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Post by shooteruk on Jul 16, 2016 12:14:43 GMT -6
So, I went into my favourite gunstore and the owner, an old friend, showed me a nice second hand Marlin lever in .357. Its now mine, though I cant pick it up for a week. He was telling me how good the Marlins are, and I know the calibre well, having reloaded it since a teenager. Easy to reload, cheap to feed and will suit the shorter ranges I often find myself on these days. Really looking forward to taking her out for a try.
Actually if anyone knows these lever action carbines I would be interested in opinions on effective range. I would expect reasonable groups at 100 yds, but how much further? 250 yds? 300 sounds a bit far for accuracy but its got the throw....Anyone?
Also, it has a cheap scope which I wont keep. Start with the irons which fortunately my eyes still handle well. Would it be too silly to put the Eotech on board? It has a rail fitted.
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Post by Alpo on Jul 16, 2016 12:33:10 GMT -6
How's the rifling?
Marlin levers mostly have that "microgroove" rifling. Works great, they tell me, with jacketed bullets, but not so much with lead.
The cowboy shooters raised so much hell (because the game outlaws jacketed) that Marlin started offering "Ballard-style cut rifling".
I have no experience with the Marlins. Don't like their look or their balance. Just relating what I've heard.
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Post by shooteruk on Jul 17, 2016 0:38:26 GMT -6
Interesting Alpo. I shall take a look, and test both lead and jacketed.
I also have no experience with Marlins, however in the shop I handled it a while and it seemed well balanced, if a little heavier than I expected. As we all know however its the firing that will tell.
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Post by chootem on Jul 17, 2016 9:58:43 GMT -6
Love Marlin lever-actions!
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Post by shooteruk on Jul 18, 2016 0:52:54 GMT -6
Love Marlin lever-actions! Good enough for me. If pressed, I did think the stock a little short for my build. I may use a slip on rubber boot, but hopefully wont need to. I have been giving the scope a bit of thought, I have been eyeing up a fixed Leupold 2.5 x 20 light weight with a wide duplex. Given the limitation of the calibre and it being a carbine, plus it appears to offer more than usual eye relief. The eye relief is not important as in recoil (bump the eye) but allows a more forward position.
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Post by chootem on Jul 18, 2016 8:01:56 GMT -6
Love Marlin lever-actions! Good enough for me. If pressed, I did think the stock a little short for my build. I may use a slip on rubber boot, but hopefully wont need to. I have been giving the scope a bit of thought, I have been eyeing up a fixed Leupold 2.5 x 20 light weight with a wide duplex. Given the limitation of the calibre and it being a carbine, plus it appears to offer more than usual eye relief. The eye relief is not important as in recoil (bump the eye) but allows a more forward position. One of the reasons ( out of many) is the short stock. The recoil is not too bad, it's easy to carry through the woods (I also have a rain-proof scope) and I have not had any problems with many rounds going through it. What's not to like?
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Post by Luckyn'GlenMorBo on Jul 23, 2016 6:35:42 GMT -6
I like the Marlin lever-actions. They are durable (that's a personal opinion), though.
However, the side-eject makes adding a scope much easier. The Marlin action seems to be a lever-activated bolt: very strong mechanism, that; as opposed to the Winchester design.
Of course, one draw-back relates to the magazine, which prohibits all but flat-faced rounds. I did have good results with single-loaded spitzers in a 336.
I do wish I had never sold that particular rifle.
