Underlever choices

[bradaz11]

rossi - solid but agricultural. it will just work. not the smoothest of guns and can be a bit tempermental on cartridge length. I have 1, nice light gun for beginners.

henry - HEAVY. I've had 2, sold both, tube loading is a pain. great spares support, and you can get some extra nice bits on them, but I wouldn't buy another. main plus is you can scope it.

marlin - huge cult in gallery circles, but I've ever understood the attraction, especially as it seems accepted that every so often it will just jam itself up.
only one i'd give housespace to would be a 32 mag, but thats because they are the only ones to have made one.

winchester 94AE - lifters... still a weak point on them, and they still seem hard to get. but you can put a scope on

miroku made guns, their 94 will still have a weak lifter design as its still the same, but other than a 94, their 92's are like the rossi, just pretty. and their 1873/66 are very nice, but limited in calibre choice.

uberti - 1873/66 nice guns and have various go faster bits designed to fit (but may not fit the jap made ones) readily availiable in the US. huge choice of layout and calibre. I have 2, and recently sold a 3rd. Would happily buy one again.

[shoppe]

I did an Internet search for carriers before I bought the marlin but could only find the shooting shed that made one's that were not cast. At that time I just missed out on the batch that was made and future batchs were a bit uncertain if they would be made. I could not even find original winchester carriers hence the buying the marlin. I see on the link in the previous posting they are unavailable.

[shoppe]

I have never had a jam in my marlin. The correct overall cartridge length has to be found for your rifle but that is easily felt when expermenting when racking the rifle.it will not feel as smooth as it should be.
Like most under levers I have owned or shot, they all need to be racked as quick as possible. I have seen people ,fire the shot, rack the action to eject the case and wait for a while ( a number of seconds) and then rack the action to load the next cartridge. Just do it all in one very quick action.

[lovemunkey187]

Thank you all for the replies.

only minor setback is it's a model 1894 with top eject so mounting a scope is somewhat of a problem, but I shoot it with an aperture sight.

I would like the option of being able to put an optic of some kind on whatever I end up getting.

Have a look at Uberti as well. Keep an eye out for auctions as lever actions quite often appear there too

Auctions? Where can these be found?

Have you spoken to Roger at Rimfire Magic (South Yorkshire Shooting Supplies)?

SY19498 Henry Big Boy Steel rifle in .357 calibre, a fine example of the tube magazine loading lever action rifle in a popular calibre. This example has fibre optic sights fitted and is also supplied with a scope base. This one is in excellent all round condition with blued receiver and blued 20″ round barrel …… £750 https://www.rimfiremagic.co.uk/secondhand-firearms/

Also, try Alan at A&A Gunsmiths https://www.aandagunsmiths.co.uk/

I purchased my .44 Marlin Dark from Roger. Alan at A&A 'slicked up' my Marlin .357 (very worthwhile having done), I have been very happy with the service from both companies.

I haven't been in contact with Rimfire Magic before. That Henry does looks nice, but I want side gate, not tube loading.

[lovemunkey187]

rossi - solid but agricultural. it will just work. not the smoothest of guns and can be a bit tempermental on cartridge length. I have 1, nice light gun for beginners.

henry - HEAVY. I've had 2, sold both, tube loading is a pain. great spares support, and you can get some extra nice bits on them, but I wouldn't buy another. main plus is you can scope it.

marlin - huge cult in gallery circles, but I've ever understood the attraction, especially as it seems accepted that every so often it will just jam itself up.
only one i'd give housespace to would be a 32 mag, but thats because they are the only ones to have made one.

winchester 94AE - lifters... still a weak point on them, and they still seem hard to get. but you can put a scope on

miroku made guns, their 94 will still have a weak lifter design as its still the same, but other than a 94, their 92's are like the rossi, just pretty. and their 1873/66 are very nice, but limited in calibre choice.

uberti - 1873/66 nice guns and have various go faster bits designed to fit (but may not fit the jap made ones) readily availiable in the US. huge choice of layout and calibre. I have 2, and recently sold a 3rd. Would happily buy one again.

Thats a lot of info to think about, thank you.

[bradaz11]

Thank you all for the replies.

only minor setback is it's a model 1894 with top eject so mounting a scope is somewhat of a problem, but I shoot it with an aperture sight.

I would like the option of being able to put an optic of some kind on whatever I end up getting.

then you are limiting yourself to;

winchester 94Ae

marlin

henry

[Chapuis]

I have never had a jam in my marlin. The correct overall cartridge length has to be found for your rifle but that is easily felt when expermenting when racking the rifle.it will not feel as smooth as it should be.
Like most under levers I have owned or shot, they all need to be racked as quick as possible. I have seen people ,fire the shot, rack the action to eject the case and wait for a while ( a number of seconds) and then rack the action to load the next cartridge. Just do it all in one very quick action.

Shoppe you are very lucky not to have had a jam with your Marlin, or perhaps you have not used it as much as many do when competing regularly in gallery rifle events. You will find that those who compete seriously in such events tend to carry a spare carrier with them in their competition bag along with several other spares e.g. loading gate and various springs and screws. While nice rifles the Marlin just like all the other lever action rifles just wasn't really built with heavy use in mind.

Mention has been made that the Henry is tube loading only. Are we not forgetting that some models can be side gate loaded in addition to be loaded direct into the tube magazine. https://www.henryusa.com/rifles/big-boy-x-model/

[shoppe]

I would say mine doesn't get heavy use but I will fire maybe 100 rounds in a session. Some fired quickly and some not so quick . I used the winchester many years ago going round the North of Scotland visiting other clubs doing pp1 and service pistol courses. Did pretty well . I went to Bisley about the same time and came second in the service pistol b course of fire using the Winchester. I was going to enter some comps with the marlin but never did . The marlin is just used for club comps. Not really a super fast rate of fire.

[Plumose]

I have only fired one Henry and two Marlins, and preferred the Marlins.
The first Marlin was the club one in .357mag/.38spl and fires hundreds of rounds a week, week in week out, and is a pre-Remington one. It does jam very occasionally maybe once a month.
I then got myself one when my FAC came through, post Remington in .44mag/.44spl as that was all that was available at the time, and I have probably put about 1000 rounds through it and haven't had a jam yet.

[GeeRam]

Thank you all for the replies.

only minor setback is it's a model 1894 with top eject so mounting a scope is somewhat of a problem, but I shoot it with an aperture sight.

I would like the option of being able to put an optic of some kind on whatever I end up getting.

then you are limiting yourself to;

winchester 94Ae

marlin

henry

You can fit a rail/scope to a Chiappa Alaskan Take-down, in the forward scout scope position.



As much as I love my Uberti 1873, if I get to the point where my eyes are so bad that I can't really shoot the Uberti, I'll change it for one of these Chiappa Alaskan Take-Down 92's, as two club members have had them and they are nice enough to use, probably a bit better than a Rossi out of the box, and nicer to use than any of the half a dozen Marlins, I've had a go with.