Lever gun caliber

CAH

FNG
Joined
Jan 17, 2018
If you had to choose, which caliber would you be going after for a lever gun to have in the truck/hunt with. I’m thinking 30-30, 45-70 or 45 long.
 
Depends on what your trying to hunt with it/what’s legal in your area. 30-30 is a great all around choice and 357 out of a 16+ inch barrel is pretty spicy. Those would be my choices
 
Let's say your a iowa resident, thinking about picking up a lever gun but it must be a smooth wall cartridge. I dismissed the .357 initially and was gonna jump to 45-70 but the ammo cost has me in tears.
 
I have a Win 94 Trapper in 357, 44mag, and 45LC. If I could only keep one it would hands down be the 44mag. If you're looking for a pistol caliber I like the 44mag over the others. In a rifle cartridge lever gun I like big boomers because they have a certain cool factor so I like the idea of a 45-70 and for short distances they hit like a brick but they also have the BC of a brick so if you think you'll be shooting 100yds or more the 30-30 would probably be a better choice.
 
I will be the odd one and opt for a Winchester 95 saddle ring carbine in 35 Whelen with a climbin’ Lyman receiver sight. Thus far that gun has evaded me, but I haven’t given up.
 
I still have two in 30-30 and a 22lr after selling down my levers When I stopped playing cowboy action shooter. the 22 is a plinker and the 30/30s are one With a scope and one without That I don’t hunt with much but can’t sell.

I miss my 357 the most. I would add a 45/70 or 44 mag to the stable if I spent more time in brown bear country. 45LC is nostalgia over performance. I would take a 44 mag and shoot specials before I bought another 45lc lever.
 
My vote is for the 45-70. I have a Marlin 1895GS and love it. The 45-70 has been around for 150 years and was standard issue for the army in the late 1800's.


Eddie
 
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Marlin 336 in 35 Remington. Topped with a fixed 4x Leupold . 200 grain bullet loaded to the rifle / cartridges potential is powerful medicine. I’ve poleaxed a bunch of deer and hogs with mine. If it had to be straight wall, .444.
 
If you were scoping it, I would recommend 30-30 with this. Turns the 30-30 into a 250 yard point blank gun.

My brother and I took our grandpa's Winchester 94 out the other day with that and it was so much fun. Consistent on steel wolf at 300 yards and I was shocked. Has me doubting the 140 monoflex bullets, die set, and leverolution powder I bought. My magnetospeed showed it about 20fps faster than the box, and I think we might have been short an inch or two in barrel over what the box said.
 
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