Whats the best lever gun & calibre for comp & wild pigs?

[wozzaaust]

Hey People, I,m looking for a centrefire lever gun for competition and pig shooting down under in oz?
What would be the best calibre/model/brand for use with original sights??
Is barrel length just as critical with lever guns?
Wozza

[Terry Murbach]

YOU ARE LOOKING FOR THAT WHICH IS NEVER HAS BEEN AND NEVER WILL BE AVAILABLE.
PIGS ARE EASY TO KILL !!!!!!!
CALIBER DOES NOT MATTER !!
MODEL NAME/BRAND DOES NOT MATTER !!
ORIGINAL SIGHTS DO NOT MATTER !!
BARREL LENGTH MEANS ABSOLUTELY NOT A darned THING !!
WHAT DOES " COMPETITION " HAVE TO DO WITH SHOOTING PIGS ??
THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS IS THIS : CAN YOU SHOOT ?? YOU CANNOT BUY SKILL. YOU CANNOT RENT SKILL. NO GUN/CALIBER/BARREL LENGTH/SIGHTS CAN FURNISH YOU SKILL.

[505stevec]

Wow Terry thats pretty deep for early morning Actually a .357 Rossi would do you good for both. Many competitors use this as they can also load .38 spl for competition. The only thing to watch if you do this is lead build up at the throat of the chamber.

[Old Time Hunter]

.30-30

[m.wun]

For the pigs bigger is better.35 Rem or 45-70. 45-70 you can use light loads
then jump up too heavys for hogs.A big hog can be tough.Shooting over some
hounds close smaller cals. can work but further out you could use more power.

[gundownunder]

Hey Wozzaaust, what sort of comp. Do you mean western action comp or are you talking about lever action target shooting?
I'm in Perth and do lever action target shooting, my rifle is a Marlin 1894CB .357 and I wouldn't hesitate to use it on pigs if I had access to any. Other calibres to look at would be .45colt or 30-30 or you can get the Browning BLR in anything from 22-250 up. For comp shooting I'd stay away from the big 45-70 because after 50 or so rounds it will start to alter the way your shoulder feels . If you want open sights and traditional style forget the Browning and if its western action your getting into forget the 30-30 as well because western action uses pistol calibre cartridges. If its big boars your going after I'd probably go heavier than .357.

If you want me to narrow it down to one only for you I would probably say 45colt in the Marlin, you can use it in western action or target shooting (and yes they are very accurate) it will take any pig on the planet and for hunting you can mount a scope easily on the Marlin action.

[slimster]

Wow! Check out the variety in the first 4 responses. We have everything from a "pistol" cartridge to a 30-30 to a 45-70, but I think Terry Murbach's answer was the best. All of those cartridges are enough as long as you can put the bullet where it needs to go...P.S. welcome to the forum.

[O.S.O.K.]

Not enough information.

Shoot a pig in the ear with a .22LR and it will expire.

For me - for pigs in cold weather (when you can catch them out and moving in the day) I'd personally take my .356 Winchester Marlin conversion that I just got. If I'm shooting them on the fly, it'll be a heart/lung shot.

For shooting them off of a stand where you've got time to carefully place the bullet - the .357 Mag on up is fine - shooting them in the head.

The .357 Mag would be very versitile as you can load it to 2000 fps with lighter bullets (140 grain) that'll shoot fairly flat but also use it for various competitions with different bullet weights/loads.

Welcome to the forum!

And please ignore Terry's reply - yelling and vitriole is out of place for the question IMHO. - especially for a first post reply!

[meanc]

If you're talking Pistol caliber combos only, then anything from 357mag to 45colt would work well for both target shooting and pigs in just about any Marlin/winchester/Puma/Rossi

Iron sight effectiveness is in the eye of the beholder.

longer barrel length = little more velocity and longer sight radius = a little better accuracy

[koral]

G'day Wozza,

Knocking over pigs was my favourite pastime until I retired to 43 degrees south - no pigs here

Either the 30.30 or 357 (I've used both on pigs) will do the job if you're up to it of course - as for choice? well, it would depend a lot on where I was hunting and the likely size of the pigs etc.

But if one is tangled in vines or sunk to the knees in mud with an angry boar turbo charging - go heavy son and make sure you've had lots of offhand practice.

