Levergun-Practical, but it's also "Tactical"

[AJMD429]

Two questions:

1. What is your max range with this weapon that you would consider accurate? 100 yards...200 yards...300 yards...400 yards, etc.?

2. Which ammo would you consider to be the best through a rifle like this? Black Hills, Federal, Remington, etc?

3. Lastly, what grain fires best or is most accurate in a rifle like this? The lighter ammo, such as the 125 grain JHP's...or a heavier round in the 158 and 180 grain stuff?

Thank you.

Two Questions...?

Generally the .357's from Marlin seem to shoot 1 to 2 MOA, and I presume that would hold true out until the bullet goes subsonic and tumbles (check ballistics tables for that). I wouldn't hesitate to take a shot at a gallon-jug sized target out to 200 yards, and the energy at that range is sufficient to be lethal with the right bullet, although for hunting whitetail, I'd never shoot past 100 yards with the gun. It was INTENDED as a 'ranch' rifle, so in Indiana (the other question was where I live - southern Indiana, in the hills) that mostly means a chance-shot at a farmstead predator seldom beyond even 50 yards. At NIGHT, I sighted on our cat and had no trouble seeing it in the tall weeds next to our driveway at 75 yards; I'm 95% sure I could have hit it if needed. I wouldn't shoot it at a target beyond 200 yards, but COSteve on the levergunscommunity.com forum shoots well beyond that frequently with amazing results. In my case it is just because I have not shot that far away, and wouldn't be comfortable using an elevation setting just based on ballistics tables; I'd want real range experience first.

Bullet-wise, most folks seem to say their Marlins are best with the lighter bullets, but each gun varies. There are lots of 'accurizing' steps you can take, many posted on Leverguns.com or its sub-boards.

Brand-wise, my only problem was some Remington factory-load brass I encountered which was brittle enough that 20% of them cracked on firing, but the gun did its job, and the bullets still hit the target. That was likely an isolated 'lot' problem.

Some folks say their Marlin 1894's won't feed 38 Specials all that well, so for 'cat-sneeze' loads, using .357 brass with light loads, or seating bullets out to .357 OAL in .38 brass may help. In my gun, .38's feed just fine.

As far as the LaserMax; the gun wouldn't be the same without it, and part of that it that it helps two-eyes-open shooting, and somehow (don't understand the optics, only that it works) 'confirming' the shot placement in poor light. Even with the high-power flashlight and a very visible holo-dot, the laser dot actually visible ON the target helps confirm the target is aquired.

Also, in the event that the firearm needed to 'cover' something when not held to the shoulder, the laser would also be a vital item. Nice to know that even at waist level or wherever, you could likely hit a chicken-killing raccoon at 50 yards.

 

[AJMD429]

I've got a question about your Rossi 92. I've got one of those and it ejects from the top. Does the rig in your pic interfere with ejection? Nice job, by the way.

The scope mount is a B-Square that is a bit off to the side, and ejection has been no problem. The mount comes off quickly with a knurled screw which replaces the bolt/lever-pin access screw. Haven't decided yet on the light mount, but I'll post when I figure out the details.

I'd like to hear more about your underbarrel light mount. Did you rig that up using a piece of pipe?

Turns out grey 1/2" PVC conduit is a perfect fit over the magazine tube, so I cut it longitudinally to allow it to slip over without hitting the barrel, drilled and countersank holes from the inside for flat-head screws, which went through the holes in the mount (don't know what mount - a scrap/extra Weaver mount that had a radius close to that of the pipe). A sleeve of plastic notebook-cover inside the pipe protects the magazine from scratching by the screw heads (which I Dremeled pretty well so they didn't stick up). You do have to disassemble the gun to remove the mount, but the light comes off fast with ordinary 30mm low scope rings. I thought about 'scalloping' the plastic pipe enough that it would slip over the magazine from below, but never bothered. (Many 'traditionalists' seem obsessed with not having their gun instantly restorable to 'original' status, as if they're embarrassed to have a levergun that isn't all pretty walnut & blue steel, chambered in a hyphenated-caliber.)

