JackCoKiller Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 I have a Marlin 1894 in 45 colt. It was manufactured in the late 90's and the lands and grooves are getting worn. It is no problem in SASS matches, but at 100 yards the groups have opened up to the point I don't feel comfortable taking it deer hunting. I have seen replacement 20" barrels and realize that someone like Green Mountain can make one, or a gun smith can modify a Green Mountain blank to rebarrel it. Has anyone done this themselves? What special tools are needed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adirondack Jack, SASS #53440 Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 I have a Marlin 1894 in 45 colt. It was manufactured in the late 90's and the lands and grooves are getting worn. It is no problem in SASS matches, but at 100 yards the groups have opened up to the point I don't feel comfortable taking it deer hunting. I have seen replacement 20" barrels and realize that someone like Green Mountain can make one, or a gun smith can modify a Green Mountain blank to rebarrel it. Has anyone done this themselves? What special tools are needed? First, I am astounded that a barrel could be that bad in that amount of time unless cleaned with a steel brush covered with sand. Second, ya gotta find a smith willing to remove and re-install the barrel. It takes a good man with a proper action wrench to do it without twisting the frame. Gotta be careful. Then the barrel would need to be threaded and properly headspaced, extractor groove cut, etc ...... Then of course ya got the sight dovetail and the mag tube hanger cuts, etc, etc. Gets to be some real money if ya started with a simple blank. Back to the first bit, are ya SURE it's shot? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackCoKiller Posted January 28, 2011 Author Share Posted January 28, 2011 The lands and grooves at the chamber end are getting thin, and the accuracy isn't what it was (shooting off a rest at 100 yards). I can buy a replacement barrel, with the sight and magazine tube grooves already cut in. You answered my question about the wrenching part and twisting the frame. This rifle has been shot a lot. The action is fine and is about as slick of a Marlin you have ever seen. It is just losing the accuracy I like. I can still hit a pie plate at 100 yards, that is about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellowhouse Sam # 25171 Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 I'm with Adriondack Jack on this one. Even if you shot it 20K rounds it still should be fine provided it was properly cleaned. Give it a good scrubbing followed by tight fitting patches. If you see a grey smear on the patch its generally a sign of leading. There are plenty of products out there for deleading. If you're using those rock hard bullets try a softer alloy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jittery Jim Jonah, SASS #64913L Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 The lands and grooves at the chamber end are getting thin, and the accuracy isn't what it was (shooting off a rest at 100 yards). I can buy a replacement barrel, with the sight and magazine tube grooves already cut in. You answered my question about the wrenching part and twisting the frame. This rifle has been shot a lot. The action is fine and is about as slick of a Marlin you have ever seen. It is just losing the accuracy I like. I can still hit a pie plate at 100 yards, that is about it. Call Marlin.... Tell them what ya have and maybe they will replace it for ya! At the least they will sell you another barrel and install it for ya. This keeps your warranty in place. JJJ-D :ph34r: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Damwright Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 If you send it to Marlin, you will not get it back slick. They will undo every bit of an action job you have (you said it was slick, so I assume it's been modified). They will NOT sell a barrel outright for you to have installed yourself. I have been down this road when I bulged the barrel in my 45 by Longhunter. I ended up buying a brand new rifle (needed a backup and had the cash), had a local smith swap the barrels on the 2, and sent Marlin the unfired gun with the bulged barrel. They replaced it for me, and I went from 24 to 20 so new mag tube also, and it cost me around $130 bucks total. Since then, I have seen 20" octagon barrels for sale on Numrich, but no 24's if that is what you are after. Good luck with your endeavor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackCoKiller Posted January 28, 2011 Author Share Posted January 28, 2011 Even if you shot it 20K rounds it still should be fine provided it was properly cleaned. It is not leaded, I use plenty of lube on my BP loads. The bore is shiny, but I can see the lands are not defined anymore. I have no idea of the round count. I remember when my firing pin broke several years back I estimated over 40,000 rounds. The first five years of that rifle's life Dad shared it with me, and we both shot and practiced with it. About 5 years ago, he gave it to me. The last couple years I haven't shot as much, probably between 1500 and 2000 per year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackCoKiller Posted January 28, 2011 Author Share Posted January 28, 2011 If you send it to Marlin, you will not get it back slick. Thanks. With the way Marlin's quality has gone down hill in the last few years. I'd rather pay a gunsmith to replace it opposed to let them work on it. All internals are original, with the exception of the one piece firing pin and the catch that hold the lever closed disabled/removed. It is slick because it is well worn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TN Mongo, SASS #61450 Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 I'm sure you have thought of this, but have you considered using a larger diameter bullet? Even with the number of rounds fired that you talked about, you might still get good accuracy with the right diameter bullet. It is not that hard to "slug" the barrel to get an accurate reading of what diameter bullet you really need. You may find that this is a quick an economical fix. A friend of ours who does a lot of accuracy work on vintage rifles and reproductions has found that many recent Marlin chambers and barrels require a bigger diameter bullet for peak accuracy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lone Dog, SASS #20401 Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 If'n I could hit a pie pan with any of my 3 LH Marlins I would sure nuff call that plenty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Kiowa Jones #6765 Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 There's a lot more that goes into making an accurate levergun than just the bore. The first thing you should do is slug the bore paying attention to any swells or tight spots. Load bullets equal or 1 or 2 thousands larger then the bore. Then, remove all the frontend parts leaving just the barrel. Now, go shoot it for groups. If it shoots tight then you now know there is something up front causing stray vibrations destroying accuracy. Work back from there. Also, because it's a 45lc, if you are using downloaded CAS ammo and getting blowby (whickh is fairly common with 45lc rifles) you will need to stop the blowby. That is escaping gases that destroys accuracy because the pressures are never consistant. This 45lc blowby in the rifle problem has been going on for so long now I believe the IMR folks came out with their Trailboss powder just to combat this. A good book charge of Trailboss and a 250 grain bullet crimped well in a Win or Starline case seems to be the solution for some folks. Win or Starline cases are somewhat softer brass than most of the others. Some folks only neck size their once fired rifle brass. For BP, there are some folks using 44-40 brass blown out to 45 and claim it works well. 44-40 brass is really thin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chili Ron Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 Pard, there is a lead removing cloth called something like 'LEAD OUT'. I bought an old colt .22 that had NO rifling or so the seller thought. I put the lead removing cloth on a .22 brush and brushed the heck outta the barrel while watching tv. I cut patch after patch and ran that cleaning rod so many times thru that barrel. Then I looked and surprise, there were nice grooves in that old barrel. That might work for you. AND I bought an old remington 788, it didnt shoot all that well so I took it to a smith and had him recrown the barrel and take off about a half inch of worn muzzle. The groups tightened up a LOT. That old 788 has a lot of life left in the orignial barrel. You might try the path of looking for the right size bullet too. These are all fairly cheap and might save the price of a barrel and install. Best CR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tye Riverman, SASS #41433 Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 Pard, I had a similar problem with a 357 Marlin. Turns out it did not like hard cast bullets lightly loaded. When I first got the rifle it shot fine, but I had switched bullets causing the problem. Went to softer bullets and it was fine. Loaded up some hot hard cast and it was fine. I also shoot a Marlin 45 and have much better results with the top published load using HP 38 and a 250gr slug. No blow by and very accurate. Shootem in my 45 1873 as well. Hope this helps. TR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffalo Dick, SASS #12880 Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 If I were you, since the rifle works fine for SASS matches, if you are really convinced that restoring the former long range accuracy would require a new barrel, I would look for a new or lightly used Marlin. You could use the old one for matches and have the second one for backup and long range. Or, you could sell your present rifle to another SASS shooter. The cost of an installed new barrel could be over half of what a replacement rifle might cost. Like others, I'm surprised you could shoot out a barrel with cast bullets, even a lot of cast bullets, or did you use something else for long range. BTW, what bullet and powder were you using for long range and what kind of consistent long range accuracy had you achieved? My reading over the years suggests that there are better pistol calibers than .45 Colt for long range accuracy, .44-40 comes to mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackCoKiller Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 BTW, what bullet and powder were you using for long range and what kind of consistent long range accuracy had you achieved? My reading over the years suggests that there are better pistol calibers than .45 Colt for long range accuracy, .44-40 comes to mind. Mostly 250 gr with 2.2cc of Pyrodex RS with a card wad for long range. My match ammo is 200 gr bullet over 1.9cc of Geox FFFg with a card wad. This load is accurate, but not as accurate. My hunting load is H110 and a 240 gr jacketed hollow point. It is a max load that thumps, it is quite comparable to a 44 mag with the same weight bullet. With jacketed hollow points from a sandbag at 109 yards I shot groups that were approximately 4 inches in diameter. Over the years, I have watched that group size increase to the point that I am not comfortable taking a 100 yard shot on a deer sized target. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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