shorten the barrel of a lever gun - bad idea?

[roscoe]

I have had my eye on a .44 lever gun and have been thinking that the stainless Marlin is looking pretty good. However, I want a really compact rifle, which means I have to go for the short Winchester (and lose the stainless steel) or trim the barrel on a Marlin 1894SS. My question is: is this practical? Will it make the tube magazine less reliable, since I would have to trim that as well? Is it cost prohibitive?

I have heard that Marlin used to make a short stainless .44 with porting, but I don't really want the porting (I can't figure out why it helps with a rifle), so I am not looking around for one of those used.

Thanks!

 

[Nightcrawler]

I love 16" levergun carbines. I don't know why Marlin discontinued theirs.

I'd recommend sending it to a company that's experienced in customizing leverguns, like Wild West Guns in Alaska. If done right, there should be no problems involved. You'll reduce your magazine capacity to probably 9+1, though.

 

[Brian Williams]

Check out Davidsons they have a special run of SS 1894 Marlin's coming that include 357, 44, and 45 colt. I think they have 18 or 16 inch barrels. would be a sweet combo gun. A short 16" 1894 is a nice woods gun and the capacity would be 8 + 1.

 

[SamlautRanger]

Just checked. Davidsons (Galleryofguns.com) does have some special limited editions Marlin 1984s in .357, 44 mag, and 45 LC. HAve 16.5 inch barrels, stainless steel, and gray laminated stocks. With true glow fiber optic sights. 7 round magazine capacity (+1 in the chamber). 350 made of each and all are serial numbered ex. 57 of 350. Cost is $659. Pretty nice!

 

[Nightcrawler]

Seven round tube? On a sixteen inch?

That's funny. I've had two 16" Winchester 94s, on in .357 and one in .44. Both held 9+1. Odd.