Pushing the Boundaries of the Tactical Lever Gun

In a real case of “what’s outdated is new once more” the final a number of years have seen not solely a resurgence of the lever motion rifle, however an evolution of it. Though this platform was as soon as reserved for ranchers and cowboy motion shooters, well-known firms like Midwest Industries have dedicated important assets to creating equipment that modernize this oft-overshadowed platform. Smaller customized homes like Mad Pig Customs go even additional, providing full boutique tactical lever gun builds with selectable furnishings, equipment, and colorways. With all this effort expended to show an outdated gun new methods, a few of you might be definitely questioning: why?

We’re undecided there’s a definitive reply. If all you care about is practicality and cost-effectiveness, it’s unimaginable to disclaim some great benefits of a contemporary semi-auto rifle with a removable 30-round journal. However there are nonetheless some real deserves to an up to date lever gun, typically colloquially often called “the cowboy assault rifle.”

Talking assault rifles, a rifle with a manually cycled motion and tube journal can skirt nearly any assault weapon restriction within the nation. You may overlook about fin grips and put flash hiders again on the menu, even in locations like California. For individuals who reside in (or incessantly journey by way of) freedom-restricted territory, a tactical lever gun may be a good way to get round draconian laws whereas nonetheless having an correct and heavy-hitting rifle with all method of contemporary equipment.

Above: Tom’s rifle includes a conventional sling from Wilderness Tactical hooked up to studs on the underside of the inventory and handguard.

Caliber choices are many, starting from rimfire to the behemoth .45-70 that has a documented historical past of taking down a lot of the world’s largest and hardest sport — Marlin even jokingly marketed it as efficient in opposition to a T-Rex. Each of the pattern weapons you’ll see on this article are in .30-30 Winchester, a extremely respectable caliber in its personal proper for basic preparedness. With bullet weights usually starting from 150 to 170 grains and muzzle velocities round 2,000 ft per second, this caliber has been used on almost each sport animal on the North American continent from mule deer to black bear, elk, and moose.

This interprets simply to make use of as a defensive caliber. Whereas not identified for its long-range capabilities, it is typically accepted as a 200-yard cartridge, which is true according to most mass-issue army calibers. The truth is, its trajectory and ballistic information is similar to that of arguably probably the most broadly used army caliber on the fashionable battlefield: 7.62x39mm Russian. Whereas a lever gun lacks the capability or fee of fireside of an AK-type rifle, the .30-30 is in excellent ballistic firm relating to in extremis use in blended terrain environments.

Above: In the course of the class, Gunsite teacher Lew Gosnell imparted knowledge and coached us by way of quite a lot of drills to enhance our lever gun expertise.

Preparation is an intensely private pursuit. Some people have decided that they merely don’t require the capability or fireplace fee of a contemporary semi-automatic carbine. However a lot of those self same people assume it prudent to have a firearm of some type round for the ever-ominous “simply in case.” A lever-action rifle is simpler to shoot than a pistol and reaches farther than a shotgun. However, till a number of years in the past, this selection meant sacrificing easy accessibility to fashionable enhancements like suppressors, weapon lights, digital optics, lasers, modular grips, or adjustable shares. These days are over, and we’re right here to show it.

We’re showcasing two separate rifles, each constructed by Mad Pig Customs, every with completely different furnishings and equipment. Mad Pig refinished every rifle in our most well-liked Cerakote colours, put in their signature lever and set off components, and carried out a whole motion job to make sure clean and dependable performance. We hope to shed some mild on the myriad doable configurations accessible with a modernized lever-action rifle and show as soon as and for all that this platform hasn’t been relegated to historical past books.

RECOIL Workers Editor Tom Marshall’s Setup   

This rifle began life as a Marlin 30AW. Not in manufacturing, the 30AW was meant as a extra budget-friendly different to the flagship Marlin 336. With cheaper furnishings materials and fewer refinement within the match and end, the 30AW was actually a working man’s gun. The workforce at Mad Pig Customs stripped this rifle right down to the skeleton and rebuilt it, beginning with a Midwest Industries M-LOK handguard and a Kind Shares again finish.

The MI handguard presents a full-length, seven-sided M-LOK floor with a steady prime rail. This allowed us to mount each a Vortex UH-1 holographic sight (on an ADM riser) in addition to a Holosun LS-321G dual-beam laser/illuminator. Additionally from Midwest Industries are the common shell caddies, which every maintain a pair of .30-30 rounds. The Kind inventory retains a modicum of conventional styling with the improve of an adjustable-height comb, which turns out to be useful when utilizing an optic riser.

