I am considering buying a lever action pistol caliber carbine for plinking and the occasional coyote or fox. I am wondering what kind of accuracy is typical from an out of the box lever gun from Marlin or Winchester? I'm assuming it's in the 2-3" range at 100 yards. What caliber and model would you reccomend?

My buddy from Colorado has a lever action 444 Marlin that he sent to me so he could use it while hunting here in PA for deer. I sighted it in for him using factory 300 grain bullets. Pretty accurate! Here are 3 shots at 100 yards. I have a Marlin 30-30 that shoots almost as well. Right at 1" for 3 shots t 100 yards with factory 150 grain Remingtons.

HI,

Looking at that target anyone would think that was a bolt action,that is some nice grouping,Kev

I've got a truck gun in a 444 that is beer can accurate at 100yds. with Speer's 300gr. I also have the new 86 ex. light that shoots a 420gr. cast inside 2" when I have a good day. That little rifle hurts on both ends.

For those of you who read these posts but can't get their own levergun to print a reasonably good group ... Find a copy of 1965 Gun Digest, article titled "Lever Action Rifles" authored by C.H Helbig and P.B. Cain.

Chris was my gunsmithing mentor when I was a kid, is long gone now and I haven't seen Phil in better than 10 years, but they coauthored this article after reworking and testing Sav. 99, Win. 94 & 88, and Marlin 336 - to debunk the myth that levers aren't accurate. In the article they cover the issues, some unique to levers, and detail the cures effecting accuracy - great gunsmithing tips if you can find a copy!

Joe (hobbyguymaine/old windbag)

I've got 3 levers; mod 88 -.243 . shoots like a bolt; Marlin 36 -.32 spl - stays in 1 1/2" at 100; and a Marlin .44 mag -short thing - kicks like a mule, and I haven't been able to hit a dinner plate consistantly at 50 yards - I have tried just about every load, including factory.. (think I'll get rid of it)

Lots of lever actions shoot very well indeed..My Sav. M-99F in .308 shoots inch groups pretty consistantly, glass bed them like a bolt gun and most will shoot surprisingly well.I have an old 94 that my grandad packed in the Texas Ranger service and the barrel looks like a smokestack inside, yet it will shoot 1" every time at 100, why I have no idea but I have won a lot of money and many turkeys with it....so you never know until you shoot them.

Out of the box I suspect 2 to 3 inches is a realistic guess and most of the new Winchesters seem to shoot closer to 4 inches it seems.....

quote:

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Originally posted by MarkP:
I've got 3 levers; mod 88 -.243 . shoots like a bolt; Marlin 36 -.32 spl - stays in 1 1/2" at 100; and a Marlin .44 mag -short thing - kicks like a mule, and I haven't been able to hit a dinner plate consistantly at 50 yards - I have tried just about every load, including factory.. (think I'll get rid of it)

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Mark,
Luck of the draw I guess, I bought a 'new' 1894PG 2nd hand at the local gunshop. Guy brought it back and traded it in, said it wouldn't shoot. Handloads and cast boolits are shootin' better and better. Lol, what I was gonna' do is put a 44-40 barrel on it, but mebbe you'd be innerested in parting with yours??????
Cheers,
R*2
Ps. I'm in Amish country, you around Scranton/Wilkes Barre? We might be able to get together and work something out. PM me.

I HAVE HAD several Marlin and Winchester pistol caliber lever guns over the years and I got better erformance from the Marlins then the Winnys.
I was looking for a short bbl lever in .45LC and recently picked up a Legacy and have been quite impressed with it. It shoots well and seems well made and after 500rounds has exhibited no problems.

BUT
if you are actually looking for the most accurate of the lever guns...
there are all the others
then
there are Browning BLRs.
They shoot better then ANY other lever gun out there for sheer accuracy and will rival a lot of bolt guns.

Lawcop,
Can't disagree with you, had a look at one today. A BLR with steel receiver in 308, wonderfull mechanism with the rack and rotating bolt, magazine will take pointy bullets. Must confess though I don't like that trigger comin' along with the lever. I think they're askin' $500 for it, good price too. But I'm hooked on Marlins, {;o).
Cheers,
R*2

Yo Russell, I'm in Wellsboro .. about 5 hours North of you - 1 hr above Williamsport next to the NY line .. SORRY .. the 44 mag is history .. worked it off to a 25 WSSM in Mod 70 classic .. out of the box it's cutting holes at 100 yrds .. Think I'll keep this one (even if it's not a lever) .. mpb

My 1895 Marlin GG in .450 gives me 1.75" at 100 yards with factory 350gr Hornadys with no real effort (XS ghost ring sights). That's plenty good for a brush/saddle gun IMHO...

