Topic: The Best Lever Action Rifles of 2023 (Read 38 times)
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It didn’t seem that long ago that Henry Repeating Arms was only making Golden Boys chambered in pistol cartridges and .22s. But these guys have been busy, and as the co*pany embarks on its second quarter century, they have added an impressive number of products to the lineup.
One of the flagship hunting rifles is the All-Weather Picatinny Rail .45/70 Side Gate, which is Henry’s version of a do-everything guide gun. As the name implies, it is built for the elements. The metal has a hard-chrome satin finish. The stock is a stained hardwood.
It has an aperture peep sight mounted at the rear of the substantial Picatinny rail. Henry outfitted it with an oversized lever loop. With the 18.43-inch barrel, the overall length is 37.5 inches and it has a 4+1 capacity. The rifle can be loaded either through the side gate on the receiver or by dropping rounds into the tubular magazine.
This is a versatile and capable thumper that is equally at home in bear country or in a deer stand overlooking a food plot.
The Winchester Model 1873 might have been The Gun that Won the West—a great bit of marketing by Winchester executives—but the Model 94 is undeniably the rifle that won the hearts and minds of generations of deer hunters. If you polled long-time hunters regarding their choice as the top lever action rifle, there’s little doubt the Winchester 94 would win the vote.
This was the most prolific of Winchester’s lever actions, being the first sporting rifle in the U.S. to sell a million units. Prior to the end of its domestic production in 2006, more than seven million Model 94s were produced.
Model 94s are still being made for Browning/Winchester by Miroku Corp. in Japan and are available in several different grades. These run from the basic Carbine ($1,309) with its plain walnut stock and brushed polished blued metal, to the Deluxe Sporting ($2,230), which has case color hardened metalwork, upgraded wood, nicely executed checkering, and a half-round, half-octagonal deeply blued barrel.
Currently, the 94 is being offered in .30/30 Win., .38/55 and .450 Marlin.
The Browning BLR is one of the most versatile lever actions on the market. It is available in both short- and long-action lengths and because it feeds from a detachable box magazine it is able to run pointy spitzer-style bullets in cartridges usually associated with bolt guns.
The Lightweight ’81 Stainless Takedown is the most utilitarian BLR of them all, making it the best lever action rifle in the BLR family. It breaks down into two pieces for easy transport and is built on a lightweight aluminum receiver and sports a stainless steel barrel for excellent weather resistance. At about 7.25 pounds (depending on the specific chambering) it has a very nice balance and feel. co*bined with its smooth lever system, which uses a clever gear and pinion design, the BLR embodies the lithe, fast-handling characteristics that lever action fans admire. (I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a nod to the legendary Winchester Model 88, which was a game-changing lever action from which the BLR drew lots of inspiration.)
The Lightweight ’81 Takedown is currently chambered in .243 Win., 6.5 Creedmoor, 7mm-08 Rem., .308 Win., .300 WSM, .30/06, and .300 Win. Mag. Several other cartridges are available in other BLR models as well.
It’s difficult for me to express how happy I am to include the Marlin 336 among the top lever action rifles currently made. I know I’m not alone in this. I cut my teeth hunting deer with a Marlin 336 in .35 Remington so, as with countless other hunters, the 336 was my first love.
We’ve handled and put a few rounds through one of the new 336’s, which will initially be chambered in .30/30 Win., and its quality was spot-on. As with the 1895s, the 336s have excellent fit and finish, run smoothly, and are aesthetically pleasing.
As for timing, expect to see the first Marlin 336’s shipping mid- to late-spring. The .35 Rem. is in the hopper, but those of us craving the return of that chambering will have to wait until later this year.
Also, don’t be surprised to see the 336 offered in Remington’s 360 Buckhammer in 2023 as well.
As you history buffs probably know, the original Henry lever action was the first co*mercially successful lever action rifle. Originally chambered in .44 Rimfire, it was one of the most advanced firearms to see action during the Civil War and was fielded in limited numbers by Union Troops.
Confederate Colonel John Mosby is credited with cursing it as “that damned Yankee rifle that can be loaded on Sunday and fired all week,” after fighting against troops wielding it in battle. That unintentional endorsement stuck and helped propel the Henry to everlasting fame.
Henry makes a “New Original Henry” chambered in either .44-40 WCF or .45 Colt, though the most popular (and affordable) homage is the Henry Golden Boy rimfire, which can be had in .22 S/L/LR, .22 Mag., or .17 HMR.
In .22 LR, the most popular configuration, the rifle holds 16 rounds, the same as the original. It has a 20-inch octagonal barrel that is nicely blued and contracts sharply with the bright “Brasslite” finished receiver and brass buttpad and barrel band.
The receiver co*es drilled and tapped for a scope, but before you mount an optic on yours spend some time running it with semi-buckhorn sights, as the Creator intended.
These Golden Boys run like a scalded squirrel and can digest ammo by the brick over the course of an afternoon.
As a first gun for a youngster, it has no real equal. But its appeal is so strong that no one will fault you for buying one for your grownup self first.
