Guns: The Tactical Lever-Action

First inspired by this post on THR and by this article by Gabe Suarez, I've started looking into the prospects of a levergun for home defense. My last HD guns were an 870 and a Bushie AR, but the realities of law school life forced me to pare down to only the firearms I practiced with the most - handguns.

It looks like Micanopy Shooting Sports isn't going to put in a rifle range anytime soon, so I'm left with using pistol calibers. .357 Magnum is such an interesting round - it gains a ton of power from using a nice 18" barrel (a 158 grain slug going at 2100 fps), but it doesn't break the bank like a .44 Magnum does. Plus, you can use .38s to practice with at the range, a pretty decisive advantage.

Pretty much the only game in town for lever guns right now is Marlin, since Winchester folded up shop. That's not much of a problem, as the Marlin firearms are genuinely good. The .357 version is called the 1894C, and I suspect it would be suitable for the needs of most people.