SWCs failing to chamber in Marlin 1894?

[bunnielab]

Hi,

I was out this morning working up a .357mag load for my pistol (SAA clone) amd rifle (1894). I was looking for something that gave a fun level of "kick" in the pistol but didnt shake the gun apart. I settled on 5.0g of Universal under a 158g cast SWC.

I decided to run through the rest of my test ammo in the marlin and was rather displeased to find that I had alot of problems with the SWCs getting hung up when being chambered. It seems that the driving band was hitting "something" right before the round chambered. If I forced the round in and then ejected it the bullet showed a good deal of damage and deforming of the driving band. If it helps the bullets in question are Missouri Bullet company 158g bevel base SWCs cast at BHN 18.

Having found a load that I like and a bullet who's price I REALLY like I am hoping that there is some way to fix this other than "use another bullet".

 

[rcmodel]

You will first have to determine what the "something" is that the bullets are hanging up on.

Most likely it is the sharp edge of the chamber, either the bottom, if the damage is on the bottom of the bullet, or the extractor cut if it is on the side.

You can safely polish the sharp edges with a Dremel tool as long as you don't remove any metal other then just a slight rounding of the razor sharp edges.

The other possibility is a timing issue.
The carrier is not lifting the round high enough to align it with the chamber. Not much you can do about that without a new carrier & some skilled gun-smithing.

I have no experience with the .357 1894, but my .44 Mag 1894P feeds SWC lead bullets in either Mag. or Spec. cases flawlessly, so I'd think it can be done with the .357 as well.


rcmodel

 

[Travis Two]

Swc designs are poor choices to use in any lever action rifle. Either a Round nose flat point design or a Truncated cone design will work much better. Check out www.pennbullets.com for a complete selection and a current sale.

 

[Grandpa Shooter]

In my Rossi lever gun, it depended on how smooth I was in working the action. I remember everyone, it seemed, claiming you could not use 38 special cause they wouldn't chamber. Once I taught myself to work the action smoothly, all that faiure to feed stuff went away.

The other issue may be that you are not seating the bullets deep enough, leaving a shoulder of the semi wad cutter sticking out too far of the case. That happens in my .45 ACP Colt.

 

[bunnielab]

I did notice that if I payed close attention to working the action, it would feed pretty well. Well, better than "normally" working it, but no where near as smooth as feeding RNFP bullets. This is a very new gun (under 500r) and I looked and the edge of the chamber is pretty sharp.

I am a little hesitant about taking a dremel to my gun though. Is this something that would be done as part of an "action job"? OR could I just take it to a local smith and ask for the edges of the chamber to be rounded a bit?

 

[ReloaderFred]

I own 14 Marlin lever action rifles in a variety of calibers, and very few of them will feed sharp shouldered semi-wadcutter bullets smoothly. Before I removed any metal from my rifle, I would switch bullet styles, but then that's only me.

A Round Nose Flat Point bullet, or a truncated cone bullet will feed smoothly through the Marlin 1894C Carbine. I've put many thousands of those bullets through mine in SASS matches, but anytime I try to use a SWC bullet, they don't feed smoothly.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[glockgod]

Yup,my 1894 doesn't like SWC bullets either. Went with 158 TCBB from Penn and things improved greatly. 4.5 grs. Unique in a 38 case with this bullet makes a dandy Cowboy load.

 

[ZeSpectre]

Tinygnat's 1894 is the same way. My Rossi 92 just doesn't care.
From a good deal of SASS experience I'll agree with the rest, switch to TLC (Truncated lead cone) rounds or RNFP (Round Nose Flat Point) and your issues will probably go away.

 

[tinygnat219]

Bottom line,

SWC bullets won't run in a Marlin 1894. It gets hung up on the feed gate or something like that and locks up HARD so that the entire gun needs to be disassembled to fix it.

Use FMJ, JHP, TMJ, RNFP and your Marlin will run like a nice Diesel Mercedes.

 

[bunnielab]

You guys are breaking my heart.

I don't even want to tell you how many SWC bullets I have sitting on my bench. (Hint: It's a lot). I am going to head to my local smith next week and see if he is comfortable giving the chamber mouth a slight polishing. His rates are pretty reasonable and a 1/2 hour of his time will be alot cheaper than re buying all those bullets.

If this fails, does any one want to swap for a bunch of very nice SWCs?

 

[bunnielab]

You guys are breaking my heart.

I don't even want to tell you how many SWC bullets I have sitting on my bench. (Hint: It's a lot). I am going to head to my local smith next week and see if he is comfortable giving the chamber mouth a slight polishing. His rates are pretty reasonable and a 1/2 hour of his time will be alot cheaper than re buying all those bullets.

If this fails, does any one want to swap for a bunch of very nice SWCs?

 

[rcmodel]

SWC bullets won't run in a Marlin 1894.

Maybe in a .357, but you certainly can't make a general statement that they won't work in any 1894 Marlin.

As I already said in post #2, my 1894P .44 Mag feeds them slicker then owl DoDo in either .44 Mag or .44 Spl. cases.
SO, it is possible, in .44 at least.


rcmodel

 

[bunnielab]

You guys are breaking my heart.

I don't even want to tell you how many SWC bullets I have sitting on my bench. (Hint: It's a lot). I am going to head to my local smith next week and see if he is comfortable giving the chamber mouth a slight polishing. His rates are pretty reasonable and a 1/2 hour of his time will be alot cheaper than re buying all those bullets.

If this fails, does any one want to swap for a bunch of very nice SWCs?

 

[bunnielab]

You guys are breaking my heart.

I don't even want to tell you how many SWC bullets I have sitting on my bench. (Hint: It's a lot). I am going to head to my local smith next week and see if he is comfortable giving the chamber mouth a slight polishing. His rates are pretty reasonable and a 1/2 hour of his time will be alot cheaper than re buying all those bullets.

If this fails, does any one want to swap for a bunch of very nice SWCs?

 

[bunnielab]

Ok, every time I try to edit my post it just reposts it. Can a mod please delete the extra ones?

Or just leave them as a testament to my ineptness.

 

[ReloaderFred]

bunnielab,

When I have that problem, I just run them through a C-H .357 Bullet Swaging die and change them into RNFP bullets. Works great, but does take some time to do.

rcmodel,

My .44 Magnum Marlin will feed SWC bullets, but not as smoothly as RNFP. My .41 Magnum Marlins (2) will also feed them, but again not as smoothly as RNFP bullets, or JHP bullets. Between my wife and I, we have three Marlin 1894C carbines in .357 Magnum, and none of them like SWC bullets at all, either in .357 Magnum or .38 Special. Two of those have had action jobs and are really smooth, but still don't like those SWC's.

Hope this helps.

Fred