Are Lever Action Rifles a Viable Home Defense Tool?

There are literally thousands of lever action riles in use in the United States and some of them likely date back to the 1800’s. A lot of people are writing about using levers in a defensive role. But, are they practical for home defense? Perhaps. I have recently used a Winchester Model 94 lever action chambered in .44 magnum for my Sensible Self Defense Academy (SSD-A) Short Range Match with reasonable results.

The Match

The SSD-A Short Range Match follows IDPA-style safety principles and generally will have all targets at no more than 10-15 yards from the shooter. Most stages are based upon real-life events such as armed robberies, home invasions, an occasional terrorist attack, etc. that were recorded on video and adapted for a square range. Otherwise, the stages are regular courses of fire, with many stages requiring a reload.

The targets we use are a modified ShootSteel.com cardboard target. I first encountered this target in Tom Givens Shotgun Instructor Course and have been using it in Short Range matches ever since. We score the targets in IDPA-style with hits in the B zone down zero, the D zone down three, and any hit with the full diameter of the bullet above the shoulders in the head or neck also down zero. There is no “down one” in this match. We cover all threat targets and non-threats with a T-shirt to prevent the shooter from having a reference aiming point (typically a blob of masking tape as the match progresses).

A short-range course of fire match makes firearms suitable for self-defense and home defense more competitive. We encourage competitors to use their everyday carry pistol in the regular short range matches and we have two pistol divisions: concealed, and unconcealed. We also periodically have home-defense short range matches where competitors can use their home-defense shotgun in the match.

We also permit pistol caliber carbines (PCC) and have added a manual PCC division. If the manual PCC is loaded to .357 magnum full power loads or higher, then only one “zero-down” hit is required to neutralize a target. This precludes having a “reload fest” during a stage since most manual PCCs have limited ammo capacity. However, it does require greater accuracy on the shooter’s part because a down three hit requires a second shot.

Lever Actions for Home Defense

I doubt that anyone knowledgeable about firearms would argue that a full-power .357 magnum would be an inadequate home defense caliber. The .357 magnum is even more powerful from a PCC.  Lucky Gunner did a comprehensive series of tests with lever PCCs in .357 magnum and .44 magnum.(1) They found that the velocity from a lever PCC versus a handgun was from approximately 25 to almost 50 percent higher in the lever PCC depending upon the load. 

However, the lever action does have some potential limitations. Two of which are ammunition capacity and reloading speed. My Winchester lever .44 PCC holds ten rounds in the gun, and I have a butt cuff that holds an additional six rounds for sixteen available rounds. My Winchester lever action .44 PCC probably has enough available ammunition to handle almost any home defense situation.(2) Of course, I could load hot .44 Special rounds and get a few more in the magazine tube.

Taking one round at a time from the butt cuff makes reloading a necessarily slow proposition. Would this be a serious limitation in an actual incident? Probably not. I doubt that home invaders will stick around and engage in a gunfight when facing a rifle-armed defender, so I suspect that a reload requirement during a home invasion incident is unlikely.

Reliability?

Are lever actions reliable enough for this task? Mine is. I have had no difficulties using my lever action PCC in five SSD-A matches as of this article. That is not the case with one of my friends, however. He purchased a new Ruger/Marlin 1894 in .357 magnum and has had numerous problems with it. If he runs the action at any speed above slow, it tends to jam and lock up (see below). He sent the rifle back to Ruger and they told him that the problem was resolved; however, in the last match it resurfaced. He runs his guns with a degree of enthusiasm and he does not baby them, but he does not use excessive force. The rifle is now in the hands of a gunsmith who specializes in modifying lever actions for cowboy action shooting. We’ll see how that comes out.

Action is Locked Up

In Closing

I like lever actions and I own several including a couple of Marlins, several Winchesters, and a Big Horn Armory 500 Linebaugh. I would not choose a lever action rifle as a home defense weapon unless that was my only option. That said, if I was limited to using a manual rifle for home defense, I would not feel too under gunned with a lever action—particularly with the .44 magnum, the 500 Linebaugh, or one of the rifle cartridges. The Lucky Gunner test results indicate that the .357 magnum PCCs would be more than adequate as well with the right factory load.

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(1) .357 Magnum vs .44 Magnum Lever Actions, October 16, 2020; Chris Baker; https://www.luckygunner.com/lounge/357-magnum-vs-44-magnum-lever-actions/

(2) I review home invasion videos when I research incidents for potential Short Range Match scenarios. Three to five home invaders is not uncommon and I encountered a video of one incident that had nine home invaders.