Which Cowboy action rifle?

[ovenpaa]

Not being an under lever shooter this is not an area I know a great deal about other than getting my hands on the occasional rifle to plink with, so I am interested in peoples opinions as to the best choice of new or less than three years old under lever rifle make and cartridge for general target shooting indoors and outdoors and out to 100 yards.

[DaveB]

I like the Rossi copies of the Winchester 1892. I have one in .44 Magnum I have had since the 1980s, and my wife has one in .44-40.

If you ever want to use it for something else the .44 Magnum is the better choice - you can always load it with .44 Special for Cowboy shoots and the Magnum for close-in hunting. .44 Magnum Rossi carbines are popular here in NZ for hunting wild pig. There's also the .38 Special/.357 Magnum option as well as .45 Long Colt and for the very adventurous - .454 Casull. Any of these will do fine to 100 yards. Depending upon calibres you can get choose from 16 inch, 20 inch and 24 inch (octagonal) barrels and choice of blued or stainless.

The used ones are often a better idea - as when new they can be a bit stiff until you get a couple of hundred rounds through them.

[25Pdr]

Got to be a Marlin 1894C Carbine....

I've put at least 20K rounds through it with two firing pin breakages, great Gun.

I previously had a Rossi 38/357. Bought second hand, it had a fair amount of use but gave me nothing but trouble. Double feed and throwing live rounds out the top. Changed various parts strip and re assemble around 20 times but never worked, even gave to a Gunsmith, he gave up too.

Eventually gave it away FOC, didn't have the heart to charge anything for it, new owner has given up too.

In my opinion the design of the 1892 Winchester action especially the feed mechanism is unreliable, OK for a casual shooter but not for Gallery shooting of around 100/150 rounds a week. I've seen a few brand new Rossi Guns with the same problems, also I believe parts are hard to obtain in the UK.

Now! If you are after a 22 rimfire lever action, the Winchester 94/22 is a gem, mechanism like a swiss watch.

[bradaz11]

i got a rossi '92 in 44 flavour recently from Alan aandagunsmiths and absoloutley love it.

he does an action job on it and refinishes the wood, i went with a brand new one and that added around £100 to the price, but after playing with one beforehand that had no work, the back of my hand sure is glad of the money spent!

some people don't like the new 92's though as they come with safeties now

[phaedra1106]

As above, most obvious choice is a pre-Remington Marlin 1894, I prefer 44mag but 357/38 will do what you want.

That being said, if it was for me I'd get a Henry Big Boy!, hopefully I'm picking my new one up from Dromia later today!

Build quality, fit and finish is superb and the action is silky smooth out of the box.

[ovenpaa]

I have read of issues with the Remington produced Marlins, is this still an issue for new/nearly new Marlins?

[phaedra1106]

Short answer is yes, things are nowhere near as bad as the first few years but there are still reports of things like barrels not being aligned (foresights canted off to one side) and poor fit and finish.

[UKYankee]

I've got a stainless steel Rossi in 44mag and my wife has a blued Rossi in 44mag. Mine worked great straight out of the box and the action was really slick. My wife's blued rifle was a bit stiffer and required some breaking in, now runs great.

Chose the Rossi because they were well priced and didn't want to bother with scopes / optics as I love using the iron sights on them so the top eject didn't bother us. Used some pre Remmington Malins and they were lovely, however, a good used one pre Remmington will set you back quite a bit if you can find one.

We were going to go for a Henry but only didn't due to having the traditional loading tube and not a gate on the receiver; just looked like a nightmare to load in a comp.

[zanes]

Winchester 94AE in .44 Mag (the .44 is important, I understand). One with a machined lifter

Less fashionable than Marlins (so good value) and in my ownership flawlessly reliable with a smorgasbord of reloaded and factory ammunition. I've got the 20" version but the 16" version is fun but a little light.

To fill my .44-40 slot I do fancy an Uberti- would love a Henry 1860 but can't see that happening :(

[DaveB]

some people don't like the new 92's though as they come with safeties now

As I understand it only the ones distributed through BRAZTECH, the US distributor, have this stupid and utterly unnecessary safety. Certainly none of the ones I have seen here in NZ have it. On the plus side, apparently it can be removed without affecting the functioning, and you can reportedly even buy a plug to cover up the hole it leaves when you remove it.