r/canadaguns • u/prosper_0 • Apr 13 '26
Gun and gear reviews Sunday new-gun day
Took my new Morisson 12" 357 levergun to the range today, very satisfied with this oddball Turk. 12" barrel, 38/357 top-ejecting levergun. It's kinda sorta like a 94 Winchester, but with a somewhat shorter stroke and a beefed up action. Mine surprised me with a checkered stock (none of the pictures online have checkering), which I'm very pleased with. The fit and finish is very good - I have yet to spot any flaws or loose parts, or metal shavings anywhere. Its not blued, sadly, but matte parkerized. Though the finish is very durable, and hasnt scuffed or dinged yet. The action is a bit stiff - you have to cycle it 'with purpose,' but it's already breaking in very well after a few hundred cycles.
I mounted an inexpensive 1.5-6x32 Vortex IR scout scope on it. The blued rings I'd bought were about 1mm too low, so I mounted it in some stainless rings I had on hand. I had to remove the factory rear open sight to clear the scope bell. I like the scope OK, but it doesn't hold a candle to a Burris scout scope. Still, I'm satisfied with the optic at about the $350 price point, I guess. At low power with the reticle lit, it feels a lot like using a red dot. I don't like open sights, and the integrated rail was a major selling point for me.
At the range, I fired a hundred or so mixed 38spl and 357 rounds. It fed everything well, with one or two misfeeds on one of my 38spl loads - mostly due to being a bit too timid on the lever. A more assertive operation fed with no failures. There were no FTFs or other operational issues. I didn't test for accuracy (yet) but had no problems consistently drilling the 6" gong at 100 yards. The gun points and aims very well, and is really easy to use standing or from the bench. The balance and swing is just about perfect. The top eject does have an unfortunate way of throwing brass right back at you, but thats true of any top eject lever gun. I didn't chrony anything, but it threw all loads tested at a fairly close POI, from really light 38spl with 124gr over 3.5gr of Clays, to stouter +p loads with 125 and 158gr bullets, and full house 158gr 357 loads over 16.5gr of h110. The short barrel did mean that all shots were relatively loud, and the 357's especially made for a big blast and an impressive fireball. The delay between the shot and the impact with light 38spl loads was fun. Seemed like a real long wait for the 'ting!' whereas the fireball loads felt almost instant in comparison.
I see a fresh batch of Morissons has arrived, in fun new calibers. Wonder if the 44 version is gonna be available in 12"... I'd DEFINITELY buy another of these guns.
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u/StrangePiper1 Apr 13 '26
Love a scout scope. Full field of vision like irons, but with some magnification. Cool piece.
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u/prosper_0 Apr 13 '26
yeah, the overall balance is certainly different than other guns but not in a bad way. It sure swing and gets you on target quickly.
This particular scope is only so-so. It's a chunky boy: there's a lot of 'scope' in your FOV, whereas the burris scout scope almost disappears from view when you're on it. But the Burris is twice again the price, so, there's that. I also have an old Leupold scout scope on one of my Safari guns, which is also much less chonky than the Vortex. Again, though, it's in another price bracket entirely.
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u/NeruLight Apr 13 '26
Lever guns are so darn fun. That one looks very good for the money! Nice
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u/prosper_0 Apr 13 '26
Yeah, for $800 and change it's half the price of the going rate for more mainstream lever guns. But so far, I'm not seeing any quality issues with it. If anything, the overall build quality seems somewhat better than more mainstream leverguns historically have been
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u/Iokua_CDN Apr 13 '26
I've contemplated a simular gun to this. Chiappa does a full stock 12 inch lever sction in 357 or 44 mag, but it's certainly pricey.
Canuck or rossi or heritage all offer Mares legs, but they don't usually have the rail, and you also have to factor in the price of buying a full stock for it.
My family member has the Mares leg 44 for animal defence out in the bush, and he loves it for that role, even without the full stock, but I would much rather have the full stock
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u/prosper_0 Apr 13 '26
yeah, I never much cared for mares legs.
