Pighunter wrote:So I'm just waiting on my licence (I'm an experienced shooter, I've had a licence 10 years ago and grew up on a farm so I've been around firearms my entire life) but I'm going to pick up a .44 Magnum Lever Action for hunting pigs on my parents farm that are becoming a real problem. I'm looking to spend about $1500.
So far I've picked out the
Rossi 92 Stainless
The Levtec Citadel 92 Tacticool (essentially a Rossi)
The Henry Big Boy X .44 magnum
Does anyone have experience with any of these firearms and which would be the best for night hunting pigs. Obviously the Henry is one of the "Gold standard" brands of lever actions but for a rifle that will get maybe 40 rounds put through it a year I'm not sure if I should go for it unless it's miles ahead of the Rossi rifles.
I have a few issues to resolve with the choice as well
I mostly hunt at night - I have a thermal spotting scope already and was looking at an night scope. My understanding is this would be difficult to use on the Rossi rifles as they are top eject. The Henry wins in this regard I guess.
Edit: I realise I clicked the wrong subforum. Could a Moderator please move this to Centrefire rifles
Generally my friends (Who are the current shooters as I don't have a licence) and I wait in a spot for the pigs to pass by, we don't have to shoot at more than 50m usually, so for the Rossi rifles potentially a pressure switch front torch could do the job (If any of you are concerned about us waiting in a spot at night for pigs, fear not we are actually about 2m above ground in a large tree we've essentially turned into a treehouse/hunting hutch).
So while the obvious answer is "Get the Henry numbnuts" I would like to hear other peoples experiences with these rifles if they have any. I know Rossi has come a long way in terms of quality. But my reasons for questioning the Henry is also I'm not a rich man, so saving money on the rifle would allow me to hasten up the ability to purchase a nightscope but then I would run into the issue of mounting it on the Rossi.
Shootermick wrote:Pighunter wrote:So I'm just waiting on my licence (I'm an experienced shooter, I've had a licence 10 years ago and grew up on a farm so I've been around firearms my entire life) but I'm going to pick up a .44 Magnum Lever Action for hunting pigs on my parents farm that are becoming a real problem. I'm looking to spend about $1500.
So far I've picked out the
Rossi 92 Stainless
The Levtec Citadel 92 Tacticool (essentially a Rossi)
The Henry Big Boy X .44 magnum
Does anyone have experience with any of these firearms and which would be the best for night hunting pigs. Obviously the Henry is one of the "Gold standard" brands of lever actions but for a rifle that will get maybe 40 rounds put through it a year I'm not sure if I should go for it unless it's miles ahead of the Rossi rifles.
I have a few issues to resolve with the choice as well
I mostly hunt at night - I have a thermal spotting scope already and was looking at an night scope. My understanding is this would be difficult to use on the Rossi rifles as they are top eject. The Henry wins in this regard I guess.
Edit: I realise I clicked the wrong subforum. Could a Moderator please move this to Centrefire rifles
Generally my friends (Who are the current shooters as I don't have a licence) and I wait in a spot for the pigs to pass by, we don't have to shoot at more than 50m usually, so for the Rossi rifles potentially a pressure switch front torch could do the job (If any of you are concerned about us waiting in a spot at night for pigs, fear not we are actually about 2m above ground in a large tree we've essentially turned into a treehouse/hunting hutch).
So while the obvious answer is "Get the Henry numbnuts" I would like to hear other peoples experiences with these rifles if they have any. I know Rossi has come a long way in terms of quality. But my reasons for questioning the Henry is also I'm not a rich man, so saving money on the rifle would allow me to hasten up the ability to purchase a nightscope but then I would run into the issue of mounting it on the Rossi.
Do you know of a dealer who actually has the Henry X model in stock?
I’m after one too, but I didn’t think they’d landed anywhere in Australia yet.??
Pighunter wrote:So I'm just waiting on my licence (I'm an experienced shooter, I've had a licence 10 years ago and grew up on a farm so I've been around firearms my entire life) but I'm going to pick up a .44 Magnum Lever Action for hunting pigs on my parents farm that are becoming a real problem. I'm looking to spend about $1500.
So far I've picked out the
Rossi 92 Stainless
The Levtec Citadel 92 Tacticool (essentially a Rossi)
The Henry Big Boy X .44 magnum
Does anyone have experience with any of these firearms and which would be the best for night hunting pigs. Obviously the Henry is one of the "Gold standard" brands of lever actions but for a rifle that will get maybe 40 rounds put through it a year I'm not sure if I should go for it unless it's miles ahead of the Rossi rifles.
