Self Defense Weapons

[MIK911]

i was wondering if anyone had any input about using a lever gun as a self defense weapon, thanks to all in advance :2guns:

[MIK911]

any if any of you all are wondering why i would even ask, i was a cabelas website and they had this product, which sparked the idea in my mind, its a marlin lever gun laser sight rail for lasers, and tactical flashlights, which it was said was for home defense

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/template...-results1.jhtml (http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jhtml?id=0024432226468a&type=product&cmCat=search&returnString=No=20&hasJS=true&Nty=1&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntt=marlin&N=4887&QueryText=marlin&noImage=0&_D%3AhasJS=+&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jhtml.22&Ntk=all&returnPage=search-results1.jhtml)

[Dorkface]

i guess it would depend on what caliber you were talking about. I've read a few different articles that seemed to think a lever gun would be well suited to home defense since they are usually pretty compact and come in decent powered calibers. I had a friend that lived out in the boonies that kept his 30-30 as a defenseive weapon. if you had a buttstock sleve that held extra rounds i dont see why it wouldnt do well. just becareful of possable over-penetraton of the sturcture.

[MIK911]

thanks dorkface, i have a marlin 30/30, but i live in a suburban area and overpenetration would be a problem to worry about

[cma g21]

How about a pistol caliber (.357 Magnum, .44 Magnum, 45 Colt)?

[Shoot!]

I've got a Puma 92 (http://www.legacysports.com/product/specs/puma.htm) in 454 Casull. It is handy, reliable and accurate and has a 10 round capacity. That's a total of 28,000 ft. lbs of energy, or about as much as my Mini 14 with a 30 rd mag. While I wouldn't consider it a state of the art tactical carbine, I'd never feel undergunned with it within 150 yards. For a house and yard gun, you'd be hard pressed to beat a 12 gauge, though, in my opinion. It is definately the first gun I'd grab.

[Holiday]

In my opinion the lever action is highly under rated as a home defence weapon. A lot of the boards whoop and holler about auto loaders, but I really like a good Marlin or Winchester! Don't get me wrong, I like AR15s and Mini-14 and such, in fact I still own a Mini, but my favorite rifle is my 1894 Cowboy in .44-40WCF. Of couarse, I load my own amm,o but this rifle/caliber combo is great. I would recomend a good Marlin 1894 in .357 for a home defence rifle. Plenty of punch, not as likely to overpenatrate as a .30-30, low recoil, less likely to jam than an autoloader, and still effective at 50-100 yards if needed. A larger caliber such as .44 mag is fine, but out of a carbine this caliber is prone to over penetrate. I use my Marlin in Cowboy Actio Shooting and can say with authority, with practice a good lever is a fine weapon!! :2guns:

[surbat6]

A lever gun is an excellent self-defense weapon, either in the CF handgun calibers or .30-30, especially if you want to keep a relatively low profile. They're not as "scary" as most semi-automatic rifles and they're light, handy, powerful enough and offer fast follow-up shots.

[Pocono-CountryBoy]

Levers are light weight and fairly short--this combination makes them quick pointers which is a definite plus.

Another big plus is the fact that you can shove replacement shells into them while on the move very easily (keep shoving them in until they won't take any more). I've done this while on drives for deer when the adrenaline is pumping--when you are "lit up" by adrenaline, it's extremely easy to lose track of how many shots were actually fired ;)

Follow up shots are almost immediate as the actual process of shucking the lever becomes automatic with practice. I keep a 25 round leather shell belt around that I use for hunting.. if you kept something like this with the firearm you could easily grab it and the firearm and be mobile in seconds.

Bottom line.. I agree that they are a great defensive weapon, and highly underrated by the masses.

[plinkerneil]

Originally posted by MIK911@Oct 4 2004, 02:30 PM
i was a cabelas website and they had this product, which sparked the idea in my mind, its a marlin lever gun laser sight rail for lasers, and tactical flashlights, which it was said was for home defense

I saw the same rail, and it got me to thinking, too. Right now I'm planning on buying a Marlin 1894 in .44 mag, as a dual purpose woods gun and home defense. I figure that the ability to chamber both .44 Special and .44 Magnum rounds gives me some flexibility for the self-defense role--.44 Special being roughly equivalent to .45ACP. That rail in the Cabela's catalog would make a dandy flashlight mount, and I was planning on getting the Ashley scout rail and putting a nice red-dot sight on it. If I want to get fancy, I might shell out for some expensive QD rings and switch back and forth between the red dot and a 2X or 4X scope.

