New Mossberg lever guns

[richhodg66]

Anybody have one of these? I looked at the first one I've handled a few days ago, and except for the awful tang safety on it, it looked good. I'd be interested in hearing any other observations about them.

[Jeff H]

Anybody have one of these? I looked at the first one I've handled a few days ago, and except for the awful tang safety on it, it looked good. I'd be interested in hearing any other observations about them.

Me too. I saw a SS 30-30 advertised in a Cabela's flyer and wasn't sure if it was "new" or if I had just over looked it.

[ReloaderFred]

I handled one at the SHOT Show last year, but wasn't impressed. The quality just wasn't there for me, and besides, there are already tons of .30-30 rifles on the market....

Hope this helps.

Fred

[richhodg66]

I had kind of figured when Winchester quit making the '94, Mossberg saw an untapped market niche and tried to exploit it. The lever guns Mossberg used to make looked like copies of the Marlins to me. This seems to be a new design altogether.

I sure hate safeties on rifles with exposed hammers. Still, for the price of one, you could get a decent used Marlin or Winchester and have a few bucks left over. I would like to shoot one a bit to see how they are though.

[quilbilly]

I bought my Mossberg lever 30-30 about 14 months ago at a sale for a great price for a simple, inexpensive back-of-the-truck working rifle for cast boolits.
It absolutely loves my 160 gr gas checked boolits giving excellent accuracy (2" grroups at 100 yards with the factory open sights) when my old eyes will cooperate. I do load my rounds a little light with AA 5744 for a muzzle velocity of about 1550 but that load makes it fun for plinking yet have enough zip for other uses. I hit the 400 yard gong three of five times at the Nevada Cast Boolit Shoot last spring with that load.
It feeds the cast lead boolits without a hitch. The various safety systems took a little getting used to since I am not a regular lever action shooter.
My only complaint is that this model is so new on the market that there is little on the aftermarket specifically for it. I would love to put a Williams peep sight on it. If anyone knows if there is a Williams peep that will fit, I would appreciate knowing.

[richhodg66]

That's interesting, I assume it has conventional rifling, not micro groove? So many gun makers are in bed together now it seems like they might have more of them with micro groove barrels.

The variant I looked at had a pistol grip stock with suprisingly good checkering and seems like the barrel was a little longer than most lever actions. Looked like the reciever would support scope bases well too (not sure if it ejects from the top or side). Overall, I kind of liked it, perhaps I'm easily impressed.

The shop I saw this one in wanted $400 for it which sure seemed steep for what it is. Is that about the going rate for these?

[quilbilly]

When I got mine on sale it was $299 but I haven't seen that advertised price since anywhere.
One of the reasons I looked at the Mossberg was that I did not want the micro-grove rifling. I wanted traditional which I thought would be friendlier to cast boolits. Since then my experience switching my 444 Marlin to cast boolits, my previous belief about micro-groove vs traditional may be wrong. I had read years ago that some micro-groove being great with cast boolits and others not.
In any case, I certainly have gotten my money's worth and more from Mossberg since all I wanted was a working/plinking firearm. That $400 price tag you saw would be about right and any price around $360 would be a good deal.

[NickSS]

I have looked at several of them and they remind me in every way of a redesigned 94 winchester. The only obvious differences is that it has a reciever bridge in the rear and the bolt is round not square like the Winchester. The rifle is an angle eject like the latter AE Winchesters. It appears to me that it is an engineered improvement of the Model 94 to make it less expensive to manufacture but looks like a good solid rifle. However, I did not buy it as I could get an excellent 94 Winchester for less money in the same store so I bought it.

[richhodg66]

I have heard mixed about the micro groove rifling and cast as well, and have never owned a micro grooved barreled rifle (except .22s). My .35 Marlin pre-dates the microgroove and I know that works well so I plan on staying with conventional rifling if I can.

Thank you for your input, I'm not really in the market for another lever gun besides Savage 99s at the moment, but I will be more aware of these Mossbergs now and a deal may present itself someday.