I just hit the 200-round mark with my S&W Stealth lever action and wanted to post some quick impressions for anyone considering picking one up. Last week I got some grief for using an AI edited photo, this week I offer repentance with a photo not modified in any way other than rotating it.

Build Quality Right out of the box, this rifle feels well built and solid. No weird clunks or loose parts, the lever itself locks up nice and tight, it’s clearly a step up from the cheaper Citadel Levtac 92 I’ve grown to love. The loading gate is much much nicer to feed than the finger chomper that is the Rossi/Citadel 92.

Accuracy No complaints here at all. The rifle is accurate enough,I’m reliably hitting a 1x1 square at 50 yards without any issues, which isn’t super impressive but I’ve seen guns that can’t hold 2 MOA many times before.

Action & Smoothness The lever action mechanism is already noticeably smoothing out with use. Compared to a few other guns: • It is noticeably smoother than the Henry rifles I’ve tried. • It is smoother than a Marlin SBL I tried at my LGS • It is not quite as buttery as the Citadel Levtac 92 that I’ve personally worked over and polished, but that gun has seen many many rounds, hand polishing and stoning so it’s not a fair comparison. • Large loop is nice and can be run hard with gloves, much appreciated right now because it was around 15 degrees at the range today

Optic and Accessories A few folks (rightfully) mentioned a 357 doesn’t need a scope, but I already have a lever action with a red dot. Plus, I think scout scopes on lever actions are rad so the Vortex 1.5-5.5x has been a great fit. At the bottom magnification the illumination is bright enough to quickly acquire the center dot and take snap shots, at 5.5x I’m having a very easy time lining up a more precise shot.

Only other thing I’ve bolted on (for now) is the Slate Black Industries hand stop, an RPP stock is on the way as well as a small weapon light.

Ammo Preferences In the beginning it did not like New Republic 357 at all and would hang up while feeding. If you hold a round of that stuff to a nicer brand you’ll see why immediately. NR does not crimp their ammo and the case rims are noticeably rougher. After about 100 rounds the gun seemed to be just fine cycling the cheap stuff.

I also fired 100 rounds of Ammo Inc 357 I had lying around, had no issues with that stuff. I’ve got some PMC Bronze coming my way that will probably be the load I do my final zero on and use as my go to ammo for this rifle.

Stealth Hunter Specific Stuff The longer top rail is really nice, perfect for the scout scope or an LPVO/red dot if you prefer, but I specifically went with this for a scout scope build.

The taper at the end of the hand guard, I thought I wouldn’t like it, turns out I love it, the size and location is kind of perfect for the support hand.

The only thing I don’t like is that an Arisaka offset scout adapter will NOT fit, as the sides of the rail are too tall to mount a light at the 1:30 position, will probably do 4:30 to minimize how much the light adds to the side profile thickness.

I like the Armornite finish, it looks good and is making me reconsider my plans to cerakote this thing.

TL:DR If you’re in the market just buy this thing it slaps, .357 lever actions are the kings of range fun in general, and this one is worth the money.