queston for the hunters

[Dan6726]

Im looking for a opinion on lever action 30/30s. Who makes a decent quality lever action? Want to start doing more hunting and want to give a lever action a shot. Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Gus McCrae]

Winchester, Marlin, Browning (not sure if they do .30-30) are the main ones. You might also look at Henry, but their rifles are a little heavy. You can probably get a used Marlin pretty cheap.

The .30-30 is really a great and often overlooked round. It used to be the deer hunting round.... it still works fine.

 

[hollowhunter]

Gus covered the bases, but I've no love for a irty irty

 

[Lyle Savant]

Killed my 1st deer w/ a Winchester .30-.30, never had any problems w/ it. To my knowledge, Henry was the original.

Go w/ Leverevoluton rounds by Hornady & get the scope made for that round.

 

[buckedup]

Im looking for a opinion on lever action 30/30s. Who makes a decent quality lever action? Want to start doing more hunting and want to give a lever action a shot. Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

I like the older marlins. All around great guns

 

[mike84z28]

All listed above are great. I have a marlin 30/30 and it loves Hornady ammo.

 

[Emperor]

To me, a lever action rifle for hunting in the wake of modern rifles is like CC'ing revolver in the wake of semi-auto pistols. It's nostalgic, but no longer practical. And to me there is nothing wrong with the firearm per se. However, to each his/her own. I suppose wanting to toy with an older nostalgic mechanism is like me refusing to go to a modern cross bow instead of a compound.

As for your question, and unless someone disagrees, I don't think I've heard of any problems with any of the aforementioned brands off the shelf. I mean, if there was a particular brand of gun that was tagged for having problems out of the box, it would most likely end up having a bad reputation throughout the gun world. It wouldn't last long in the market.

What your motivation for using the lever action in the first place should dictate to you which brand and "production age" of lever action you seek. But consider what type of hunting you are going to be doing. Shooting over large fields? Brush busting? Running behind dogs? Close quarters?

 

[Dan6726]

Many thanks to all who replied. The input is greatly appreciated.

 

[Lyle Savant]

Winchesters seem hard to find lately. If you get a Win., try and avoid the old Model 94, which ejected out the top & req'd a Side-Mount Scope. The 94 also had an issue w/ holding the Blue Finish on the receiver.

There's a guy on here that has a .30-.30 for sale or trade, new in box; I would look him up. Nice looking gun.

 

[Sneakybuffalo]

Marlins are having major quality control issues since Remington took them over in '08 I think. They are getting much better, but are still having issues reported daily on other sites. If you buy new, make sure to give a Marin a good look and make sure everything is functional and before you shoot it, make sure to strip it down and give it a full cleaning. There's no telling what is inside the action. An older used, but in good condition gun will be cheaper and likely a better rifle than a new one.

 

[general mills]

I have an older marlin 336 before the additional safety and I love it, works great, lightweight and handy. I don't see it as nostalgic, or unpractical, I see it as fitting the bill. Good round, Good ergonomics, good action, what more do you need? Works great without a scope for me.

 

[Jefro83]

I hunt with a marlin 30/30. All my shots are within 125 yds. Plus I get 7 rds.

 

[sandman7925]

I wouldn't buy a new production Marlin even at 80% off. Just my .02

 

[LSUSMC]

To me, a lever action rifle for hunting in the wake of modern rifles is like CC'ing revolver in the wake of semi-auto pistols. It's nostalgic, but no longer practical. And to me there is nothing wrong with the firearm per se. However, to each his/her own. I suppose wanting to toy with an older nostalgic mechanism is like me refusing to go to a modern cross bow instead of a compound.

I started hunting deer with lever actions and single shots with open sights as well as scoped pistols because I was getting tired of how easy it was using a scoped rifle.

 

[dad-e-o]

I would suggest a Savage model 99. I prefer .300 Savage as my caliber of choice but they did make 99's in 30-30Win.

 

[Dan6726]

Many thanks. Forgot i had a savage magazine fed in the safe i got on a trade. Put it up and forgot about it. I still want a lever though.

 

[Emperor]

I started hunting deer with lever actions and single shots with open sights as well as scoped pistols because I was getting tired of how easy it was using a scoped rifle.

This is the best reason I've heard so far for it! Good one!