I have a few issues to resolve with the choice as well
I mostly hunt at night - I have a thermal spotting scope already and was looking at an night scope. My understanding is this would be difficult to use on the Rossi rifles as they are top eject. The Henry wins in this regard I guess.
Edit: I realise I clicked the wrong subforum. Could a Moderator please move this to Centrefire rifles
Generally my friends (Who are the current shooters as I don't have a licence) and I wait in a spot for the pigs to pass by, we don't have to shoot at more than 50m usually, so for the Rossi rifles potentially a pressure switch front torch could do the job (If any of you are concerned about us waiting in a spot at night for pigs, fear not we are actually about 2m above ground in a large tree we've essentially turned into a treehouse/hunting hutch).
So while the obvious answer is "Get the Henry numbnuts" I would like to hear other peoples experiences with these rifles if they have any. I know Rossi has come a long way in terms of quality. But my reasons for questioning the Henry is also I'm not a rich man, so saving money on the rifle would allow me to hasten up the ability to purchase a nightscope but then I would run into the issue of mounting it on the Rossi.
Pighunter wrote:So I'm just waiting on my licence (I'm an experienced shooter, I've had a licence 10 years ago and grew up on a farm so I've been around firearms my entire life) but I'm going to pick up a .44 Magnum Lever Action for hunting pigs on my parents farm that are becoming a real problem. I'm looking to spend about $1500.
So far I've picked out the
Rossi 92 Stainless
The Levtec Citadel 92 Tacticool (essentially a Rossi)
The Henry Big Boy X .44 magnum
Does anyone have experience with any of these firearms and which would be the best for night hunting pigs. Obviously the Henry is one of the "Gold standard" brands of lever actions but for a rifle that will get maybe 40 rounds put through it a year I'm not sure if I should go for it unless it's miles ahead of the Rossi rifles.
I have a few issues to resolve with the choice as well
I mostly hunt at night - I have a thermal spotting scope already and was looking at an night scope. My understanding is this would be difficult to use on the Rossi rifles as they are top eject. The Henry wins in this regard I guess.
Edit: I realise I clicked the wrong subforum. Could a Moderator please move this to Centrefire rifles
Generally my friends (Who are the current shooters as I don't have a licence) and I wait in a spot for the pigs to pass by, we don't have to shoot at more than 50m usually, so for the Rossi rifles potentially a pressure switch front torch could do the job (If any of you are concerned about us waiting in a spot at night for pigs, fear not we are actually about 2m above ground in a large tree we've essentially turned into a treehouse/hunting hutch).
So while the obvious answer is "Get the Henry numbnuts" I would like to hear other peoples experiences with these rifles if they have any. I know Rossi has come a long way in terms of quality. But my reasons for questioning the Henry is also I'm not a rich man, so saving money on the rifle would allow me to hasten up the ability to purchase a nightscope but then I would run into the issue of mounting it on the Rossi.
bladeracer wrote:If you intend to run an optic then either the Henry or the Marlin 1894. I don't have the Henry, but I don't consider Henry to be gold standard in anything, they make budget rifles that do what you ask of them without faffing about. You can scope the Rossi with either an offset mount or a scout scope on the barrel.
I have the Marlin in .44 and the Rossi 92 in .357, both are good rifles, but are not controlled feed so jams can happen, particularly if the rifle is not cycled vertically (I prefer to lay the rifle over my left hand to catch my brass, but that doesn't work with these, the new round falls out with the spent case). This shows the rounds falling off the Marlin's lifter during cycling https://youtu.be/5s4aHSLAveQ Probably won't be an issue but good to be aware of. I generally carry levers with the lever open, closing it to take a shot, but that can allow the round to bounce around or fall out completely with these rifles (the Winchester 66 and 94 are controlled feed and work fine even inverted). I don't think the Henry is in-country yet so it's hard to know if it's any good. The Henry appears to use a rear locking block similar to the 92, but I doubt it's a direct copy of the action due to the side eject. It may be an excellent new design but we won't know until they've been out in the wild for some time. I avoid buying the latest designs until other people have sorted the glitches out.
But if you're only likely to put 40rds a year through it grab the Rossi Trapper 16", cheap and reliable.
For a setup using thermal I would go with a bolt-action in 7mm-08 or .308.
If you're shooting from a stand just set up some lights over the target area and you won't need thermal or a spotlight. Thermal is a hell of a lot of money for 40rds a year of shooting.
