30-30 Lever lovers

Another thread got me thinking about one of my old (but well taken care of) Marlin lever action 30-30's of 1977 vintage. I absolutely love this old smoke pole of mine. It just eats up cheap 170 gr Winchester Power Points. Come to think of it, that's all Ive ever fed it. Put plenty of back strap on the table over the years. It was old when I got it with plenty of stories to tell but it was in wonderful shape none the less. If I have my way, it's gonna have plenty more stories when I'm gone. I was thinking of giving it to my oldest son for his first deer rifle but I just can't bring myself to part with it. I'll just buy him a brand spanking new one and hold onto my old friend. Seems only right that my boy get a new one so he can put his own ''character" on it. Those old minor stock dings and thinning blue finnish is what makes me feel it's charm when I think back about how they got there: Good honest use but never abuse. Who else has an old lever 30-30 close to their heart with some tales to tell?

I have a old Marlin 30/30 and .35 Remington. They both were given to me by family and they have many stories to tell. My favorite Marlin's are the older versions that come without the cross bolt safety.

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Originally Posted by Wood Duck

I have a old Marlin 30/30 and .35 Remington. They both were given to me by family and they have many stories to tell. My favorite Marlin's are the older versions that come without the cross bolt safety.

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Oooooh yes. No cross bolt safety for me either. I mean, it can't hurt but it just takes away from the rifle somehow. The replacement "plugs" that look like a screw head corrects this factory molestation nicely.

Love those old lever guns....everyone wants to be "The Duke" and drop bad guys with every shot.

As a young man, a paper boy, one of my stops was the the old hardware store, the kind that had the name of the owner on it, not a chain.

They didn't have many guns, but did have a Win '94 30-30 for $79 bucks.
The glass had my nose prints on it for years, but I really wanted that rifle.
Never got it.

Did buy a .22 from them for $13 bucks, and that had a long story with it, but I digress...

Few years later, a guy I was working in a factory with, asked me if I wanted to buy his deer rifle, was getting a divorce, wife left him for a buddy, rifle was from his FIL.

Was an old Win (then) '94, case, 2 boxes of shells...but was a Win 32 special..$60 bucks.

I couldn't get the money out fast enough.

It had 3 notches on the stock, so I assume that was from the other owners (?), I did end up adding several notches my self, including the infamous 5 shells, 5 kills self defense day. Was a stander on a drive and was run over by 20 or so deer at real close range.

I still carry that rifle as my "brush gun" and would be the second to last to go if something were to require me to divest my investments.

I do not own a 30-30, yeah I know, a sacrilege....But hey, you never know, maybe one will come my way.

I still have my first rifle. It was a gift from my parents for my 16th birthday/Christmas. We were dirt poor and I cant even imagine how hard my parents must have sacrificed to get that rifle for me. I did my part with it and brought plenty of meat home with it. I still have it and it has first place honors in the gunsafe!

It is now fit with a Leupold scope (it earned it) but doesnt get into the field very often anymore. Oh, it does have the cross bolt safety.

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/x...e/100_0517.jpg

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/x...e/100_0518.jpg

I like lever actions in general. I have a 94 winchester that I carry now and then for brush busting. It's a nice handy little rifle and has been in the family for over 40 years. Then I started experimenting with light buckshot loads for small game.

come to think of it I have several calibers in lever actions. starting with 50-110, 30-40 krag, 38-55, 357 mag, 348 winchester, 45-70, 38-40, 44-40. They're all winchesters except for the 357 mag, it's a marlin. I like the marlin it seems like a nice little rifle. I would like to fool with some savage 99s, any caliber.

I love my 30-30, and it like to spit out 170 grains

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...pictureid=2103

I don't have any good stories, but I think everyone should have a lever gun.

I'd put it in my top three, of guns you should have. Whether it places first, second, or third is decided by the situation you're in. (Not everyone has the same needs.)

