Marlin 1894 Club

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So I just went out and shot a box of ammo with my new gun. What a fun rifle! For me, it shot minute of pop can at a good 40-45 yards with the WWB .38 Special ammo. I'm certain it's capable of much more with a more skilled user, but it did the trick just fine for me. Then, just for the fun of it since we were in some very pretty country, my wife and I went for a short hike. I just slung the carbine over my shoulder, set off, and I forgot that it was even there. Moral of the story: this gun is nothing short of awesome. Best Christmas present ever. Now I need to get one in .44 Magnum and the 1895 in .45-70, a 336, a Model 39, and on and on, ad infinitum.

Now, to more pressing matters. Folks, I need a peep sight for this rifle. The stock irons do what they do just fine, even if they are a little slow and kind of hard to see; but I need to get a peep sight to really see with this rifle is capable of. In light of this, I have a couple of (possibly dumb) questions. First, do you completely remove the stock rear sight, and if so how? Second, I really like the look of the XS Ghost Ring sights. Anyone want to vouch for them? Third, is this pretty easy to do?

Thanks a bunch, gang.

John
 
1894ss

Got mine late in summer to hunt deer. Put a 1.75 to 4x with 32mm objective on it and changed out factory sights for fiber optic in case scope breaks when hunting somewhere other than Cabelas. Since I shoot Ruger .44 Super Blackhawk, tried what I had in it - mainly 270 up to 320 grain hardcasts. Not too good. The dealer who sold to me suggested 240 grain, so I tried basic Winchester softpoints. After I corrected a scope mounting problem, consistently shoot < 1.5" groups at 100 yds. I love it! Wonder if anyone has had better luck with heavier bullets - slow twist said to be a problem. I did try light stuff too, worse than 240 grain. Thinking I'll try again later since scope mount problem may have skewed results with heavier (and lighter) bullets.
 
Bought a 1894 in 25-20 made in 1904 at a yard sale last summer. The barrels in these older 1894's were manufactured with a softer steel than modern and this bore is worn from shooting jacketed bullets, has exterior pitting but works great and is fun to shoot. The fella I bought it from got it used in 1947 the year he got married. Met him and the wife, listened to a story or two of him with this old gun in a scabbard on his saddle, of the bear he killed with it. Took a couple of pictures of him with the rifle etc. Makes it all the more enjoyable to own for me.
 
i have an 1894 Marlin in .44mag that is an awsome gun. my other lever gun is an 1892 Stainless Steel Rossi in .357mag. equally awsome.
gotta love those pistol caliber carbines!
 
I bought my 1894 in .44Mag from a co-worker/friend for $200 back in October. It ended up being my very early Christmas present from the better half. Reason being is that I just bought 3 other rifles in that time frame and negotiated a "deal". Fine by me...:D

It's blued, microgrooved, walnut stock, pre-crossbolt safety. Not a scratch on it. I think it's a steal.

I'm looking for peep sights and would like to not do any drilling. I'm torn between Lyman's, skinners, or Marble....
 
cornman, thanks for the link! That is a nice looking rifle, although the stock would be too short for me. I've never noticed much difference between a pistol grip stock and a straight stock, but most of my shooting has been with handguns so I don't have a lot of experience with either. Why do folks like the pistol grip so much better?
 
I prefer a straight grip. I find it much easier to fit a gloved hand in the square lever rather than the curved lever of the pistol grip.
 
I haven't seen a used one go for less than $350 lately.
I have a Marlin 1894 44Mag that I bought old, bumped around, and metal duracoated. A good shooter, a straight stock. Its been my truck gun for years. Previous owner slicked up the action, smooth as glass. I thought it was worth the $200. Mine shoots the the Win Partition Gold 250gr pretty well, so that's the round I use. My other Marlins are in 444Marlin and 375WIN. Great hunting rifles. Shaner, you STOLE that 44! Heehee
 
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I just found this thread, while searching for something else. I picked up an 1894C used a couple years ago for just over $250. It was manufactured in 1980, but looked like it had barely been shot. My son and I have had great fun shooting it!

