What do you think of a .357 lever rifle for home defense and possibly taking game in sparse times?
I have never shot a .357 rifle. I have a lever action only friend that I think owns one. I could ask him about it. There are several pistol cartridges that some of the Lever actions rifles are chambered for. Some going way back. It simplified ammo and reloading.
I think it would be fine for both purposes. But I don’t see much advantage over the standard 30-30. Hornady makes a 160 gr FTX Leverevolution bullet for the 30-30 that extends the useful range a lot and has better ballistics (due to shape).
For up close protection, it makes zero difference.
What do you think of a .357 lever rifle for home defense and possibly taking game in sparse times?
Works well, easy to load for, ammo is common, good to 150 yards.
I have one, it is fun, but mostly a woods rifle because of the range.
If I had the extra money, an AR-15 has extra range, works about as well for taking game in tough times, and has extra intimidation value. One nice thing about the .357, is you can load very quiet loads (light .38 types) and they will still work well.