Most reliable lever gun

[getitdone1]

How reliable are the lever guns? Any one of them the most reliable?

Winchester 1886 and Browning clone--my pick along with the model 92

Savage model 99 ??

Browning BLR ??

Marlin 336 ?

Marlin 1894

Marlin model 39 ?

Winchester 94/22 ?

others?

Which of these is most likely to let you down in really cold, sub-zero weather?

Have any of you experienced failures in the field with any of these guns?

Do any of them have known weaknesses?

Don

[bogus bill]

With the right ammo they all are reliable. You might get in trouble shooting .38 in a .357 and .44 special in a .44 mag.

[Pisgah]

Maintain them and feed them correctly and every one of them is rock-solid reliable.

[jnyork]

Maintain them and feed them correctly and every one of them is rock-solid reliable.

What he said.

[deerwhacker444]

Ithaca model 49..!

Most reliable lever action I've ever owned. Never had a single failure to feed.

[Buck Elliott]

Ithaca model 49..!

Most reliable lever action I've ever owned. Never had a single failure to feed.

AMAZING...!!!

[oic0]

The marlins have the double feed issue after you cycle them a bazillion times. You can replace or modify a single piece to fix it. I'm not sure why any of them would be bothered by could though, unless the lubricant didn't get along with low temperatures.

[Hillbilly]

all the standard arguments and rationalzations aside... they are about equal.

Most misfeeds in any make of lever gun are from less than enthusiastic cycling of the lever.

I like my Winchesters... but a Marlin wont fill up with snow if you crank it open under a snow laden fir tree.

[76/444]

?Any one of them the most reliable?




!!!MINE!!!




Actually my Marlin model 444 is by far the most smooth feeding and 100% reliable lever gun I have ever owned or handled, out of the box. But, for the life of me I couldn't tell you why! It just is!


(knock on wood)

[Wes]

In my experience its been:
Marlins, BLR, 99 Savage, 88 Winchester all the same, very reliable.
Had a few issues with my 94 Winchesters over the years, but not from cold, and usually the newer ones.
I think the 22's are equal.

[Nath]

The only trouble I ever had was the 9422 in freezing cold, well maybe not the gun but the ammo lube would stick in the chamber and the extracter would fail to extract the unfired round.

The thing I like about the Win 94 is the fact that while it drops it's guts junk can fall out or be removed quite easy.

Nath.

[COSteve]

It's true that I did action jobs on both my Rossi M92s but since completed, they both run either 38spl or 357mag cartridges without a hiccup.

[Gun Smith]

What about the M.95 Winchester. One of the simplest magazine systems if the cartridges are stacked correctly. I don't think you can "stovepipe" one if you try. Takes pointy bullets too.

[Malamute]

I've had a few glitches with Marlins over time. One 336, an 1894 in 357, and an 1895 have had various small issues. The 1894 locked up tight a couple times, and needed to be taken apart to be cleared. Never figured out exactly what made it happen.

The Marlin 39 can get dirty enough to gum up with the old Winchester wildcat rounds. I've shot tons of rounds through it. When relatively clean it works great.

I don't recall ever having any glitches with the many Winchester 94's I've had. I've used pre-64's mostly, with a few post 64's.

I had one original Winchester 1886 that would try to double feed the older Remington brass with a rather extreme bevel on the rim. I tweeked the cartridge stop and it never did it again.

Have a couple later Winchester and Browning 92's. I havent really shot either all that much, but the Browning has been flawless in function. The Winchester needs a little extractor tweek.

[Kansas Ed]

What about the M.95 Winchester. One of the simplest magazine systems if the cartridges are stacked correctly. I don't think you can "stovepipe" one if you try. Takes pointy bullets too.

Sorry to disappoint, but the 1895's have notoriously troublesome mag springs which will fail to feed occasionally. And IMO the Marlins ought to be left completely out of this conversation...whenever a rifle is known for "The Marlin Jam", it is characteristically problematic. I'm not bashing Marlins here...just don't think they should be in the "most reliable to feed department"...and FWIW..neither is my favorite, the 1895 Winchester. Personally my vote goes to the 1885

Ed

[JerryB]

I have a 1917 1892 Winchester rifle in 32WCF, that I bought in early 1954 that has never fialed in any way. Reckon I can trust this one.

[COSteve]

I have a 1917 1892 Winchester rifle in 32WCF, that I bought in early 1954 that has never fialed in any way. Reckon I can trust this one.

