Lever action varminter

[HEAD0001]

What do you guys consider the best lever action varmint rifle to be. By varmints I mean ground hogs. I was thinking a Browning model 65 in 218 Bee?? What do you guys think?? Tom.

[jnyork]

I have shot a lot of prairie dogs with a Winchester SRC in .25-35 and a Lyman tang sight. Anything within about 125 yards is meat in the pan. Red mist, actually, with the Hornady 60 grainer and a full charge of 4895. Really smokes 'em.

[Jeff Quinn]

I like the 22-250 BLR.

[JB]

Forgive me for saying this, but if I HAD to use a lever for groundhogs, I'd probably grab my Marlin 218 Bee and limit my shooting to short range shots. I admit the BLR 22-250 would be a better all around groundhog rifle though.

[HEAD0001]

Do you think the Marlin 218 Bee is a better rifle than the Browning 65?? I realize it would be easier to mount a scope on the Marlin, but I doubt that I would ever scope a lever action rifle. And the prices I have seen on the Marlin's are pretty high. I have actually seen a couple of the 65's for less than I have seen a few of the Marlin's?? Tom.

[Booger Bill]

jnyork, whats a good recipe for those ground hogs?

[gimdandy]

336 Marlin in 219 Zipper

[Lastmohecken]

I have a Browning BLR (older steel frame model) in 22/250 that ought to be about as good as it gets, however I have owned a .308 BLR for a lot more years and I would have to say that has usually been my go to gun for varmits, or anything else, for that matter. Well, except maybe for this year, since it seems that my old flat band pre-64 Winchester 30/30 has been getting a work out on varmits, lately.

[pokey]

jnyork, whats a good recipe for those ground hogs?

http://ushotstuff.com/wg/GroundhogSmp.htm

http://briansbelly.com/belly-recipes/groundhog-roundup/

http://www.wildliferecipes.net/game_rec ... /index.asp

[ArcticGoose]

Winchester 64 in 219 Zipper. However, a '65 in 218 Bee would be a close second.

[Rusty]

Well since I just found out they made them, I'm wondering about a BLR in .223.

Anybody care to comment on them? I knew they made a BLR in .22-250 but that just never rang my bell. A .223 on the other hand.

[gundownunder]

I've got a BLR in .222, it's a custom build, on the old steel action.
I've been told that in the BLR the .222 is more reliable than the .223, whether that's fact or fallacy I wouldn't know. They seem to be really fussy about the action closing properly, I had a bunch of reloads that I hadn't seated the primers quite deep enough on and they caused heaps of failures to fire on the first hammer strike, all fired on the second strike though. The bloke that built the gun believed that it was because the protruding primers were stopping the action closing completely.
If you don't eat groundhogs I would think misting them would be the fun way to go. No idea what a groundhog weighs but I've seen what a .243 can do to a cat and you can get a few lever guns in .243, or how about a 45-70 with light bullets with a really big hollow point splaaassshhhh

[shawn_c992001]

+1 on the zipper

Although the 30-30 with 110gr V-Max bullets are pretty nasty!

[Lobo]

Hi All,

"336 Marlin in 219 Zipper"
+1

I came across one of these at a gunshow a number of years ago. It had a heavy barrel on it that appeared to be a factory installation. I would have liked to have taken it home, but it was priced at about four times the 336's in 30-30 and 35 Rem. I was young and poor.

[TedH]

I really like my Marlin 218 Bee. If you keep and eye out you can find shooters for a fairly good price still. I think I gave $500 for mine. A Zipper would be great too, but you will be paying a lot more for one of those.

[mikld]

A side note, not meant to hijack...

I bought some sabots that allow .22 bullets to be loaded in my 30-30 and I believe there was a similar factory offering a few years ago. I've not tried them yet. Anyone try these? May be a passable varmint round?

[Remington40x]

I owned a Marlin 336 in .219 Zipper some years ago and used it fairly extensively. The .219 came with a 20 inch heavy barrel and was actually quite accurate. I put a 6x scope on mine and would get an honest 1.1 inch 5-shot group at 100 yards pretty consistently. Not benchrest, but minute of groundhog out to 250 yards or so.

However, were I to be choosing a lever actioned varmint rifle, I'd cheat - either a Winchester Hi-Wall in .225 Winchester or a Ruger No. 1 in .22-250. If I wanted something lighter, I'd go with the Martini Cadet in .22 Hornet or .218 Mashburn Bee. Not likely what you were asking about, but they are lever guns and they make great varminters.

[JB]

Do you think the Marlin 218 Bee is a better rifle than the Browning 65?? I realize it would be easier to mount a scope on the Marlin, but I doubt that I would ever scope a lever action rifle. And the prices I have seen on the Marlin's are pretty high. I have actually seen a couple of the 65's for less than I have seen a few of the Marlin's?? Tom.

