Pistol Caliber Rifles

Nice rifle. I have lately had a slight craving for one of the few other American made 44's - the early Ruger Deerstalker. My neighbor has one, but he wants to save it for his grandson. I know what will happen - it will move to a pawn shop so that it can be replaced by some plastic thing. Yuck.

I love pistol cartridge lever rifles. Wish I'd been smart enough--but I've been wishing this for several decades--to hold onto the several I had when I was shooting cowboy action. Like the M94 Trapper in .357,  the 24" and 20" pistol grip .45 Colts, the tang-sighted Marlin Cowboy, etc.  But luckily I've still got the M94 Trail's End in .44 Mag and the Browning B-92 in .44 Mag.
 
I like the .30-30s, too, but there's something nice about the bigger bore.  And a dozen round capacity doesn't hurt, either,  for your "cowboy assault rifle." Generally prefer American-made but Miroku has made some fine reprod firearms.
 
My biggest problem is my old eyes don't pick up those open sights like they used to. Can a good gunsmith adjust my peepers,  do ya think?

Look up TacticalRx. They do glasses with a bifocal in the upper inside corner of the master eye so that you can focus on the front sight. I think I need a pair. Soon.

I just snooped around on TacticalRx. This does look like something to look into further. Thanks for the suggestion.

I have the one similar to the stalker, but tubular feed. As a complement to the perfect packin pistol, it's the perfect behind the seat carbine! For Peeper adjustment, something to try,  +1.00 clip-on reading glasses. They seem to adjust my vision enough so the sights are sharp, long range targets are not too fuzzy to pick up.

I have only seen one, 1, Henry in 44 mag., believe it or not, it was at Walmart, of all places, and that was years ago.
My impression of it is a little incomplete, because I never fired the gun, but I thought it was  good quality of wood, and wood to metal fit. The finish was even and attractive. The rifle was a trifle on the heavy side, but seemed to dry cycle smoothly and positively. Sights were easy to see, and although I cannot comment on their regulation, I personally would wish for the option of more precise sights.
When it comes to pistol chambered rifles and carbines, the all time handling award in my opinion, is the Winchester 94/92. One of my all time favorite carbines-one I shoot whenever able-is an old Rossi 92 in .357 mag. It is so light and nimble that one forgets one is shooting a major caliber. If it was mine, I would opt for better sights, since the factory irons require quite a bit of Kentucky windage-but this is the curse of the Winchester, and all Winchester clones. The sights leave something to be desired.
Burris has their red dot sight, doubtless patterned after the mil dot popular with our infantry today, but for aging and/or challenged eyes, it can mean quick and positive target acquisition. If you've ever shot an M4 with a red dot zeroed at your chosen distance, you know exactly just how fast and positive this sight is. Why not adopt military technology when it works for today's riflemen? Burris has a red dot sight base for the 94-it would probably be a matter of drilling and tapping to outfit it for the 92.
For myself, I've always wanted to get a hold of a good rifle in pistol calibers, and 44 mag. has always topped the list, but when push comes to shove, I usually fall back on the tried and true 30 WCF, aka, the 30-30 WIN.
Until recently ( thanks to the policies of our reality challenged government this has changed) I lived in a heavily wooded area, where shots were usually within 100 yards, and when they happened, they would happen fast. For this purpose there are few better choices than the 30 WCF. The old 30 is effective in a wide range of circumstances, from 2 legged predators on up, and while its a little on the light side for large charging Bears, I'd rather be able to quickly shoulder my carbine and be ready to shoot than to be fumbling along with my big bore bolt action express.
Again, by far the fastest and most nimble, naturally pointing rifle is the Winchester 94, and again, the 94 is the most limited with sight options. The 336 from Marlin comparatively handles like a light truck with a lift kit, but it offers hands down, the best options with sights. This is NOT to praise the factory sights, which are barely adequate, but the solid top receiver can handle anything from a picatinny rail system, to standard scope bases, allowing for a lot of flexibility in iron, or optical sights.
I love rifles, they are the bedrock of any battery, and an essential element to the well armed citizen. To shoot a rifle well is a skill which makes gun grabbing psychopaths tremble, and our founding fathers smile in their final resting places.

I may have to take my eye doc up on his offer to bring my rifle in to his office so he could get some lenses ground right for open sights. Not right to pass up an opportunity like this in a town not as rural as it once was,  but still with old time roots.
 
A Burris red dot on a 94? That Eotech job on my M4 proved itself to me,  and although I've heard lots of guys scoff at putting, say, a scope on a lever action,  I've done it. A Leupold 1-4X works just fine. Do admit you lose some of the sleekness of the lever action, but you can say the very same thing about putting a scope on a bolt action.
 
