When it comes to tactical shooting, everybody and their brother seem wrapped up in a sordid love affair with the AR-15. Their lightweight, ergonomic, user-friendly design, not to mention their suave good looks, has made them America’s firearms sweetheart. Unfortunately, despite their popularity, AR-15s get thrown more than their fair share of shade.
Plenty of politicians and gun-snubbing critics have unfairly slapped the discriminatory “assault rifle” label on the AR-15. As a result, some states aren’t as AR-friendly as others. I’m looking at you, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York.
With its ill-gotten reputation and the current political climate, it is difficult to tell what the future holds for the modern sporting rifle, which has left a good number of shooters looking for suitable alternatives.
Meanwhile, with its old-school look and historic design, the classic cowboy lever action stirs up little more than nostalgic images of old TV westerns. In their zeal to ban scarier-looking firearms, most anti-gun activists completely overlook the traditional lever action. With a manually cycled action and tube magazine, any lever action can skirt just about any assault weapon restriction in the country, even if it has fin grips, flash hiders, and acres of M-LOK slots.
Sure, the lever action has been around long enough to be well past retirement age. However, even though the basic design hasn’t changed much over the past 150 years, this traditional rifle design is far from obsolete.
Lever action rifles aren’t just for guitar-strumming or range-riding cowpokes, either. With a few modern updates and accessories, you can turn an Old West rifle into what is colloquially known as “the cowboy assault rifle.” Unlike an AR-15, this one will get you around pretty much any draconian law in freedom-restricted territory.
What Makes Lever Action Tactical?
There is no doubt that the ubiquitous word “tactical” is regularly overused in gun circles. While the original definition is “of or relating to tactics, especially military tactics, the term is often slapped on products as an excuse to jack up the price of something that would otherwise be pretty mundane.
When you boil it down to slow gravy, something becomes tactical by virtue of its use. Use a spork to fight off heavily armed bad guys, and suddenly, you have “tactical” tableware on your hands.
For this lever gun discussion, we’re using the word tactical to describe accessories and design features that help the rifle function in critical, often fast-paced, injury-threatening situations or environments. These features include weight-reducing construction and designs that enhance maneuverability, target acquisition, and rapid follow-ups. Accessories that accommodate modern optics, suppressors, and muzzle brakes are also a boon.
Do many of these features also look dope AF?
Yes. Yes, they do.
Best Tactical Lever Action Rifles
Marlin Model 1895 Dark Series
The Marlin Dark Series was my first glimpse into tactified cowboy guns. The original Dark Series was only around for a short time before “Big Green” went bankrupt, and Remington halted production of the entire Marlin line-up. Fortunately for lever-action lovers, Ruger picked up the brand and has returned Marlin to their pre-Remington glory.
In October 2023, Ruger announced the return of the Dark Series with a lever-action Model 1895 chambered in 45-70 Govt.
“The Marlin Dark Series is the next step for Marlin,” said Ruger President and CEO Chris Killoy. “There is a growing demand for more modern lever rifles, and the previous Dark Series rifles introduced Marlin into this space. We took a hard look at them and made several significant improvements.”
Originally, the Dark Series came with a 16.25-inch threaded barrel, XS lever rail with ghost ring sight, and painted black wood furniture. Ruger took things one step cooler. This time, you get a tricked-out tactical lever gun with an anodized aluminum M-LOK forend and a nylon-reinforced skeletonized polymer stock with M-LOK attachment slots and an adjustable cheek riser.
| Brownells | $1,100 |  |
| Sportsman’s Warehouse | $1,300 | |
| Guns.com | $2,020 | |
The new Dark Series also comes with a durable nitride-finished bolt and lever, a hammer-forged barrel with a removable radial muzzle break, a receiver-mounted Picatinny rail, QD attachment capability, an adjustable ghost ring rear sight, and a fiber optic and tritium front sight.
Marlin Model 336 Dark Series
In April, Ruger-owned Marlin reintroduced the Dark Series Model 336. Chambered in .30-30 Winchester, the 336 Dark is sure to be a serious hit amongst tactical cowboy gun aficionados.
Like the 1895 Dark, the 336 version features a nylon-reinforced polymer stock with an adjustable cheek riser and an aluminum handguard with M-LOK, QD attachment capability, removable muzzle brake, Picatinny rail, and a suppressor-ready threaded barrel.
| BassPro Shops | $1,300 | |
| Guns.com | $1,300 | |
| Palmetto State Armory | $1,200 | |
Henry Big Boy X Model
Compared to some other companies, Henry took a more conservative approach to adding tactical features to old cowboy guns. They managed to preserve the lever gun’s Wild West profile while successfully including features that truly bring the antique design into the modern age.
Henry’s Big Boy X Model features durable, dark synthetic furniture that manages to stay true to the traditional John Wayne-esque look and feel. However, there is a section of Picatinny rail below the forend and M-LOK slots at the 3 and 6 o’clock positions just above the rail for mounting cool tactical accessories if that’s what your heart desires.
