
How To Pull in Modern Lever Gun Owners
The platform lends itself to some specialized accessories that dealers would be smart to carry.
By David Maccar
These days, most people looking to buy a lever gun fall into one of two categories. Some simply want a cowboy gun. These are the same folks who will likely buy a single-action Ruger or a Uberti replica gun at some point, probably in .45 LC. They’re going to want steel and wood certainly—and possibly brass, depending on how much of a throwback look they want. If they add anything, it might be a peep sight to replace a factory buckhorn rear sight.
The other customer wants a lever-action firearm because they don’t have one or they’re just bored with what’s in their gun safe and want something different. But, having been raised on modern sporting rifles and Glock semi-auto pistols, they have a natural compulsion to want to mod it out—to add features, customizations, and accessories.
There is a tremendous opportunity for upsell with these folks, and you’re going to make them happier for it, because, in the end, you’re giving them what they want.
The aftermarket for lever guns isn’t huge; after all, there aren’t really that many companies currently making these guns in the first place. Outside of replica guns from overseas, it’s a choice between the fairly small, rebooted, but ever-growing catalog of new Marlin rifles being made under the Ruger umbrella, Henry Repeating Arms, Winchester, and now, Smith & Wesson with its new Model 1854 rifle line. And, of course, there are always vintage Marlins and Winchesters on the used market.
But there is just enough of an aftermarket to make customizing a lever gun at home a lot of fun while greatly adding to the gun’s capability and versatility, mostly by creating a platform that will accept a lot of AR accessories.
Get to Know Chisel Machining
For my money Chisel Machining (chiselmachining.com) is the company making modern stocks and handguards for lever guns. The small but productive outfit CNC machines its buttstocks and forends from a solid billet of high-grade aluminum at its home base in California. This makes sense, as restricted states make it hard to have too much fun building an AR, forcing people to look for alternatives.
Chisel has stock models for Henry and Marlin rifles (straight and pistol grips), and it recently released a pistol-grip stock for the Remington 870 shotgun that incorporates a low mount for RMR and SRO red dots.
For several years, the Henry Model X series was really the only factory “modern” lever gun line out there, until it was recently joined by Marlin's resurrected Dark Series. Whereas the Model X comes with a fairly simple polymer stock, a handguard with a couple of M-LOK slots toward the front, a receiver tapped for a top rail (much like the old, discontinued Dark Series rifles), and a threaded barrel, the new Marlins sport fully updated furniture and a generous optics rail from the factory. The stock is nearly skeletonized for less bulk and has an adjustable comb, the handguard has M-LOK slots that run end-to-end, and the barrel is threaded and comes with a simple radial muzzle brake.
In short, it's a lever gun with accessories that look a lot like what Chisel Machining has been producing since they opened shop. It's also evidence that this is where the market is trending and that this—a modernized lever gun—is what an important segment of lever gun owners and buyers want.
Cool enough, but if you show a customer a Model X with Chisel’s stock and squared-off handguard installed, they will have to start talking themselves out of wanting that instead, and they’re probably going to lose. Even if they can’t afford the upgrades when they buy the gun, chances are they’ll want them later, which is a great incentive to carry Chisel’s products on your web page.
And these are products you’ll also want in your brick-and-mortar location, whether they’re installed on a gun or not, because it’s one thing to hear or read that a stock is carved out of solid aluminum, but it’s another to feel it. The quality of the finish and fit is exceptional on Chisel’s stocks—every screw hole is tapped perfectly, and you’re not going to find a burr or nasty edge anywhere. It feels solid and strong because it is. Any wood stock can break. I can’t imagine what you’d have to put a gun through to break a Chisel stock.
I recently installed Chisel’s buttstock and handguard on a Henry All-Weather in .45-70, and I can’t go back. Doing the work at home was a breeze; the most annoying part was tapping out the dovetailed mag tube guide ring to swap out the handguard.

Chisel’s six-round Quiver with adjustable tension attaches to the stock to help ensure a shooter without fail has extra rounds—in this case, Hornady LeverEvolution cartridges— always within easy reach.