I hope it works better than your spelling!

[RIHMFIRE]

From what I have seen the 66 and the 73 are used by a lot of sass members...
the 73 is fast shoot'n with very little jamming...

[76/444]

Oh my God,.... JerryB , just where the hell do you get off, misspelling the word,...FAILED!?!?!?!

Don't you know that typo's are punishable by fifty lashes with a wet noodle!?!?!?! Especially the severe inexcusable transgression of transposing an I with an A !!!!!!

Or worse yet,... we could pry your eyes open with tooth picks and force you to read all the grammar cop posts for the past year!!!!!!

Man, ... the nerve,... some guys, I just don't know what this board is coming to!!!!!!

HOBIE,... we got a spelling slacker here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JerryB]

Well Steeevvee, seeing as how I am just an old human I do tend to make a mistake now and then. My 71 year old fingers get ahead of my simple old mind and I just type with 2 finghers, See what I mean. Sure do hope you don't have to put up with it your self someday. I am sorry, will try to do better for your reading pleasure.

[buckeyeshooter]

I have a bunch of them and they are generally the first gun grabbed to go hunting. No complaints here!

[Lastmohecken]

Well, here is my experiences, more or less. IMHO, some are more trouble prone then others, but I am sure there will always be someone who has shot thousands of rounds through any given model without issues.

Unless it has been tuned by someone who knows how, I will say that the Rossi 92 quite often gives some problems, but can be made into a good working gun. So, if you buy one, plan on getting it slicked up, if you are serious about reliability.

Next in line, is the Marlin 1894 in 44 mag. It's world famous for jamming, but many work fine, and they can be tuned to work fine. I had one years ago that gave me enough trouble, that I have never owned one since, but many swear by them.

I have found that the Winchester Replica 1886's and some of the Winchester Replica 1895's have given me problems with missfires on the 86's, plus I have found that you need to bottom that lever out, pretty darned hard, to insure that it picks up the next round in the mag, out of the box, anyway. I had a Winchester 95 Replica in .270 that was bad to have failure to feeds, with the points of the bullets digging into the ramp.

However, I own a Browning 1886 carbine, a Browning 1895 in 30-06, and a Browning 92 in 44 mag, that have all been very reliable. Do I see a pattern here? I think maybe so. The Brownings were just slicker working guns, then many of the Winchester Replicas that followed.

I have found that in general, Winchester model 94's in 30/30, to be quite reliable, and I have owned probably 20 or more, over my lifetime, from pre-64's to angle-ejects. Some of the ones in the mid to late 60's had issues with the sheetmetal lifter, but many worked just fine. Ironically, then only one that ever gave me problems was a 1948 pre-64, but that must just a fluke, you can get a bad gun in anything. My favorites are still model 94's, pre-64's.

In general, all of the Marlins I have owned worked pretty good, except for the 1894, but the 336's, 444's, and 1895's, usually worked very well, some were smoother then others.

I had one Savage 99 in 300 savage, that worked very well, and shot well, but I had another in .308 win that give me fits in the accuracy dept. and I had ejection problems. I considered to be a lemon.

I have owned 4 of the steel frammed Browning BLRs, the three with the flat bottom magazine have worked flawlessly, but the older roundbottom magazine BLR's can sometimes be finiky, and I blame it on the magazine design, although I have seen plenty of them that worked pretty good.

The Winchester 88's are neat rifles, but they have been known to fire, when on safe. You can do a search on the internet and find information about that.

The old Winchester model 71's, are kinda like the 86's and might need to have that lever bottomed out pretty hard to insure that it always picks up the next round from the mag, but in 348, they feed very slick.

I have never owned a Winchester 73, but the ones that I have shot, seemed to work very slick. However, it is generally known that over all cartridge length is fairly critical, in these rifles, but that's not really an issue, as long as good loads are used. There maybe other issues with some of the replicas, but I will let someone else comment on that.

In the .22 class, Marlin 39's are great rifles, but some have been known to break firing pins, fortunately they are easy to change out. My brother in law and I both had some firing pin breakage with 1980's vintage model 39's. Replaced the pins and all was fine. I have also had some problems with shells feeding smoothly from the mag tube, in a couple of my Marlins.

I own a Browning BL-22, and a Winchester 94/22 mag, so far they have both worked perfectly, unless very dirty, and in need of cleaning and lube.