A SureFire Twin-Gas Scout mild gave us low-light potential, with a dual-lead distant change to run each mild and laser from one change. A pair of Walker Protection NILE grip panels and an Emissary Growth Handbrake Mini gave us just a little customization for assist hand management. Lastly, a Langolis Rhodesian sling from Wilderness Tactical was mounted to the manufacturing facility sling studs. The muzzle machine is a Rearden Manufacturing brake that additionally options their suppressor mount.

RECOIL OFFGRID Editor Patrick McCarthy’s Setup

Not like Tom’s rifle, this one has been a so-called “tactical” lever gun from day one. It began out as a Marlin 336 Darkish Collection, a particular variant that was solely accessible for a short while earlier than Remington went bankrupt, ceased manufacturing of Marlin rifles, and bought the model to Ruger. (Ruger lately introduced the re-launch of the Marlin Darkish Collection, this time with a M-LOK forend and adjustable inventory straight from the manufacturing facility.)

Above: A lever gun’s guide of arms is considerably corresponding to that of a pump shotgun, however the half-cock secure place requires an extra studying curve.

Initially, the Darkish Collection got here with a 16.25-inch threaded barrel, XS lever rail with ghost ring sight, and black-painted wooden furnishings. Mad Pig Customs changed this rifle’s wooden furnishings with a machined aluminum inventory from Chisel Machining and a LASAI handguard from Hoptic USA. The inventory includes a tender Kick-Eez recoil pad, adjustable cheek relaxation, QD sling socket, and an attachment level for a six-round Hoptic LongBow ammo provider.

The handguard is provided with a Hoptic USA Quiver carrying two extra rounds of .30-30, a JMac Customs HRD handstop, a Burn Proof Gear heat-resistant rail wrap, and a SureFire Mini Scout Gentle Professional Infrared with selectable white or IR output. Atop the rifle’s unique XS sight rail is a Leupold Patrol 6HD 1-6x24mm LPVO in a Midwest Industries 30mm QD scope mount; a Leupold DeltaPoint Professional NV purple dot is mounted on the 12:00 place on a Reptilia ROF-SAR ring mount.

Above: The Burn Proof Gear Rail-Rap seen in these images is our newest addition to the rifle. The suppressed barrel heats up rapidly with fast fireplace, and this presents safety for gloved or ungloved fingers.

The magnified optic’s easy duplex reticle and illuminated FireDot are perfect for daytime capturing, and the top-mounted, NV-capable DeltaPoint pairs with the IR weapon mild to make this rifle usable beneath night time imaginative and prescient identical to my favourite AR-15s. I topped off my rifle with a JK Armament suppressor hooked up to the threaded Rearden SPB muzzle brake by way of a Rearden Atlas adapter, and a Blue Power Gear Vickers padded sling.

Ammo Carriage Issues

One of many downsides of lever weapons is their tube magazines, which make their guide of arms extra like that of a shotgun than a contemporary bolt-action or semi-auto. Whereas we’ve already touched on the idiosyncrasies of reloading, this additionally impacts ammo carriage and cargo bearing. You received’t be carrying a field journal in a belt pouch, so that you’re left with tossing a fistful of free rounds in your pants pocket — a compromise that’ll inevitably result in sluggish, fumbled reloads — or looking for specialised ammo carriage tools that’s just a little more durable to supply. We discovered two firms who provide lever-gun-specific ammo pouches.

Wilderness Tactical presents a easy, low-profile resolution known as the ZipLoader. That is the equal of carrying an ammo butt cuff in your belt. It’s a easy nylon platform with 10 elastic loops for particular person cartridges. We paired this with a small, zippered Bug Pack, additionally from Wilderness Tactical, which was used to hold free rounds to replenish our different ammo carriers between drills.

Above: Sellier & Bellot supplied the 150-grain .30-30 ammunition we used throughout this lever gun class at Gunsite.

For individuals who desire a bigger provide of organized ammo storage, or extra flexibility for carriage, Grim Hunter Tactical makes two merchandise we had the prospect to judge for this text. The primary is their Fast Loader Pouch, a fold-out pouch that carries 24 rounds. There are eight loops laborious sewn to the skin of the pouch. Contained in the pouch are two extra tear-away “playing cards” that maintain one other eight rounds every, which connect to the within of the pouch by hook-and-loop.

We actually like this modular design, because it means that you can connect these playing cards to different locations you may want ammo — stick them to the headliner in your truck, the skin of your vary bag, and even the sleeve of your fight shirt or jacket. The Fast Loader Pouch may be ordered with both MOLLE/PALS backing or a belt loop and is obtainable in almost two dozen colours.

Above: The light-weight Patrol 6HD LPVO from Leupold supplies loads of magnification for exact pictures, and the top-mounted DeltaPoint Professional NV is appropriate for night time imaginative and prescient use.

