Looking to buy a Lever action gun, need advice.
 

I'm looking to buy a rifle and decided on a lever action one.
Now I'm wondering what brand I should go with. My friend (and my instinct) told me to go with a 30-06 Winchester.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Primary uses of the rifle would be target shooting and hunting.

Well, unless you find an old model 1895 (and don't expect that to be cheap!) there's no such thing as a .30-06 Winchester lever action). You're probably thinking of a .30-30 Winchester 1894, which would be what I would suggest. Issue being they don't make them anymore, but you should be able to find a good deal on a used one.

Your other options would be a Marlin 336 or a Mossberg 464. The nice thing about them is they both come drilled and tapped to mount a scope. The Mossberg is a great price, but the issue you'll find is the trigger sucks, and there's not much possibility for improvement. The Marlin is a good rifle, but it's a little bulkier. I personally don't like them that much.

So Marlin is a good gun?
Not too interested in placing a scope on them, more interested in the ladder sights. I'm odd that way.

All three of them are good guns, they all have their pluses and minuses. I'd personally go with a Winchester if I could get a good one, but you'd be very well served by a Marlin.

I personally own a Marlin 336W and it's lasted for 30 years and still shoots great. And it wasn't kept in a gun safe for those 30 years, it was and is a hunting rifle. It is a little heavy, but not much. I think it's a good gun, but in all honesty I can't compare it too very much.

Winchester manufactured 10,000 Model 1895's in 30-06 in 1996. 5,000 were field grade and 5,000 were high-grade (German silver, gold engraving etc.). I own one of the high-grade models. It's beautiful and it spend most of it's time in my safe.

In 97 - 98 Winchester manufactued 10,000 Model 1895's in .270. Again 5,000 in field grade and 5,000 in high-grade.

Approximately five years ago Winchester produced a limited run of the Model 1895 carbine in 30-06.

Winchester is currently producing the Winchester Model 1895 in .405 Winchester.

All the above described new 1895's are going to set you back a significant amount of money. And while I love the 1895 I'll let you in on a secret. The rifle's ergonomics are from the late 19th century. That includes the new ones. They aren't a very comfortable rifle to shoot. Not the best design for target shooting. Especially if you plan on shooting a significant number of rounds during a session.

Try looking for a Savage Model 99 in .308, .303 Savage, 300 Savage or .243. You might be able to find a Winchester Model 88 in .243 or .308 as well. However those rifles have been out fo production for awhile so you'll pay for them. They're getting harder to find and prices reflect that fact.

I also own a Marlin Model 1894CS carbine in .357 magnum. It's a bit light for hunting but the 1894 can also be purchased in 44 magnum. The 44 magnum has some pretty impressive ballistics out of an 18" barrel.

Plus the .357 magnum will shoot 38 special and the 44 magnum will shoot 44 special.

Have fun. I really like the lever action design. One of my favorites.

Actually, I gotta chime in on the Savage 99 - back in the day they were extremely popular up here in Canada (in fact the whole .303 Savage chambering was meant to capitalize on the popularity of the .303 British in Canada). They are excellent rifles, and the .300 Savage round, if not as cheap as .30-30s, is better. If you can find one in the States they're great - don't let the admittedly unsual looks throw you off.

I was at my local gun store last week and was looking at their collection of level actions. I was surprised to fine a used Winchester 1887.

I think one of the local shops has a Marlin, I'll keep my eyes on it.

I love Marlins, the winchesters okay but felt a little sloppy and the cheapo plasticy stocks threw me off, the mossberg gets bad review, QC is horrible and the lawyer triggers.....

Hey the Savage 99 was an excellent zombie killer in Dawn of the Dead. If it worked for that it will do for anything.

While you can't get much bigger in caliber than .44-40, I think the Winchester 1892 Saddle Ring Carbine is just a firearms work of art. Smooth, accurate, light, most of them have ladder sights, it's just a great gun.

Personally I like the 1892 better than the 1894, because the '94 has a sloppy lever because Winchester cheapened their production, but the '92's lever always feels flawless regardless.

Or you could buy one of those cool new legal pistol length "Mare's Leg" guns, and with Zombieland coming out, that should become popular.

Winchester cheapened their production in 1964 after the 94 had already been in production for 70 years. There's nothing cheap about a pre-64 Model 94.

I was under the impression Winchester's production quality somewhat deterierated throughout the times in production, and some were hit or miss, but I must have been ill-informed. I've handled several '94 Winchesters, and all but one had that annoying sloppiness in the lever. The one without the slop was a pretty old one, like 1920s I believe. Most of the 1892s I've handled though range from the early 1900s (up til about 1930 I think), all very impressive in functionallity.

As for the Savage 99, the example my dad owns must not be best quality, because frankly I didn't like it very much. The action was heavy, awkward, and the gun just has strange ergonomics.

Gunmaster45 No you're right Winchester went up and down over the many decades that rifles were being made at the old site. Like any long running company. There are good years and not so great years, but over all Winchester was pretty consistent whne it came to QC.

Sometimes it had nothing to do with QC, but technology. I've spoken to gunsmiths who specialize on 19th century firearms. I've been told that some of the 1873's, 1876's and 1866's that they've worked on are beautiful firearms, but metallurgy was still evolving and some of the examples had soft steel. Excellent workmanship but soft steel.

I've also been told that some of the rifles and shotguns turned out during the 1920's were spotty. But in the 1920's Winchester was diversifying and had gone into the production of flashlights, tools, roller skates, and so on. For a few years Winchester actually owned a line of hardware stores where "genuine" Winchester products (firearms were secondary at this time) were sold. Naturally this bizare experiment was a miserable failure. I assume that there was just to much going on at Winchester and quality control wasn't as important.

On the other hand the 1950's is considered to be one of the best decades that Winchester ever had. If you get hold of one their rifles or shotguns from that decade (assuming it's been cared for) you've got a good one.

Winchester also made a comeback in the 1980's. And many of the changes introduced in 1964 were actually done away with by the early 90's thanks to CNC technology.

I own of the new Winchester Model 1895's. It was manufactured in 1996 and shows all the benefits of late 20th century technology and metallurgy. It's a beautiful and tight rifle.

But truth be told I prefer Marlin's lever action rifle. I own both a Marlin 1894CS in .357 magnum and a 336A in 30-30. I think the Marlin design is tighter and stronger. I bought my Marlin 1894CS brand new in 1983 and I've never had any trouble with it.

Sorry Winchester. :(

Savage redesigned the 99's stock in the sixties or seventies. They did away with that extreme drop in the rifle stock, gave it more of a shotgun butt instead of the 19th century curved butt and beefed up the front stock. In my opinion those changes made for a more comfortable rifle. That's what is used in the original Dawn of the Dead (1978) as well.