[Mr_X]

I am big fan of the Lever Action rifles for quite a Long time now. Now i want to get one for target and fun Shooting and also as an self defense carbine.

My favourites ar the Marlin 336 in 30-30 winchester or the Henry Big Boy in 357 mag.

In my humble opinion the Henry rifle would be the better choice, because 357 mag is cheaper to buy, at least here in Austria, and the 30-30 could be also way to much for indoor sd Scenario.

The only Problem with the 357 mag, is that decent sd Ammo is hard to find in m home Country.

Most the ammo i found so far is FMJ ammo, not the best choice for sd for self defense, and some 158 grain soft Points from magtech and the first defense ammo also from magtech.

It would no Problem though to order oder rounds from Major US and European Ammo makers.

what rounds in 357 mag would work the best from an 357 mag carbine? What do you think?

And what do you think about about th idea of an Lever Action self defense rifle in the first place? Would be great to hear some thoughts.


PS: Some of you will probably recommend an ar type rilfe as an sd rifle, and although These rifles are available here in Austria, they are over my Budget now, so i have to find some cheap alternatives. But in the future i am also interested in getting a an Ar type rifle, the Oberland Arms Oa 15 would be my favourite.


Thanks for the help in advance.

greetings from Austria

 

[Old_Painless]

Greetings from Texas.
A good lever action is certainly usable as a self defense weapon. The .30-30 would give you problems with over-penetration. But the .357 ought to be a good round.
Any good quality soft point or hollow point cartridge should work fine. The FMJs would not work nearly as well.

If you decide to use this rifle, remember to practice with it, especially loading and manipulating the system. Good luck.

 

[Becks]

I am big fan of the Lever Action rifles for quite a Long time now. Now i want to get one for target and fun Shooting and also as an self defense carbine.

My favourites ar the Marlin 336 in 30-30 winchester or the Henry Big Boy in 357 mag.

In my humble opinion the Henry rifle would be the better choice, because 357 mag is cheaper to buy, at least here in Austria, and the 30-30 could be also way to much for indoor sd Scenario.

The only Problem with the 357 mag, is that decent sd Ammo is hard to find in m home Country.

Most the ammo i found so far is FMJ ammo, not the best choice for sd for self defense, and some 158 grain soft Points from magtech and the first defense ammo also from magtech.

It would no Problem though to order oder rounds from Major US and European Ammo makers.

what rounds in 357 mag would work the best from an 357 mag carbine? What do you think?

And what do you think about about th idea of an Lever Action self defense rifle in the first place? Would be great to hear some thoughts.

PS: Some of you will probably recommend an ar type rilfe as an sd rifle, and although These rifles are available here in Austria, they are over my Budget now, so i have to find some cheap alternatives. But in the future i am also interested in getting a an Ar type rifle, the Oberland Arms Oa 15 would be my favourite.

Thanks for the help in advance.

greetings from Austria

Wow I'm really late to the party! Sorry about that folks.

This is certainly an interesting question to be presenting, since I'm familiar with both the Henry and the Marlin. So let's start with the basics. going by the stats at both websites, both the Henry and the Marlin have the same overall length of 38.5" so there's not much difference there. The Big Boy weighs in at 8.68 pounds, while the 336 only weighs 7 pounds. Going by that alone my recommendation would be the 336.

However we're not stopping there, we've got the method of loading to take into consideration. The 336 has a side loading gate, whereas the Big Boy has to have the front of the magazine removed from the rifle for ammunition to be dropped in, which really isn't desirable in a situation where someone might be shooting at you. However the loading gate on the 336 is very stiff as it comes from the factory, and not all that easy to quickly reload in a stressful situation, even with training. If one is limited purely to the number of rounds in the firearm, 11 for the Big Boy or 7 for the 336, the Big Boy might be the better choice if the ammunition is good quality.

There's also the fact that Henry prides themselves on having a very smooth action that's very easy to work, whereas the Marlin has to be worked firmly. Whether or not that's a consideration comes down to the individual.

 

[_Ed]

Greetings from Texas.
A good lever action is certainly usable as a self defense weapon. The .30-30 would give you problems with over-penetration. But the .357 ought to be a good round.
Any good quality soft point or hollow point cartridge should work fine. The FMJs would not work nearly as well.

If you decide to use this rifle, remember to practice with it, especially loading and manipulating the system. Good luck.

I haven't had a chance to check, but I was just going over the Helmet O' Truth and was wondering what would happen if you shot your best .357 mag hand load out of a lever action carbine at a PASGT helmet? My thoughts being that the additional barrel length will help your hand load reach its full potential. It still might not go through, but I think you might be surprised.

 

[Becks]

I haven't had a chance to check, but I was just going over the Helmet O' Truth and was wondering what would happen if you shot your best .357 mag hand load out of a lever action carbine at a PASGT helmet? My thoughts being that the additional barrel length will help your hand load reach its full potential. It still might not go through, but I think you might be surprised.

At the every least, if nothing else, it would result in a bigger headache for the guy wearing the helmet.

 

[doctorwho000777]

Greetings from Texas.
A good lever action is certainly usable as a self defense weapon. The .30-30 would give you problems with over-penetration. But the .357 ought to be a good round.
Any good quality soft point or hollow point cartridge should work fine. The FMJs would not work nearly as well.

If you decide to use this rifle, remember to practice with it, especially loading and manipulating the system. Good luck.

The soft point rounds used mostly in .30-30 lever action Rifles expand or mushroom and are not likely to over penetrate and remembering that the .30-30 is an intermediate power cartridge, so many talk of over penetration and this is an exaggeration of what the .30-30 cartridges ballistics and performance vs Gelatine and other ballistic mediums.