Foreign or domestic Lever guns

[teddy12b]

Hey Everyone,
         Been reading a lot of good things about Puma Rifles.  My only concern about something like that is I like to buy guns made in the U.S.  I try to buy American, but I also understand that there is no way a person could make sure everything they own was made donestically.  That being said I'm not opposed to buying foreign rifles, I just question their quality in a lot of cases.  All that aside I think Marlins are still made in the US and I've read that Puma's are made in Brazil.  I'm mostly intersted in a 44 Mag levergun and I don't know the cost difference between the two, but I know the Marlin is around $500 - $600 which seems a little high for what it is. 

What are your thoughts on a good levergun in 44mag and should it be a domestic rifle?

[SHOOTALL]

I had a win. mod. 94 in 44 mag. it worked ok most of the time , i guess the 94 action was made for a longer cart. and from time to time a round would jam aginst the top of the bbl . I have shot a friends marlins quite a bit one in 44mag. and one in 45 colt , both worked great , both had oct. bbls . the puma like the browning is a copy of the mod. 92 winchester .
The 92 was made for revolver cart. from the start , and many people feel it was the " slickest " win. made !
i have shot the browning and it is a nice rifle , i have only held and worked the action on the puma , it feels good !
If you decide to buy a marlin or any other rifle CHECK THE SIGHTS for some reason the last few marlins i have looked at with round bbls had sights that were not centered in the top of bbl. in most cases the front sight was off to the left , like the bbl. was tightened a little to much , one had a rear sight off to the left !
i had to send a winchester back for the same reason ! all of the oct. bbls seem to be fine , the puma seemed good with reguard to fit , finish and sight alignment ! the browning was ok also !
Supply and demand , cowboy action shooting is alot of demand and winchester" stopping production cut supply !
and i have been told some states are allowing hand gun cart. rifles to hunt with  where a slug gun can be used , more demand !
let us know what ya get and how it works for ya !

[totallycustom]

I believe in the phrase  "you get what you pay for"  whether that is  just better quality or the peace of mind knowing that your money is staying in the country and going to you fellow citizens,  is a good thing in my view.   

I think you can get a little bit better deal on a marlin than you listed if you look around, i also wouldn't be apposed to a used Marlin or Winchester.

-TC-

[SHOOTALL]

TC , ya give good advice , but make sure the door swings both ways ie. a fair price for a good product !
i have seen a lot of poor work on both marlin and winchester guns over the last few years , and winchester is out of the mod 94 bus in the USA couldn't sell for what it cost to make them . ( yes they have a speical one on sale but it was made in Japan i think ) . remington , savage , browning and marlin all have guns made outside of the USA now at a lower cost to them . Why should we pay more than the companies ? Did the US companies join them because they couldn't beat them ?Should the american shooter foot the bill ? or should american gun companies up grade production and tools to lower cost ?
besides by the time you import a gun and pay import cost , tax ,shipping , adv. and sell it alot of americans have made money .
TC I'm not jerking your chain , i wish we made everything in the USA , but look at the auto industry we got junk until the imports came , if we are the people we think we are then we should welcome competition for no other reason than to show the world we can produce the best , the most at the lowest cost !
We do have one company in the USA that takes the world on heads up STRUM RUGER , they learned to make guns at a lower cost ! and became a leader of the industry , ( what could they do with a mod. 94 or 92 ? )

[fastbike]

I have a Puma 92 20" carbine in .45 Colt and it's a great gun. Construction quality was certainly better than any of the Winchesters I could find. Yes, I know they're older but you go with what you see. Fit and finish of the Puma is excellent. Gun poins very well and shoots to point of aim.

The gun was significantly less money than a comparable Marlin at the shop where I bought. The Puma also was a lot lighter than the Marlin and pointed better for me.l

[SHOOTALL]

DO YA KNOW IF THE PUMA COMES IN 44MAG.

[teddy12b]

According to the website it does.

[SHOOTALL]

thanks !
as a side note i have a taurus thunderbolt , and it is a super gun , it is 45 colt and very accurate out to 100 yds.
point being alot of old style guns are being made , and in some cases are better than the orig. Sounds like the puma might be one !

[teddy12b]

Those Tauruss rifles do look great.  I just wish they came in 44 mag.  I'm trying to stick to 44mag because that's what I already reload for, and it'd be nice to have a revolver/rifle setup that took the same ammo.

[SHOOTALL]

44mag. is a great cart. if i could only have one it would be 44mag.
but then the 45 colt is nice also ! glad i don't have to choose !

[Blackhawk44]

Your 'puma' is brought into the US by three distributors with slightly different 'trim'.  Check Legacy Sports 'Puma', the EMF 'Hartford' and Navy Arms.  All three offer the .44 mag.  I understand that the '92's being brought in by Cimarron and another importer are made by Armi Sport in Italy and have no reports of their durability, strength or parts interchangeability.