator among
cartridges for which lever-action rifles have
traditionally been chambered is that the bullet
has either a flat or round nose. This was done
specifically to prevent those accidental
discharges mentioned earlier when cartridges are
inserted into a tubular magazine with the tip of
one bullet touching the primer of the cartridge
ahead of it.
STURDY RIMFIRES
In addition to centerfire rifles, there are
numerous lever-action rifles chambered in .22 Long
Rifle. These are designed for small game hunting,
varmint and predator control, plinking, target
shooting and other recreation. They feature the
same rugged designs and engineering found in their
large-caliber siblings. They are also superb
choices for teaching young shooters about
marksmanship, muzzle control and other safety
rules.
LEVER ‘EVOLUTION’
During the past couple of years, led by developers
at Hornady, ammunition for lever-action centerfire
rifles has taken a giant leap forward.
Appropriately calling their new line of
cartridges.
“LeverEvolution,” this cartridge family features
the spire-point bullet with the synthetic tip.
Such cartridges are able to extend the effective
range of the lever-action well beyond 200 yards.
In the future, even your grandfather’s .30-30
becomes something of a plains rifle, and larger
lever-action calibers are on par with some of the
more potent bolt-action big game rounds.
Lever-action rifles designed with side ejection
offer the advantage of easy scope mounting, and
also flip empty cartridges out and away from the
action. But even with traditional metallic sights,
or newer fiber-optic sights that gather in lots of
light for a sharp sight picture even in heavy
cover, it is far too early to be retiring the
lever action to the corner.
From all indications, it appears the surface has
just been scratched with these new cartridge
developments, and a rifle that seemed as though it
had seen its last sunset now has new horizons to
conquer.
LEVER ACTION SAFETY FEATURES
Every Marlin centerfire lever action made since
1983 has these safety features:
- Two-piece firing pin. The rear part of the
pin drops out of alignment with the front until
the locking bolt is fully engaged.
- Trigger block. This device prevents the
trigger from being pulled until the lever is
closed.
- Half-cock hammer position. This is the
traditional lever action safety position.
- Hammer block safety. When engaged, it
prevents the hammer from striking the firing
pin, even if the trigger is pulled.
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