Marlin Lever 1894 chambering problem

[Sawdust]

My .357 won't chamber rounds without binding; right after the bullet portion of the cartridge enters the chamber, the casing starts scraping along on one side.

The casing scrapes on the left side of the entrance to the barrel at 9:00, so apparently the cartridge is cocked in the horizontal plane at the primer end.

I have to cycle the lever back-and-forth to coax a round in.

If I open the bolt and chamber a round by hand, I can slip it in easily.

Here's what happens to a dummy round when it is chambered:

<Edit>

Please see this posting for the pic; I can't get the forum software to let me attach it again in this thread:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=198292

</Edit>

How can I fix this? Lightly chamfer the entrance to the barrel with some sort of conical hone? What holds (or, is supposed to hold) the longitudinal axis of the cartridge concentric with the barrel? I can't see anything in the receiver that serves this function.

Thanks for any help...

Sawdust

 

[Car Knocker]

Bad link:

Invalid Attachment specified. If you followed a valid link, please notify the administrator

 

[Chawbaccer]

Your picture don't work. Maybe your ejector is pushing it over there? How about different brands of ammo, what are you using now?

 

[Brian Williams]

How old is this gun??? Call Marlin, they have a great customer service desk.

 

[Sawdust]

Maybe your ejector is pushing it over there? How about different brands of ammo, what are you using now?

I would think that if the extractor was pushing on the casing, the binding would occur 180 degrees opposite from where it is binding now...no?

Different ammo doesn't seem to make a difference. Also, all of the same ammo that binds in my rifle feeds flawlessly in a friends 1894 that he bought at the same time as I bought mine.\

The gun is about a year old.

I edited my original post to add a link to a pic of a cartridge.

Sawdust

 

[Howdy Doody]

I bought a Big 5 Marlin 1894 in .357 about a year and a half ago. I had about the same issue with it. Doing any grinding is not the answer. What is is more of a polishing of the innards. Especially the extractor on the bolt. I still had some fumbling problems when cycling fast and I use .38 spl brass with a bullet called a Snakebite, which is a long truncated cone type with a small flat nose. I get an OAL on my cartridges of 1.51" and the shape of the bullet and the length help an awful lot to keep my Marlins cycling smoothly. Gunsmiths have tricks to alter the carrier, but Marlin came out with an updated one that is much improved and drop in to boot. I got one of those from Brownells. It is a carrier that has a different shape towards the front. I put on of those in that rifle and I can't remember the last time I had to fumble with the lever to chamber a cartridge. It looks like from the picture you have a heavy roll crimp. I also found that the factory crimp that is a tapered design helps too.
Now about January I bought another of the Big 5 Marlins, being afraid that they were going to run out at that price before long and recently I spent some time slicking it up. The first thing I noticed was that it came with the new style carrier. Bonus. The rest of the stuff I did was along the lines of this link I am giving you on Marlin slick ups. This is a cowboy action website link and yes I shoot cowboy action. CAS shooters for the most part are interested in guns that work fast and smooth and do not need to do anything more like long distance accuracy shooting, like say a squirrel hunter would. CAS rifle targets are at the 25-35 yard range usually. Pumping out 10 rounds and hitting the generous size steel targets quickly is the game.
So, Sawdust, here is the link that points out some of the things amatuer cowboy gunsmiths have found to do to improve the function of the Marlin. I hope it helps you a bit.
http://marauder.homestead.com/Rifles.html

 

[NeverAgain26]

I had an issue similar to what you mentioned in my 1894SS in 44 Mag. I took it to my smith and we examined the gun and found a burr in there that hampered the feeding process. He reamed it right out and the gun functioned fine.

Marlin will remedy it, but taking it to the smith was cheaper and faster.

Good luck.

Saul Levy

 

[Sawdust]

Thank-you, gentlemen; I'll tear it down and look at that extractor and the tips at the marauder web site.

Sawdust

 

[CSA 357]

i had two 1894 marlins in 44 mag and they both wouldnt feed like they should, would like to get one in 357 but i dont think it would be any better,good luck and keep us posted, csa

 

[Howdy Doody]

Sawdust, I might add that if you call Marlin about the problem be sure to speak with a Mr. Tim Looney in customer service. I have a 336cb in 38-55 that I had issue with on chambering a .380 boolit that I wanted to shoot with BP. He was so helpful that I remember his name from about 3 years back. I sent the rifle to them and they did a number on the chamber and I had it back in about 3 weeks. I rate Marlins service A+ but only needed them the one time. They don't get into slick up stuff, but they will make a rifle work right.
Another thing I failed to mention is that the 1894c seems to like being racked with some force. I mean by that, if you lever a round slowly, they seem to have a tendency to get a problem, same with racking a round with the rifle tipped to the side. Yup, there could be improvements, but they did do wonders with the upgraded carrier. I know a couple well know Marlin gunsmiths that make them sing, but then you need to invest some money and shipping and all. Let me know.

 

[Sawdust]

OK, here's an update.

I pulled the bolt, removed the extractor and polished it up. It is definitely not interfering with the cartridge rim during the chambering cycle.

Still no joy.

After I put the bolt back in and cycled the rifle, what is happening is the primer end of the cartridge is not being lifted high enough by the carrier to center the rim of the round on the bolt face. As a result, as the bolt moves forward, it pushes the cartridge askew off of the barrel centerline.

Is there a way to adjust the carrier? Or do I need one of the new Marlin upgraded carriers?

Sawdust

 

[Feral_Goz]

Sawdust,
I had exactly the same problem with a NIB 1894PG in 44Mag. At first it was pretty consistent at wanting to jam. I have polished up the extractor (removed the blueing) and slightly filed down the "point" of the extractor. I also performed the fix for the "Marlin Jam" courtesy of the maurauder link provided by Howdy Doody.

These two steps made the rifle at least chamber if the lever was worked slowly and smoothly. It still needs some more tweaking to make it more reliable with fast reloads. The last thing I did was polish up the round carrier with some Flitz and applied a good coat of grease to the mating parts of the mechanism.

It seems to be getting better slowly. There are three reasons I didn't take it back to the shop. 1. Paper work in Australia is a PITA to send a rifle O/S for a fix. 2. Found a whole heap of threads on the Marlin Owners site that seemed to indicate a fix is possible. 3. I wanted to take it to the range

Feral_Goz