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If I see one I'll consider it. I borrowed a 30-30 lever action and I checked one out at Wally World. I gotta say...I'm kinda smitten by it.
I had a .30-30 Model 336C Gold Trigger Marlin, with a hooded sight. I bought it years ago when I was working on a ranch. I needed a good saddle gun for a nasty coyote problem. The .30-30 was perfect and the hooded sight kept it from getting screwed up after many many hours in a scabbard. I found that the gun was outstanding out to 100 yards with the open sights. Not that it wouldn't shoot further, cause it would. But from the back of a horse, shooting at coyotes, I usually had a 1:1 ration on shells vrs yotes.
If a person was going to hunt in brush or heavy tree area, the gun would work well. After 20 years of shooting it, I sold it. But it didn't go far. My son-in-law uses it as a saddle gun on his ranch. That rifle in the scabbard, I don't think has ever been removed from his saddle. Him and my daughter hunt elk, using their horses. They park and then pack in another 10+ miles to set up camp. That .30-30 is in the scabbord while they are going back and forth and a second gun is in a scabbard on the other side. It is an outstanding gun for what it was made for. If I remember correctly, I paid $159. for it brand new, in the box.
.30-30 is a great round. I had a Marlin .35 Rem in the 336 frame with a gold trigger. It would shoot to 100yds with great ease. Good shooting guns. I sold it before I left WV thinking I may never need a brush gun again.
Boy was I stupid. That's why I bought the old version Marlin .45/70 in the lever action. They know that platform and do it well. Great truck and run 'n gun rig for out here.
Original Winchester '86 45-70, take down, fancy wood, double set triggers, express sight, with factory letter.
What I don't have and would like to have is a M70 .375. And if I stay prosperous long enough, I would really like to get at least one double rifle. No need to specify the caliber, if you are bargain shopping doubles, you end up taking what you get, and what you get will be obscure, but for the dedicated cast bullet handloader, that's not a problem. And you can impress your shooting buddies with your knowledge of the lore of obscure African big bore rounds.
I have a couple of .35 Remingtons, but those are not really "Big Bore" - it's an excellent deer round if ranges are kept in reason, and a fun plinker using cast bullets originally intended for 38/357 revolvers. And a .375 of sorts - a .375 BB M94 - but again it is a punkin ball gun, not a true heavy.
I suspect most of the readers of this thread own and enjoy firearms. I have a few lever actions rifles, two of them are Marlins in 45-70. One has a rather long 26" barrel and the other has a 22" barrel. I also have a single shot Sharps and a single shot Ruger #1 in 45-70. The Ruger is a small rifle and doesn't weight much so it's recoil is noticeable compared to the other 45-70's, the hand loads I use in it are quite a bit hotter than the ammo for the other rifles. This is a great caliber for hunting any game that is hunted in brushy areas. These rifles are not all that expensive, a like new rifle in very good condition just sold to one of my friends for $350.
While I have a Marlin .45-70 which I load with some Alaska-loaded hard-cast ammo, my favorite all around rifle for Alaska is a "plain Jane" stainless steel Ruger M77 MK-II .338WM rifle. It has a tuned trigger, a Hogue stock, topped with a matte Leupold Vary-X III 2.5-8x scope. While I sometimes load some 275-grain A-Frame for it, the do all ammo is Federal with 225-grain TSX.
I shoot my Barrett .50's on a 2500 meter range nearby in Wisconsin where I live.
Armalite .50 here. Not real practical for hunting but I have called in some yotes that disappear like a puff of smoke.
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That's why I bought the old version Marlin .45/70 in the lever action. They know that platform and do it well. Great truck and run 'n gun rig for out here.
