There is such a reason. I have taken lever guns to gun school, carbine classes. They do not function long before they fall apart.
They will "work" within a limited scope. As long as you keep this in mind, have fun and get trained up.
My first defensive long gun was a Marlin in .357 Mag. I put a set of Skinner Peep sights on it. At the time money was there but tight and my wife said I could have what I could justify, no ARs. So I bought a “deer rifle”. Truth is I liked the gun but it just never shot like I wanted. Also had the bad habit of pulling rims off the cases when it got dirty. I traded the gun once I acquired an AR.
Dad has a 16” Henry with big loop and Skinner Sights in 44 Mag. Super nice gun and overall a better choice then my Marlin. Only issue is the Henry does not load from the side. So I guess he is limited on ammo.
That would be my concern too. Starting with my first carbine class with Louis Awerbuck in which one of the students had a .45 Colt lever gun, I've seen them have issues.
Now, given that, my concern is for factory stock lever guns. If someone has their rifle modified the way cowboy action shooters often do, then it should both cycle more smoothly and sustain harder use and a larger number of rounds fired before there is an issue. The guns can be made to work well, but not all can without such modification.
I tried to find this peep sight you speak of with no luck. I have a skinner peep sight on my 1894 Marlin Cowboy and love it. It would be awesome to replace the ugly bolt safety with a peep. Do you have a website?
Both Fritz and I had heavily modified lever guns to make them "more reliable".
Lever guns are cool and you can act all cowboyish and stuff, plus "everyone was looking at me" which is why most take goofy crap to the range or gun school, but for fighting lever guns are less than optimal.
Glad you said FIGHTING... That's a big distinction. I agree that for FIGHTING... as in "knowing ahead of time that you're going in harms way" a lever gun is very less than optimal. For that I defiantly want my AR. My AR is my SHTF gun. It's my FIGHTING gun.
This concept is a DEFENSIVE rifle/carbine, one that you have at the ready, just in case, because if you ever do need it, you probably won't be in a protracted firefight running through mag after mag...
For that use a lever gun is a in fact viable tool. Here we're talking about a bear wandering in your camp, or getting rid of a couple of home invaders, but not a platoon size element of raiders in a SHTF environment.
This concept is akin to a daily carry pistol, only in a more potent, and more accurate carbine form, but not an all out combat weapon system. Remember I just called it a "Cowboy Assault Rifle" to **** off liberals... it's a defensive weapon only.
Very clever.
But that rounded lever kind of scares me. It should be outlawed.
There is such a reason. I have taken lever guns to gun school, carbine classes. They do not function long before they fall apart.
They will "work" within a limited scope. As long as you keep this in mind, have fun and get trained up.
I have no intention of using my lever guns in classes or competitions unless maybe I get into cowboy shooting. I always thought they would work for self defense if I had nothing else better. I have used a Marlin or Rossi 44 mag for the past 10 years to hunt with, and no issues from the Marlin and none from the current Rossi. My first Rossi had a loading gait issue. I was just curious, what should I look for as far as them falling apart? Is there some preventative maintenance to keep them from falling apart while deer hunting?
I think lever guns can hold up quite well, I have Winchesters still shooting after 100 years.
Lasting many decades with modest use is not the same as firing 500-1000 rounds each day for three days.