I don't know if you guys have been looking at this,  but on the gun auction sites, reasonably-priced pistol cartridge lever actions are sold quickly. I think the newer Marlins aren't going quite so fast with the bad press Marlin has gotten since its new ownership. Lots of complaints about bad workmanship. Not having bought any new ones,  I don't know about it.
 
The last gun show I went to,  I swapped an S&W M17 for a used Browning B-92,  and just about had to fight my way out,  with people wanting to  buy it. Now that is a cute piece.
 
Phil Shoemaker wrote a great article titled "Lever Guns on the Last Frontier" in the Winter 2000 issue of "The Legacy of Lever Actions." I'll quote his last sentence:
"As we move into the twenty-first century,  I find it somewhat incongruous that while the rest of America worries whether they will survive the new millennium and the Y2K problem, there are numerous Alaskans snug and warm in remote log cabins and content in the fact that there are no problems on their immediate horizons that cannot be handled with hard work, common sense,  and their trusted lever-action rifles."
 
 

I bought that 44 on a whim, shiny brass attracts me I guess, got it to the range, couldn't find the loading gate!
Anyway, a plug for Henry, (no, they didn't mail me a loading gate) One of my AR15 mags dropped on the stock in the safe and took a huge chunk out of it. Called up Henry, they sent me a new stock, shipping included, free. Good shooter, good people, satisfied customer. Now if I could only find that loading gate.

Great carbine, Case full of H110 and your favorite pill good for targets, tin cans, varmints, and the little blacktail running around Western WA

Crappy camera phone photos of (top to bottom)
'94 .45 Colt  with Wilson click peep and butterknife front,
Henry .44 Big boy,
 '94 .357 Trapper carbine,
'94 .44 Trapper Carbine AE
Notice the '94 .44 has the cursed lawyer button, rest are clean.

 

You certainly have a thorough collection, Al!
Anyway, wanted to ask you how that 94/45 Colt treats its' brass?
I've heard from several 94/45 owners that the chambers in their rifles are quite large, and that the brass only lasts for a couple of firings. Whats' your experience?

Haven't noticed that problem. My reloading procedure with 44 Mag and 45 Colt is to polish, librally lube, size, clean/ polish again, and visually inspect/ size into batches for length.  Rare to get a split case or one that has grown beyond max length, have a pool of about 1000 though and probably 4 to 1 used in the revolvers so it could take a while for any indicators. Maybe those are the ones I attribute to losses in the sizing process, runs about 1 in 50, next time I'm out I'll keep the rifle brass seperate and check.

I look forward to your results when you get them, on the cartridge case experiment. I used pretty much the same reloading procedures, also starting with 1000 brass,  and never noticed a problem,  but didn't separate out the revolver-shot and the rifle-shot cases either.
 
And ditto on the nice collection of levers. Selling that .357 Trapper was a triumphant blunder. Seems that period of time when Winchester was turning out all those great pistol cartridge models was a little Golden Age of sorts.

Hooked by a Big 5 ad,  I bought a Rossi Braztech M92 .357 trapper. Pretty darn good fit and finish externally. Smooth action and nice trigger. Steel carbine buttplate. I could do without the dentist drill serial number etching and the bolt top safety (seems to function as a firing pin lock),  but I see Steve's Gunz has a drop-in adjustable peep that replaces the safety. Anybody have experience with the Rossi? The drop-in bolt peep?

I am a long time levergunner. For decades, the levergun was my constant companion in the Mountains where I lived. I used to get annoyed at safeties, because they were one more thing to think about, and if, inadvertently you forgot that it was on, it would most assuredly spoil your shot. Fortunately for me, I never had an important shot wrecked by a safety, but it was always in my mind.
However, as life has dealt me a different set of cards recently, I've actually come to appreciate the safety for one thing, and one thing only-unloading. A good 30 WCF bullet will absolutely fly through walls of all types, and a 357, 44, or 45 ain't all that far behind. My personal Mountain gun has a crossbolt, and I always unload with the safety on now-a little extra margin, just in case Mr. Fumble fingers shows up!

I think about half of my levers have crossbolts and half have no safety. There's a (to me) minor uglification issue with the crossbolts but they also have an advantage, as you point out, Mak.
 
On this rig, the safety is awkwardly placed and awkward to use in action. For unloading, it be fine. Replacing it with the bolt peep would add about 40% to the sight radius, though. This would be especially helpful to someone who could actually see.
 
Anybody have experience with the bolt peep on the Winchester Model 71?