In any case, I'd put the build quality and overall function of the Morisson at least as good as a Rossi or Chiappa, so (based on my sample size of '1') I can recommend you consider this one. My only real complaint is that I hate the oversize lever loop. Would WAAY rather have a standard loop, which would be faster to operate than the 'hand flop' needed with a large loop.
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u/Iokua_CDN Apr 13 '26
My Citadel has a similar lever, and while I like the look, I feel you. Running it hard this week and it was such a flop. Some woven paracord or leather cord made it feel a bit better, but it's still floppy.
I'll definitely give Morisson a look! This is my first time hearing from someone who ones one! I might have to see if they make a pistol grip model as I kinda like the looks of that over the straight grip
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u/DieselWeasle25 Apr 15 '26
Just hit the order button on the nickel version with a 12". I've been wanting a smaller bush gun and plinker. I have a few Savage 99's that I adore, but the wife hates the kick with 308, hopefully the 357 will be kinder for her to enjoy levers as much as I do. Thanks for the review!
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u/prosper_0 Apr 15 '26
Enjoy, and good luck!
The 357 is child's play recoil-wise. Shouldn't bother her
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u/prosper_0 Apr 18 '26
Took it out again today, a few dozen more rounds fired. This thing is getting pretty slick now. zero misfeeds this time, and accuracy is really quite good. Still loud, but nowhere near as barky as my 4.2" gp100 with the same ammo
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u/DougMacRay617 Apr 13 '26
Why? Just why
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u/prosper_0 Apr 13 '26
are you in the right place? You seem lost
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u/DougMacRay617 Apr 13 '26
I just dont get the scope. ur shooting 357 out of a short barreled gun. I just doubt your able to reach out far enough for the optic to even matter. The same results would be easily achieved faster with a dot.
And its me thats lost? Lmfao
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u/prosper_0 Apr 13 '26 edited Apr 13 '26
That scope is functionally pretty similar to a red dot, at least on low zoom
And you'd be surprised how far out the old 357 can reach, especially if you're only interested in 'minute of gong.' Blasting steel at absurd ranges is hella fun: "BANG! ...wait...wait....wait...have a sip of coffee....DINGGGG!"
Scoped revolvers are fun. This is fun in the same sort of way.
1
u/Iokua_CDN Apr 13 '26
Totally agree. 1.5-6 probably also let's you zoom in a bit and look at the holes in your target a bit easier.
Plus 357 can be easily hitting targets at 100-200m.
And thirdly, I have a cheap 3-9 on My 22lr rifle. Love using the 3x at 100 meters to have a quick sight picture. Love using the 9x to get a nice closer view and shoot smaller targets
Honestly, I have a 16 inch barrel 357, and I've thought multiple times about a scout scope for it. The peep is nice for moderate distances, bug a red dot just doesn't cut it for 100+ meters, so a scout scope would literally be perfect while still being more than capable at close range
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u/HappyCan7250 Apr 13 '26
How do you like it? I had one but it had issues with blowing primers out. It only liked running a couple brands or ammo, the rest would blow holes through the primer or crater badly. It also had some issues with shells occasionally binding up in the mag tube. Whether good or bad, the end of the mag tube is left open too, partially, allowing in dirt, but thankfully allowing you to easily get stuck shells out by compressing the spring with something from the top. I bought one super early, sometime around may or so of last year, near when they first showed up here.
It was actually surprisingly quite accurate. It's more accurate than the R95 in 357 I have now, somehow. The Turks honestly make some good barrels, one of my most accurate rifles is Turkish made (Stevens 334).
It was a pretty fun little gun. Shot big fireballs out of it with the 12" barrel. Super handy little rifle.
The blown primers though were a pain as I had to stick to about 3 brands of ammo only, with slightly harder primers, but it was a fun range toy. Hand reloads were fine too as long as I stuck to buying the known harder primers.
The checkering must be new, mine didn't have it.
I also must say, the finish and wood on these guns is actually really nice, and SFRC does the warranty for them should you ever need it. I filed a claim but never ended up sending it in just because if I stuck to the 3 brands, the gun ran fine most of the time.
How does yours feed 38? I only tried running 100gr in mine and it didn't like them, I learned after that a lot of 357 levers won't feed the lighter 38s but the heavier stuff apparently works better.