I also am not a lever fan, so i also have one of those old Ruger semi auto carbines. They are on the "fat side", but it does get the job done. As i remember, it prefers factory ammo over the handloads we tried in it back when i bought it.
Back in the late 60's i shot a huge buck with mine. It took my brother and i forever to drag it out of a swamp it was in, and back to camp!! Probably the heaviest deer i ever got, but them days no one bothered to weight a deer.
I haven't used it in quite a few years, but one of these days i'm going to take it out and limber it up!! :>
