Lever action .22 recommendations

[Grylls]

Hey guys,

Have a mate that is wanting to get his first gun. Like the lever action and wants something quiet that he can use on his property for some foxes etc. I think a .22 would be plenty. Just wondering what people would recommend? Browning maybe? Cheers!

[Supaduke]

Buying new
Browning are nice, bit expensive , hard to strip and clean
I have a Henry it's very good, good price, easy to clean, lot of models
Mossberg do a .22 , haven't heard great things
Chiappa have started doing .22 levers, not much on them yet, haven't heard anything bad
Norinco, cheap, solid, bit rough

2nd hand
Winchester 9422, nice, expensive, bit random on accuracy, some shoot great, some so so
Marlin 39a modern classic, expensive, hard to find
Erma Werke mixed bag on quality Some great , some
Rubbish

[in2anity]

https://ssaa.org.au/officialreviews/off ... ction.html

Take your pick. It all comes down to personal preference. People are gonna argue about the browning, marlin and Henry till the cows come home. But It really boils down to what you like the feel of and what shape your used to. I'd suggest having a feel and a cycle of all of those, and better yet test the triggers with an empty shell or poly snap if your LGS will allow it. IMO the trigger is the most important aspect when it comes to accuracy and consistency. Close second is stock length - for offhand work, length of stock and a suitable comb is your friend. And the browning stock is short.

Just one thing to remember, foxes are small and skittish, and levers aren't as accurate as bolts, say a scoped CZ 452, just saying

[Hangfire]

I have a Henry i bought for the wife but love using it myself, came with a 3-9x40 scope but much nicer with a simple red dot.

[juststarting]

Browning BL-22 - love it. Taking it apart - ok, putting it back together - yeah... The thing that BL-22 has going for it is ridiculously short lever throw. You can open and close your hand without moving your hand off the stock.

[GLS_1956]

Browning BL-22, wonderful little 22, accurate and easily scoped. Also it is the fastest cycling 22 you can get short of an autoloader. Marlin 39A bigger, slower to cycle, harder to scope, but easier to put a receiver sight on. I've not enough experience to comment on the Henry rifles other to say the Golden Boy I have shot was accurate and had smooth action.

[No1Mk3]

G'day Grylls,
I have a Miroku ML-22, which is the same rifle as the Browning, (both are made by Miroku) and I love it. As GLS_1956 and juststarting noted, they are a very fast cycling rifle. Plenty accurate for foxes out to 100 yards or so. Cheers.

[p3seven]

Henry H001. 22lr. You can mount a red dot sight or low power scope without problem Use CCI Stingers on foxes and cats. Subsonics on Bunnies.

[Wm.Traynor]

www.marlinowners.com/forum
Above is the site for Marlins. It's a kind of support group for people with crook Marlins among many other things. My 39A is a good one but I count myself lucky. Sorry to say that the whole thing is a lottery IMO. If you want to reduce your exposure to risk, I would say go Japanese but cleaning/take-down can be a chore. Even my Marlin has to be put in the vise to make it easier although it really is no hardship. Honestly, for a first gun, they might be a bit of a stretch.

[in2anity]

Considering there's the usual support for the Browning and the Henry, I going to give my 2c on the Marlin. The Marlin 39a is a full-sized rifle just like its centerfire big brothers. I like this because I'm used to shooting marlins and full-sized military rifles offhand (with either a Ching sling or a military-style loop sling). IMO it has the best balance out of the 3. The Marlin is also known to be about as accurate as you can get for a rimfire lever gun.

The main complaint I have with the Marlin is that the factory trigger is rather heavy - if you wanted to seriously compete with it, you'd need to polish it up either explicitly or implicitly (through wear over time).

[Supaduke]

Marlins are nice, but sit around $1200-$1400 new. Good luck getting one in. As far as second hand, good luck finding one. The few I have seen for sale always sell very quickly.

The reality in Australia for a .22 lever, the average punter is looking at a Henry, Browning/Miroku, Norinco, Chiappa or second hand Winnie.

I tried for a while to get a Marlin 39a, eventually it was put in the too hard basket. It will require some $$$ and persistence to get one.

Most LGS's have a Henry and/or Browning sitting on the rack.

[brett1868]

I'll add my vote for the Henry HEN001 lever, bought one for my lefty son for when he gets his juniors next year. I really enjoy shooting this little rifle, silky smooth cycling and easy to reload.