Here's that section from the original post on levergunscommunity.com

Paco Kelly's Leverguns.com • View topic - Making a Marlin 1894 Ranch Rifle or Night Scout gun

Now, for the light mount. As you can see in the “raw materials” picture above, I had a nice little light-clamp, which would have worked for the AA-Maglight I was going to mount on it, but the much brighter 4-watt LED light I found had a wider lens and wouldn’t clear the magazine tube with that mount. I almost just mounted a section of scope-base rail on the forend, but didn’t want it behind the sling, didn’t want to mount the sling to the light, and had mixed feelings about mounting in on the side of the forend. I considered moving the sling swivel to the side of the band, but in the end decided to go with the magazine-mount.
A piece of plastic electric conduit was at least less obnoxious than the white PVC used for water, and I cut it quickly with a hacksaw, drilled holes to match the mount (which was a close fit to the radius, but some work with sandpaper wrapped around the conduit finished the shaping of the aluminum rail), and countersank those holes from the inside of the tube, then ground and polished the screws to match the interior contours of the tubing. I used a thin sheet of fairly tough plastic (from a three-ring plastic notebook cover) to wrap the magazine tube and hopefully minimize any scratch-and-dent effects.

Here's the mount, half-way through the shaping and smoothing process:

Here’s the finished light mount (took some partial disassembly and parts-jockeying to get it on):

All in all, a fun and satisfying project, resulting in a truly PRACTICAL, yet 'tactical', gun.

Didn't cost much, either, except for the Burris FastFire-II, the LaserMax, and the Coast LED-Lenser, which are ALL things I can later use on other projects, so nothing 'wasted' if I move on to something else...

 

[tradertator]

Chuck Conners would be proud!

 

[sepe]

I've been wanting a .357 or a .44 lever gun. Probably wouldn't put much on it other than a sling and a nice scope or a red dot.

 

[AJMD429]

The barrel has been cut back to 16.5", stock shortened about 1.5" with a low profile rifle pad added, fire sights installed and the whole shebang is now at Mr. Birdsong's shop for a little Birdsong Teflon Green.

 

[esrice]

Very cool!

Here is some more interesting reading on a "tactical" levergun.

https://www.indianagunowners.com/forums/long_guns/31378-30-30_project_need_some_wisdom.html

 

[tenring]

Originally posted by AJMD:

Since half the time we have feral animals or coyotes or whatever eating our livestock, it is dusk or dark, it seemed prudent to use sights capable of reasonable use during those conditions. Real 'night sights' might be nice, but are incredibly expensive, heavy, and not useful or practical in the daytime, whereas the EoTech Holosight is very useful in all light conditions. Add a laser and a flashlight, and you're good to go check the stock when they're frenzying about something out in the woods. Note that if you simply remove the light, this setup is actually legal hunting gear in many places; it wouldn't be my choice of deer setups sight-wise, but it would do the job. More likely the bullets will be aimed at coyotes and whatever comes to eat our chickens.


If I can "afford" a NV scope, I know you can. If you think they are too heavy, some day, if your lucky, I'll let you see mine and how it works at night, and you can set Hunter up with a NV system and let him do all the work. Excuses, excuses, but them my 1894 with a WWG large loop lever and a Nikon, 2.5X10X42 shows my "diversity" in the matter.

Night Optics USA D-740-2MS Generation 2+ Mil Spec Advanced Night Vision Rifle Sight

 

[snapping turtle]

Wild west guns has a factory under barrel mount also.
Wild West Guns - Accessories

Look at the very bottom. I don't think it will work on the 357 mag 1894c version but could be made to do so easily enough. A laser with the presurre pad switch would be killer and Indiana deer legal without light. With light and laser home defense gun would be taticool enough to appease the crimson trace laser users of pistols into a rifle instead or a handgun. Would work well for me in the country with out over-penetrating issues of others living very close.

 

[DecaturGB]

AJMD,

I have not logged into the forums for some time and this was the first thread I read. Very good job. Living here in NE Indiana now and your discussions take me back to rural living in Martin County growing up. Nice to read; and EXCELLENT JOB on your Marlin and posting your review.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[AJMD429]

The Rossi is done...!

I decided the rail would be best attached with JB-Weld, since sweating aluminum to steel doesn't go well:
(The light forend tip is due to my Bubba-smithing it when I removed the forearm band a couple months ago to drill & tap it for the sling swivel stud - it was literally swollen so much I had to rasp it down to even drive off the band - haven't found a stain yet the wood will take up. I don't think there would need to have been any re-shaping to clear the mounted rail.)

The excellent pair of Burris Fastfire-II holosight, and LaserMax UniMax pistol laser, on a B-Square quick-detach mount:
(I switched the mounting screw on the Burris so the knob was on the left.)

