I have one, and your description is normal for this rifle. The lever rattles. The rifle will not fire unless you depress the safety button with the lever, which happens automatically when you take a normal grip on the rifle.
This is a short range rifle. The big front sight covers a lot of deer at 100 yards, but it is very fast to use. I am not a fan of scoping the top eject 94, but if I did it would be sighted to be on target at no more than 100 yards.
I use mine during heavy snows, where shots are short - and scopes are mostly useless. Mine has taken a few deer, but probably never been fired at one at more than 75 - 80 yards.