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There is a new lever action on the gun scene, Mossberg
has entered the market with its Model 464 in .30-30, and it is a
welcomed addition. It has traditional looks reminiscent of the
best-known lever design of all time, the Winchester
94, but now don’t get me wrong - it isn’t just a
clone of the old workhorse slapped on the market to live off the
legend.
Mossberg really did a good job, and this design
has some real modifications to the old design that sets it apart
in the market. Everything concerning the modifications to this
design speaks to a stronger rifle than the Model 94 that it so
favors. This leads me to think, and hope that in the future
Mossberg has plans of introducing more powerful calibers in
their lever action.
The first modifications that will catch your
eyes are the beefed up receiver with another band of steel at
the back of the bolt. This not only strengthens the design, but
also allows for a much simpler scope mount. Second in this first
glance you will no doubt notice the bolt of the gun, and when
you investigate further you will see that it is not the same old
bolt that the 94 used it is actually closer to that of the Marlin
336. Rounded with the same basic look of the Marlin bolt, the
inside of the receiver is also rounded to allow for a smoother
action than the Model 94. The blued bolt slides up to the
chamber where it is locked by the falling block at the rear
pushing it into place where, due to its rounded bolt, sites
inside a ring of steel. To me the more steel around the end of
the bolt - the more steel holding the cartridge head - thus the
more pressure the gun can handle.
The biggest and best feature of this gun is the
way that the butt stock attaches to the tangs, and the receiver.
Unlike the 94 and 336 this rifle’s butt stock is attached much
the same way a shotgun's attaches. A single bolt that runs
through the butt stock and screws into a piece of metal
connecting the upper, and lower tangs that are part of the
receiver, and thus a stronger wrist, which means a stronger
rifle. This is a much needed modification on lever guns; the
wrist is a weak spot on almost all lever gun designs.
Now to a feature of the gun that no lever guy
likes - the safety, and at first glance will make most die-hard
lever action enthusiasts cringe. A large tang mounted safety
that will make most pitch a fit, but its looks are deceiving.
Its size actually makes it more functional, and reasonable. You
see when you are shooting the gun it is hard to forget this big
button. When it is in the safe position it sits right under your
thumb, and when it is in the fire position you don’t feel it
under your thumb; it is in front of your thumb up towards the
front of the hand in plain sight. This to me is better than the
other safeties on the market. Of course that doesn’t mean I
probably won’t try and figure out a way to remove the dang
thing.
Now let’s address the one bad feature I found
about the rifle. What?? Did you think it was going to be
perfect? Not in this overly lawyered up nation. The rifle not
only has the safety, but it has a rebounding hammer. It isn’t
as bad as the later Model 94’s, but it still is a rebounding
hammer. This lends itself to a trigger that is less than
perfect. I like the trigger - it could be cleaner, but still it
is no worse than some on the market. Yes, many will want a
better trigger, but I am OK with it.
The feel, and ease of packing is the same as the
Model 94 with one exception: the red recoil pad on the butt of
the gun gives it a little different feel to the shoulder.
Cycling the lever you will notice how much smoother the action
is over the Model 94, the stroke is shorter, and the guts
don’t fall so far out of the bottom of the receiver. Shooting
the Mossberg lever gun is very reminiscent of the 94, the action
being smoother helps to improve groups when rapid firing the gun
by requiring less movement when cycling the action. This means
that you will have less trouble staying on target between shots.
The button rifled barrel, a good crown, larger
bead front sight, and a rear sight that is easily precisely
adjusted more so then those on the 94 or 336 also helps with the
gun's accuracy. On the bench it shoots as well as the Winchester
or the Marlin 336, well at least in my shooting. I think that if
you want to do any better, scope the gun with a small low power
scope. A variable is OK, but to me more scope than needed.
This gun cycled a variety of ammunition just
fine, and I really like the solid ejection that allowed the
shooter to fling cases clean of the gun similar to a Winchester
94. I have had some trouble in the field with the Marlin’s
ejection, especially when using Winchester Power Points.
The case seems to stick a little in the Marlin. I broke the
Mossberg in using factory ammo with only a few complaints. The
rifle prefers bullets above 150 grains, consistently knocking
holes in the paper to create 1.5” to 1.75” groups using 170
grain round nose loads from a good solid bench rest. The
150-grain Winchester Power Points I used spread out to about
2” to 2.50” groups at 100 yards, hitting about an inch high.
From a standing position, as this rifle is more than likely to
be fired in the field, I was still able to make some good groups
with loads using a larger grain bullet. Staying in the 1.5” to
2.50” range most of the time. The absolute worst group I
printed was at about three inches from a standing position with
the rain in my eyes, and my back killing me. Hornady
Evolution ammunition did very well in this rifle, but seeing
that the gun doesn’t have a scope at this time, and that I
have limited range (max. Earth at the range is about 125 yards)
the best part of using the pointed flex tip bullet can not be
documented at this time by me, and seeing that I use hand loads
in most of my shooting I really wanted to see how some of my
favorite loads would shoot in this rifle. The one that really
got my attention is probably the hottest load I use in my
.30-30’s. It is a 180 grain Hornady round Nose on top of
Reloder 15. This load in the Mossberg showed only moderate
pressure signs. I have a feeling that I will be doing some
tinkering with this load / rifle combination to see if I am also
able to improve my groups, tightening them to 1.25” at 100
yards. This gun to me is the best of both worlds- the
traditional cowboy looks of the Model 94 with the smoothness,
and strength of the Marlin. You might want to try one of these
out when you can get your paws on one. For the price you can’t
beat it.
L.F. Combs
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Click pictures for a larger version.
Mossberg's new Model 464 lever-action rifle.
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