Bugman wrote:It is ironic that you should want a 44 mag, yet until you can get one, you would rely on the old 30/30. I posted an answer on another post about a 357mag and my reply post was that I ended up ditching my 357 lever action for a 30/30 which was more effective in close quarter shots for pigs and goats. I used to have a Winchester in 44mag about 35 years ago, with open sights and it was excellent.
If I could get one again, would I? For me the answer is no, I really feel more comfortable with the 30/30, but then again I am getting older.
When you get your 44mag, let us know how you got on.
boingk wrote:Hey mate, I got a Levtac 92 in 44 mag and it's a brilliant bit of gear. Factory loads come out hard and accurate and you'll certainly have no issue hitting pig sized targets at 50 to 150m.
The ghost ring sights arent bad but I'd be using a dab of whiteout on the rear surfaces to help in the dark, stock the ring is Matt Black and the foresight had a brass bead... I'd do them both white.
Lever is pretty slick, the rifle is very light and very handy... cycles well and ejection is positive. I alternate between the irons and a Burris RT1 red dot.
The mlok forend means you can mount lasers, torches whatever out there easily. I've done so with cheap generic plastic rail kits from eBay and they worked fine for a bit of extra light.
Overall very happy with mine, I'd be happy to recommend it.
Pighunter wrote:Bugman wrote:It is ironic that you should want a 44 mag, yet until you can get one, you would rely on the old 30/30. I posted an answer on another post about a 357mag and my reply post was that I ended up ditching my 357 lever action for a 30/30 which was more effective in close quarter shots for pigs and goats. I used to have a Winchester in 44mag about 35 years ago, with open sights and it was excellent.
If I could get one again, would I? For me the answer is no, I really feel more comfortable with the 30/30, but then again I am getting older.
When you get your 44mag, let us know how you got on.
I'll probably be back here bitching about the recoil lmao. The 30-30 is my dads rifle that I recommended to him after talking with a few American buds who are keen on hunting. He's a bit more of a ranged shooter than I, so for him the 30-30 out to 300m works wonders. He takes it with him when he's working out in the paddocks or in the creek.
For me it's simply I've always wanted a .44 Magnum, is it mildly less practical than a 30-30? Sure, but I'll probably just buy a Howa .223 and take that along with me. Might be a better option to use the .44 when making my way through scrub and put the heavy duty optics on the .223.boingk wrote:Hey mate, I got a Levtac 92 in 44 mag and it's a brilliant bit of gear. Factory loads come out hard and accurate and you'll certainly have no issue hitting pig sized targets at 50 to 150m.
The ghost ring sights arent bad but I'd be using a dab of whiteout on the rear surfaces to help in the dark, stock the ring is Matt Black and the foresight had a brass bead... I'd do them both white.
Lever is pretty slick, the rifle is very light and very handy... cycles well and ejection is positive. I alternate between the irons and a Burris RT1 red dot.
The mlok forend means you can mount lasers, torches whatever out there easily. I've done so with cheap generic plastic rail kits from eBay and they worked fine for a bit of extra light.
Overall very happy with mine, I'd be happy to recommend it.
Everything I've seen about the Levtac has been good so far. I'm pleased we have such a nicely priced rifle with a useful array of features. How do you find the big loop? and how's the recoil with it?
I'm not overly worried about recoil as I was shooting old WW2 .303's when I was 12 years old, but I'd still love to know how the kick is on it.
bladeracer wrote:If you really want the .44 I would go with it.
I _really_ wanted an 1100 Katana...until I actually got to ride one
But I doubt you would be disappointed with the .44, especially on pigs. I would put the .44 mag and .30-30 in the same basket for most purposes. The .44 tends to have less bark to it if you prefer not to use hearing protection. The .30-30 gives you the option of single-loading modern long-range bullets rather than the normal blunt pistol bullets. The .44 has more capacity on-board and extra ammo is more compact.Pighunter wrote:Bugman wrote:It is ironic that you should want a 44 mag, yet until you can get one, you would rely on the old 30/30. I posted an answer on another post about a 357mag and my reply post was that I ended up ditching my 357 lever action for a 30/30 which was more effective in close quarter shots for pigs and goats. I used to have a Winchester in 44mag about 35 years ago, with open sights and it was excellent.
If I could get one again, would I? For me the answer is no, I really feel more comfortable with the 30/30, but then again I am getting older.