X Model carbines also have high-visibility fiber optic sights, a threaded barrel, and a side-loading gate for super-fast reloads. Henry also chose to send their X Models off the assembly line drilled and tapped to accept Weaver or Picatinny compatible scope mounts. While this feature allows the shooter to top their lever gun with a modern optic, it’s hard to tell why they went this route instead of just adding an optics rail. We are living in the 21st century, after all.
| Scheels | $950 | |
| Sportsman’s Warehouse | $960 | |
| Cabela’s | $970 | |
The Big Boy X Model series is available in .45 Colt, .357/.38 Spl, .44 Mag/.44 Spl. Henry also offers X Models in .30-30 Winchester, .360 Buckhammer, .45-70 Govt., and as a .410 bore shotgun.
Rossi R-95 Triple Black
While Rossi’s lever guns generally lose the lever-action spotlight to Marlin and Henry, they deserve far more attention than they typically get. The company’s R-95 Triple Black .30-30 is definitely a head-turner, striking an outstanding balance between old-school cowboy and modern tactical.
It features a 16-inch threaded barrel, a blacked-out wood stock, and comes optics-ready. Personally, I love the oversized, paracord-wrapped lever loop, which facilitates fast cycling, even when you’re wearing gloves.
| BassPro | $1,099 | |
| Guns.com | $962 | |
| Bud’s Gunshop | $930 (CASH) | |
This one will feel familiar to Marlin aficionados. It is indeed styled after the venerable Marlin 336 and has a Marlin-esque cross bolt safety. The R-95 is also compatible with most Marlin 336 aftermarket upgrades, which means you can Barbie doll this one up to your heart’s content.
Rossi Rio Bravo Tactical
If you’re looking for a rifle everyone in the family can wield, Roosi’s Rio Bravo Tactical lever action certainly fits the bill. While this one might be chambered in mild-mannered .22 LR, it is packed with tactical features that elevate it from a fun backyard plinker to an honest-to-goodness survival rifle.
The Rio Bravo Tactical comes with an ergonomic black polymer stock, sling attachments, a threaded barrel, a medium loop lever, and an aluminum Picatinny rail for easy mounting of a modern red dot optic or a scope. The fore-end is also outfitted with six M-LOK slots so that you can attach even more accessories.
| Classic Firearms | $315 | |
| Impact Guns | $306 | |
It has fiber-optic, three-dot sights, green in the rear and red upfront. While the sights are pretty basic, they are visible in all but super shitty light conditions and are designed to catch the eye easily for fast, intuitive sight alignment.
POF-USA Tombstone
POF-USA, a company known for its extensive line-up of AR-15-style rifles, shook up the lever gun world in 2023 with its Tombstone lever-action pistol-caliber carbine. While this rifle has all the inner workings of a Wild West cowboy gun, the traditional lines and profile have completely gone modern.
The Tombstone eats from a standard 20-round magazine loaded 9mm Luger. It also features a free-floated steel barrel surrounded by an AR-style modular receiver rail completely decked out in M-LOK slots.
| Guns.com | $1,690 | |
| Sportsman’s Warehouse | $2,060 | |
Other notable features include a dual-port muzzle brake, XS ghost ring sights, and a Picatinny optics rail. Meanwhile, the back end of this tactical dream features Magpul’s SGA shotgun stock.
Tacti-fying Lever Actions
While a pimped AR is très chic, a Barbie-dolled lever action just hits different. Besides, accessorizing the hell out of a cowboy gun isn’t just hella fun. It also creates one unique and highly awesome piece of tactical art.
If you don’t want to invest in a ready-made tactical lever action, there are plenty of ways to modernize Grandpa’s old lever gun.
Mad Pig Customs can take beat-up old stained wood and blued-steel Joh Wayne guns and, through some wild and secret hoedown magic, transform them into super-cool, ultra-modern tricked-out rifles with some serious dystopian vibes.
Remember Mr. Nobody’s freakin’ sweet Marlin Model 1894 takedown lever gun from John Wick: Chapter 4? Yeah, that was Mad Pig Customs. These guys know how to pimp out a lever gun.
While the company will pimp out Grandpa’s deer rifle with a muzzle brake, a skeletonized stock, an M-LOK handguard, a sick knuckle duster loop, and a hand stop, the real beauty lies in what they do to the gun’s internal works.
Mad Pig gunsmiths will also have their way with the gun’s action, cleaning and deburring the inside of the receiver and the trigger plate. They also chamfer the magazine tube, polish the chamber, tune the bolt assembly, and work all kinds of magic on the gun’s interior mechanics. The result is a badass tactical gun that also runs smoother than butter.
Yes, Mad Pig’s mod packages are pricy, but in the world of firearms, you get what you pay for. However, If you want to play dress-up yourself, there are plenty of options out there to build your own cattle-rustlin’ tactical dream gun. You can piece together your accessories with stocks from Chisel Machining, rails and M-LOK handguards from Midwest Industries, and lever loops from Beartooth Mercantile.
And once you have an M-LOK handguard in place, it is super easy to add as many red dots, weapon lights, hand stops, and bipods as the real estate allows.
Final Thoughts
Tactical beauty is certainly in the eye of the beholder. There are a butt ton of traditionalist Fudds out there who firmly believe any lever gun that isn’t blued or color case hardened with a walnut stock is an abomination against all things holy.
There are just as many who will never consider anything other than a modern AR.
While some people think a fancified Cerakoted lever gun with battle-ready trimmings is the absolute best thing since sliced bread, others believe it is downright ridiculous.
Of course, those people are allowed to be wrong.
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