I want to buy a .357 magnum lever action rifle as common ammo companion to my .357 pistol. I was planning on a Marlin. However, I saw a new puma that was a Win 92 reproduction. The wood was not as nice as a Marlin. What about the action (feeding / malfuctions, etc.)? I would appreciate both your positive and negative comments/history to help decide. I am not planning on putting on a scope, so the top ejection is not problem.

I had a Puma in 357 and like the form and function. It was as accurate as it needed to be for my purposes...plinker. I only thing that really bothered me was the thickness of the side plate. It was so thin that when I pushed cartridges into the loading gate, it felt like edge was going to cut me. I couldn't see anyway to reduce the edge without damaging the appearance of the rifle. I personally prefer the Marlin and have a couple of them.

Here's mine, and I love it.


I got it to just play with. It's my second .357, the first being a blue 20". Also have a 20" in .45 colt and a long time ago I had one in 44-40 but sold it off.

My eyes are getting so bad that I had to make a new sight for it. But that worked out OK since I really didn't like the safety anyway. The others don't have it. It's real accurate and one of my favorite pastimes is to shoot my metal target off hand at 100 yards. I can ring it every time until the bbl leads but after a cleaning I'm back in business.

Mike