In case your lever gun is your devoted bugout or SHTF rifle, Grim Hunter presents a Lever Gun Chest Rig consisting of two Fast Loader Pouches and a 3rd removable pouch that can be utilized as a medical package or admin pouch. On Grim Hunter’s web site, you possibly can select to have your ammo pouches biased to the left or proper aspect of the rig, primarily based on private choice. It’s accessible in quite a lot of colours with a number of harness choices.

Lastly, very like a shotgun, it might be advantageous to hold a number of additional rounds on the gun itself for pace reloads. These may be carried on a conventional cloth or leather-based butt cuff or hooked up to fashionable M-LOK-mounted carriers comparable to these seen on our rifles.

Whereas testing and coaching with our lever weapons, we used Sellier & Bellot 150-grain soft-point .30-30 ammo.

House on the Vary at Gunsite

The effectiveness of any device is contingent on its consumer’s ability and expertise, and our lever-action rifles aren’t any completely different. The 2 of us have spent fairly a little bit of time coaching with AR-15s, however AR-15s these ain’t. Most of the fundamentals carry over — stance, grip, sight image, set off management, and so forth. Nevertheless, the guide of arms is drastically completely different from an AR, along with the reloading and ammo administration challenges we talked about earlier.

This led us to hunt coaching from Lew Gosnell, an teacher who has amassed quite a lot of classic and fashionable lever-actions and spent a few years educating college students concerning the intricacies of those rifles. Gosnell is a Marine Corps veteran who additionally spent 31 years working in legislation enforcement on the streets of East L.A. Nowadays, he teaches Defensive Lever Gun and different programs at Gunsite Academy in Paulden, Arizona.

In case you’re not accustomed to Gunsite, it’s thought of by many to be the mecca of firearms coaching in america, if not the entire world. Based in 1976 by Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper as a location at which to show his Trendy Strategy of the Pistol, Gunsite has developed into an expansive facility with a variety of pistol, rifle, shotgun, and even edged weapon courses.

It presents every little thing from lecture rooms and conventional vary bays to run-and-gun Simulator programs, complicated shoot homes, and vehicle-based coaching areas. It’s like an amusement park for capturing lovers, full with catered lunches, an on-site campground, and a museum constructed inside Cooper’s house.

After touring to Gunsite and assembly Gosnell, we headed out to the 50-yard Hanneken vary to begin working with our lever weapons.

Half-Cocked

The primary order of enterprise was to study manipulating the lever gun’s safeties. Each of our Marlin rifles function guide cross-bolt safeties — Marlin calls it a Hammer Block Security — however this function is a comparatively current addition launched within the early Eighties. Gosnell and plenty of different lever gun customers view this guide security as redundant and extreme. Traditionally, the first security on an uncovered hammer lever gun was the half-cocked place, pulled again midway to full cock.

This prevented the hammer from resting in opposition to the firing pin, which might doubtlessly fireplace a spherical if an object struck the hammer laborious sufficient. It additionally prevented customers from carrying the gun absolutely cocked and able to fireplace always, which might result in a negligent discharge if a overseas object touched the set off.

To organize our lever weapons for a drill, we went by way of the next process:

• Half cock the hammer then have interaction the guide security.
• Load the tube journal.
• Cycle the lever to chamber a spherical. The hammer is now absolutely cocked. (Prime off the tube journal with yet one more spherical if vital.)
• With the guide security nonetheless engaged and the gun pointed in a secure path, place the firing hand thumb on the absolutely cocked hammer and apply stress.
• Sustaining agency stress on the hammer, press the set off simply lengthy sufficient to rigorously decrease the hammer into the half-cocked place.
• Index the set off finger safely on the aspect of the receiver and disengage the guide security.

As quickly as Gosnell gave the command to fireplace, we rapidly thumbed our hammers again to totally cocked place and pressed the set off.

In a approach, the guide security serves as coaching wheels — if a shooter lets the hammer slip whereas returning it to half cock, it prevents the gun from firing. However as soon as we had finished sufficient dry and reside fireplace reps of this course of to be absolutely comfy with it, we left the guide security disengaged and punctiliously returned our weapons to half cock after firing. At all times watch out to keep up a great grip on the hammer whereas returning it to half cock; this isn’t one thing that ought to be rushed. As Gosnell defined, this process could really feel unusual to us at present, however it was the usual modus operandi for greater than a century earlier than the introduction of cross-bolt safeties.

Feeding the Beast

Loading a lever gun is just like loading a shotgun, however the placement of the loading gate on the appropriate aspect of the receiver (versus the underside) means you’ll should load along with your firing hand. Maintain the gun in a low-ready position in opposition to the shoulder and press every spherical into the tube journal till the loading gate closes behind it. Alternately, you should utilize a “violin load” place by resting the buttstock sideways over your shoulder, leaving the loading gate going through upward. Gosnell reminded us to maintain our heads up and eyes downrange whereas loading to stay conscious of potential threats.