If I had any lever guns.....I'd probably have an old Marlin 30/30, a new (never fired) Marlin 30/30, an old Marlin .44 mag.........and maybe a 12 ga. levergun, too!!! LOL:cowboy:

Oh wait....I do kinda have a lever action story.

One day I wanted to see how cowboy loads, that are a lot more comfortable to shoot out of a S&W revolver, would do out of a lever action rifle. Cowboy loads only come out at about 750 fps. (From a revolver.) I figured they would hit low, but I wanted to know how low, so I could hit what I wanted, if I ever used them in a rifle. My first shot was kinda low. My second shot split the difference between the first shot and what I was shooting at. The third shot hit the target......a one litre drink bottle, 100 yards away......shooting freehand, standing. I was very pleased with myself! LOL

And then he came to and realized it wasn't a lever gun at all. The liter soda bottle was actually the urinal. It wasn't 100 yards away only across the room and he'd just pee'd all over the floor. And he was still pleased with himself!

My lever guns are an early 70's winchester 94 30-30, a 1994 m-94 .44 mag and a 1930's Savage 99 .300 savage. I use the .44 all the time.

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Originally Posted by klkak

My lever guns are an early 70's winchester 94 30-30, a 1994 m-94 .44 mag and a 1930's Savage 99 .300 savage. I use the .44 all the time.

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I could see where the .44 lever and a .44 side arm would be a good trapper combo in grizz country.

I've got a beat up 94 in 30-30.

94s never get beat up!

They develop personality.

Did you know that Col. Jeff Cooper developed his concept of the "scout rifle" using a peepsighted 94 Winchester as his ideal example? His goal was to develop a bolt action rifle that was as convinient as the 94 with slightly more power and accuracy based on the modern technology allowed by the bolt action.

I wanna be a cowboy!

I used to have a Rem M-6 .350 rem mag very early scout rifle that used a 2x pistol scope. That thing kicked harder then a draft mule.

I do believe most everyone has a 30-30 lever, Marlin or Winchester kinda old but dependable. I keep mine next to the kitchen door(coyotes). Don't want my "attack" beagle to become a meal. The 336 is my go to rifle around the house, always ready.

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Originally Posted by randyt

I like lever actions in general. I have a 94 winchester that I carry now and then for brush busting. It's a nice handy little rifle and has been in the family for over 40 years. Then I started experimenting with light buckshot loads for small game.

come to think of it I have several calibers in lever actions. starting with 50-110, 30-40 krag, 38-55, 357 mag, 348 winchester, 45-70, 38-40, 44-40. They're all winchesters except for the 357 mag, it's a marlin. I like the marlin it seems like a nice little rifle. I would like to fool with some savage 99s, any caliber.

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Wow!! Somebody finally mentioned a 348 Win. I inherited a Model 71 from my father. What a round! He told me he bought it from a first time hunter who was going after big horn in the early '50s. The guy didn't even zero it. First shot killed another hunter and he sold the rifle, fleece lined case and 99 rounds of ammo for $20 (I think was the price). Years later, I fired the rounds in a t-shirt on a range outside Yuma (hot); guess that helps to explain my shoulder problems.

I really want a Marlin lever gun chambered in 460 SW

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Originally Posted by SARKY

I really want a Marlin lever gun chambered in 460 SW

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Talk to Wild West Guns in Anchorage Alaska. If it can be done to a marlin they can do it.

Wild West Guns do some very nice work. I am just not willing to pay their prices especially on a Marlin which I feel is as good as it needs to be. But then again I am not into the 1000+ guns or the tacticool group either. I enjoy doing more with less.

But yes a 336 in 460 SW would be awesome!

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Originally Posted by SARKY

I really want a Marlin lever gun chambered in 460 SW

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That would be cool. Maybe one in 500 S&W too. Talk about hog hammers! Real nice pistol/rifle combo chamberings for dangerous game country. Not that I go in dangerous game country much but that is a combo I'd like to have just "because". Good idea, Sark man.