Levergun Day at the Range

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COSteve
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Posts: 3851
Joined: Sun Jul 12, 2009 4:03 pm

Levergun Day at the Range

Post by COSteve »

Yesterday I decided it was a good day to take out some of my leverguns to the range and limber them up. We've had a number of storms with rain the last few weeks so going to an outdoor range hasn't been very appealing. Anyway, I decided on my .357mag Rossi M92 carbine and rifle, my .45 Colt Uberti '66 carbine and '73 rifle, my Mossy 30-30, my '49 300 Savage 99, my '59 .308 Win 88 and at the last minute, my little Henry 22lr.

That's 8 leverguns in all and I filled up a rifle rack at the 200/300 yd range. We have intermediate berms at 25, 50, 75, 100 and 150 yds before the target stands at 200 yds and an intermediate berm at about 250 yds before the 300 yd target stands so it's a perfect range for me. Especially because I have everything but the Henry 22lr zero'd at 200 yds.

My 2 scoped leverguns, the .300 Savage 99 and .308 Win 88, were limbered up on the 300 yd stands. I hadn't shot either in a couple of years so it was a check to see if they were still zero'd and reacquaint myself with them. I quickly found that the zeros on each were still spot on and as it was a calm, sunny day near 80 deg., it was perfect shooting weather.

The rest of my levers have Iron sight, the rifles with tangs, the 30-30 and .357mag carbine with peep sights at the rear of the action and the .45 Colt carbine with it cool flip rear sight. The tang/peep sight arraignment works great for me as the rear aperture is close to my eye and so I've got a really clear sight picture.

My Mossy 464 with a Skinner peep on the rear frame strap is a natural at 200 yds, even with the mild plinking loads I brought. I enjoy bringing it so it shoot just as I thought and busted the pins I had out there with authority. Shooting 125 grn and 158 grn .357 cal and 200 grn and 255 grn .45 cal pistol loads at 200 yds is clearly something they weren't designed for but with little wind they performed well.

I could pop the bowling pins with both tang sighted rifles fairly easily with their 30" sight radius and even my Rossi carbine with Steve's bolt peep sight giving it a 20" sight radius did respectably as I hit a few with it too. Finally, my Henry 22lr was stretching it at 100 yds but with the Williams receiver peep sight I added it's pretty good out that far as long as there's no wind.

All in all, a fun day with great weather. I even saw some old friends I hadn't seen in a long while out and we chewed the fat and ogled each other's equipment.
Steve
Retired and Living the Good Life
No Matter Where You Go, There You Are
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GunnyMack
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Re: Levergun Day at the Range

Post by GunnyMack »

Sounds like a great day! Only thing missing would have been a pig roast !
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RIDERED350r
Levergunner 2.0
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Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2022 2:33 pm

Re: Levergun Day at the Range

Post by RIDERED350r »

That sounds like a winner of a day to me! 🙂.

I'm long overdue for a lever rifle day at the range myself.
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gamekeeper
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Re: Levergun Day at the Range

Post by gamekeeper »

Interesting about the Mossberg 464 a local dealer had one in stock but it was that awful tactical monstrosity, I like the original ones steel and walnut.
If more men loved and cherished their wives as much as I love bacon the world would be a much better place.
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COSteve
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Re: Levergun Day at the Range

Post by COSteve »

When I had my last set of arms, (yep, like many I had to sell off my collection when the kids started needing things and I didn't have enough to afford both the hobby and the family) I had a 1961 Winchester Model 94 that drove me nuts with it's floppy trigger and action. I hated taking it out even though it was authentic and according to a gunsmith, in great condition.

I sold the Winchester off to a friend and never looked back but I wanted a levergun 'just because'. A friend had a Marlin 336 and I tried that but couldn't get around the feel that it was a brick compared to the slim lines of the Winchester so when I restarted my collection after the kids were grown, I passed on getting either again.

Then in 2012, a friend at our range brought out his brand new straight stocked Mossberg 464. He got the model just after they'd fixed the ejection issue the first few had. Anyway, he loved it and after he let me shoot it a few times I was hooked as it has the slim lines of the Winchester but with a great trigger and tight action like the Marlin.

I found a new pistol grip version with a walnut stock at a Sportsman's Warehouse and after trying it, I was sold. The receiver has a strap over the rear of the bolt where you can mount the rear rings of a scope that keep the action tight and smooth. Not being one to put a 'carry handle' on a classic levergun, I still needed a better sighting system as the rear sight doesn't work well with my eyes.

After a while I found that Skinner made a LO-Pro sight much like the one Steve uses on the Rossi 92's but this screws into the threaded hole in the back strap of the receiver. It both increases the sight radius and with it's small aperture, gives me the much needed increased DoF so I can clearly see both the front sight and the target. I'm very pleased with it and surprised at how accurate it is now with the better sights.
Steve
Retired and Living the Good Life
No Matter Where You Go, There You Are
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