A few years back, I got the itch for a lever gun in .357/38 to complement my pistol portfolio in that caliber. After some searching, I found a new Marlin 1834c locally - at an unnamed big box store, and purchased it. From day one, it was never really a smooth action. Reasonably accurate with tip off mounts and a Burris 2x7X 35 mm scope, it filled a niche in my gun safe -- but it was never one of my favorites. Here's why.
Because (my bad), I didn't really research the Marlin 1894c thoroughly. It has an inherent design flaw in the cartridge carrier mechanism that results in a "dreaded Marlin jam" problem (buyers beware). It shot OK, but wasn't really as butter smooth as my childhood days watching Chuck Conner/The Rifleman led me to believe that bolt action "Cowboy" rifles might be.
My second mistake was (again without adequate research) that over time, the new action would smooth out. It didn't. It got worse, if anything. It was moved to the back of the gun safe. Looked nice, but didn't get used much.
Fast forward to this weekend. Rainy weather and a wife, out of town, led to some down time that I decided to fill with working on some firearms, including the Marlin. No gunsmith, for sure, but neither am I all thumbs or without the tools needed to, on occasion, do a bit of gun-smithing in the extra bedroom given time and motivation. Went on line and watched a couple of videos on the complete disassembly and reassembly of this rifle and one on tune ups, including fixes for the Marlin jam problems. Took the rifle down and sure enough, there it was! A "notch" in the carrier mechanism caused by a sharp edge on the cocking lever cam digging into the bearing surface of the carrier. So I researched further. The best fix seemed to be to replace the carrier and do a bit of minor alteration to "radius" the sharp edge on the lever's cam. The second was easy enough. The first? Well here's more.
Midway was "unavailable - backorder OK", and Numeric was "out of stock". Brownells didn't have the part but did have live, on-line chat help. Bottom line? Called Marlin and ordered the part . . . right up to the point where the service rep asked if I had a FFL (federal firearms licencse)?! No, why? "Because that's a restricted part and we can only ship to a FFL (Obviously Brownell's, Midway, and Numeric are unaware of this restriction).
During my research, I had also come across a several other "fixes" that involved 1) welding and grinding on the carrier, 2) heating and bending the carrier, and 3) machining (filing) a notch and cutting a piece of hacksaw blade to resurface the notched face of the carrier, and then using JB Weld (metal expoxy) to secure the hardened metal blade part to the modified carrier. I decided to choose door #3
After the JB Welds has set up tomorrow, there will be a bit more stoning and polishing to do before I can see if this works, as posted elsewhere. But here's the thing: Marlin's 1894c's apparently have a known design flaw, and Marlin's customer service tells me a FFL license or alternate shipping (with attendant extra transfer charges, in addition to a price higher than other retailers that don't require a FFL) makes it unreasonably hard and more expensive to correct the manufacturer's initial design flaw.
So, Marlin, "Thanks, but no thanks." I do hope that Rube Goldberg and I can overcome your design flaw. In the meantime, i have backordered the part from another retailer, who doesn't seem to think a FFL is needed to obtain an after market improved part. Just something to consider for any of those thinking about purchasing a new lever gun from Marlin.
Because (my bad), I didn't really research the Marlin 1894c thoroughly. It has an inherent design flaw in the cartridge carrier mechanism that results in a "dreaded Marlin jam" problem (buyers beware). It shot OK, but wasn't really as butter smooth as my childhood days watching Chuck Conner/The Rifleman led me to believe that bolt action "Cowboy" rifles might be.
My second mistake was (again without adequate research) that over time, the new action would smooth out. It didn't. It got worse, if anything. It was moved to the back of the gun safe. Looked nice, but didn't get used much.
Fast forward to this weekend. Rainy weather and a wife, out of town, led to some down time that I decided to fill with working on some firearms, including the Marlin. No gunsmith, for sure, but neither am I all thumbs or without the tools needed to, on occasion, do a bit of gun-smithing in the extra bedroom given time and motivation. Went on line and watched a couple of videos on the complete disassembly and reassembly of this rifle and one on tune ups, including fixes for the Marlin jam problems. Took the rifle down and sure enough, there it was! A "notch" in the carrier mechanism caused by a sharp edge on the cocking lever cam digging into the bearing surface of the carrier. So I researched further. The best fix seemed to be to replace the carrier and do a bit of minor alteration to "radius" the sharp edge on the lever's cam. The second was easy enough. The first? Well here's more.
Midway was "unavailable - backorder OK", and Numeric was "out of stock". Brownells didn't have the part but did have live, on-line chat help. Bottom line? Called Marlin and ordered the part . . . right up to the point where the service rep asked if I had a FFL (federal firearms licencse)?! No, why? "Because that's a restricted part and we can only ship to a FFL (Obviously Brownell's, Midway, and Numeric are unaware of this restriction).
During my research, I had also come across a several other "fixes" that involved 1) welding and grinding on the carrier, 2) heating and bending the carrier, and 3) machining (filing) a notch and cutting a piece of hacksaw blade to resurface the notched face of the carrier, and then using JB Weld (metal expoxy) to secure the hardened metal blade part to the modified carrier. I decided to choose door #3
After the JB Welds has set up tomorrow, there will be a bit more stoning and polishing to do before I can see if this works, as posted elsewhere. But here's the thing: Marlin's 1894c's apparently have a known design flaw, and Marlin's customer service tells me a FFL license or alternate shipping (with attendant extra transfer charges, in addition to a price higher than other retailers that don't require a FFL) makes it unreasonably hard and more expensive to correct the manufacturer's initial design flaw.
So, Marlin, "Thanks, but no thanks." I do hope that Rube Goldberg and I can overcome your design flaw. In the meantime, i have backordered the part from another retailer, who doesn't seem to think a FFL is needed to obtain an after market improved part. Just something to consider for any of those thinking about purchasing a new lever gun from Marlin.
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