The Perfect Packin’ Rifle

Several decades ago, I brought forth the idea of a Perfect Packin’ Pistol (PPP). My original definition of a PPP was a sixgun or semi-automatic with the barrel not less than 4″ nor more than 5-1/2″. It would be easy to pack just as the name implies. Carry it all day and then put it under your pillow or bedroll at night. The chambering could be anything from .22 Long Rifle up to .500 Linebaugh depending upon where one’s travels took them.

Second Passion

My passion for most of my life has been sixguns but not far behind this is the same feeling for leverguns. Now, at this stage of my life, I am expanding my PPP to a rifle. My goal is to come up with a rifle — preferably a levergun — which is the long gun version of a Perfect Packin’ Pistol.

If I decided to go in the direction of a bolt action rifle, there’s nothing for me to do as I already have the perfect rifle bolt-style — the Ruger Model 77 Hawkeye Compact in 7mm-08 Remington with a 16-1/2″ barrel. It is extremely lightweight and portable and kills all out of proportion to its paper ballistics. So, since bolt guns are taken care of, I now look at the Perfect Levergun.

Much of my time over the past many decades has been spent shooting the big-bore leverguns — the .45-70, .444 Marlin and even the .450 Marlin (which deserves better treatment than it gets). I’ve also been behind the buttstock of many a .25-35, .30-30, .38-55, .35 Remington, .356 Winchester, and .375 Winchester. All great cartridges.

When it comes to sixgun length cartridges in leverguns, .25-20, .32-20, .38-40 .44-40, .44 Magnum and .45 Colt have all been found to be highly useful. But now, the one rifle I would pick to be my everyday companion, to travel anywhere in the desert, sagebrush, foothills, forest and mountains in my area would be a levergun chambered in .357 Magnum.

Building The Base

When my Rossi .357 Magnum arrived, I found it certainly was not a Perfect Levergun by any means but it was a good base. The action was gritty and the trigger pull was
8 lbs. I turned it over to my friend, gunsmith Milt Morrison, to smooth up and get the trigger down more in the neighborhood of 3-4 lbs. Since this was a stainless steel rifle, which to me says a weather-beating rifle, I felt the stock needed more than the stain finish it came with. At this stage of my life I doubt if I will ever be out in really bad weather, but someday one of the grandkids or great grandkids will have this as a companion levergun and carry it in all kinds of weather. With this in mind, I had Milt refinish the stock and also work down in the barrel channel and under the parts of the stock that could not be seen to make sure they were also protected from the weather.

My first shooting experience with the standard iron sights was definitely up and down. If I really concentrated, I could put three shots in 1-1/2″ at 40 yards, however they could just as easily spread out to 4″. Better sights were definitely in order so I had the boys at Buckhorn drill and tap the left side of the receiver for a Lyman Model 66 receiver sight. While they had it, I asked them to cut the barrel back to 16-1/4″.

PPP Parameters

Just as with the PPP, I set up parameters for the Perfect Levergun. The barrel length is no shorter than federal regulations (16″) and no longer than 20″, with 18-1/2″ a better maximum length. Just as with the PPP it has to be in a chambering which could handle anything that might arise in one’s personal wanderings. My choice is .357 Magnum for several reasons. It is extremely versatile, able to handle .357 Magnum loads from fast-stepping 125 JHPs up to 200-gr. hard-cast loads for hunting, as well as a long list of .38 Special loads.

In a carbine it is quite accurate with mild felt recoil in most loads and the Model 92 platform is probably the slickest handling of all lever-action rifles. If used for self-defense, the shorter barrel makes it more difficult for an assailant to grab the end of the rifle. For home use, I load the first two cartridges with .38 Specials — less recoil and muzzle blast.

Just as with the Perfect Packing’ Pistol, the joy is in the search the Perfect Lever Gun, not the finding. Many Perfect Lever Guns will be found as the search continues. This candidate for the title of Perfect Lever Gun, let us call it PLG for short, is a blending of an old classic design with modern technology; Browning’s Winchester-style action with stainless steel construction. Sometimes, progress is acceptable.

www.rossiusa.com

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