Gun Digest 2013 by Lee Jerry

Author:Lee, Jerry [Lee, Jerry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4402-2932-9
Publisher: F+W Media
Published: 2012-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

The Marlin Mode 62 Levermatic and Ruger Hawkeye single-shot handgun were the only firearms produced in .256 Winchester Magnum, a fine small-game cartridge that deserved a better fate.

The short-throw Levermatic is a solid, well-made rifle. C-H still makes forming dies for .256 Winchester Magnum, which is easily fashioned from readily available and inexpensive .357 Magnum brass.

At Marlin, the reverse occurred. Although the Levermatic was formally announced in .22 Jet, only one is known for certain to exist—the one Wallack and Waters tested. The combination was never produced commercially. The Levermatic did go into production in .256 Winchester, however, and between 1963 and 1969, Marlin made about 8,000. In 1966, it added a .30 Carbine version and produced 8,000 more in that caliber before the Levermatic was dropped completely in 1971. Overall, it was not a triumph for Marlin. Nor for Ruger, Remington, Winchester, or Smith & Wesson.

In retrospect, it’s easy to pick holes in both the concept and the execution. Up against high flyers like the .222, the .22 Jet was both a failure as a varmint round and a nagging problem as a revolver cartridge. No rifle was ever chambered for it.

The .256 Winchester had potential as a small-game cartridge along the lines of the .25-20, but such cartridges were heavily out of favor in the velocity-mad ’60s. Who wanted a flat-nosed, 60-grain bullet strolling along at 2800 fps when a .220 Swift delivered 4010 fps with a 48-grain spitzer?

The .256 fared no better in the Ruger Hawkeye. The gun itself was an oddball, and firing a shot was ear-splitting. The Hawkeye was built on the Blackhawk frame and resembled a long-barreled single-action revolver, but, instead of a cylinder, it had a hinged breechblock. Ruger’s limited production run had one notable result: the Hawkeye eventually became the most highly prized collector’s item in the Ruger line.

In retrospect, the two cartridges—and certainly the Levermatic rifle—deserved better.

The Model 62 was the last iteration of an innovative design that began in 1956, with the .22 LR Model 56 Levermatic. The Levermatic principle was based on a patent that originally belonged to the Kessler firearms company and used for that company’s “Lever-Matic” shotgun. After Kessler’s demise, Marlin made a deal with the patent holders to develop a line of small rifles.

The “short-stroke lever” used a cam-and-roller accelerator system that reduced overall lever movement to just 25 degrees (two inches at its farthest point), compared to six inches or more for a conventional lever rifle. According to the catalog, the lever could be operated simply by flexing one’s fingers.

Outwardly, it resembled not the western-style lever-actions for which Marlin was famous, but the more modern Savage 99 or Winchester 88. It was stocked in American walnut, with round, graceful lines and none of the garish features that make many rifles from the 1960s look as dated as Beatle boots.

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