IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT RIFLE

by JT, Friday, April 01, 2022, 11:43 (967 days ago) @ JimT

In Search Of The Perfect Rifle
Campfire Tales by John Taffin
It has been my privilege over the past 50+ years to spend a lot of time with dedicated shootists who also happen to be highly opinionated. One of the most enjoyable times one can have is to gather a bunch of these great folks together and throw out some questions. Loaded questions that is. Things like: “What is the best handgun for self-defense; a double action revolver or a semi-automatic pistol?” “Are single action sixguns actually viable for self-defense?” “Which is the best choice for hunting, the .44 Magnum or a Heavy Loaded .45 Colt?” “Do we really really need Magnum sixguns?” “What’s the best semi-automatic pistol ever?” “Are today’s sixguns really as good, or even better, than the old classics?” “What’s the best choice in a rifle which will handle everything we are likely to encounter?”
Several decades ago I brought forth the idea of a Perfect Packin’ Pistol. This has been taken up by a large number of shooters who know exactly what PPP means. My good friend custom gun builder Gary Reeder even offers a Perfect Packin’ Pistol package. My original definition of a PPP was a sixgun or semi-automatic with the barrel not less than 4” nor more than 5-1/2”. It would be easy to pack just as the name implies. Carry it all day and then put it under your pillow or bedroll at night. The chambering could be anything from .22 Long Rifle up to .500 Linebaugh depending upon where one’s travels took them.
My passion for most of my life has been sixguns; not far behind this is the same feeling I have for leverguns. Now at this stage of my life I am expanding my PPP to a rifle. My goal is to come up with a rifle, preferably a levergun which is the long gun version of a Perfect Packin’ Pistol. If I decided to go in the direction of a bolt action rifle, there’s nothing for me to do as I already have the perfect rifle bolt-style, that is for me. It is the Ruger Model 77 Hawkeye Compact 7-08 with a 16-1/2” barrel. It is extremely lightweight and portable and kills all out of proportion to its paper ballistics. So, since that one is taken care of I now look at the Perfect Levergun.
Much of my shooting time over the past years, more like many decades, has been spent shooting the big-bore leverguns. That is, the .45-70 and the .444 Marlin, even the .450 Marlin which deserves better treatment that it gets. I’ve also been behind the butt stock of many a .25-35, .30-30, .38-55, .35 Remington, .356 Winchester, and .375 Winchester. All great cartridges. When it comes to sixgun length cartridges in leverguns, .25-20, .32-20, .38-40 .44-40, .44 Magnum, and .45 Colt have all been found to be highly useful. However, at this stage of my life the one rifle I would pick to be my everyday companion, to travel anywhere in the desert, sagebrush, foothills, forest and mountains in my area would be a levergun chambered in .357 Magnum.
Today we have several production examples of .357 leverguns. For more than four decades if one wanted a .357 levergun there was just one choice and that was a Winchester Model 1892 .32-20 converted to .357 Magnum. I believe it was Marlin who first offered a .357 Magnum levergun, that being the Model 1894C. Not too long after this beautiful little carbine surfaced, Browning brought out the B92, a rendition of the original Model 1892 but chambered in .357 Magnum. Somewhere about the same time Rossi started offering their version of the 1892 in .44-40, .45 Colt, .44 Magnum, and thankfully .357 Magnum. Winchester was not to be outdone and they introduced Trapper Models with 16-1/4” barrel lengths in .30-30, .44 Magnum, .45 Colt, and yes, even .357 Magnum. Today, Winchester offers replicas of both the 1873 and 1892 Winchesters in .357 Magnum; after a long dry spell Marlin is back producing quality leverguns again including the .357 Magnum; and Henry also offers their Big Boy in .357 Magnum.
These latter mentioned carbines are all excellent examples of a lever action .357 Magnum, however my choice to come up with the Perfect Levergun starts with a stainless steel Rossi Model 92. It took a bit of searching for my local gun shop, Buckhorn, to find one, however with a little searching they were successful. This was a standard 20” barrel stainless steel Model 92. As an aside I just stopped at Buckhorn today and they just had two more come in and they said the .357 Magnum is one of the most requested lever action rifles.
When my Rossi .357 Magnum arrived, I found it certainly was not a Perfect Levergun by any means, however it was a good base gun. The action was gritty and the trigger pull was at 8 pounds. I turned it over to my friend, gunsmith Milt Morrison to smooth up and get the trigger down more in the neighborhood of 3-4 pounds. Since this was a stainless steel rifle, which to me says a weather beating rifle, I felt the stock needed more than the stain finish it came with. At this stage of my life I doubt if I will ever be out in really bad weather with it, however perhaps someday one of the grandkids or great grandkids will have this as a companion levergun and carrying it in all kinds of weather. So with that in mind I had Milt refinished the stock and also get finish down in the barrel channel and under the parts of the stock which could not be seen and make sure they were also protected from weather.
My first shooting experience with the standard iron sights was definitely up and down. If I really concentrated I could put three shots in about 1-1/2” at 40 yards, however they could just as easily spread out to 4 inches. Better sights were definitely in order so I had the boys at Buckhorn drill and tap the left side of the receiver for a Lyman Model 66 peep or receiver sight. While they had it, and since I was planning this to be the best possible levergun rendition of the Perfect Packin’ Pistol, I asked them to cut the barrel back to minimum length which under government regulations is 16” and usually done at 16-1/4” so there is no problem with length. Way back in the early days of Marlin, they issued Trapper guns, real short-barreled guns with 14” barrels. Col. Cooper, before he came up with his Scout Rifle concept talked of the ideal defense rifle being a 12” levergun, preferably in .30-30. I believe .44 Magnum but also work well. There is one small problem. The shorter lengths are illegal unless one has a $200 license.
No I cannot explain the logic of this regulation. Why should it make any difference what the barrel length of a rifle is? Handguns can have any length barrel one chooses, however if a stock is to be attached to a sixgun or semi-automatic, the barrel length must be no less than 16”. At one time Colt offered their Buntline Special with a wire stock which attached to the grip with one screw for the purpose of shooting long-range. Today, this is not allowed with a 10” or 12” Buntline.
Back to my Perfect Levergun. Just as with the PPP I set up parameters. The barrel length is no shorter than federal regulations and no longer than 20” with 18-1/2” a better maximum length. Just as with the PPP it has to be in a chambering which could handle anything that might arise in one’s personal wanderings, and just as with the PPP this could be anything from .22 Long Rifle up to .500 Linebaugh. My choice is .357 Magnum for several reasons. It is extremely versatile able to handle .357 Magnum loads from fast stepping 125 JHPs up to 200 grain hard cast loads for hunting as well as a long list of .38 Special loads.
In a Carbine it is quite accurate with mild felt recoil with most loads, and the Model 92 platform is probably the slickest handling of all lever action rifles. If used for self defense or home defense, the shortest barrel makes it more difficult for an assailant to grab the end of the rifle. Especially for home use I would have the first two cartridges to be .38 Specials; less recoil and muzzle blast.
Just as with the Perfect Packing’Pistol, for the Perfect Lever Gun the joy is in the search not the finding. Many Perfect Lever Guns will be found as the search continues. This candidate for the title of Perfect Lever Gun, let us call it PLG for a short, is a blending of an old classic design with modern technology; Browning’s Winchester-style action with stainless steel construction. Sometimes, progress is acceptable.