Survival Firearms - Lever Action Guns for the Collapse

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received this e-mail comment: ……..”I have been discussing most of the topics covered here with friends in different parts of the country and we have come up with very similar solutions. One thing we decided was that a lever gun in 44mag or 357mag would be better than anything magazine fed. You can top up a lever gun at any pause and there are no mags feed lips to damage. As most contact ranges would be 100yds or less these calibers are more than adequate. If the range is greater, stay hidden!! Your comments. P.”

UrbanMan’s comments: I have no problem with anyone’s choice of survival firearms, as the first rule is to have a gun and remember one is none, two is one. People who tend to have a limited number of guns just may be more proficient with them then those of us with an arsenal!

If you have a lever gun, then it most probably has a tubular magazine. Yes easy to top off, but slow to load,…limited to certain bullet types so sympathetic detonation from bullet nose to cartridge primer does not occur while loaded in the tubular magazine, and, ……also limited to number of rounds that you can carry and if you always keep it fully loaded, then you face a degraded spring strength.

I own a couple lever guns. A great point about levers is that they are robust enough to take the abuse. But I’ll choose my M-4 most every time over a lever. However, I know a gent (not in my survival group) who owns just a couple guns: a Browning lever in .44 magnum; a S&W Model 29 in .44 magnum; a double barrel 12 gauge shotgun and maybe a .22 LR rifle. He used to have an old Colt NM M1911 in .45 ACP to shoot in competition, but he no longer has that (he sold it to me). I know he has a lot of ammunition for each and is very capable with any of these guns, despite his age in the mid 60’s. He believes that there will be a collapse, but say’s he thinks he is adequately armed.

As far as magazines go, I have three different brands for my M-4’s: standard GI mags, mostly 20 rounders; 20 and 30 round P-Magazines, and even a few H&K steel magazines. I rarely have problems with the magazines and if I do and am sure of it, I’ll toss it from my inventory. So I would think that economics and familiarization would be better reason to stick to a lever gun.

A friend of mine from the SW Border area told me, about a year ago if I remember right, that he went into a gun shop to buy some .45-70 ammunition for a competition only to find out that the store had none because a old man came through a few days earlier and bought up all they had,…hundreds of dollars worth. The store said the old man was touring the region buying up all the .45-70 he could find. I would think that this gent probably is pretty high on his .45-70 be it a lever gun or a sharps, and was obviously preparing for a collapse and basing his security/protection needs on what is seemingly an antiquated gun.

I like your idea at ranges greater than 100 yards, then hide! I think smart people don’t look for fights, especially in an environment of degraded medical care. Fight when you have to and when you have the advantage…e.g..it if is a fair fight, then you did something wrong. Keep the principle of ambushes foremost in your mind: Surprise, Coordinated Field of Fire, Violence of Action, Speed and Security.

I would not feel particularly under gunned using a lever action, but I would damn sure try to use the new Hornady LeveRevolution ammunition which gives a 160 grain bullet in a .30-30 case, near .308 performance. Good luck with your lever guns and stay safe.