Sorry for long posts, I am sure my experiences differ from others.

[Old Time Hunter]

Just my .02, but which one has sold more over time would probably be the most reliable. Otherwise it would not be so.

Guess that would be the much maligned '94 Winchester. Go ahead and have at it boys, tell me which one should've been the sales leader and why millions of people were idiots for purchasing the Winchester.

[76/444]

What about the M.95 Winchester. One of the simplest magazine systems if the cartridges are stacked correctly. I don't think you can "stovepipe" one if you try. Takes pointy bullets too.

Sorry to disappoint, but the 1895's have notoriously troublesome mag springs which will fail to feed occasionally. And IMO the Marlins ought to be left completely out of this conversation...whenever a rifle is known for "The Marlin Jam", it is characteristically problematic. I'm not bashing Marlins here...just don't think they should be in the "most reliable to feed department"...and FWIW..neither is my favorite, the 1895 Winchester. Personally my vote goes to the 1885

Ed

Interesting,... in my whole life I have never met any Marlin owner who suffered from this Internet propagated malady. Never had a friend who knew anyone with the problem, in my whole life. And in all the years I have owned two, never had it happen.

Maybe I should start a post calling for a poll on who have FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE with this dire pandemic?

[76/444]

Just my .02, but which one has sold more over time would probably be the most reliable. Otherwise it would not be so.

Guess that would be the much maligned '94 Winchester. Go ahead and have at it boys, tell me which one should've been the sales leader and why millions of people were idiots for purchasing the Winchester.

Hmmm,...with all due respect, I can't produce any facts contrary to your opinion, but, I think there are a few more aspects to the formula of success of overall sales numbers, than just reliability.

Things like PRICE, AVAILABILITY, overall PRODUCTION numbers, number of DISTRIBUTORS, DELIVERY system efficiency... just to name a few.

[Bigahh]

Just my .02, but which one has sold more over time would probably be the most reliable. Otherwise it would not be so.

+1 Gets my Vote also.

[Ben_Rumson]

Just my .02, but which one has sold more over time would probably be the most reliable. Otherwise it would not be so.

Guess that would be the much maligned '94 Winchester. Go ahead and have at it boys, tell me which one should've been the sales leader and why millions of people were idiots for purchasing the Winchester.

I would point out that the 94 usually costed less than the other two most popular lever rifles..

[Bogie35]

Just my .02, but which one has sold more over time would probably be the most reliable. Otherwise it would not be so.

Guess that would be the much maligned '94 Winchester. Go ahead and have at it boys, tell me which one should've been the sales leader and why millions of people were idiots for purchasing the Winchester.

How many 94's did Winchester sell last year?

Hmmmmmmm......I don't think I can rely on Winchester anymore.

bogie

[Modoc ED]

I have a 1917 1892 Winchester rifle in 32WCF, that I bought in early 1954 that has never fialed in any way. Reckon I can trust this one.

I hope it works better than your spelling!

Jeesh!!! Even with the smilie face that's pretty pompus -- down right roode. Fer craps sake, the guy said he bought it in early 1954 indicating he may well be a WWII Vet. He's probably got a lot more to think about than whether he spelled a word right (or is it wright) or maybe rit.

[Swampman]

It doesn't get any better than the Marlin 336.

[Griff]

This is a high-class place so act respectable. We discuss most anything here other than politics... politely.

Sometimes this means we overlook a misspelt word, and generally ignore grammar or syntax errors. Why, we've even let a factual fopaw slide by if it weren't dangerous.

As far as the OP is concerned... I've found that Winchester, Marlin & Brownings are great. Even a great deal of the import replicas are superb. There's always the errant problem, but such is the way of all things mechanical. Nate Kiowa Jones could probably write books about the various problems he's encountered ironing out various cowboy guns... But, at least from my own perspective, that's a level of reliablity that the general consumer may not even be concerned about.

But, with all pride and prejudice aside... I figure that since I can shoot and feed my Winchester 94 whether it's upside down, rightside up, or anywhere in-between, it has to be the most reliable! (Oh yea, when that ejection port is below horizontal, be quick with the leverin'! Or you just might find your cartridges in the dirt!)

[Mike D.]

I own a dozen+ 1886s, a 71 and one '95. None have ever not worked as I expected them to. The '95 has not once failed to load the following cartridge. They are very simple to load and tremendously reliable in all respects. Ditto for the old '86. You will not find better, including the 336 Marlin. I own a 1952 A in .35 R, but seldom take it out of the safe. Those darn Winchesters are always in the way.