Brian.

[Mustang 22]

I'm not quite sure I completely understand your requirements as related to competition shooting. I have been known to shoot in some CASS gatherings, I will on occasion do some silhouette shooting and I will go for hogs when ever I get the chance. I have a Rossi 92 in 45LC/454 and have never found it lacking. I will admit that the sights that come on them leave a little to be desired but you can go to Steves guns dot com and get that fixed.

[Griff]

Wozzaaust & koral; welcome to the Forum! Terry is our resident blunt stick. He'll tell ya the truth, no matter how much it hurts. Best to heed his advice. As for the answer to your question... All of the above.

[koral]

Wozzaaust & koral; welcome to the Forum! Terry is our resident blunt stick. He'll tell ya the truth, no matter how much it hurts. Best to heed his advice. As for the answer to your question... All of the above.

Thanks Griff - did work the old Leverguns forum for a while - my first post here since hooking up with the the new forum last December.

Good to be back with all you levernutters

Brian.

[William]

Hey People, I,m looking for a centrefire lever gun for competition and pig shooting down under in oz?

What range of hogs and targets will you be shooting? The pistol caliber leverguns offer great performance in killing hogs inside of 200 yards, but for target shooting you'll be limited to nothing farther than 100 yards.

What would be the best calibre/model/brand for use with original sights??
It all depends on what works best for you, but you can usually change or upgrade the original factory sights with something that helps you get on target better.

Is barrel length just as critical with lever guns?
With rifle rounds yes, up to a certain point. 30 caliber and smaller ammo needs the rifle barrel to develop enough velocity to be effective downrange, so short barrels give up a lot of speed. Large caliber rifle and pistol rounds suffer less when used in shorter barrels, but they too can benefit from an extra few inches of barrel, so long as it remains useable for you and the conditions you're hunting and shooting in.
Wozza

Take a look at the Marlin 336 and 1894 models; I prefer the 336 in .35 Remington and the 1894 in .45 LC or .44 mag.
The Rossi clone of the 1892 Winchester is a strong design but these frequently need action jobs to smooth up their actions.
The Henry Big Boy cna be had in .44 and .45 and are smooth as silk right out of the box but are much heavier and have to be fed by pouring ammo down the tube instead of having a feeding port on the side of the receiver.

Hope this helps.

[Birdman]

I would go with my 44 and hope to come across a big un. I think my 357 would work, but what's wrong with having a little more than you need. As for the "how big is big enough" thing, I am using these as examples because these are what I own.

[tman]

.357 s&w magnum. 180grain bullet. above that is overkill.

[William]

.357 s&w magnum. 180grain bullet. above that is overkill.

Anything above a 180gr. ,.357 bullet is overkill? I have to differ on your opinion there. Hogs aren't bullet proof but I have seen many of them take hits from more powerful rounds than the .357 and run like heck without going down. I'm not saying that your suggested load won't put down a hog with a well placed shot, but there are far better calibers when distance and size come into play.

[tman]

sometimes game drops from a solid hit from a .22lr. sometimes game runs away from a solid hit from a big magnum. your right, and i'm wrong. if you hunt enough, you will eventually see it all. some times a 45-70 drops a pig right now, so does a 32-20. sometimes the pig gets away no matter what you hit it with. i think the .357's enough, but sometimes a .375 h&h ain't. just my observations. can't explain it ballistically, it just works out that way sometimes.

[Bogie35]

sometimes game drops from a solid hit from a .22lr. sometimes game runs away from a solid hit from a big magnum. your right, and i'm wrong. if you hunt enough, you will eventually see it all. some times a 45-70 drops a pig right now, so does a 32-20. sometimes the pig gets away no matter what you hit it with. i think the .357's enough, but sometimes a .375 h&h ain't. just my observations. can't explain it ballistically, it just works out that way sometimes.

+1

bogie

[H_Talon]

how about a Savage 99 in 300 sav, 308, 7mm-08, 358 win ..

I've killed pigs in central California with the 300sav and the 7mm-08.
out to 200+ yards ... that would be and is my choices

Talon

[dbateman]

hay wozza were you at...45lc 30-30 or 375win you cant go wrong
and you can kill anything on the face of the earth if you place your shots right