If you have to work the lever forcefully to keep a Win 94 from jamming, there is something wrong with the gun!
I've had about a dozen or more of them over the last 30 years and never ever had one that jammed no matter what I did with it. All mine were in 30-30 or 32 spl, but the action should work no matter how fast or slow it's cycled. I cycle mine slow all the time to clear the chamber or drop a single small game load in.
I have had Marlins jam so tightly the gun had to be taken apart with tools to clear it, and nothing was aparently wrong.
Ok, here we go again.
Most of the Winchesters (those made before the 1950's weren't D&T'ed)take a receiver sight as easily as any other gun (read marlin), and the angle eject guns are as easy to scope. I don't know why it would be hard to scope an angle eject gun. They are "made to scope". Some of the aftermarket receiver sights mount on the top rear scope base holes, but I prefer the side mounted receiver sights for any of them.
I've never had any crud get in a Winchester action because it has an "open top" (which is closed when the action is closed), and have'nt heard of anyone having trouble with crud getting in any other "open top" or "top eject" gun like almost all bolt actions, the M1 garand, M1-A, Mini-14, Savage 99, or any other gun that opens on the top when the action is opened. Most of the "open top" bolt actions aren't hard to scope either.
BTW, Marlin didn't design the side eject for scope use. It was a side eject long before scopes were common. I believe it was more of a marketing manuoever than anything (the early Marlins were top eject). Their marketing strategy to critisize the "open top" or "top eject" Winchesters for some reason still has people talking about it, but I've never actually heard of it being a real, true life problem for anyone. For that matter, with the action closed, the Marlin 1895's I 've owned and seen, have more gap along the bolt for crud to get into than the Winchester action.
This is my experience after fooling around with both Marlins and Winchesters for about 30 years.
Sorry to get worked up, but I'm a bit baffled to see misconceptions on the differences between the different makes.
Someone mentioned the Marline side eject being for safety. I agree this was an issue with the early model Winchesters, and can see the merit in this compared to the 1866, 1873, and 1876 model Winchesters, but the later guns, those designed by John Browning, don't seem likely to have gas problems if a primer or case had problems. They vent upwards, but have gas vents that angle upwards.
I really didn't intend to make it an "either or" type discussion, but in discussing the different makes or models, lets keep the discussion accurate as to comparing different types or makes.
I agree that the 92 win type action seems more appropriate for pistol sized rounds than the 94 wion action, but there seems to be a lot of people that like their 94's in pistol sized rounds. I like the Marlin 94 action for pistol size rounds beter than the 94 Win for that purpose. The bottom line, try several if you can before making a decision. Or better yet, buy several and enjoy them all.