[Swampman]

I thought the question was about most reliable. That's why I said the Marlin 336. It's guts don't fall out every time you work the lever.

[piller]

I only have experience with the Marlin 336, Marlin Guide Gun, Puma 92, and the Henry .22. The only problems I ever had in any of them were from Operator Headspace and Timing. The mechanical parts have been 100% reliable so far.

[Malamute]

"I thought the question was about most reliable. That's why I said the Marlin 336. It's guts don't fall out every time you work the lever."


I haven't found that to be a criteria for reliability, nor have I had any parts fall out when working actions others than Marlins.

[Lastmohecken]

I wrote a fairly long post eairler, but after thinking about it some more, and reflecting on all of the failures that I can recall, regarding leveractions, that I have owned, in my lifetime, I am going to say that, I would probably trust the following models, the most, to keep working, flawlessly, after being tested, to keep working, for an extended time period of use, with very little care in the way of cleaning, parts replacement, and other maintance, etc, other then a light oiling from time to time.

Browning BLR model 81, steel frame, pre folding hammer, flat bottom magazine, in .308 win. I place this one at the top, because, I have used it the most, of any one rifle, I have ever hunted with, as far as I am concerned it proven 100% reliable, under all conditions, that I have ever subjected it to, and I havn't babied it. It's my home defense gun too, for the most part, also. I trust it that much.

Browning model 95 in 30-06, some have said that this rifle gives problems, but I have found them to be more reliable, then the 86's, 71's, or 92's, as long as they are loaded correctly to start with, and that is really more of an issue with the rimmed cartridges, like the 30/40 Krag, then the 30/06. However, they are slower to top off, then an under tube rifle with the King's loading gate.

Pre-64 Winchester Model 94, 30/30, still one of the very best, there ever was.

I rate the ones above, first, because I have found that actions like the 86, 71, and 92, to be a little bit more finikey, and a lot more likely to fail to pick up the next round out of the mag, if the lever is not bottomed out pretty hard, and on some that were a little sticky, even if the lever was bottomed out hard, I have still seen failures to pick up the next round. That could get you killed, if you thought you had one up the pipe, and did not, when shooting in a tight spot. But I still like these models very much, it's just that I don't trust them quite as much, in general. Out of these models, I trust the original model 71's in 348, the most.

Next, I don't trust any of the pistol round models as much, as they are known for being more ammunition sensitive, in general, compaired to the rifle round models.

[fknipfer]

If you have never owned a BLR than you can't judge. I have owned them all the the BLR wins hands down.


fknipfer

[Old Time Hunter]

Just my .02, but which one has sold more over time would probably be the most reliable. Otherwise it would not be so.

Guess that would be the much maligned '94 Winchester. Go ahead and have at it boys, tell me which one should've been the sales leader and why millions of people were idiots for purchasing the Winchester.

Hmmm,...with all due respect, I can't produce any facts contrary to your opinion, but, I think there are a few more aspects to the formula of success of overall sales numbers, than just reliability.

Things like PRICE, AVAILABILITY, overall PRODUCTION numbers, number of DISTRIBUTORS, DELIVERY system efficiency... just to name a few.

Yes, but...Marlin had plenty of time to make the adjustments and never did become the "sales" leader. If their product was so superior, customers would have noticed. Don't get me wrong I've got a few of those Marlins new and old, their quality is not has consistant.

[76/444]

Just my .02, but which one has sold more over time would probably be the most reliable. Otherwise it would not be so.

Guess that would be the much maligned '94 Winchester. Go ahead and have at it boys, tell me which one should've been the sales leader and why millions of people were idiots for purchasing the Winchester.

Hmmm,...with all due respect, I can't produce any facts contrary to your opinion, but, I think there are a few more aspects to the formula of success of overall sales numbers, than just reliability.

Things like PRICE, AVAILABILITY, overall PRODUCTION numbers, number of DISTRIBUTORS, DELIVERY system efficiency... just to name a few.

Yes, but...Marlin had plenty of time to make the adjustments and never did become the "sales" leader. If their product was so superior, customers would have noticed. Don't get me wrong I've got a few of those Marlins new and old, their quality is not has consistant.

Neither did Lamborghini,...but I'll take one over a V W any day of the week.

