To my mind there is no more perfect all-around rifle — for me — than a good lever-action.
While I do have a serious love for double rifles — I am a child of Africa, after all — a lever-action 7.62X51R* is my go-to rifle.
A lever-action rifle is light enough to carry comfortably on long walks, they tend to balance nicely, and a second shot is as simple as dropping your hand and lifting it up again.
I’m also a fan of an exposed hammer. To me, lowering the hammer to half-cock feels safer than actuating a safety tab. And it is second-nature to thumb the hammer back as the rifle is coming to my shoulder.
While I realize that the classic chamberings in lever-action rifles aren’t exactly long-range death rays, when I’m hunting I don’t take shots at game past 200 yards. If I can’t stalk inside of 200 yards of whatever I’m after, then I don’t need to be hunting it.
The .30-30, the .32 Winchester, .35 Remington — all of these are capable of doing the needful cleanly within 200 yards if the hunter does his job.
However, today I have discovered that my love for the lever-action rifle has its’ limits.
Gentle Readers, I give you the Mossberg 464. Just looking at pictures, it looks like Mossberg snagged hold of the venerable Winchester 94 action and then …
… committed one grievous sin against taste and The Nature Of Things:
I am gobsmacked, I am.
LawDog
*Also known as the .30 WCF or .30-30
Have to agree with you here and "gobsmacked" covers it.
Marlin 336c in .32 Winchester Special, with reloads, is my deer slaying rifle…and whatever else may need slaying.
A guy I know said if he ever loses a leg in a car crash, he wants it replaced with one of those.
To each their own, and whoever wants that one can keep the thing. Some rifles get a hearty "meh" from me, but this one evokes equal parts WHY!? and NOOOOOOOO!
I have a feeling if I went to the fun store and asked for a box of 7.62x51R, I'd be handed a box of .308. Aside from that, yeah… Mossberg handed one of their designer's kids a lever .22 and a Tapco catalog, the locked the kid in a cellar for a week.
Tell me that was an April fools joke. Because that picture shows an atrocity.
That is fugly.
That's hideous.
It's even worse than that Frankenstein-looking abomination that used to be a nice, clean little bolt action carbine that they now call the Ruger Scout Rifle.
I dunno, seems like the perfect weapon for cowboy mall ninjas.
The sad thing is, I've seen lever-action rifles with rails and other tacticool stuff added that looked much better than this.
I blame Stoeger and their tactical coach guns for this.
In the brush I want a weapon which will stop one of the too common wild pigs crashing about. A 0.35 Marlin or, I believe they exist, a .45-70 will stop such critters.
EWW!
TheMinuteman: "Tell me that was an April fools joke."
Nope. The Firearm Blog carried a piece about seeing one at the SHOT Show back in January.
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2012/01/18/mossberg-tactical-464-spx-lever-action/
James Pawlak: .45-70s lever guns do exist – I have a Marlin 1895 – that would deal your wild pigs justice. That cartridge takes some finesse to use out to 200 yards though. I'm told it's suitable for pretty much any North American game out to 120 to 150 yards.
Re ZerCool: or if the clerk wasn't paying enough attention, or you enounciated sloppily, you could get a box of 7.62x54R, or be told they didn't stock that. :p
First time I've heard the caliber called that to be honest. I've heard of 7.62×51 Nato, 7.62x54R, .308, and of course of 30-30, but this time is the first I've heard 30-30 being called 7.62x51R.
This rifle brings to mind an acquaintance of mine that used to requent the home of a young woman that was, delicately stated, aesthetically challenged. Yet, my acquaintance would visit her somewhat more often than one would expect. His reason? "She's not much to look at, but she's ready anytime day or night. I just don't want anyone to know that I'm with her."
Oh, I can make it worse. Much worse.
Let's see… paint the plastic bits in a faux woodgrain finish, then send the receiver off to Turnbull for his incredible case-hardening work.
Do the rest of the metal bits in a best imitation Colt Royal Blue, and of course, add a large loop lever to the beastie.
I mean, if we're gonna sin, let's SIN!
Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
Not no, but HELL NO! Lever actions have REAL WOOD, no plastic crap… sigh
I gotta agree with you there. I have both plastic fantastic rifles and good ol' Winchester levers. To each their own, but still… ick.
Someone at Mossberg has see one too many episodes of Firefly.
Not even Josh Whedon would do that.
I'd seen that before, but had managed to forget it. Time to get the brain bleach again.
Looks like an M-4 snuck up behind an unsuspecting Mod 94 and, well, . . . I'll get banned if I write what I was thinking.
It's a beauty.
Function above form, taken to utter perfection!
"It's a beauty.
Function above form, taken to utter perfection!"
I guess if the intended function is to tear holes in your hands and or clothing ….. then, yeah. …..that thing has rails everywhere but where they might be usefull: mounting an optic over the barrel, where it will not interfere with "carrying the gun at the balance "….. hanging lights and lasers off the side of the forend will just jack up the one truly great attribute of the .30/30 levergun: great balance and fast handling…..
The sad thing is that there are hordes of young guys with more money than sense, and they will buy these by the thousands….
Oh, and before I forget.
It needs a bayonet lug. And a muzzle brake or flash hider.
Maybe gold plate it, to match one's Deagle? Or would that be too much?
saunters away, snickering
Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
That thing was ugly the first time I saw it and hasn't improved since. Gold plating? Jim you are just EVIL!
Rey B
Looks like just the thing for Cowboys and Aliens.
someone please tell Red Jacket enough is enough!
Yeah, I saw that bastard offspring of a Winchester and an AR-15 in January. Really bad taste overall. How are you supposed to lock in your frame gripping that knobby rail? You'd rip your hand to pieces.
On the other hand, I really like the carbon-fiber-looking hand grip. (i know: blasphemy! deal with it) If they had done the adjustable stock in a less 'tacti-cool' way, I might even have approved of that, too.
Hoax. Please–let it be a hoax.
Mike James
I've a Winchester 1895 in .30-06.
Close enough to 7.62X51R that you'd never know the difference at either end.
Check out the local gun stores and shows for one. Heck, a good gunsmith can covert the ol' Ought-Six to your beloved 7.62X51R.
Disreguard.
Stupid me confused your metric designator for .30-30 with the good ol' 7.62 X 54 Russian.
Gotta pay attention to foot notes.
Ugly gun but I would bet it will sell well to wanna be Zombie hunters. Mossbergs sells Tacticool. Not for me though.
I have a Marlin 336 in .35 Remington. Nice gun and very good cartridge.
I had a Browning BLR in .358 Winchester. Very nice gun and great cargridge. I made a big mistake selling that one even though I made a couple or few hundred on the sale over my purchase price.
All the best,
GB
I rather like it. I'd like it more if they would make the fore end be a detatchable helical magazine, though.
There's got to be a way to modify it so that a VFG could hold more ammo, that would be cycled into the tube when you kick brass out the other end…
There are very few "pretty" rifles – and the basic design laid out in the Winchester 1894 is one of them.
Mossberg has absolutely mangled that design. It is purely butt-ugly.
Barf.
The answer to a question nobody asked.
just eewwwwww!
Re James Pawlack wanting something for pigs in the brush…
Can you say S&W riot gun chambered with solids?
Also useful for the occasional Sabre-Tooth!
Used to have one until the Gummint banned them after the Port Arthur massacre
Mark Osborne
Sydney Australia