.454 Lever Guns???

[rantingredneck]

Anybody seen or heard of any lever guns in .454 Casull other than the Legacy Sports Puma? I'd love to have a lever in that caliber but would like more options to compare. I've read good reviews on the Puma M92 in .454 but have never handled one. I seriously wish Ruger would make a model 96 lever gun in this caliber to match my Ruger Super Redhawk.

[mcarso]

Marlin was thinking about it at one time, in 475 Limbaugh and 454, but I beleive there was some kind of presure problems

[rantingredneck]

Pressure would be an issue. I think the maximum average pressure for a .454 Casull is something like 65,000 cup or more. I find it hard to believe though that this is an obstacle that Rossi/Legacy Sports can overcome that a company like Marlin, Winchester, or especially Ruger can't.....

[rantingredneck]

I was at Gander Mtn. yesterday and actually handled a stainless carbine version of the Legacy Sports M92. I was impressed with how it handled. Of course shooting is something different, but I have to say I'm more inclined toward purchasing one now than I was before. I've got a couple more firearms on my "to buy" list before I get around to a .454 Lever. Maybe by then Ruger will have come up with something. The one drawback on the Puma M92 was that it is not drilled and tapped for mounts. I imagine that is due to the top ejection port that I believe kicks the empty shell straight up like the original 94's. They could have drilled the barrel for a scout LER type mounting system though. That type of firearm begs for a ghost ring type sighting system anyway......

[BIGBORELOVER]

There are gun makes on line that convert the Marins/Winchesters to 454/475/50AE (WWWG and Brockman comes to mind), but they are $$$$. The legacy is a Win 92 (corrected) knock off. The quality is hit or miss. I have heard complaints about stock splits and loose screws becasue of the sharp 454 impulse. You get what you pay for it.

You could probably adapt any Winchester 94 scout scope mount or peep on the rossi if the receiver sight is comparable, I cant remeber off hand if they are exactly the same or not.

Marlin could definately do it if they invested in better steels and some minor tooling. There current rifles have a lockup raing in the 43000PSI range. They may if the interest in these big bore pistol calibers keeps up.

Happy shooting.

[rantingredneck]

I'd not heard those complaints about the M92 Puma. Thanks. I'll have to say though that these guns are not cheap (at least not in cost). The stainless Carbine I was holding was over $500.00 bucks which is pretty expensive for a lever gun.

And not to nitpick (although I guess I am) the Puma is a repro of the Winchester model 1892 not 1894.

[BIGBORELOVER]

Check out the beartooth bullets forum about details concerning stock splits. I saw the loose screws issues on several misc forums on the web.

$500 is not that bad for a stainless LA. The marlin guide guns sell for more, and the new longer marlins are in the mid $600 range. WWG sells there stuff in the $1200-1500 range. You will probably spend many x's more in ammo than the gun costs if you shoot it alot, that's how I tend to look at it.

I saw a used 480 PUMA for 425 ay my local gunshop about 6 months ago. I didn't even know the gun existed until I saw this thing with the monsterous bore on the front of it. Too bad it wasn't a 475 linebaugh or I may have bought it on the spot.

[rantingredneck]

Yeah I'd pay 600-1000 for a Marlin or Ruger in .454. I'm just not willing to shell out 500 + for a Rossi/Legacy Sports, yet. I don't quite get the appeal of the .480 guns. I'd buy a .475 to have the versatility of shooting either cartridge. That's one reason I went with the .454 instead of the .480 in my Super Redhawk.

[dubyam]

You can check out this discussion on the Puma from a big bore devotee:

http://communities.realguns.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=1660

This guy won the gun in a contest, and has wanted one for a while. He had some stock problems, but he is really on top of it. The issue is not with the gun, he indicated, but rather with the dry, cheap wood they use for the stock. Kind of reminds me of the difference between the stock on my early Win94AE (about 1983 vintage) and the later ones, which appeared to have a stock made of cheap pine lumber.

[rantingredneck]

Thanks for the post Dubyam, I'll check it out. I think they offer the Puma in a synthetic stock variant too. I'm a big fan of synthetics on my hunting guns. More durable and less worry about weather affecting performance.

[doc44]

Hey it was my understanding that marlin didn't produce the 475 Linbaugh because it required to many tooling changes in the production line. It has to do with the overall length of the cartridges not pressure. Modern Marlins are rated for all factory ammo that will feed in their guns(length again) and some of those loads exceed 50,000lbs! Marlin still has the 475/480 carbine on the back burner and I will be surprized if we don't see some in the near future. The 480 ruger is the kind of inbetween cartridge, 350grn at what 900 no problem up to a 450grn bullit at 1100 or so. And you can get the factory loads which aren't as costly as 475's. But like you guys said the marlin in 475/480 will be worth the wait!!