I don't know if I'd call it a better rifle, but I like the little Marlin. It's very easy to scope as you pointed out. I'm just more of a Marlin man.

[AJMD429]

A side note, not meant to hijack...

I bought some sabots that allow .22 bullets to be loaded in my 30-30 and I believe there was a similar factory offering a few years ago. I've not tried them yet. Anyone try these? May be a passable varmint round?

In a bolt-action .30-06 Remington years ago, I saw the "Accelerator" rounds do a sub-MOA 5-shot group at 100 yards. Dunno if that's typical, or remember if it was a 'special' (i.e. bull-barrel) gun - it was the 1970's.

I think the velocity from a .30-06 case was supposedly in excess of 4,000 FPS , which pretty much makes it a ".220 Swift" without the barrel erosion (...?...hopefully...? ...).

Just keep in mind that even in the sabots, those pointy-little-bullets would just LOVE to detonate a primer when fired in a tubular magazine, so I'd consider them 'single-shot' propositions, even from a 'lever' gun...

[blackhawk44]

BLR-.223,.22-250, .243 or .257 Roberts. Always thought a .260 Remington BLR would be about right.

[Hobie]

I think they are ALL good for varmints but then I'm more dedicated to my fun or eliminating pests than to adherence to some arbitrary standards for cartridges used for such tasks. Certainly a .22-250 would work "better" due to its trajectory and the .218 Bee (or similar like the .25-20 or .32-20) would be preferred for their lack of extreme noise or recoil. Still, using your .450 Marlin on groundhog(s) gives one confidence for that moose/elk/brown bear hunt.

[Lawyer Daggit]

BLR .260 could just be. I had not thought of that combo before.

[JOHNNY WACKO]

The lever 218 bee must not have caught on in Pa.Ive never seen one around here.

[Joel]

Ive smoked many a p-dog with a 250 savage model 99, Henry makes a lever 17 hmr

[wm]

A Savage 99 in 22-250 would be hard to beat.

I thought I recalled reading somewhere that Browning is selling a BLR in 223.

Wm

[tman]

A side note, not meant to hijack...

I bought some sabots that allow .22 bullets to be loaded in my 30-30 and I believe there was a similar factory offering a few years ago. I've not tried them yet. Anyone try these? May be a passable varmint round?

In a bolt-action .30-06 Remington years ago, I saw the "Accelerator" rounds do a sub-MOA 5-shot group at 100 yards. Dunno if that's typical, or remember if it was a 'special' (i.e. bull-barrel) gun - it was the 1970's.

I think the velocity from a .30-06 case was supposedly in excess of 4,000 FPS , which pretty much makes it a ".220 Swift" without the barrel erosion (...?...hopefully...? ...).

Just keep in mind that even in the sabots, those pointy-little-bullets would just LOVE to detonate a primer when fired in a tubular magazine, so I'd consider them 'single-shot' propositions, even from a 'lever' gun...

1895 30-06 Accelerator has potiental. mounting a scope ain't easy though.

[Lawyer Daggit]

I have never hunted ground hogs as we don't get them down under.

One of the best lever action varminter's I have ever used was a Winchester 92 with a heavy octagonal barrel in 25 20. This gun had a tang site and I must have been stupid to sell it.

[blackhawk44]

Wm and Rusty both need to check the Browning site. Its true, they are listing the .223 once again. My old steel framed piece is from the early 1980's and is one of my most fun pieces. Of course, the new ones are built on the aluminum action which could make them even handier. Enjoy.

[rodeo kid]

What about a Winchester 9417?

[Kansas Ed]

Honestly for Ground Hogs I can't see any advantage of a centerfire over the .22 Mag at the ranges normally encountered.

But I'm really excited over the initial tests of my 1885 Lo wall in 25-20SS. And my Uberti Lo wall in Hornet is pretty much the cats meow. I know...it's a single shot. But they have a lever???

Ed

[Griff]

...Still, using your .450 Marlin on groundhog(s) gives one confidence for that moose/elk/brown bear hunt.

New dimension to "red mist." But, I totally agree. When my hunting trip in the fall consisted of taking ONE deer, I tended to use the planned rifle for all my shooting for the year prior.

[w30wcf]

Speaking of varmint cartridges......


The factories loaded 110 gr. h.p. bullets in the .30-30 from 1925 to about 1950.
Published velocity was 2,750 f.p.s.

Using H335 powder, the 110 Sierra exits the barrel of my 336A at a bit over 2,800 f.p.s.
and shoots really well.

w30wcf