pure accuracy

[two bit okie]

while my lever guns will never be 1 mile sniper rifles, if a dedicated target shooter took a modern lever gun, Marlin, Winchester, what ever and removed the mag tube and went single shot. does anyone have any idea of the actual accuracy possible with a lever gun.

[FWiedner]

Is there a human involved in your accuracy scenario?

Is that human an infallible expert marksman?

[AJMD429]

I'll bet many leverguns out there are capable of 1 MOA off a bench, and some 1/2 MOA with 'floated' magazine tubes (no need to remove them?) and careful handloads.

Most leverguns don't have particularly thin barrels, and aren't chambered for particularly high-ballistic-coefficient cartridges, and the high b.c. does help the bullet get to target more quickly, which minimizes the effect of wind and shooter-induced angular errors.

There might be a BIG difference between a custom-tuned one-piece-stock levergun with a box-magazine and chambered in .223 Win., vs. an off-the-shelf two-piece-stock tubuler-magazine one in .45-70...!

[2ndovc]

Used to whack woodchucks @ close to 300 yds with my Martini-Greener .22LR.

Take a 94 Big Bore or a Marlin XR or an 1886 in the right hands and I'll bet your can get some good and
consistant long range shots.

When I had my little horse ranch I had 900 yards from the back porch to my back stop.
Used to sit up there with my 1883 Trap Door and bounce lead 405's off an old steel door.

Man I miss that place!

It's as much the shooter as it is the hardware. All it takes is a lot of rounds down range.

jb

[Ben_Rumson]

The Savage 99 has no tube magazine under the barrel... Most have a rotary magazine... the later ones have removable box magazines...These superb rifles when given target gun treatment and tuned ammo ...correct bedding....correct lock up....target barrels, target chambers, target triggers, scopes/ mounts and other modifications should do fine...I would expect one ragged hole @ 100 yards...Cause my bone stock Savage 99 300 Savage cal. 20 inch barrel carbine hovers around an inch and a quarter all day long with Rem 300 Sav factory rounds.. Put a properly chambered heavier profile barrel on her & I think she’d prolly drill one hole groups with the right nut behind the butt...

[jnyork]

Pretty soon someone will chime in here about how he regularly kills elk and deer at 300 yards with his open-sighted old .30-30, usually with neck shots. That should settle the accuracy discussion.

[TedH]

Pretty soon someone will chime in here about how he regularly kills elk and deer at 300 yards with his open-sighted old .30-30, usually with neck shots. That should settle the accuracy discussion.

Doesn't everybody do that?

[Old Savage]

Probably not.


2nd, used to have a range that was very close to 33 miles and we just used a bb gun to shoot flies off of apples.

[smokenrust]

Yup, BB gun style, shootin from the little dingy boat like the Missouri or the Wisconsin out of her little 16" bore guns and lobbing some 1800, 1900 up to 2700# projectile 23+ miles away. Them flies won't be sitten on them apples for to long... Better wear some ear and eye protection...
BB should have been RBB... REALLY BIG BORES

[gundownunder]

Look for Paco Kelly's article on accurizing the lever action rifle. The article gives you step by step instructions on how to make your lever action as accurate as any other type of action.

Lever actions do not need to be inherently inaccurate. I have a factory standard 39A Marlin which shot MOA with both standard and HV ammo and when I shortened the barrel from 24" to 18" it would still shoot MOA although I had to change the brand of HV to do it. I recently sold a Browning BLR .222 which would shoot sub MOA groups with a good hand load set up to it's precise tastes.

and while we're all telling lies,
I once shot a grizzly bear through the eye at 500 yards with a 30-30. I could easily have done it from much farther away except I don't own a 30-30 and Australia doesn't have grizzly bears.

[Wrangler John]

I think the Browning BLR would be the best bet as gundownunder points out, or the Winchester Model 88. Both have rotating bolt heads similar to semi-autos, although the Model 88 is handicapped by its lever mounted trigger. The Winchester 95 would be a candidate due to the box magazine. My scoped Marlin 444 of many years ago would shoot some groups from the bench just under 1" but only at night on a lighted range that was sheltered from the wind (that was another rifle I should have kept). Otherwise, conventional wisdom reminds us that rear locking bolts, tube magazines, changing center of gravity as cartridges are consumed, two piece stocks, barrel bands, sloppy clearances, flat nose bullets and less than perfect barrels make lever rifles less accurate. I have to agree.

