Marlin vs Rossi vs Henry vs ......

[JDBraddy]

Thinking about buying a Lever gun, but know little about them, and need dependable reviews, am getting conflicting advice, have been told Rossi's are great, Rossi's are junk, Henry's are great, Henry's are junk, old Marlins are great, New ones not so much, etc..... etc.....

[ppkny]

I feel your pain but Hondas are great Hondas are bad, Toyota's are great Toyota's are bad etc. A friend of mine shoot a 32 with a out of the box 22 Henry with nothing but the stock sights. There's plenty of opinions out there and you can get a "bad shooter" in almost ever brand.
True the new Marlins aren't as great as the old ones but there are some changes you can make to get them right. Some top shooters are using the Marlin 336 in 30-30 with excellent scores.
I'm shooting a 39A in SB, a Rossi 357 in PC and a Winchester 30-30 CLR.
You didn't mention what game you are looking to start in and it does make a difference as to what's available in what caliber.
ppkny

[dustinflint]

You can find rifles that shoot really well from Marlin, Winchester, Uberti, Henry, Rossi, etc... You can find rifles that don't shoot well from each of those companies too. Because of the rules limiting what we can do to these rifles, most of the best shooters are constantly getting new rifles, trying different loads for them to see if they will shoot, then keeping the ones that shoot well. If and when you reach a certain level score-wise, you'll probably end up doing that.

Since it seems like you're just starting out, my advice would be to buy what your budget and your interests dictate and start shooting, a lot.

I shoot 4 Marlins for Cowboy silhouette - a Marlin 39A (c1982) for smallbore, a Marlin 1894 .357 for PC, a Marlin 57m .22 mag for PC and a Marlin 336 .30-30 for CLA. I like 24-inch heavy barrels so they all have 24-inch barrels. They are all very accurate (the jury is still out on the .357). I spent a lot of time finding the rifles I liked best.

FYI - on the new Marlins vs. old Marlins, I think a lot of people just repeat what they've heard other people say with no real experience with them. The new Marlins I've seen have all been as good as the old ones. Some shoot better than others, just like the old ones. If you want a smallbore cowboy rifle the Marlin 39A (new or old) is a very safe bet.

When I started shooting silhouette, I wanted to shoot high master scores so I talked to the folks who were shooting high master scores; - that's what I'd do if I were you.

Dustin

[JDBraddy]

Well, I hope I didn't make a mistake, but found a newer model (Tang safety) 1894 Winchester with 20" Octigon barrel in .45 Colt for $795, and a frontier model Henry H001T for $397 today, both where new in the box. I told the dealer that I'd take both if he would throw in a set of RCBS Carbide dies in .45 Colt, a Dillon Caliber conversion, and 100 pieces of brass for $1,200 out the door. To my surprise, he accepted my offer. Came home tonight, Checked my Lyman reloading mannuel, adjusted the dies in my Dillon, loaded fifty rounds of .45 Colt using 230gr molly coated round nose lead bullets I already had for my .45ACP on top of 9.0 gr of Unique, in Winchester brass at 1.550"OAL. Hope to go to the range and try them both tomarrow. Will probably want to add match rear aperture and globe front sights. Does anyone know what model number sights I will need for each?

[Tlee]

Most common/useful front site setup is the Lyman 17 globe with replaceable inserts. Not sure which if the 3 will be the correct hieght for the 45colt, but heres a thread on site options for the Henry Frontier:
http://www.steelchickens.com/forums/vie ... f=7&t=8230

BTW, i have Henrys, Marlins, and a Winchester, and they're all capable of shooting AAA/Master class scores... Depending on the shooter and his preference.

Years ago, when all I had was a Henry Frontier in 22LR, I shot a borrowed Rossi in 38/357 for PCCLA and it shot fine. I just couldnt get used to the tang sight and preferred a Williams receiver mounted sight so I went with Marlins and Henrys. I've since purchased a Winny and am trying to learn to like tangs, but I still use a Henry or Marlin with Williams receiver sights 95% of the time.

- Tim

[dgslyr]

Just look at the equipment survey from Raton.It's Marlin ,Winchester and everything else is a distant 3rd or even more distant 4th or 5th.

[edgehit]

I think I've bought 4 Marlin 39A's and found none of them to shoot accurately. I asked a seasoned silhouette shooter about that and his reply was, "to find a suitable Marlin, you may have to buy about a dozen of them 'till you find one that shots exceptionally well."

Mine have all have issues related to the bore being on the loose side. One in particular was missing the rifling at the muzzle from cleaning rod wear. I had another with a damaged hammer pivot pin that caused the hammer to rub the frame. I repaired it and figured out the bore was crap. I'm demanding on accuracy and when my guns won't shoot Wolf, SK or Eley, I end up slugging the bore, finding bulges or muzzle issues, and selling.

As for the new 39A with the rebounding hammer, my friends have reported they're picky about what ammo they shoot with. But that's true with most rim fires. I've heard of one rebound hammer gun that had bad vertical stringing and the speculation was the rebounding hammer may not be delivering consistent strike to the rim. I don't know if this was ever proven out.

Searching for a exceptional shooter, a hummer, is part of the fun. So keep your options open for new rifles and buy'em! It isn't like you're going to loose money on these as the demand for walnut and steel cowboy guns is good.

[AMB]

I bought my 39A about 10 years ago, vintage '51 or '52 I think. It's Ratty looking. Very surprised when I first cleaned it and bore opened up for a couple of inches about 6" in front of the throat. Checked it at 50 yards with the buckhorn's on it to make sure it was worth proceeding with, the stnd velocity CCI gave me 5/8 - 3/4" group. Plenty good enough. I shot Aguila for a long time, couldn't beat the price, and good enough. Shot a couple minutes at 100 meters I think. It's not drilled and tapped so I never have checked ammo with optics. But would usually give it a quick bench to verify it was in the ball park. Practice and matches plotting and calling shots always builds my confidence.

End of the day to win, what brand gun doesn't matter as much as you have to have confidence in it and never shoot worse than 9's, bullseyes not required, ties not broken by "X" count. If it's a "one holer" great, but has to be consistent, pretty accurate and a gun the shooter likes.