When you get your 44mag, let us know how you got on.
I'll probably be back here bitching about the recoil lmao. The 30-30 is my dads rifle that I recommended to him after talking with a few American buds who are keen on hunting. He's a bit more of a ranged shooter than I, so for him the 30-30 out to 300m works wonders. He takes it with him when he's working out in the paddocks or in the creek.
For me it's simply I've always wanted a .44 Magnum, is it mildly less practical than a 30-30? Sure, but I'll probably just buy a Howa .223 and take that along with me. Might be a better option to use the .44 when making my way through scrub and put the heavy duty optics on the .223.boingk wrote:Hey mate, I got a Levtac 92 in 44 mag and it's a brilliant bit of gear. Factory loads come out hard and accurate and you'll certainly have no issue hitting pig sized targets at 50 to 150m.
The ghost ring sights arent bad but I'd be using a dab of whiteout on the rear surfaces to help in the dark, stock the ring is Matt Black and the foresight had a brass bead... I'd do them both white.
Lever is pretty slick, the rifle is very light and very handy... cycles well and ejection is positive. I alternate between the irons and a Burris RT1 red dot.
The mlok forend means you can mount lasers, torches whatever out there easily. I've done so with cheap generic plastic rail kits from eBay and they worked fine for a bit of extra light.
Overall very happy with mine, I'd be happy to recommend it.
Everything I've seen about the Levtac has been good so far. I'm pleased we have such a nicely priced rifle with a useful array of features. How do you find the big loop? and how's the recoil with it?
I'm not overly worried about recoil as I was shooting old WW2 .303's when I was 12 years old, but I'd still love to know how the kick is on it.
bigpete wrote:Why not look at the ruger bolt action 44 mag ?
Pighunter wrote:bigpete wrote:Why not look at the ruger bolt action 44 mag ?
Not overly keen on using a bolt action when a pig is charging me from 10m away in the scrub.
bladeracer wrote:Pighunter wrote:bigpete wrote:Why not look at the ruger bolt action 44 mag ?
Not overly keen on using a bolt action when a pig is charging me from 10m away in the scrub.
I would consider most bolt actions more reliable in that situation. The Winchester 94 is probably one of the more reliable lever actions, in my own limited experience. I wouldn't be betting my life on the 92's or the Marlin 94 as I've had stoppages just plinking with both of them. But even the Win94 has a lot going on in the feed system compared to the simplicity of a bolt action.
Pighunter wrote:bigpete wrote:Why not look at the ruger bolt action 44 mag ?
Not overly keen on using a bolt action when a pig is charging me from 10m away in the scrub.
animalpest wrote:If I was up close and personal with pigs (or any medium game) my .44 mag Marlin would be trumps over any 30/30 or .308. You just cannot beat big calibre in a light rifle.
Oh for my Ruger Deerstalker.. now that was an up close and personal rifle that nothing has ever come close to
bladeracer wrote:Pighunter wrote:bigpete wrote:Why not look at the ruger bolt action 44 mag ?
Not overly keen on using a bolt action when a pig is charging me from 10m away in the scrub.
I would consider most bolt actions more reliable in that situation. The Winchester 94 is probably one of the more reliable lever actions, in my own limited experience. I wouldn't be betting my life on the 92's or the Marlin 94 as I've had stoppages just plinking with both of them. But even the Win94 has a lot going on in the feed system compared to the simplicity of a bolt action.
bigpete wrote:bladeracer wrote:Pighunter wrote:bigpete wrote:Why not look at the ruger bolt action 44 mag ?
Not overly keen on using a bolt action when a pig is charging me from 10m away in the scrub.
I would consider most bolt actions more reliable in that situation. The Winchester 94 is probably one of the more reliable lever actions, in my own limited experience. I wouldn't be betting my life on the 92's or the Marlin 94 as I've had stoppages just plinking with both of them. But even the Win94 has a lot going on in the feed system compared to the simplicity of a bolt action.
I honestly never once had a jam in my rossi 92 44 mag,but I had plenty in my 1894cb 45-70. Also trying to work out how one even finds a charging pig in a thermal scope at 10m, those things,like night vision, have their place,but they're not really great for " action " shooting
Communism_Is_Cancer wrote:Heaps of 45-70s on used guns.
M3D1C wrote:Communism_Is_Cancer wrote:Heaps of 45-70s on used guns.
Probably because the cool factor of a round that can stop a T-Rex doesn't make up for paying $2.50-$4 every time it goes "Bang!"