I have a hankering for a 336, but even if I don't get one, I will be satisfied with the 1894C.
 
update...weird part breakage happened today...

I am somewhere between 750 to 1000 rounds thru my Marlin 1894C and I am going thru a box of 50 rounds (158 gr factory stuff) and I notice that the foreend is loosening up and moving forward on the barrel under recoil...I'm thinking WTH is going on here?!? this gun has very little recoil so why is the foreend moving...took a closer look :uhoh:

the retention band that goes around and the foreend has a screw that keeps it attached to the foreend...the longer part that doesn't have threads is broken off :what:

after returning home I go to loosen the screw and the head of the screw sheers off and now I have no way to remove the retention band or the foreend :banghead: I tried to use a really small drill bit to start gutting a new groove into what's left of the screw head...no luck...must be a wood bit :cuss:

so now a cheap $3 part that fails will cost me outrageous gunsmith charges :mad: there's also an area on the mag tube that got gouged right thru the bluing, so now I gotta watch rust development until I can get the damned rifle to a shop; what a weird part to break...definitely gonna get extras ordered when the smith gets a replacement part
 
I bought an 1894 Cowboy .357 a while back. There must be some relationship between how much fun I have with the 1894CB and not taking time out of the fun to make photos of it.
 
I have three Marlin 94s. A 357, a 44mag and a 32 mag. The 357 is my favorite.

A light load for my 32 is a 76gr lead bullet with 2.8 grs Bullseye. Its almost silent and gets around 1000 fps.

My hunting buddy has used his 44 for deer for the last 5 years. Thats a deer stomping round. Nothing goes very far after being hit.
 
I haven't read every single post here but some have mentioned rough feeding with SWC bullets. I had the same problem and this is how i fixed it.

For the sharp edge on back of the chamber i used a round grinding stone that is glued to a 1/4" shaft from the local Army&Navy store. I had an arrow shaft made for fishing that was split down the side. It will open up enough to slip the grinding stone shaft into and holds it very tightly. I cut this off at about 9" and now have an extended grinding tool.

Remove the bolt and slide the grinding stone in the breech area with the stone chucked up in a drill. Slowly spin the grinder to put a radius on the back of the barrel. You only need a little. My guns feed so smooth now you can't tell if your cycling an empty or loaded gun.

My 357 would scratch cases when i first got it. I used a slotted shaft with some very fine emory cloth and did a quick polish. Problem solved.

For those that have a gun that jams take your gun apart and clean it. Any grit or burrs will let the lifter stay up after cycling and this jams the gun.

I have a 30-30 that i cut a new slot in the scope base for and i let some of the aluminum fillings get in the action. When i got to my deer stand i loaded the gun and worked the lever. The gun jammed so bad i had to pack up and go home. To unjam the gun i had to remove the magazine plug and dump the ammo. I disassembled the gun and cleaned. No more problems since.
 
'94 .44 SS FN Feeding

Ratshooter, have you had feeding problems with hardcast flat nose bullets in your .44? I have been mainly shooting 240 gr. Win. SP's and they feed fine. However, I'm thinking the flat nose would be more effective on deer. The few I've tried seemed OK but were probably too heavy (310 to 320 grain) to shoot well. I have been thinking of trying FN in the 270 gr. range and see how they do.
 
No Llano, i did the same trick to my 44 with the grinding stone. It feeds as slick as my 357.

My 32 did not need any fitting. only the 357 and the 44.
 
Ratshooter: RE: Smoothing up '94s

"Slowly spin the grinder to put a radius on the back of the barrel.":confused:

I'm guessing you are referring to the inside edge of the back of the bbl.? Did you go all the way around? About how big was the stone (diameter)?

Thanks,
Llano
 
Llano the grinding stone was 5/8" in diamter. I spun it against a grinding wheel on a grinder to dress the sides down to .550 diameter so it would fit in the breech.

This is a trick we used to do in my dads machine shop to remove grooves from grinding wheels. One stone will dress another. Both were turning.

The round stone puts a radius on the back of the barrel all the way around. You don't need much. Only enough to break the sharp square edge on the barrel.
 
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