1894 Maintenance

How close do you live to the ocean? I have never found a more corrosive environment than near sea water, anything metal or plastic just deteriorates.



You know, a boat is a hole in the water which you fill with money



Depending on your proximity to humidity and salt air, you are going to have to spend more maintenance effort on your lever action than if you lived in Phoenix Arizona. I really hate taking the stock off the tang, and removing the lifter, gate spring, but if you get enough carbon material inside the action, you will likely have to dissemble the mechanism and wipe the crud out, or it will cause rust. Normally I have left the magazine tube and spring alone, but you may think about taking out the spring, pushing a patch down the tube, and then pushing an oily patch down the tube and all over the spring.

In coastal Florida , keeping a rust preventative oil on the surface of a blued metal part is critical if you don't want that beautiful blue to turn brown. The interior of Florida is not exactly dry either, and it is hard on metals. I found the rust preventative materials in Marine Boating Stores to be the best for keeping rust away.

If it is micro groove....and I would bet it is.....keep it clean......we had a post here several months ago with a poster having issues with a 22.....I think it was a 22 mag but not sure....that had it flinging bullets all over the place....after what seemed like a cleaning that would make Alice (lets see how old you are) cry he finally got it shooting great again.

BlueHeelerFl said:

It's a newer model with normal lands and grooves.

I don't have that many rounds thought it yet, buts haven't given it a good cleaning since I bought it.

I'm about 15 min from the beach, so that's close enough..

To take the spring out do you need to remove the end cap of the mag tube?

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Yeeeup. Be careful the end cap doesn't "launch" ---although it's big enough it won't disappear in carpeting. You don't want it diving into an air vent.

There are at least 3 remaining 1894 or 1895 magazine end caps in my old shop which were never again accounted for. Each a small loss against my profit on the action work. I think there’s only one in my current shop, although my volume has been much, much lower, so I expect it’s actually a higher percentage.

Those guns are some of the more simplistic to do a detail strip on but I wouldn’t worry about going any further than bolt removal for a good long time and many rounds fired.

The bolt wouldn’t even need to be removed if it was not recommended to clean the barrel from the breech end. You better believe there are many thousands out there who never take the bolt out and clean from the muzzle end year after year with many hogs and deer still taken.

Here is a link for Marlin 1894 disassembly and assembly.
http://marauder.homestead.com/files/marlin94.html

At the end of these instructions he states to give them a complete cleaning after a couple of hundred rounds. Depending upon humidity conditions and where you shoot (indoor vs outdoor) I am sure you could push that out if you like. I know some Cowboy Action shooters that will go several hundred rounds before doing any kind of a detailed cleaning. I tend to follow the 200 round rule on pistol caliber rifles and carbines.
I clean my Mag tubes once a year.

I clean the barrel on my 1894s every couple range sessions and before/after hunting season. I'll do a full strip and clean every year or two (depending on its use). My blued 1894 definitely benefits from having the time cleaned. The first time I cleaned it it was full of gunk. I put a good coat of oil in there after each cleaning. I normally don't fully disassemble the action unless it's gritty.

I always enjoy the first full strip of a new gun. Give yourself a few hours and clean up any burrs and grease most all sliding surfaces with a high quality grease. It's amazing how slick and satisfying a lever gun gets after a hundred rounds and a good lube job.

Four years ago, I bought a 1915 mfg. Marlin 1893 in .25-36M.

I can assure you that when I removed the forend, hanger, and magazine tube, it was the first time that they had EVER been off the rifle. Yep, 100yrs! Only needed removing grime from congealed oil and dust.


Don’t over think your maintenance on the ‘94.
Bore-snake it after shooting, remove lever and bolt and give it a good bore cleaning annually.
Do keep it wiped down with a very,very light coat of oil.

Howdy

Wow, I haven't seen that description by Rusty Marlin in years. Around these parts, he lived in New Hampshire, he was considered the Marlin expert, hence his alias. Last time I saw him he was working as a line engineer at Ruger, but that was a long time ago.

Pretty good GooseGestapo, but I've got you beat. I bought this old Marlin Model 1894 back around 1975. Near as I can figure, it was made in 1895. Not a drop of blue left on it, but even with its old pitted bore it still shoots straight and true. I took it to my first Cowboy Match about 20 years ago and shot it until I found an old Winchester 1892.






Chambered for a round I had never heard of at the time. Marlin marked it 44W, but that was their way of calling out 44-40 or 44WCF.






