Author Topic: Do You Agree? (Read 615 times)

RIFLE MAN · « **on:** October 22, 2005, 02:21:10 PM »

Dear Fellow Hunters:
I was reading a hunting magazine in the grocery store this evening, and the author of an article stated that"...lever guns continue to outsell bolt guns every year." Do you believe him? I do. Many hunters, even those with modern magnums still like the nostalgia of the "lever gun," and it shows that the lever gun is not only alive and well, but they, with a capable hunter behind the stock, can and will bring home the venison!

Have a great week-end,
Rifleman

C A Plater · « **Reply #1 on:** October 22, 2005, 03:38:15 PM »

I don't know if it is true and I'd like to know the source of that information but it is certainly possible. Given all the rimfire lever guns, the popularity of cowboy shooting and the decent prices of Marlins and Winchesters would lend credence to the assertion. I certainly have more lever guns than bolt and I'll probably get a couple more. I've got a hankering for a .357 magnum and I know of a as new Winchester 94 in 7-30 I find interesting.

Graybeard · « **Reply #2 on:** October 22, 2005, 04:13:27 PM »

Do I believe it? No, not really. CAS is not that big. Yeah it's touted as being but it really isn't. There are less than 100,000 folks involved in it. Even if every single one of them bought a lever rifle annually that wouldn't amount to that much compared to the bolt rifles sold. AND every one of them don't buy a new lever rifle annually. I doubt seriously they add 25,000 rifle sales annually.

If what I see on the shelves in gun stores and on the tables at gunshows is any reflection of what's selling around here the bolt guns are out selling them 10 to 1.

Ron T. · « **Reply #3 on:** October 25, 2005, 07:21:05 PM »

I use a 1953 Model 99 Savage lever action rifle in .300 Savage caliber for deer hunting at my buddy's cozy cabin (deer camp) up on the High Plateau in the Moshannon State Forest in north-central Pennsylvania... about 20 miles NNE of DuBois... and out of 6 of us in our deer camp, I'm the ONLY one using a lever action rifle. All the others use bolt-actions.

Of the good many hunters... probably over 100 in the 8 years I've hunted there... I've seen in the woods or walking along the back roads, I've never seen another hunter carrying a lever-action rifle. They've all been carrying bolt-action rifles.

In surveys, both here on Graybeard's Outdoors and a couple of other hunting forums, I've noticed that lever-action rifles are voted into 2nd. or even 3rd. place behind bolt-action rifles (#1), but there is a BIG "difference" in the percentages or numbers of those voting for bolt-actions (higher) vs. lever-actions (lower) in those surveys.

To me, the lever action IS "traditional"... and the Savage Model 99 is "THE" finest, smoothest, most accurate lever-action rifle made... bar NONE. My 1953 "EG" model 99 (24" barrel) consistently averages .70 to .75 inch, 3-shot groups off the bench rest @ 100 yards with my 150 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip handloads @ a chronographed 2680 fps.

However, THAT doesn't change the "what is"... the bolt action rifles ARE a great deal more popular than the lever-actions with deer hunters these days. Why? I dunno... but "truth IS TRUTH"... whether I (or "we") like it or not.

Frankly, that FACT doesn't bother me... other hunters can use whatever they wish... but, for me... the lever-action rifle does just fine... and I wouldn't use anything else.

That's what "freedom-of-choice" is all about, isn't it? Yes, I think it is. :-)

Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

icedog · « **Reply #4 on:** October 26, 2005, 05:22:25 AM »

Levers outsell bolts? Not a chance if my experience means anything. I love levers...have five 99's, a '94 amd a '95, but none of my hunting associates uses a lever, and I could count on the fingers of one hand the number of hunters I've met in the field carrying levers. I don't spend a great amount at the range, but there as well, the bolts have far outnumbered the levers.