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I only have one lever action rifle at present, a Henry steel frame in .41 Magnum. That's the main reason I bought it because I have a couple of Model 57 Smiths. Marlin in .41 is pretty scarce. I've owned a number of lever guns in the past, .30-30's, a .35 Rem., and several in pistol cartridge chamberings. The price of the Henry wasn't an issue for me because of the scarcity of the caliber. I've heard that a good many of the .41 Henrys are sold in Texas so I guess they use them on hogs. My particular Henry is okay, I haven't measured the trigger pull but I know a heavy trigger when I feel one and this one isn't. The front loading tube, I don't take that as a minus because stuffing pistol cartridges into a side gate has gotten fiddly for me in later years. As stated above, Henry now offers a "side loader"in some calibers. In the past, I've owned Winchesters, Marlins and one Browning. Overall, I think I liked the Marlin product best. The Browning was a beautiful gun in .32-20, but the throat was so short I couldn't load jacketed bullets available to handloaders. The wood on the Henry is nice, the bluing isn't all that impressive. I was thinking of buying a second Henry in .327 Fed Mag, another odd-ball cartridge but now have decided not to.
 
I replaced it well I think.

Glad you are having a blast with it. Literally.
It may just be a favorite now. I want to make one in a different caliber pretty much identical. My dad is thinking of buying his first cartridge rifle as one. (Civil War reenactor. He owns a muzzle loader.)
 
It may just be a favorite now. I want to make one in a different caliber pretty much identical. My dad is thinking of buying his first cartridge rifle as one. (Civil War reenactor. He owns a muzzle loader.)
I had a single shot I did up in 223. Was going to use it with the can that was pending. All my cans took a year plus to get so the wait was so annoying I went through at least a handful of hosts before even getting any of them.

I'd do another Henry either the lever action or the single shot in 223 maybe, in time.

If Ruger surprised us with an updated 44 carbine type semi auto bottom mag fed in various calibers. I'd get that. Otherwise I'm kind of owned most or many of the PCCs out there and the rest don't overly excite me.

Maybe the 77/357. SBRd would be pretty cool. However I'm at the point where I need more suppressors as swapping is starting to get annoying. I know, first world problems.
 
Basic supply and demand. There's a bubblegumload of .30-30's out there, and hardly anybody uses them any more. Also, with "pistol" calibers you can shoot the same thing in your revolver, increasing the demand for those.
 
Basic supply and demand. There's a bubblegumload of .30-30's out there, and hardly anybody uses them any more. Also, with "pistol" calibers you can shoot the same thing in your revolver, increasing the demand for those.
A good way to make this easier to understand is ammo. Look at 9mm ammo compared to .380 ammo. Notice the price? The 9mm is VASTLY more in demand and is far cheaper. With stuff like this ammo and the lever PCC's there is no shortage. It's all in how many are made. People do not want the levers at anything close to the level of others. When you want to mass produce something the more you make the cheaper it gets per piece to make.
 
My build was on a list. Now I'm on a list, cause I bought everything on the list.
I can't win for the life of me.

Why are pistol caliber lever actions so expensive?
Cause they can, and we can't. Make them shorter without jumping through hoops.
 
I think there is a conflict of understanding with all this.
The average person who owns a lever gun (any caliber) typically does so because of an appreciation for the tradition, history and the 'sport' of it.
Most lever action owners do not own them or consider them as an 'alternative' for 'when they take away our semis'. Levers have been around LONG before semis and most likely will be for the foreseeable future AND in pistol calibers as well (.44-40 & .38-40 to name a couple early ones)

Go pick up a lever gun sometime. What do you feel? Well, weight, wood and steel or brass.
This is a combination of components that obviously are much more expensive to build a gun out of than poly and require a higher level of machine work and a certain degree of hand fitting to complete. They will understandably cost more than guns made of lesser materials.

The lever gun is owned and appreciated by a select few. Those who own and shoot them are not so much concerned with cost of the gun (or ammo costs) as to the sheer enjoyment of shooting them and the relaxation that is a part of it. A 'big' lever action day might be a hundred or so rounds - and sometimes much less.

Do what you feel is right for you but give the lever action owners their space - and respect - to engage in a shooting SPORT that is firmly entrenched in the American Tradition of History and the Outdoors.
 
I think there is a conflict of understanding with all this.

Most lever action owners do not own them or consider them as an 'alternative' for 'when they take away our semis'.

Not yet. If gun owners go along and the semi's are done away with watch what happens with the levers. Right now there is still tons of auto's being made. If the anti get enough gun owners to do nothing and the semi's stop? Then there would be an explosion of levers. They are pretty much the best choice if you can't have an auto. while they are of course a little more complex the modern manufacturing we have now would very quickly have them cranking out at amazing speed, if, there was a demand. Cut off the autos and the demand will suddenly be there. Suspect pumps would too. That design would probably be a close runner for which would take the place of the semi.
 
Why do PC lever actions cost more than 30-30's? Probably a combination of perceived coolness and cheapness to shoot that makes them more desirable. Same seems to be true of roller-delayed actions as well ( the .308's are far more affordable than 9mm's).
 
Plus there is a LOT of CAS.

I find this curiously interesting. I do not fully comprehend why CAS is a thing here, though to each their own in the pursuit of joy and recreation. Question: With CAS in the United Kingdom, do they emulate 19th century American or British society in that time, or both, in forms of style of shooting, arms, clothing, accouterments, et al.? Thanks. :)
 
Personally i think it is a combo of things. Niche market driven by game players is first and most important. If they got $400 to dress up in fancy period dress and accessories, they can afford a $900-$1500 rifle and $800 pistol with $300 belt/holster to go with them. More power to them if they are having fun, but out of my price range. Second as was stated, it is supply and demand. .30-30 rifles have been available for a lot of years, 1895 to be exact, and used by hunters. Lots of used Win.1873s, 92s, El Tigre (Rossi) and other .44-40, .38-40, .32-20 and .25-20 (ALL RIFLE CARTRIDGES! All the listed cartridges came out in rifles first, then came out in handguns!) but the .357 Mag carbine wasn't a factory item until what, the 1970s/80s? I sure don't remember seeing any back in the 1950s, but they may have been there. Lots of "convert your Win 92 to .357/.44 mag" articles in the '50s-'60s -'70s. There just wasn't the demand for "gamer" rifles back then like there is now. bubblegum, I remember being offered an original Colt pump CF rifle (.44-40?) in the early 1980s and turned it down (reasonably priced even by the standards of the time) as I couldn't think what i would do with it. Now? Hopped all over it and sold it to a game player.

Just my two cents.
 

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