Additionally like a shotgun, it’s OK to load a spherical immediately into the chamber whereas the motion is open. This may be helpful for pace reloads along side a match-saver-style ammo provider immediately in entrance of the ejection port (as seen on each our rifles). Nevertheless, bear in mind that lever weapons can have hassle feeding in the event that they’re operated at steep angles. So, don’t attempt to chamber load — or function the lever in any respect — with the muzzle pointed on the floor.

To run the lever, be fast and forceful however deliberate. Babying it or failing to run the lever all the way in which ahead could induce a malfunction. We additionally discovered that the angle of hand motion is vital. Relying in your rifle and lever design, you might have to push your hand down, ahead, or someplace in between to attain the smoothest motion.

Testing Our Expertise

As soon as we had been comfy manipulating, loading, and firing our lever weapons on the 50-yard vary, we moved on to extra complicated challenges. In spite of everything, that guide of arms could really feel comfy on a flat vary, however doing it whereas operating, transitioning between a number of targets, and navigating round obstacles is a unique story. This wasn’t only a lever gun class — it was a defensive lever gun class.

We began by establishing a barricade on the vary, leaning out from both aspect to shoot with out exposing ourselves greater than vital. Then, we ratcheted up a notch by heading right down to The Pit, an indoor Simulator course that almost all of us would name a shoot home. We practiced clearing the construction, “slicing the pie” round doorways and corners to methodically absorb each angle earlier than continuing.

Above: Tom Marshall slides right into a capturing place.

Admittedly, we’d desire a semi-auto rifle over a lever gun for these close-quarters functions, since thumbing again the hammer earlier than firing and operating the motion between pictures was more durable than simply mashing a set off. That stated, our Mad Pig Marlins had no hassle getting repeatable, correct hits on the threats in hallways, corners, and home windows. The tall-mounted red-dot optics on each rifles had been useful for this goal, providing a large subject of view and quick sight acquisition.

Subsequent, we headed to Gunsite’s Army Crest, a winding path with varied pure capturing positions and an array of metal targets at distances of 100 to 200 yards or higher. We braced off bushes and rocks, and used our rifles in standing, kneeling, and sitting positions. With a slight hold-over for the longer pictures, we had no hassle ringing metal from every place. The one problem we encountered was operating the lever in positions the place the rifle was rested on a flat floor, comparable to kneeling behind a stump; it might be essential to elevate or rotate the rifle to make room to maneuver the lever. That is additionally why lever weapons aren’t best for inclined capturing.

Above: Whether or not you are a fan of contemporary “tactical” lever weapons otherwise you desire wooden furnishings and iron sights, get on the market and practice. It is the one technique to construct lasting proficiency.

For our ultimate problem, we moved to the Scrambler, a course that continued our work on positional capturing however added an emphasis on pace. With 4 rounds in our weapons and a shot timer operating, we sprinted between seven positions and shot metal targets whereas standing, kneeling, and sitting. Some stations had fallen logs or bushes to make use of for assist, however others required unsupported pictures. This additionally examined our potential to load our rifles rapidly whereas transferring, and to rigorously have interaction the half-cocked place after every hit — identical to some other move-and-shoot drill, it’s important to make your weapon secure earlier than operating forward with it. By the tip of the Scrambler, we had been out of breath and grinning.

Ultimate Ideas

So, the query stays: Is it definitely worth the effort to show an outdated gun new methods? Based mostly on our expertise with these two builds and our vary time at Gunsite, we’d give an emphatic sure. Whereas we definitely received’t deny there are extra environment friendly, ergonomic, and cost-effective defensive weapons available on the market, that doesn’t imply the venerable lever gun isn’t value proudly owning. And if it’s value proudly owning, it’s value modifying and bettering with aftermarket components, identical to your favourite semi-auto carbine.

Above: Some could scoff on the concept of utilizing a lever-action for house protection and CQB, however in states and international locations the place semi-automatic rifles are closely restricted, it might be among the best choices accessible.

These two modernized lever weapons had been constructed to intentionally push the envelope and change into as AR-like (or “tactical,” should you desire that time period) as doable. They’re unabashedly excessive, like basic muscle automobiles transformed into fire-breathing supercharged dragsters. Chances are you’ll not desire a full M-LOK forend and adjustable inventory in your lever gun, a lot much less an infrared laser and night-vision-height optic mount, and that’s OK. Our intent was to indicate what’s doable utilizing current off-the-shelf elements and just a little fine-tuning within the fingers of lever gun specialists at Mad Pig Customs. The result’s a pair of rifles that by no means fail to fire up controversy on social media or draw a crowd on the native vary. Extra importantly, they’re far more succesful for dynamic capturing and defensive use than they had been in unmodified type. Sorry, grandpa, you might not prefer it, however the future is now.

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Written by Patrick McCarthy