Ive never owned a lever gun and i guess its time. It would be for whitetail at the 60-120 yard range. not sure witch caliber thinking 30-30 maybe 44 mag or who knows but id like it lite weight with a scope. Thanks for any ideas

If you want to scope it I would go with a Marlin. It is really hard to beat the 30-30. The 44 may be slightly lighter, I think about 1 lb. For shots over 100yrds. I would lean toward the 30-30. Either caliber would serve you well.

30/30.I have mine zeroed at 200 yards.I have my 44 mag zreoed at 100.If you don't handload,30/30 ammo is cheaper and a little easier to come by when you off the beaten track.Last summer 30/30 ammo was on the shelf around here when there was no pistol ammo at all for months.

I have the 30/30 and it has taken everything up to and including elk. I do want a .44 lever gun too. My suggestion is to buy both. How can that be a bad thing? I really lust after a lever action .44 mag, but I have never found the right deal.

.35 Rem has my vote.

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MikeG

I've tried most of the lever action cartridges except the .35 Rem and .356 (but I've got a .35 Rem on the way now!) and while I wouldn't know a whitetail deer's *** from its elbow for any medium game hunting I've ever had to do out here in oz, .30/30 gets my vote.
I used a .44 Mag for years in a B92 and shot many hogs with it without complaint as long as I kept my shots close and used nothing lighter than 240gr bullets. But with the .30/30 I could pull off the occasional long shot out to about 200 yd, and more importantly it seemed to offer better penetration on raking shots with well constructed 150gn bullets. This is important because in the scrub you don't often get a perfect shot. I think the superior penetration afforded by the .30/30 was more important to quick kills than the "sledgehammer" effect of that fat .44 Mag on impact.
When I sold my .30/30 and .45/70 at the same time it left a massive hole in my battery of rifles. Now I'm trying to fill said hole with a .35 Rem, so we'll see how that goes.

30-30 or .32 WS or .35 rem, ammo will be cheapest and most abundant for the 30-30.

.30-30 = +5

Besides which, you'd be surprised at how very light and agile one can be, while still accurate out to 150yds, with a receiver peep sight ILO a carrying handle (scope).

.

+6 for the 30/30

If you're hunting deer and might get a shot past 100 yards, a scoped Marlin will make very good use of the additional range/accuracy of the Hornady FTX bullets. I've had my grandfather's 30/30 for about 15 years and had never really considered hunting deer with it, until the Leverevolution ammo was introduced...really breathes new life into an old classic.

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"For my part, I prefer a sensible median between trying to shoot an animal across a township and getting close enough to ram the rifle muzzle down its throat." - Jack O'Connor

I would suggest the winchester '94;in 30/30 caliber.
The newer model can have the scope mounted over the bore.
However,the offset scope,needed for the older,top eject models,is easy to get used to.
I can shoulder mine,and aim it,quicker then I can do the same with my Savage '99.
Frank

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Frank

My 30-30 win 94ae is the quickest shouldering gun iv ever handled. with a 16 inch barrel nothing can claim superiorty over it in the thick stuff.

Both the 30-30 and the .44 mag will fit the needs you are looking at.

buy em all the more lever guns the better then you will have one for every thing you want to do.

I vote Marlin .30-30. Much easier to put on a scope, if you wish.
The .30-30 isn't the casper milquetoast round that so many think it is. When I lived in northern Idaho, in prime elk country, I knew a few elk hunters who got their elk each year with the .30-30.
They never took a shot beyond 150 or 200 yards, but mostly they either waited beside a game trail or stalked close to put that bullet where it counts.
That's called hunting, folks. Hunting is not blamming away at elk 500 and 600 yards distant, with your rifle in a Lead Sled on the hood of your pickup. Saw plenty of those jokers too.

But for deer hunting, with perhaps an occasional foray into bear or even elk in brush, the .30-30 is fine. Recent improvements in .30-30 ammo make it even more preferable.
Ammo is relatively cheap and offered throughout the world. The .30-30 is sold in South America as the treinta-treinta. In Europe, it's known as the 7.62X51R.
Outside the U.S., and in some gun-restrictive states, it may be difficult to find .44 Magnum ammo on the shelf, because it's viewed as handgun ammo! No one bats an eye if you buy .30-30 ammmo.
For deer hunting where shots won't exceed 200 yards, the .30-30 is perfect.
The .44 Magnum is okay, but its bulet drops more at longer range.
For deer out to 200 yards or so, it's hard to beat the .30-30.

Why not look at this. it comes in 14 calibers