The Marlin 1894 was hot stuff when it was introduced back in the day. It was the first lever gun with a flat top, side-eject design that anticipated the eventual wide-spread adoption of telescopic sights on rifles. This innovation gave it a leg up (on paper anyway) co*pared to the Winchester 1894 which debuted at the same time, though the fact that the Winchester came in the potent .30/30 versus the less powerful offerings in the Marlin gave Winchester’s 1894 a decisive advantage.
The Marlin 1894 has been chambered in a variety of mostly pistol-caliber cartridges over the decades, the most co*mon of which (in the modern era) included the .44 Spl./.44 Magnum. .38 Spl./.357 Magnum and .45 Colt. I have a North Haven, Conn., built 1894 in .44 Magnum and it is one of my favorite carbines. (Though if I could snap my fingers and conjure any 1894 it would be one chambered in the quaint and now obsolete .218 Bee.)
Ruger announced the return of the Marlin 1894 this spring, so we will hopefully have hands-on range time with one soon for a full review. Expect to see the first offerings in the cartridges mentioned above, but as details beco*e available we’ll update this information. (Note: the rifle pictured above is one of the older Marlin 1894s).
Guess what—the Tombstone doesn’t give a damn about your nostalgic attachment to the past. This new arrival has turned a lot of heads with its uber-modern take on the lever action rifle.
Chambered in 9mm, it feeds via detachable 10- or 20-round magazines—the same ones POF uses on their Phoenix pistol.
The 16.5-inch barrel is free-floated, threaded ½-28, and co*es with a dual-port muzzle break that isn’t really necessary but co*pliments the Tombstone’s tactical vibe. (Truth is, it is just a placeholder for a suppressor, which elevates the Tombstone’s fun-factor by an order of magnitude.)
The fore-end has a couple Picatinny rail sections as well as numerous M-Lok slots, so there is no shortage of places to mount accessories. The receiver is topped with a Picatinny rail as well and includes an integrated XS Ghost Ring sight.
It runs Magpul’s SGA 870 buttstock, which includes two flush attachment points for a sling and a grip angle that is much steeper than is typical on a lever action. The Tombstone is about 36 inches long, and has an advertised weight of 5 ¾ pounds, which makes it handy and quick to wield.
The base black model is $1,962, while the FDE version runs $2,097. The Tombstone isn’t cheap, but there’s no shortage of shooters looking to throw down their money to get one.
This interesting rifle isn’t available quite yet—the co*pany hopes to launch it later in 2023—but I wanted to include it since it is an excellent example of the lever action’s enduring appeal.
The idea of this rifle is simple: An AR-15 co*patible lever action lower that can run a standard upper. The execution of it is quite co*plex, however, and involves a lot of innovation, particularly in the linkage system to get the appropriate leverage and timing to cycle 30-round magazines.
The throw on the lever is short—for quick cycling—but features a variety of camming forces to extract rounds from the chamber and strip rounds packed tight in higher-capacity magazines. From just the mechanical standpoint, this is a fascinating design.
Bond expects to offer this rifle as a co*plete system for about $1,500, though final pricing is TBD as the co*pany works to bring this concept to production. As with the POF Tombstone, the Bond Arms Lever Action uses the Magpul SGA 870 buttstock, meaning any Remington 870 co*patible stock can be swapped in its place.
Another cool feature is the rifle’s user-configurable lever loop that allows the shooter to swap to a larger loop if desired. In fact, this rifle’s AR-15 mix-and-match modularity promises to spawn interesting configurations as shooters experiment with the platform.
This list could have been much longer, but in the interest of brevity I’ve only highlighted a few notable classic lever guns. Before getting to those, however, I do want to highlight a couple important honorable mentions.
The Spencer repeating rifle is one. It was the first military repeating rifle that used self-contained metallic cartridges and is the forefather of all lever actions. Though the Spencer was produced for only a short time (1860 to 1869) and in relatively limited numbers, it was the steppingstone upon which the lever action rifle, specifically Winchesters, was built.
The Winchester 1895, which gained prominence as Teddy Roosevelt’s “Big Medicine” in .405 Winchester is an iconic lever action whose fame outstrips its actual benefits. From a technical standpoint, its most distinguishing element is that it was the first Winchester lever action fed from an internal box magazine.
This was the first big-boy lever action in history. The Winchester 1886 changed the game because it’s strong locking-block action was able to handle proper rifle cartridges, rather than the pistol rounds that previous lever action designs were limited to.
It was originally chambered in .45/70 and .45/90, two rounds you can still get it in. Over the years it was loaded for other hard-hitting rounds like the .50/110 Winchester and .33 WCF.
Those rounds, co*bined with its excellent handling characteristics, made the Model 1886 the first true big-game capable lever action. Today, you can order it in a Saddle Ring Carbine configuration ($1,630) with a 22-inch barrel, in “Short Rifle” trim ($1,450) with a 24-inch round barrel, or go all out with the fancy Deluxe Case Hardened model ($1,930) with a 24-inch octagonal barrel, upgraded walnut and color case hardened receiver.