I've had a couple of Savage 99F's (250 Savage and 308) that would constantly shoot groups in the 1†range at 100 yards with good ammo.

I have a Win 9422 in 22 mag that will shoot all day in the 1 ½†range.

A Browning 1886 45-70 that will also shoot in the 1 ½†arena with 300 gr’s.

A Winchester BB94 375 Win that would only do about 3-4†until I slugged the bore and found out it was .377â€. I had it rechambered to 38-55 and it will now shoot consistent 1 ½†groups

A Winchester model 92 32-20 that will shoot between 1 ½ -2†groups.

A Winchester model 53 44-40 that averages around 4â€, but it has a .430 bore and a tight chamber that will not take anything larger than a .428†bullet. With thin walled brass cases, I can go up to .429†bullets, which shrinks the groups to 3â€. I imagine that it would shrink still further if I could use the proper .430†projectiles.

For practical field use, most of these guns shoot better than I can!

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Originally posted by elkhntr:
I am considering buying a lever action pistol caliber carbine for plinking and the occasional coyote or fox. I am wondering what kind of accuracy is typical from an out of the box lever gun from Marlin or Winchester? I'm assuming it's in the 2-3" range at 100 yards. What caliber and model would you reccomend?

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Elkhunter,

I like to carry around a marlin 1894fg in 41 rem mag while I'm calling coyotes. Its kind of taken the place of the shotgun for the hard chargers. It make quite a door gun for the coyote crossing the road shots light short and easy to chamber a round. Its quite a fun little gun. And it shoots good.
yucca

I have only shot one group with my 45 Colt Win94 Ranger 16" barrel, 1536 fps, 250 gr XTP:

3.2" 5 shot group at 100m


But I have shot a handful of groups at 50m that are all about half that size, so I think it is represenative.

Your question pertained to pistol calibers, so I'll limit my response to that.

Folks usually think of Marlin and Winchester when referring to traditional levers, but the Puma series is quite good. A buddy and I each have one in .44 mag and both rifles can do 1.5 - 2" groups on a good day with handloads. We were both pleasantly surprised as we were expecting middling accuracy ( just got 'em for popping cans, etc.) . In addition, they have nice octagon barrels, oil-finished stocks, etc.

I've got a Model 94 Black Shadow rifle that usually puts three 170 gr Silvertips (factory) under an inch or very close to it. They don't make this model any more but I suspect just about new Winchester or Marlin will do it if you take the time to find a combination the rifle likes. All the "tuning" I had to do was tighten the tang screw on my rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by MarkP:
I've got 3 levers; mod 88 -.243 . shoots like a bolt; Marlin 36 -.32 spl - stays in 1 1/2" at 100; and a Marlin .44 mag -short thing - kicks like a mule, and I haven't been able to hit a dinner plate consistantly at 50 yards - I have tried just about every load, including factory.. (think I'll get rid of it)

Im shooting a 1894 SS in 44mag with good results. You may want to try the 240gr Gold Dot. Im loading this bullet on top of 24gr of H110 (Win Cases, CCI 300 primers, Heavy Crimp) about 2-2 1/2" at 100yds.

My Marlin 1895 will do about 2" with my 405 gr hard cast hand load (Meister Hard Cast), and my Win. 1894 30/30 is about the same...also with a pet handload (150gr Seirra). The ORH sights were used for all testing.

I had a Winchester 94 Ranger 30-30 that would shoot one inch groups at 100 yards. I loaded 170 grain Speer FN on top of either 30 grains of H322 or 32 grains of 3031 whichever I had on hand. As long as the barrel was CLEAN and I did my part, 1" groups all day long.

quote:

Originally posted by Borealis Bob: Folks usually think of Marlin and Winchester when referring to traditional levers, but the Puma series is quite good. A buddy and I each have one in .44 mag and both rifles can do 1.5 - 2" groups on a good day with handloads.

I'm gathering the money to order the EMF version of your Puma from Steve's Gunz. Should be sweet, that M92 feel & action is great.

Not a pistol caliber, but my old .358BLR will shoot sub-moa at 100yds. with 200 gr Hornadys.

The Marlin Guide Gun in 45-70 is one of my most accurate rifles with my handloads grouping .75" at 100 yards.