No more Ruger Leverguns...?

[AJMD429]

I don't see any leverguns on the Ruger website any more...

I thought they still made the .22's and one or two other chamberings. Now I wish I had a 'spare' for my 96/22...

[GonnePhishin]

Yep, looks like their gone."Gone like a freight train, gone like a hurricane, gone like a soldier in the civil war, bang-bang"!

Sorry, couldn't help myself

[Modoc ED]

Yep, no more. When I got my new 2009 Ruger Catalog, I noticed there were no leverguns in it. I called Ruger and they said lagging sales of them no longer justified their production.

[Griff]

Grandma said if I can't say something nice... say nuttin'... "NUTTIN"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[J Miller]

You know the funny thing is, I've never even seen one in the flesh. Not a one.

The gun stores around here just don't stock many lever guns.

Joe

[C. Cash]

Grandma said if I can't say something nice... say nuttin'... "NUTTIN"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think we are all there right about now Griff, on a bevy of issues.

[3leggedturtle]

That explains why the Scheel's in Eau Clare had them marked at $369.99. Nice gun but for that price would rather get a BL22. But if they really arent that popular how come you hardly ever see used ones for sale. Me thinks maybe once yo buy one you like it too much to get rid of.

[AJMD429]

That explains why the Scheel's in Eau Clare had them marked at $369.99. Nice gun but for that price would rather get a BL22. But if they really arent that popular how come you hardly ever see used ones for sale. Me thinks maybe once yo buy one you like it too much to get rid of.

They are kind of funny looking if you like the traditional style levergun, but if you want something functional, they are really nice. I know now that the Savage 99 is a 'classic' but I'll bet it was regarded with similar disdain when it first appeared. Maybe in 20 years the Rugers will similarly be much-heralded 'classics' the old-timers miss. I suppose it is partly what you get used to - having grown up with 10/22's. the little 96/22 just seemed a natural, and I really like it better than my 10/22 in many ways.

[AndyM]

+1 on what Joe said - I have never seen or handled one - so best that I do not comment

[Sixgun]

While I'm sure those Ruger leverguns are hardy creatures, they just never did anything for me. In fact, can anyone here remember any posts of those Rugers?------------------Sixgun

[KWK]

Being a shrunken 99, I'd have bought one of their .44 Mags if they weren't so ugly. I didn't care for the carbine styling, and the bulge over the magazine for mounting a scope was ungraceful. If they had made a rifle version with a flat top and decent wood, there'd be one in my rack right now.

[Ray Newman]

If a product doesn't sell, a company will not market it. & as another poster said, has anyone ever seen one? Maybe most went to Ruger collectors??

But now that they are no longer available, I'll bet that all of a sudden they'll become "popular" & "desireable"....

[morgan in nm]

I had one of the 22mag levers from Ruger a few years ago. A local LEO wanted an old tractor I had just restored and having never seen one, I traded. I liked it. It was accurate and functioned flawlessly. That was all until I took it apart to clean it then I didn't like it so much. It was the sorryest excuse for castings I have ever encountered. The wood inlay looked worse than if an 8yr old child had built it. I was so dissappointed that I took it to the local candy store and traded it off. I lucked out as there was a lady in her late 30's with her son and they were looking for a 22 so I sold it to her for $100. That kid still shoots the pee out of it from what I understand.

[marlinman93]

One glaring problem! They hid the hammer! If they had made it an exposed hammer, it might have sold, but so far the only concealed hammer levergun that's been really successful is the Savage 99, and even it never reached the sales of the Winchester or Marlin levers.

[jjames]

I had a 9644, seemed okay but asthetically I just don't care for one piece stock leverguns. With a Henry Big Boy and Marlin 1894 in 44 mag in the safe why would I want to shoot a Ruger 9644 anyway.

[AJMD429]

I had a 9644, seemed okay but asthetically I just don't care for one piece stock leverguns. With a Henry Big Boy and Marlin 1894 in 44 mag in the safe why would I want to shoot a Ruger 9644 anyway.

After being warned by a cop that even walking across the road with any rounds in a tubular magazine can get me arrested, and living on property where a routine walk through woods and field cuts across the road and walk down it a hundred feet at least twice, the notion of loading and unloading those tubes is the one thing I dislike about most leverguns (vs. their bolt or semiauto counterparts). The 96/22 got around that, and so I was drawn towards the 96/44 for the same reason.

[Modoc ED]

I've got a 96/22 .22LR and it is as good as any Winchester, Marlin, Savage, or Browning lever action rifle I've ever owned. I like the looks of it and it is accurate with iron sights as well as the scope I have on it. I use it for my back-up Belding Ground Squirrel rifle and I've got somewhere North of 12,000 rounds through it without nary a glitch.