Just for the fun of it, here is a photo of what the bolt looks like when it is shoving a round into the chamber. Yup, no blue and plenty of pits, but after a little bit of TLC by an expert she still works fine.






You don't see too many Marlins in the old Westerns, you mostly see Winchesters. But here is a photo of Robert Ryan in The Naked Spur, starring James Stewart, holding onto a Marlin. You can tell by the ejection port on the side. That was a selling point for the early Marlins, the Models 1881 and 1888 were top eject like a Winchester. But in 1889 they changed over to side eject and have been ever since.

Yes, that is Janet Leigh. she made this movie in 1953, a few years before she made Psycho in 1960.





The nice thing about a Marlin is you can take out the lever screw and the bolt, lever, and locking bolt come out so you can clean the barrel from the breech end. You can't do that with a Winchester, they have to be cleaned from the muzzle if you are going to use a straight rod. To tell you the truth though, I never take my old Marlin apart anymore. Can't remember the last time I had it completely apart. I just clean it from the breech with a bore snake.

Did I mention I only shoot it with Black Powder? It is plenty strong enough for mild Smokeless loads, but I prefer to shoot it with Black Powder.

I agree with GooseGestapo. Don’t over think your maintenance on the ‘94.

I don't go overboard cleaning my old Marlin. After a match I clean the bore and everything I can access inside the mechanism with Murphy's Mix, then follow up with Ballistol.

That's all I do, and have been doing so for what, 44 years?

Regarding the magazine spring, yup, be careful if you remove the magazine tube plug. It WILL go flying, so remove it with the muzzle in a box, to capture it. Oil up the spring a bit and forget about it for the next 40 years or so.

BlueHeelerFl said:

Besides the normally cleaning and oiling of the barrel, chamber and bolt of an Marlin 1894 is their anything else that needs to be done on a normal cleaning?

And does the magazine tube need cleaning or piling as well? I know your not supposed to take it apart but how would you clean or oil it?

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Unless, as has been mentioned, you live where it is quite humid or near a corrosive sea water location, then a simple cleaning as you describe will be adequate for years. Of course, you clean from the chamber end after removing lever and bolt. This is so simple that it would be pointless to do otherwise.
(Open lever, remove lever pivot screw, pull lever out, pull bolt out, lift out ejector. Assemble in reverse order. Just be sure to drop the ejector peg back into it's little peg hole in the receiver. Easy as pie.)

You probably should remove the fore end and magazine at least once if it has not been done before on a newer gun, to inspect the fitting of the fore end and to run a few patches through the tube to clear any debris or chips from manufacturing.

You will find most likely that the wooden fore end at the front has been forced into place behind the steel fore end cap retainer, and is chipped and tight. You will need to wiggle it free without any further damage and clean it up with files and sandpaper, so as to fit back in place without being too tight or too loose. Don't go crazy here. Just very carefully cut and try. Also make sure that the steel cap fits back in place without a struggle to line up the screw holes, yet isn't too loose fitting which would allow a loose fore end.

The magazine tube end cap will probably be screwed in tightly and it is easily damaged if you fight with it without taking precautions. After removing the fore end, clamp the barrel and tube lightly in well-padded vise jaws and support the butt stock end of the rifle, with the screw facing upward. Use a properly fitted screwdriver with parallel tip sides and press it down firmly into the slot with both hands and then try to remove it. Don't go crazy if it won't release or you may damage the screw and the tube. Usually it will release though and there is no need to secure it as tightly after that. If it won't let go try tapping on the screwdriver with a plastic mallet to loosen the screw threads.

Nice photos you presented Driftwood Johnson.

You're right that Hollywood showed us a lot of Winchesters. But I recall an episode of HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL in which Paladin is shown with a 1894 Marlin. The right side of its stock sported the Knights Head like his pistol holster! I guess he appreciated the side eject feature too.

Tommygunn said:

Nice photos you presented Driftwood Johnson.

You're right that Hollywood showed us a lot of Winchesters. But I recall an episode of HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL in which Paladin is shown with a 1894 Marlin. The right side of its stock sported the Knights Head like his pistol holster! I guess he appreciated the side eject feature too.

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Never saw that. Interesting. Had the belt and holster set and business cards as a kid. Everyone wanted to buy the cards off me.

I shoot mine a lot and clean it often. But I'm shooting lead and an old dirty powder. It's not hard to take them apart.