Lever Action Carbines

[PA PATRIOT]

Say one was going to use a Lever Action Carbine in the 16"inch barrel range as a truck gun while traveling the county, what would be some of the positives or liabilities of such a system? Starting at .357 Magnum Thur the new Marlin .308 what would be the ideal balance of terminal performance/accuracy/capacity?

[DocGKR]

Pro's:

-- Traditional appearance that is socially and legally acceptable in many areas that a "scary" looking "military" rifle might be problematic.
-- Light, handy, and easy to carry.
-- Relatively inexpensive.
-- Good terminal effectiveness.

Con's:

Slow to load and re-load.
Can be more difficult to clear serious malfunctions.
Reduced accuracy potential.
Harder to mount optics.

I am not a fan of .357 Mag carbines, however, a .44 Mag and hot loaded .45 Colt are great options; a 16" .44 Mag Marlin 1894 shooting Hornady 300 gr XTP's (or the either the 240 or 180 gr) is a formidable weapon--even handier and quicker if an Aimpoint T1 is mounted on top...see: https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=19930.

.30-30 lever actions are about as ubiquitous a shoulder fired weapon as one is to find in the America. With light bullets, .30-30 offers similar wound ballistics to expanding 7.62x39mm loads; with heavier loads, .30-30 offers deeper penetration and better intermediate barrier ability. In any case, from a terminal ballistic perspective, .30-30 generally beats 5.56 mm. If it was primarily going to be used indoors, the Federal 125 gr JHP is a good choice; outdoors, a good 150-170 gr JSP is more versatile.

If you need protection from larger game, a .45-70 16-18” barrel Marlin Model 1895G is extremely impressive; you can use a light load like the Winchester Partition Gold 300 gr JSP for most of the lower 48 states or a hard hitting load like a Buffalo Bore 405gr JSP if facing threats like Grizzly... Downside is heavier recoil and smaller magazine capacity.

[MarshallDodge]

I think it's a great idea. I have a Winchester 94 Trapper in 45LC that I have loaded some hot 230grain Gold Dots in and would have no issues using for defense. It definitely has more energy than what comes out of a 5" 1911.

With some practice, the cowboy action boys can lay down the firepower with lever guns.

One other issue is pointed ammo, it's a no-no in a tubular magazine. There are more choices out today but you can't shoot everything in them.

[Marcus L.]

So, you want a trunk weapon which I assume you want as a general purpose protection gun. Likely scenarios might be defending your motel room or cabin from an intruder......dealing with an aggressive/violent motorist on the side of the road.......who knows. In the vast majority of those circumstances, you'll likely not be dealing with anything further away than a couple of car lengths. Why not go with a Remington 870? If you need to bring your weapon into your sleeping quarters.....it doesn't get any better for close range protection than 00-Buckshot. If you need a 100-200yrd carbine, you can used quality reduced recoil slugs. Then of course if you need large, dangerous game protection hard cast slugs are hard to beat. The 870 operation is reliable, simple to operate, and you can go short barrel with 4+1 capacity, or extra long barrel with 8+1 capacity. A highly versitile weapon. Plus, loading 12-gauge shells into a tube magazine is a little easier than loading cartridges into a tube magazine.

[CleverNickname]

If I were wanting a trunk rifle and didn't want to go with an AR for whatever reason, I'd probably go with a Remington 7615. They're relatively cheap ($500-ish), have the same pump-action that I'm used to with an 870, and use STANAG magazines. Even if you're stuck with 10-rounders for legal reasons, it'd still be superior than a tube magazine-fed rifle.

[DocGKR]

Unfortunately the Remington 7615 blows chunks--I'd rather have just about anything else...

[Beat Trash]

Unfortunately the Remington 7615 blows chunks--I'd rather have just about anything else...

So Doc, why don't you tell us what you really think of the Remington 7615?

Sorry, had to do it, almost spit coffee out my nose when I read your reply...

[Beat Trash]

Phila PD,

Is it safe to assume you are not concerned about protection from animals (the four legged kind)?

The 16" lever action carbines have some things going for them, but it is my experience that some of the pistol caliber carbines can be picky to the type of rounds they feed with reliability.

I only bring this up as I have seen Marlin 357 carbines that have issues with some rounds, and some act up if the carbine is at an angle while the action is being cycled. When these guns have a jam, it's a PIA to clear. If this were to happen during a defensive type of critical incident, well...

I might offer up the M1 carbine as an option also. Using some of the JSP rounds helps the effectiveness.

The Remington 870, as has been previously mentioned, would also be a viable option.

[PA PATRIOT]

While I can be armed in any stated due to the Federal Law Enforcement Carry Act my primary carry Glock Model-17 or 26 is loaded up with Federal Tactical 147gr HST per DocGKR's recommendation. But since the family and a lot of expensive gear will be in tow on this cross country trip which has many lay overs both Urban and Rural I figure a long gun would be a wise companion. As I do not wish to freak out any one who may catch a accidental glimpse of one of my Evil Black Rifles I was thinking more of my Winchester Trapper 16"inch 44 Magnum. I have a store of factory Remington's 180gr H/P's which I was hoping would suffice on unarmored two legged predators in a rural settings. I can also go with a 870 or M-4 so I figured that I better tap the vast knowledge of the forum to help make a selection.

[PA PATRIOT]

DocGKR,

I did a function and accuracy test about a month ago using 180gr loadings from Remington, Winchester, Federal and PMC and I was not able to really tell any difference in muzzle flash between the brands from my 16"inch carbine. This was done on a indoor range which was dimmed when the booths over head light was shut down. Was the excessive muzzle flash with the Remington from a Handgun only or also with the carbine? I selected the Remington based that it was the most accurate of the 180gr brands fired, all brands were 100% function. As to why I went with the 180gr pills my thinking was the lighter and faster slug would expand quickly causing more damage on two legged predators then the heavier weight and constructed 240+gr loads.