Hornady's Leverevolution

[beastslayer]

Manufacturer claims (effective) ranges of 250 to 300 meters. Hum, in a carbine? Then I need not think of saving for the new Benelli $2,000 bucks interchangeable barrels in 30-06 and .30 magnum.

[Land Cruiser]

I have couple of boxes backordered with midway. Can't wait to try....

[arizona hunter]

From what I read the 30-30 goes from a 150 yard rifle to a 250 yarder. With a 200 yard "0" it is -12.1" at 300 yds. and 1699 fps remaining. And the larger bores (.444 etc.) are good to 250 (way to much drop out at 300). But still that is 99% of most big game shots. I just might get a .444 or .450!

[Speckmisser]

Call me the perpetual cynic, but as much as I love my 30-30, I don't see that round EVER being a 300 yard caliber... I don't care what you feed it. Maybe this stuff will make it a more realistic 150-200 yard gun, but 300 yards on live critters is tough enough with a 30-06.

Call me biased, because I don&#39;t believe most people have any business shooting game over 300 yards in the first place... with any rifle. But marketing like Hornady is doing is gonna result in a lot of crippled animals from people who think those full-page ads will make up for range time and field practice. Too many folks put three out of five into the 8" circle at 100 yards, and think they&#39;re suited to shoot at 500 because their rifle/ammo/optics are advertised to do so. http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smiley-shakehead-blue.gif

[beastslayer]

Ditto for me. I tried the LeverEvolution in a Win 94 with 18" barrel in a shooting range at 200 yards and the bullet drop was very disappointing. It was not a paper target, hence, I was not able to measure the bullet drop.

I used it in a hog hunt and dropped a good one. But out in the field, I already decided I would pass up shot of more than 150 yards as I do not have the confidence that I can drop a pig or hit it mortally beyond that.

Arizona - You may want to look also on the length of the barrel on the rifle used for the claim. I think it was a 22" or a 24" barrel. Must be custom-made lever action rifle.

[larrysogla]

Looking at the 2006 Marlin Online catalog, they have the XLR rifles from the 30-30 to the 45-70, all in 24" barrel lengths. Out in the field, you are just using shooting sticks(if you indeed brought some), tree trunks, a boulder, a backpack or just sitting down or even worse, standing up freehand. A 300 yd. shot is doable "IF" you had been practicing at the range a lot for good trigger control, you have a good solid rest AND are relaxed and comfortable with your breathing(NOT having just run up the hill and catching your breath with deep labored breathing) and you know and have practiced the necessary "holdover". Many people have done 300 yd. shots successfully BUT many, many more have tried and failed and are just keeping quiet about it or NOT posting about it. It takes a skilled rifleman to consistently put his bullets on the 8" vital area at 300 yds. The trajectory "holdover" plus the "magnified" error at 300 yds. makes it a difficult shot for the average "Joe" hunter(like me).
SpeckM bless his dear heart has once again hit the nail on the head with the advertising/marketing "hype" putting unwarranted excitement, inducement for the average "Joe" hunter to pull the trigger on a 300 yd. shot and "expect" the advertising to work just like they promised. There will be lots of "surprised" hunters pulling those 250 yd. plus shots on the XLR Leverevolution, both with the good shots made and with the misses, "wounding" that also will follow. &#39;Nuff said.
http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smiley-patriotic-flagwaver-ani.gif

[beastslayer]

Knifenut and Arizona,

If you have the chance to try it on the range, I&#39;ll appreciate if you can provide a full detailed post. I&#39;m interested and excited on the bullet as I love using my 30-30. Docsherry at Hog Forum spoke for us succinctly the sentiments of Lever Action rifle users.

By the way, the 200 yard target range I tried the LeverEvolution was a man-size silhouette target. The shots are landing way forward where the "feet" should have been. But again, it was an uphill target. So it was difficult to estimate bullet drop.

[scr83jp]

At the shot show I spoke with a Marlin tech who used their XLR scoped LA and put a few shots in a 250 yd target with ammo designed for the ballard style rifling which he could cover with a silver dollar were his words.The winny 94 18" wasn&#39;t designed for this type ammo so it can&#39;t perform.

[BigSwad]

I ran some through my 45/70 and it definetly improved my groups. As making the range better, I dont think it will but I was shooting much better with this ammo. I am very pleased with it so far.

[powerman]

I tried some Leverevolution 45/70 out of my guide gun this morning and I was impressed with the accuracy. I put 2 at 50yds in the same hole(.58" outside to outside). I backed it out to 100yds and it hit 2 touching (.90" outside to outside) 2.8" lower. I still don&#39;t think 200 yds is a responsible shot at game, but inside 150 yds I&#39;m confident in this stuff.

[Wet Dog]

I tried the 45-70 Leverevolution ammo in my two Marlin 1895&#39;s. The velocity in my 22" & 18.5" barrels a little shy of 1,900 fps for both guns. In my friends Ruger he managed more than 100 fps faster in a 20" barrel. Standard deviation was 12.76 (quite good for factory ammo).

Accuracy was OK in the Guide Gun, though 3 of five were inside of one inch at 100 the other two spread the group to just under 4". Human error certainly could have contributed to that.

In the longer barreled 1895 the accuracy was better. At 50 yards the average, open sighted group was 11/16" center to center. While close to the performance I get with the Hornady 350g JFP handloads I use, at over a buck a shot, I&#39;ll probably not buy any more.

For you handloaders out there, the LeverEvolution brass is much shorter, probably to accomadate the OAL with the pointy bullet. 2.040" compared to the "trim to" length of 2.095".

If you don&#39;t handload, it is probably a pretty good deal compared to some of the other custom ammo available. If you do reload, buy a box just out of curiosity and see how it compares.

add: I read a report about their performance on game. Three shots on a <200 lb black bear, all pass throughs with big exit holes. It would seem that if you put the bullet where it needs to go it should do the job.

[Jim Hall]

I wondered about accuracy and repeatablility from rifles where the fore end and magazine tube hang off the barrel. At http://levergun.com/main_index.php in the article about What is Possible with the Marlin? M. L. McPherson discusses some of the problems and fixes he uses.

The point is that for longer range shooting, more accuracy is required. I do not know if the new XLR&#39;s have solved some of the things that M.L. McPherson has worked on to improve accuracy.

M.L. McPherson&#39;s name is on the Metallic Cartridge Reloading handbook and other pubs.