I think I should start over on this one,... I am NOT advocating that ANY lever is better than ANY other specific one. Though "MY" preference is for pre 64 Winnies and pre Cross Bolt Marlins, ... that does NOT endorse a blanket statement that one is better than the other!

[big bear]

Well, here is my experiences, more or less. IMHO, some are more trouble prone then others, but I am sure there will always be someone who has shot thousands of rounds through any given model without issues.

Unless it has been tuned by someone who knows how, I will say that the Rossi 92 quite often gives some problems, but can be made into a good working gun. So, if you buy one, plan on getting it slicked up, if you are serious about reliability.

Next in line, is the Marlin 1894 in 44 mag. It's world famous for jamming, but many work fine, and they can be tuned to work fine. I had one years ago that gave me enough trouble, that I have never owned one since, but many swear by them.

I have found that the Winchester Replica 1886's and some of the Winchester Replica 1895's have given me problems with missfires on the 86's, plus I have found that you need to bottom that lever out, pretty darned hard, to insure that it picks up the next round in the mag, out of the box, anyway. I had a Winchester 95 Replica in .270 that was bad to have failure to feeds, with the points of the bullets digging into the ramp.

However, I own a Browning 1886 carbine, a Browning 1895 in 30-06, and a Browning 92 in 44 mag, that have all been very reliable. Do I see a pattern here? I think maybe so. The Brownings were just slicker working guns, then many of the Winchester Replicas that followed.

I have found that in general, Winchester model 94's in 30/30, to be quite reliable, and I have owned probably 20 or more, over my lifetime, from pre-64's to angle-ejects. Some of the ones in the mid to late 60's had issues with the sheetmetal lifter, but many worked just fine. Ironically, then only one that ever gave me problems was a 1948 pre-64, but that must just a fluke, you can get a bad gun in anything. My favorites are still model 94's, pre-64's.

In general, all of the Marlins I have owned worked pretty good, except for the 1894, but the 336's, 444's, and 1895's, usually worked very well, some were smoother then others.

I had one Savage 99 in 300 savage, that worked very well, and shot well, but I had another in .308 win that give me fits in the accuracy dept. and I had ejection problems. I considered to be a lemon.

I have owned 4 of the steel frammed Browning BLRs, the three with the flat bottom magazine have worked flawlessly, but the older roundbottom magazine BLR's can sometimes be finiky, and I blame it on the magazine design, although I have seen plenty of them that worked pretty good.

The Winchester 88's are neat rifles, but they have been known to fire, when on safe. You can do a search on the internet and find information about that.

The old Winchester model 71's, are kinda like the 86's and might need to have that lever bottomed out pretty hard to insure that it always picks up the next round from the mag, but in 348, they feed very slick.

I have never owned a Winchester 73, but the ones that I have shot, seemed to work very slick. However, it is generally known that over all cartridge length is fairly critical, in these rifles, but that's not really an issue, as long as good loads are used. There maybe other issues with some of the replicas, but I will let someone else comment on that.

In the .22 class, Marlin 39's are great rifles, but some have been known to break firing pins, fortunately they are easy to change out. My brother in law and I both had some firing pin breakage with 1980's vintage model 39's. Replaced the pins and all was fine. I have also had some problems with shells feeding smoothly from the mag tube, in a couple of my Marlins.

I own a Browning BL-22, and a Winchester 94/22 mag, so far they have both worked perfectly, unless very dirty, and in need of cleaning and lube.

Sorry for long posts, I am sure my experiences differ from others.

I find your observations about the Winchester 71 rings true. My Browning 71 does not seem as finicky about "bottoming out the lever" to ensure the next round is picked up.My Win 71 on the other hand, no problem when 'using" the rifle , but frequently an issue when bench shooting the rifle (testing loads, having fun trying to put holes in tight clusters). The Browning 71 does not have this problem to the same extent. Any ideas why?
I vote savage 99, rotary mag as technically the "best" lever action for reliability.

[2571]

With the right ammo they all are reliable. You might get in trouble shooting .38 in a .357 and .44 special in a .44 mag.

I had a problem with a Marlin, asked for advice here. One guy indicated his .357 handled .38 better than the .357.

After I figured what I was doing wrong, I had no further problems with the Marlin. My dificulty was a reloading issue (rn vs truncated cone bullets).

[Swampman]

There's an excellent reason Winchester is gone. They never were a sales leader.