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Post by Alpo on Jul 23, 2016 11:20:03 GMT -6
You might already know this, but just in case - A tubular magazine with round-nose bullets or pointed bullets or full metal jacketed bullets is an explosion waiting to happen. You want flat noses, so the meplat is larger than the primer and is resting on the case head, and you want lead noses so the bullet will compress under heavy recoil. When pistol silhouette became popular over here, Sierra brought out a 240 grain TC FMJ bullet for that game. Within a few months they started putting warnings in the boxes of bullets. DO NOT LOAD THESE FOR USE IN THE RUGER 44 CARBINE (which had a 4-round tubular magazine) AS THIS CAN LEAD TO MAGAZINE DETONATION A lot of cowboy shooters have gone to truncated cone bullets, but in my opinion that's a bad choice. The meplat in that design is large enough you don't have to worry about small primers. And since all they want is to ring steel, that's fine. But for shooting something alive, whether rabbit or robber, I want a bigger nose. Elmer Keith was a great proponent of SWCs. You have the long nose to facilitate getting in the chamber, the flat nose for shocking power and the sharp shoulder to cut a full-caliber hole through your target. Unfortunately, SWCs won't feed through all levers. To make sure none of mine stutter when attempting to shoot quickly, I use RNFP bullets. They don't have the shoulder of a SWC, but they have a large meplat, for both magazine safety and for striking power. ammo.com/bullet-type/lead-round-nose-flat-pointI have "pistol-caliber" levers in 32/20, 357, 38/40, 44/40, 44 magnum and 45 Colt. I use this bullet style in all of them, with n'ary a hiccup.
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Post by shooteruk on Jul 23, 2016 13:52:21 GMT -6
Fascinating Alpo, but what bullet would you recommend? LSWC sounds the best bet?
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Post by Alpo on Jul 23, 2016 15:24:01 GMT -6
The SWC is, in my opinion, the best pistol bullet design there is.
The problem is that SOME levers don't like it. The sharp shoulder can cause feeding jams,
The "toggle actions" - the Henry and the 66 and 73 Winchesters - almost to a gun, will not feed them.
All of my guns are Browning design - either Browning, Rossi or actual Winchester 1892s. I've run SWCs in the Rossi 357 and 45, and they work fine. I have, however, seen many people on the cowboy wire complaining how THEIR Rossi would not feed SWC.
I have also seen people complaining that their Marlin won't eat them.
I guess your best bet is to try some and see. If they feed, excellent. If they won't, well, I have never seen one that a RNF won't feed in.
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Post by Luckyn'GMB on Jul 23, 2016 17:35:47 GMT -6
And, to emphasise Alpo's "spot-on" comment regarding any tubular mag, if hand-loading, BE CERTAIN that primers are not set "proud"!
Our only incidents of accidents using Henry reproduction pieces are a result of careless or inexperienced reloading of rounds carrying primers that are not FULLY SEATED (proud) within the confines of the brass.
Both incidents resulted in the loss of fingers/ thumbs, and severe damage to the firearms.
If in doubt, leave it OUT!
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Post by Alpo on Jul 23, 2016 17:48:55 GMT -6
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Post by Alpo on Jul 23, 2016 17:55:30 GMT -6
Lucky, were they caused by recoil, or by loading the gun?
Most Henry kabooms I've heard of were the result of dropping the rounds onto RN bullets or finishing loading and slapping the end closed, allowing the follower to zip down about six inches of empty mag tube, under strong spring pressure, and slam into the top round, forcing it against the next bullet's nose.
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Post by Luckyn'GMB on Jul 23, 2016 18:45:25 GMT -6
Alpo, your knowledge shines, my friend! Yes, in all our incidents (N-SSA) either of the following occurred: A) Dropping rounds into the mag in an attempt to reload quickly, B) Allowing the spring-tensioned follower to drop on a loaded magazine.
Common sense would seem to dictate that either action could have catastrophic consequences, but firing in timed events caused corners to be cut.
Our National Safety Committee met, and dictated that all preliminary loading would take place with barrels horizontal, with the safety officer for each team supervising the process. Failure to load horizontal results in immed DQ from the match.
Allowing the follower to fall upon the magazine results in immediate DQ from the upcomming match.
All rounds loaded during the match are now loaded from the breach (single-fire), with infractions resulting in immed DQ from the match.
There was talk of banning the Henry rifles, however it was pointed out that many members were stepping from rifled muskets into the "new assault" weapon of the era, and since we fire cannon and mortar with ultra-strict safety rules (and to date zero accidents), these additional rules and safety awareness programs should take care of things.
I do enjoy my Henry repro, and it is quite accurate up to 100 yds, our target limit for this weapon.
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Post by Alpo on Jul 23, 2016 19:28:34 GMT -6
I wasn't thinking N-SSA. Did you, by chance, know Secesh? Tom Ball of Ball Accuracy?
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