Since I was a boy, I have lived guns and hunting. I can't remember when I first pulled the trigger on a rifle, but to say that I got hooked on them is an understatement. The love of guns and hunting has led me down the road of hunting professionally for over 40 years.
Over the years I have used just about every type of rifle imaginable – lever actions, bolt actions, semi-auto's, pumps and single shots. While every rifle fills a certain niche in the hunting field, I have found that not all rifles can fill the picture of an all-around rifle, for all game, until now. Ironically, the quest for an all-around rifle did not happen in an elk camp, but started as a need for a fast handling rifle, with good handling and pointing characteristics, for shooting coyotes for the USDA. I thought I would try a Marlin '94 in .44 magnum. I had used a suppressed bolt action rifle in .44 magnum and had noticed that the big .44 caliber bullets knocked the coyotes right down. I thought I would apply this combination with a little Marlin lever action and it proved itself in spades when I called in the first coyote. He came in fast and hard and left the same way. The Marlin, while recoiling a little, proved to be extremely fast, accurate and deadly. The coyote died running at 75 yards.
In taking a closer look at the lever actions in general, I realized that the smaller calibers, though extremely deadly, especially the .44 and .45 calibers, could be improved upon by using special cast bullets. Having been a cast bullet shooter for many years, and using LBT designs in large bore pistols, I started to apply this old school technology to the lever guns. I used the cast bullets with good results on about anything I shot. I found that with the right bullet, the .45 colt would kill animals up to the size of elk, while the .45-.70's and the .444's will dispatch any critter with the authority of some of the big bore belted magnums.
As far as I was concerned, I had found the ultimate rifles for hunting, but there was a fly in the ointment. It was hard to get the kind of tack driving accuracy inherent to other rifle designs. This was due partly to the different types of rifling and the way the lever actions are put together. I have always enjoyed working on guns and gun smithing and decided to seek out instruction from some of the best lever action rifle smiths, to address the various problems of accuracy with lever actions. I have incorporated the solutions I found into the guns I work on and have solved the many problems associated with accuracy in the lever action. If you enjoy the lever action rifles for hunting, self-defense or just target shooting and want to upgrade your rifle, or just get more accuracy, give us a call.