Ashely XS Scout Mounts (http://www.aosights.com/catscout.html)

I might also upgrade the iron sights.

The only real question I have is whether to go with the 20"bbl stainless steel model, or try to find the 16.5"bbl model? The shorter barrel would be handier, but I'm wondering if it would limit its effectiveness on deer. Does anybody know what the optimum barrel length is for .44mag?

[Mannlicher]

Lever guns will work for defense. Heck, a piece of firewood will work. Are lever guns the best choice? Not really. I am looking as I type, at a new Marlin 336Y shorty on the gun bench. I just finished putting on a scope. For me, that lets it out for HD work.
I am sticking with a 870 Remington Wingmaster for HD

[RJSIXGUN]

I have use a Winchester 94 in .44mag as a defence gun since 1994. I have carried this on all my camp'n trips, I trust my life and my girls life with it!!! it also seves as my house gun.

[plinker99]

I have a Marlin .357 and am encouraged by your advice; however, there's nothing like a scattergun for home defense. How about comments on the Marlin .410 lever shotgun?

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp...170080%3A170122 (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=3138479&cat=170122&type=1&dept=4125&path=0%3A4125%3A4155%3A170080%3A170122)

[RJSIXGUN]

There are many reasons that I would not like a .410:

1. Ammo is not as easy to find as 12ga, rifle or pistol calibers
2. Ammo is more expensive (per round)
3. .410 does not have the stoping power
4. guns are not as compact.

A good home defence rifle or camp rifle should be compact, easy to stow, have good stoping power for all types of 2 and for leg'd animals. and ammo avalibility.

While the shot gun is a good gun for this, I would not consider anything less than a 12 gauge.
A good lever gun in 30-30 or a pistol caliber would be my personal choice.

[TSH]

A lever gun for self defense huh? Wait 'til ya get a load of this. Go to www.wildwestguns.com and have a look at the bushwacker. If anyone can post a picture, please do. I tried but kept getting an error. Anywho, I've not seen much that looked more vicious.

Tim

[Pocono-CountryBoy]

ya mean this one?

44 mag..Love to have one! :)

[R&R.45]

put up 2 12"x 24" man torso targets at 25m, 5m apart. Start in low ready, barrel down at 45 degree angle, hammer down or empty chamber, finger outside of the trigger guard. Start on the beep of an electronic shooting timer, raise rifle, hit both men. If you can do it in 2.5 seconds, I'll be impressed, and if you can do it in 2 seconds flat, you are a real whiz. With a good AR-15, the time is 1.2 seconds (average of 5 tries).

Put up 3 men's 10" chest circles at 4ft, like it will be in your house, 1m apart. Same start as before. See if you can hit all 3 in 1.5 seconds, like can be done with a 223 carbine.

[darjeeling]

Originally posted by R&R.45@Mar 14 2005, 02:27 PM
put up 2 12"x 24" man torso targets at 25m, 5m apart. Start in low ready, barrel down at 45 degree angle, hammer down or empty chamber, finger outside of the trigger guard. Start on the beep of an electronic shooting timer, raise rifle, hit both men. If you can do it in 2.5 seconds, I'll be impressed, and if you can do it in 2 seconds flat, you are a real whiz. With a good AR-15, the time is 1.2 seconds (average of 5 tries).

Put up 3 men's 10" chest circles at 4ft, like it will be in your house, 1m apart. Same start as before. See if you can hit all 3 in 1.5 seconds, like can be done with a 223 carbine.
I'd want my trusty 1911 for a situation like that. Now 40 meters and up, I'd want a longarm (although I was getting 10 inch groups with a combat commander at 90 meters this january).

[R&R.45]

depending upon the load, the 223 SP is 2-3x more likely to suffice than the .45 is. When it's for real, forget the pistol beyond 10m. When you have no ear protection, and you are ducking bullets and so is he, what you can do on the practice range, SLOWFIRE is irrelevant.

[darjeeling]

Hey, I ain't talkin' slow fire here. For that kind of accuracy, slow fire is pointless. I can do the 25 meter thing just as easily with a semi rifle as I can with a semi pistol. I don't know about the bullet shyness factor, but it'd affect both.