The

The laser-dot accounts for the brighter center spot in the holo-dot; they're co-incident out to 100 yards:

The finished rifle with the Coast P7 LED-Lenser removed (it is on quick-detach rings):

The finished rifle with the light on it:
(I know - I should have gotten the black one...)

Parts:

• Burris Fastfire-II - Scopes - rifle scopes, handgun scopes, hunting scopes by Burris Optics
• LaserMax UniMax Rail-mount Pistol Laser - Uni Max Red Laser Sight Tactical Red Laser Sight Red Lasers
• B-Square Rossi Puma quick-detach mount - B-Square: Rossi Rifles
• Coast P7 LED-Lenser 190 lumen - Coast Knives & Tools | LED Lights | LED Flashlights | Knives
• Aluminum Scope Base - model unknown...

The light also has a 'dim' battery-saving mode that's useful when you don't need the full blast of light.

 

[AJMD429]

Wild west guns has a factory under barrel mount also.
Wild West Guns - Accessories

Look at the very bottom. I don't think it will work on the 357 mag 1894c version but could be made to do so easily enough. A laser with the presurre pad switch would be killer and Indiana deer legal without light.

The cost was just too much, plus it didn't seem less 'bulky' than what I could rig up myself. Also, I didn't want the light way out where muzzle-blast would mess up the lens.

On the MARLIN version (way 'above') the laser is easily activated with the left thumb from shooting position. On the ROSSI version (not as far 'above'), the laser is further back, and not as easy to turn on without repositioning your hand.

 

[esrice]

I know this is probably blasphemy, but I wonder if anyone's ever tried attaching sections of picatinny rail to the forend, for the mounting of light and/or laser.

 

[bwframe]

...I wonder if anyone's ever tried attaching sections of picatinny rail to the forend, for the mounting of light...

I ran into this at BatteryJunction.com;
Two Fish Bike Block Pump Holder (One Strap and Block)

They are $6.00, very adjustable and install/remove with the pull of some velcro.

 

[AJMD429]

I know this is probably blasphemy, but I wonder if anyone's ever tried attaching sections of picatinny rail to the forend, for the mounting of light and/or laser.

I almost did that, but didn't want anything out to the side of the gun, in the way of my normal 'hold' for shooting. It would be EASY to do, though.
My approach would be to buy an extra forend unless I was sure I didn't care if the gun 'looked different', then drill clear through the forend (off the gun) with 3/16" or whatever the rail would need, then re-drill through the opposide side with 3/8" or whatever would accomodate a flat-head screw inserted from the inside (and countersunk into the attachment side from the inside). Then I'd epoxy or glass-bed those in place, and use nylon lock-nuts to put the rail over those 'studs'.

I ran into this at BatteryJunction.com;
Two Fish Bike Block Pump Holder (One Strap and Block)

They are $6.00, very adjustable and install/remove with the pull of some velcro.

THAT would be good for some experimenting-around, for those folks who aren't sure yet what configuration they want.

 

[esrice]

Now that's usin' your noggin' Burl!

 

[IDCC]

I know this is probably blasphemy, but I wonder if anyone's ever tried attaching sections of picatinny rail to the forend, for the mounting of light and/or laser.

I've seen pics of short barreled lever guns with rails, extended mag tubes, ghost ring sights, big loop levers, red dots and tac lights . There are a few custom shops that specialize in custom lever action rifles. There was an article in SWAT magazine about this a few years back.

 

[esrice]

There was an article in SWAT magazine about this a few years back.

Yes I remember-- my link above references the article.

 

[IDCC]

I just saw a picture on the Superior firearms website of a stainless Marlin in what appears to be 45-70 with a Aimpoint M2 and offset surefire light on the rail. There is a blued version with a Aimpoint T/H-1 and offset Surefire too. Superior firearms is in Louisville I believe. Might as well link the website because it looks like a good one.
Image Gallery

 

[jimbo-indy]

XS makes a nice Weaver mount rail for the Marlin called "Lever Rail". It's designed so it works with their ghost ring rear and front sight set. Great for mounting red dot sights as well as scout scopes. Here's mine with a Millet red dot mounted on quick detach rings.

 

[DocBoCook]

I have a .357 Rossi. Does anyone know how where I can find and affix some leather strap on the lever for a more comfortable cycling of the action?