Solving the Cheek Weld Problem
Now is a good time to mention the skeletonized stock’s coolest feature—a separate cheekpiece that is fully adjustable for height and cant. One of the biggest problems with modernizing a factory lever gun is getting a good cheek weld with an optic. The factory stocks are shaped to be used with the simple iron sights that come with the gun—even the X Models. But, of course, modernizing a lever gun means adding a rail and an optic.
Even with the lowest-mounting red dots, you’re not going to get a good cheek weld. That also means you can forget about a traditional riflescope, LPVO, or a scout scope. But that problem goes away with the Chisel cheekpiece, which comes with a sweet stick-on recoil pad from Kick-Eez.
Load It Up
Accessories are where the money is, and there is some cool stuff out there. I set my rifle up with Chisel’s six-round Quiver with adjustable tension attached to the stock to have extra ammo on board and because it looks incredibly awesome, especially with some Hornady LeverEvolution cartridges in there. Chisel also makes a two-round Quiver that holds rounds horizontally and is meant for one of the many M-LOK slots lining the forend.
The stock also has QD attachment points for a sling, and another can easily be added to a slot on the forend. The recoil pad is significant and just the right hardness. The overall ergonomics let my gun shoulder nice and clean with a perfect sight picture every time.
I pulled an old, but totally solid Bushnell LPVO from the drawer and installed it after futzing around with the idea of a Vortex scout scope (which, by the way, is a fine product, but it just wasn’t working).
Eventually, I want to put a more modern 1-10X LPVO on this gun with an illuminated reticle. That would give me the best attributes of a scout scope and a red dot with the optional magnification that will be more than enough for a .45-70’s max effective range.
The only other accessory I added was a Magpul M-LOK MVG Vertical Grip, because I’d seen other people running one on a lever gun. It made sense in my head, so I had to try it. The grip makes running a lever gun off-hand far easier, especially with the long throw on guns chambered for longer cartridges like the .30-30 and .45-70. The vertical grip also let me form a more solid mount on sticks or an obstacle by giving you something to push forward against and jam that stock into your shoulder.
When shooting off-hand, I like to grab the vertical grip with a kind-of AR magwell grip with my thumb on top of the edge of the handguard. This allows my support hand to counteract the movement of the lever when working the action and lets me keep the rifle tight to the shoulder. The result: The reticle stays on target when cycling.
There are, of course, many other options and a simple handstop might be more appealing to some, but again, it’s one more thing to throw in their bag as you’re ringing up accessories. And with all that M-LOK real estate to fill, don’t forget lights.
Here Comes Magpul
When there’s a really good idea in the gun space, it’s only a matter of time before Magpul (magpul.com) picks up on it. Earlier this year the firearm accessory and gear company released its ELG M-LOK stock for Marlin lever guns only (so far) that is fairly similar in form and function to Chisel’s offerings. As you may expect, it’s a full polymer affair with an adjustable length-of-pull (1.5 inches of adjustment) and comb height (two .25-inch shims are included) so it can fit various shooters using various optics.
The stock also stores extra ammo or accessories and has the ability to attach various M-LOK accessories and slings. The storage area has a quiver that fits six .45-70 Gov’t. or .30-30 Win. cartridges; its basically the same storage compartment you’ll find in the Magpul Backpacker stock for the Ruger 10/22 and PC Carbine.
The stock pairs with the company’s new Enhanced Lever Gun (ELG) M-LOK Hand Guard designed to fit Marlin 1895-pattern rifles. It’s 12 inches long with an integrated handstop and attaches to the firearm using a mechanism that requires the user to only remove the old handguard, nothing more. It has six M-LOK slots at the 3, 6, and 9 o’clock positions for mounting whatever accessories the user wants.
The long and short of it is that getting a customer on board with quality aftermarket products like those offered by Chisel Machining and others lets you treat a lever gun sale like an AR build. So, start lining up those accessories on the counter.

A Magpul M-LOK MVG Vertical Grip makes running a lever gun off-hand far easier, especially with the long throw on guns chambered for longer cartridges like the .30-30 and .45-70.