lever or bolt

steveg

Im thinking of buying a 308 for deer hunting and possably elk would like some pros and cons of either a bolt action or lever action

gskyhawk

well for one thing there are a lot more bolt actions to choose from than lever guns , there's only 3 lever actions that can be had in 308 , the old /winchester 88, Savage 99 and the Browning BLR. the Winchester and the Savage are some what hard to come by .

bolt action is better if you reload , you don't have to use small base resizing dies for a bolt gun like you do for a lever action , just because the bolt action has a lot more cramming force than a lever action does

I'm sure others will be along with more thought on the matter
good luck which ever you decide on

tmault5

Gskyhawk has a good point ,also a bolt would beat the lever gun in the accuracy dept most of the time. But if you like lever guns go for it they can kill a deer just as dead as anything else

ern98

The lever vs bolt question is getting on 100 years old now and it really boils down to how you see using the rifle in "normal" use hunting. Meaning will you be hunting in heavy brush/forest, sparse brush/forest or the wide open of the plains. If most of your shots will be between 25 and 200 yards, then the lever will work as well as anything. If it is more likely to be 50 to 300 now you might want to be thinking about the bolt action. I personally own a Savage 99 in .308 set up with a 1.5x5x32 lightweight scope which I use when in thicker cover. I keep thinking I might send it out one day and have it rebarreled to 358win, but haven't gotten around to it yet. For more open field hunting I own flat shooting bolts ranging from 25-06 to 300wby, but the model 99 often goes along as backup.

ern98

The Savage 99, Winchester 88 and the Browning BLR are all vertical magazine rifles, not tube feeds. All three will handle any bullet that a bolt action rifle will.

Steve, I forgot to mention that while I know folks who have taken elk with .308win, they were all short range kills. IMO the .308win is very minamal for elk hunting in over 100yds shooting stiuations. Elk are big tough animals who don't necessarily just lay down when they are center punched. If I was going elk hunting in anything other then thick cover, I'd be hauling my 338WinMag or 8mmRemMag depending on the expected range.

snowtigger

Take a look at the lockup of the BLR. It's as tight as most bolts. As mentioned above they don't have the camming action of a bolt, but they are capable of more accruacy than 98% of shooters. Levers are faster on that second shot than a bolt gun. Besides it's just more "American". Gotta love them lever guns...

It ain't what you shoot, it's what you hit.

peabo

Steve, I agree with all of these responses. All of the Lever actions mentioned are very good rifles, but I think you will be better served and will be happier with a bolt action rifle. As mentioned above, the selection is better for the bolt action rifle, among other reasons.

Believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see !!
NRA Life Member

stanman

quote:there's only 3 lever actions that can be had in 308 ,

I believe the Sako Finnwolf was also manufactured in .308.
As for the lever action .308s being hard to find ..... in this area I could buy no less than a dozen of them in the next 1 hr. by stopping at 2 different shops a block apart.

I prefer the Savage 99, though the other 3 might well be a little more accurate because of the bolt lockup that they employ.




"Extremism in the pursuit of liberty is no vice.
Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."
Barry Goldwater quoting from Cicero, I've been told.