[BigSky56]

If I get a call for ADC work and dont know what Iam going up against I grab my 94 its worked no matter the weather and temperature. danny

[Grizzly Adams]

From what I have seen the 66 and the 73 are used by a lot of sass members...
the 73 is fast shoot'n with very little jamming...

The 1873 gets my vote for the most reliable lever action ever made. It is simple to the extreme, feeds in a controlled manner, and can be maintained by any one with a bit of common sense and a screwdriver. I have been shooting 73s in CAS for over 20 years and have had two malfunctions in tens of thousands of rounds. Both were faulty ammo with case spilts that I should have caught! (Let's not talk about pistol and shotgun reliability!)

If I could "only have one", it would be a 73 in 44WCF.

[Boreman]

Of the 18 leverguns I have,I think my M-71's to be the most reliable.But you have to understand the M-71 to make it so,you can't baby them. I have never had a misfire or chambering problem.(cross my finger)

[Rexster]

My recent Mirokuchester '92 Trapper in .45 Colt was a cantankerous, finicky feeder, so I parted with it. My one BLR that has been fired much, a 1997-era Lightning, feeds 100% reliably. My wife's Rossi '92, made in the late 1990's, is a slick, reliable feeder. My Marlins are too new to tell, and are mostly sitting in storage for what I hope will be a move to the country in a few years. The older household Winchester '94 30-30 feeds reliably.

[greyowl]

Of the models and makes I've had the Marlin 336,1895 and 444 have never had any problems in functioning. Same for the Savage 99. I had one Winchester 94 in 7-30 waters that needed to be double clutched a lot to cycle. I liked how the cartridge performed but not in that rifle. My Marlin 1894 in 44 mag. will not feed some brands of ammo consistantly, so I stay away from Winchester ammo and all is well. The 94 in 30-30 has never given me a problem, don't know what was up with the 7-30. So I'd say the Marlin 336 style action has been the "best" for me along with the 99.

[junkwrencher]

I normally don't reply, just read.But this is one I have to speak up on.One brother replied to the dreaded Marlin jam as being internet created or something to that effect and I would have agreed until I saw it myself.A friend of mine told me of a .44 Marlin he had that jammed and jammed and he finally beat it over a tree breaking the stock.I asked him if he still had it and he said it has been laying in the yard for months in the rain, dew, etc.I asked to buy it from him and said could have it.It was badly rusted, missing the barrel band,mag. tube and of course the stock, front sight and some hardware, the forearm finish was peeling.I ordered the missing parts, reblued it, loaded it and it jammed!I did not know what to do, so I did a "google" and found this site and how to correct the problem.I've owned 3 Winchester 94's, 1 336 Marlin,1 39 Marlin, 1 Iver Johnson[pre-Henry]22. And the only to ever jam was the 1894 Marlin.It has a kazillion rounds ran through it and after replacing the carrier/timing part, there are no more problems.

[76/444]

Actually what I posted was that it is "internet propagated",.... meaning .......

# spread: become distributed or widespread; "the infection spread"; "Optimism spread among the population"
# transmit or cause to broaden or spread; "This great civilization was propagated throughout the land"
# circulate: cause to become widely known; "spread information"; "circulate a rumor"; "broadcast the news"
# cause to propagate, as by grafting or layering





"internet CREATED or something to that effect" is a bit different....

# make: make or cause to be or to become; "make a mess in one's office"; "create a furor"
# bring into existence;

[Rexster]

One thing about the current BLRs that I like, is that the top round in the magazine is aimed at the chamber when the bolt is back. All else being equal, this is an indication of reliable feeding. I so liked the smooth feeding and reliability of my first one, a 1997 Lightning, that when Browning released its first, limited run, of stainless BLRs a few years ago, I bought TWO of them, with the recent influx of Katrinistas, and the grazing hit from Hurricane Rita, very much on my mind. In fact, it was a quiet unauthorized BLR, my first and then-only one, in the trunk of my patrol car during Rita. Keep in mind that as Rita was aimed for us, we were playing host to a couple of hundred thousand Katrinistas, some of whom had been very naughty to the east a very short time before, and who were largely still armed and feral here. Of course, Rita made a late turn and slammed folks further east than she did us.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying a BLR is as rugged as an HK 91, FN FAL, or M14/M1A, but it was the .308 I had at the time, and I knew mine to be flawlessly reliable.