[Noah Zark]

. . . Can anyone here remember any posts of those Rugers?------------------Sixgun

Ooh! ooh! I can! I can!

http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewt ... 56#p115456

I also have a 96/44.

As for looks, IMO the Ruger isn't much of a departure from the lines of a Win 88 or SAKO Finnbear.

Noah

[Old Ironsights]

While I would like a Brass Framed 1866 in .22, I can't think of a .22 Levergun that I like more than my 96/22.

Its utility is unsurpassed... and it makes a right fine "Assault Rifle" too.



AJ... they haven't made the .22LR in a long time... 2001 I think. What they were still selling was the .22Mag and .17Mag

[Bullard4075]

"After being warned by a cop that even walking across the road with any rounds in a tubular magazine can get me arrested, "

Please explain this sir.

I am aghast . Is this a law somewhere?

[.45]

Picked up a 96/22 a few years ago and love it. Hardly ever shoot any of my other .22's any more. Been looking for a 96/44 but they are hard to come by in this part of the country. Guess they are going to get tougher to come by.

[AJMD429]

"After being warned by a cop that even walking across the road with any rounds in a tubular magazine can get me arrested, "

Please explain this sir.

I am aghast . Is this a law somewhere?

I was told that a CCW entitles one to carry a concealed handgun loaded, but the gun must be a handgun, and must be concealed, and that other than that, any loaded gun had to be on private property; i.e. there is no such thing as a 'CCW' for possessing an AR-15 or Remington 700 or Mossberg 12 gauge that is 'loaded' (including the magazine being loaded) on a public roadway. I think he said 75 feet from the centerline of a county road, but I don't recall for sure. The rationale being that whatever the distance was, it was the distance you'd have to be to discharge a firearm lawfully for target shooting or hunting.

Granted, if I were a driver, I'd be somewhat taken aback (even as a 'gun' person) if I saw a young kid walking down the road with a shouldered AR-15 and a loaded 30-round magazine, even if it was presumably 'unchambered'. I'm not saying it should be illegal, because such laws are usually symbolic and useless, but I can see why such laws might exist. At the time, I had a tube-loading .44 Magnum Marlin rifle, but in the 'eyes of the law' perhaps anything with ammunition physically inside the gun, even if not the chamber, was the problem.

Now this was a sherrif deputy, who I realize don't always know the law very well, but they ARE the ones who will arrest you and cause lots of problems if THEY think you broke the law, so I tend to humor them.

I thought it was stupid, since I could carry an AR or 740 or whatever with the bolt locked back, a loaded magazine in my pocket (and an 'empty' one if needed for a decoy), and get a round off just as fast as if I had an un-chambered levergun with a tube magazine loaded, but since I was a kid, I figured I'd better not challenge the 'authority'.

[Idiot]

I guess they just weren't any good. The public decides with its wallet what is good and not good. Along with Ruger 96s, our wallets said goodbye to other pieces of junk like the Winchester Model 71, the Savage 99, the Ruger Vaquero, the Marlin Mountie, and the Browning B92; junk, all of them, simply junk. Well I guess I'll go out and buy another Norinco.

My Ruger 96/22 works fine and will be with me a long time. I was hoping to buy the same rifle in 22 Magnum. I guess I'll have to shop for something else - before it gets dumped as well.

[H&R BANG]

I got a 22 magnum a couple of years ago. After a trigger job by Todd Toenges, it is my favorite rimfire.

Grab one if you can!

[Streetstar]

I admit the .22 is kinda cool in that it may be able to fire shorts, while the 10/22 can't ----- but the Ruger re-engineered lever gun is not competitive with more traditional platforms with the vast majority of users.

Bill Ruger hit a home run with the No. 1 single shot, but other projects have fallen short,

Mini-14 : (not counting the accurized versions of the past 2-3 years) ---nice looking little rifles, but who wants to shoot 4" groups with a 223 when a $500 AR 15 parts gun from Shotgun News can do 1" ?

PC-9 and PC-40 : neat little pistol caliber carbines -- i had a 9mm version myself. i dont know why this one didnt hit --- Marlin's camp carbine was long discontinued and this was a fun gun ---but the mid 90's lLE guy was infatuated with the MP-5

96/44 and 96/22 ----- too much tradition to compete against i guess. Why did they make these rifles and why did they discontinue the .44 mag semi auto? Money and marketing all around.

I never liked them, but i never shot one either. Me thinks a 96/44 will be on the list of "before i die " guns someday, nuch like a Savage 99

[DarryH]

They lasted a lot longer than a Second Lt. in Vietnam !!

Sorry, but I thought they were ugly !!

Then again, I always thought the Savage lever guns were ugly.
Now I wish I had a classic example of one !!

Good Shootin!!
DarryH
Nebraska