[R&R.45]

it won't effect the rifle nearly as much, because it weighs 3x as much and is held with your hands much further apart, braced on your cheek and your shoulder. Sounds like you've not been on the timer or shot any high level matches. React, raise and hit 2 man's torso's at 25 yds, 5 yds apart is 1.2 seconds with a rifle, but only Robby might have a hope of doing that well, under pressure, with an iron sighted pistol. YOu even GOT an electronic shooting timer? without one, you are most unlikely to have a clue what real speed of hitting is.

[darjeeling]

No, I haven't been on those matches. I don't have the time or money. With irons on the rifle however, I do just as well as with the 1911. I was just talking for me, what I have and how I do with it now. If I wanted to get really fast, an AR would be ideal. I'm just more likely to have the 1911 around, and for me the timing is not as big an issue as for matches. Yeah, I don't really know if I'll be able to line up the sights and pull the trigger fast enough if and when that time comes, or how fast I am there either. Using an AR wouldn't help in that regard.

As long as I can shoot, hit consistently, and follow up 'rapidly', I'm fine with that. This a self defence thread, and most any reliable, hard hitting repeater would fit the bill. Some people just don't want to use an semi-auto, and thats ok. Just because the AR dominates competition doesn't make it the ideal bedside gun.

[R&R.45]

this thread is about lever actions and self defense. Even a $150 sks is better than a lever action for that usage. You'd get really shocked if you were to time yourself and also get info about the times of the top hands, I bet. :-) There's really no good reason to not be 90+% as fast as any man alive, but a great many people are 2-3x as slow.

[darjeeling]

I agree completely. I always have wanted to do competition shooting, but when I look at all the homework I have now in college, I realize I hardly have time for any recreational activity at all. I don't think I've gone out in 2 months. I feel guilty to go on this board nearly every day but not have the time to shoot my guns. Oh well, could be worse.

[Ivanimal]

2 words- Wheel Gun.

[280man]

I read an article penned by Jeff Cooper himself, about 12 years ago concerning the use of the 30/30 as a defense rifle. He really bragged them up, advised a ghost ring site system for quick target aquisition. He also pointed out the public relations problem with the "evil" looking autoloaders, (if you ever had to go to court). Only down side he poined out was the two piece stock, and if you had to use it as a club it would probably break in two, (but stroke move...)

[TwinRugers]

There are 4 lever actions on my guns to buy list...

A marlin 1894 .357 w/ a short barrel
A Marlin 336 30-30
A Marlin 45-70 Guide Gun
and a Puma .454 '92

I would not feel undergunned in a fire fight with the average criminal packing a lever gun. I'm a scatter gun man myself, but for a home defense rifle, a lever action isn't to far behind. I like semi autos, like my mini and my camp 9. I plan on getting an AK and an AR in the next few years. But I don't know if those would actually be the guns I would grab in a situation.
Most likely it would be a shotgun, but if I was ever in a disaster situation like a flood or something, there would be a lever action riding over my shoulder.

Probably a 30-30...

[Dorkface]

if shucking a pump shotgun or racking a slide will make your compitition targets run away or displace then compition shooting might have something relevent to this issue.... i also seem to remember down in.... south america was it? a compition handgun shooter, who had all sorts of awards and medals and stuff, came home and interupted a burglar. the guy shot at the burglar a bunch of times and hit nothing but the air.

what will help the most is being able to use cover and scare the crap out of the bad guys. (most gangbanger types probablly have never been in a fire fight or taken the time to get the right mindset of what they would do if they found themselves in one). id take a 30-30 and a good "insane person" yell over a .223.

especially when FBI studies have found that .223 wont over penetrate in standard building materials just like most handgun cals. so aslong as you arent in a houseing area (if you are a shotgun would be better) you might aslwell use a round that can punch thru somthing if needed.

[ihs1978]

If I had to go with A lever Action it would be A Marlin In 38/357 magaum, for self defense.

[dogngun]

I bought an old Rossi .357 mag, 16" barrel lever gun . It's proven to be a well made, handy, reliable gun, really great fun and cheap to shoot. Same caliber as my carry revolvers of choice, shoots specials too, and looks cool. I keep it next to the bed at night, along with a Ruger .357. I have shot it mainly offhand at 50 yards over irons and it's accuracy has been surprizingly good.


Mark