It isn't the cartridges though. The .30-30 in a Contender pistol simply was stunning when I used it for metallic silhouette competition, and in a bolt or single shot rifle it is very accurate. In my bolt action .45-70 the old cartridge with 500 grain bullets will shoot right at 1" for ten shots at 100 yards, but a 1" group with bullets almost 1/2" in diameter is impressive. Many of those old cartridges have good accuracy potential with modern components.

So I guess I'll just have to accept that some of my favorite things aren't always the best: Flathead Ford V-8's, Steam Locomotives, old radios with vacuum tubes (remember the diode, triodes and tetrodes?) Western Electric telephones that never wore out, slide rules, and inaccurate lever rifles.

[Marlin32]

Neck shot? Why would you ruin some neck meat? And I ain't using a 30/30, that is absurd.
Mine is a 32 special, shoot everything in the eye to at least 300 yards.

All joking aside, levers were never meant to be target rifles. They were for hunting. Some give pretty darn good accuracy and precision. My Father's 336 30/30 will shoot three shots with Federal 170's through a quarter at 50 yards, 50 cent piece at 100yd. That is good enough for me.

[Old Savage]

This rifle will do this with a couple of factory loads and a few reloads as would the other two big Marlins I had.



sun glinting off the bright bead put these two high as I figured out



but this one is the accuracy champ with mine.

[rimrock]

"Wind" posts over at marlinowners.com. He rings a gong at 800 yds. with his 38/55 using a tang peep sight. That's better than I'll be for along time.

Leverguns have taken buffalo, horse, bear, more than a few BGs, etc. Who says they aren't accurate--They get the job done. Can't be any more dead than dead-- center mass, between the eyes, bleed out from 2 holes.

rimrock

[.45colt]

What can I expect from My .338 if I really pursue load development? five shots in an inch at 100 yards. and the gun has barley been shot yet.http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewt ... 98#p429598

[Griff]

Unless something is wrong, it's not the gun... it's the fellar (or gal) behind the trigger. All of my leverguns could generally shoot better than I ever could. Our expectations that they aren't very accurate is probably the greater reason for this rumor.

[JBledsoe]

.

Lever guns inaccurate? That is a self fulfilling prophesy. If you think they are inaccurate they will be. Drop by Wind's place this weekend (June 9 and 10) we will show you how these old inaccurate lever guns shoot. The 38-55 with cast bullets and iron sights at ranges up to 800 yards will be the star.

.

[pdentrem]

Are we forgetting the Win Highwalls and Lowwalls? What about the Ballards and others. They were used regularly and set many Creedmore records and more that I can not think of at the moment. The 38-55 cartridge is known as being very accurate and the leverguns did most of the work.
My Savage 99 in 250-3000 is very accurate and the second barrel in 22 BR is even more accurate. It will not be traded away, and neither will my Ruger 1 in 22 hornet and Sako 6mm PPC gun.

[Old Savage]

Leverguns are indeed inherently inaccurate ------ for those who can't shoot.

[Jeff H]

Did you shoot this one in Autralia?

[Old Savage]

That square makes a nice aiming point but I have no idea why they put it on the top when it should be on the bottom for sighting in a hunting rifle.

[kaferhaus]

Yeah I know no one wants to hear it but I've got a old, well used 472 Mossberg that puts three 170gr Federal factory (the cheap red box stuff they used to make and I stocked up on it big time long ago) into under .75" consistently.

I bought it new over 30yrs ago and it will leave my possession when I die. That Federal ammo was the first and only ammo I've ever shot in it. It's mediocre in every other 30-30 that I've shot it in... go figure.

I've got 21 boxes of it left and as I shoot about a half a box a year which ever of my boys gets it will likely still have enough to last him a long time if he shoots it at the same rate I do.

I put a 2x7 Redfield "5 star" scope on it when I bought it and it's still going strong as well.

[pdawg.shooter]

Fellow I used to hunt with had a Winchester 88 in .308. Used to poke fun at him till I watched him shoot 5 groups under 1" from a benchrest. 6x Redfield scope and 180gr handloads. Claimed he could do it every time and I have no reason to doubt him.