REVIEWS
Give Me a Lever…
Mossberg’s Model 464 carries on the tubular-magazine saddlegun tradition.
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When Winchester ceased manufacturing in its New Haven plant a couple of years ago, much was made of the loss of the Model 70 bolt action. Yes, this was a blow, although I see it as more of a blow to our national pride than the actual availability of good bolt-action rifles. There are many good bolt guns, and, as we know, the Model 70 is now back in production.
I personally think the loss of the Model 94 was more serious, although certainly mitigated by the continuing availability of Marlins. For more than a century there have been some who prefer Marlins and some who prefer Winchesters, but it cannot be argued that a tubular-magazine lever action is a piece of Americana. Also, the slab-sided saddle gun was, is and shall always remain an extremely useful hunting rifle for so many applications. It’s light, short, handy, a joy to carry and a joy to shoot. It’s also fast, and while nobody is going to win at Camp Perry with a tubular-magazine lever gun, this type of rifle is plenty accurate for a great deal of the hunting that millions of Americans do. And its classic cartridge, the .30-30 Winchester, is plenty of gun for any deer that walks, provided ranges are short to medium. It’s also enough gun for other animals typically taken at short range such as black bear and wild hogs. This type of rifle has also been very affordable, a perfectly good “starter” deer rifle for millions of young hunters,and one that many seasoned hands, including me, often come back to.
So I see Mossberg’s Model 464 lever action as a most important new product, almost a landmark,and certainly a statement: American hunters need simple, traditional lever-action .30-30s, and now they have a new one.
