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WiddermAJik & Widdermatic Marlins


Widder, SASS #59054

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Check out this video on Marlins:

 

 

 

Hey Pards.

 

First and foremost, these are not short stroked Marlins.

 

The first Marlin in the video is a Cowboy Comp in .45 Colt

 

Its called the WiddermAJik because it was modified to run the Cowboy .45 Special and nearly any .45 Colt load. As most of us know, Adirondack Jack (AJ) is the owner of the excellent Cowboy .45 Special cartridge.

 

The OAL for the empty Cowboy .45 Special case is .898 according to my Mitutoyo calipers.

The OAL for the Speer 300 gr Gold Dot HP in the .45 Colt case is 1.638

 

I have run some Speer 300 grain flat nose bullets thru it at 1.660 but didn't do it in the video.

 

The second Marlin is a Cowboy Comp in .38 Special.

 

The mods on this rifle are covered in Marauders website. BUT, there are two items I modified differently on this rifle. I DID NOT remove any tips on the bolt face nor did I modify the extractor.

 

What I did do was this:

I polished the tops of the 2 large bolt face tips and in doing so, probably lowered them just a few .000

 

I also 'slightly' beveled all the edges to help ensure that the feeding rounds would not catch or snag while being angled fed onto the bolt face.

 

Another PLUS that enhanced this mod is that I gave the extractor a 'melt down' look. In other words, I rounded out all the sharp edges to give a downward and inward flow that helps guide the case rim under the extractor. I did not have to bend the extractor inward or 'retune' it. The spring on the extractor had already been 'tweaked' (or straightened) and therefore, I didn't have to really do anymore tuning to the extractor.

 

One other note: Setting up the Marlin for the angle feed modification does not automatically give you a smooth rifle. Other tuning techniques as described by others in Marauders website is beneficial for a smooth operating Marlin.

 

BUT, setting up the angle feed mod (Widdermatic or WiddermAJik) in your Marlin does eliminate OAL sensitivities, carrier rolloffs, speed issues and basically gives you a rifle that has little, if any, 'feel' to it when chambering your ammo.

 

To sum it up, these make a dandy little back-up rifle! ;)

 

Hope you enjoy the videos. Thanks for watching.

 

 

..........Widder

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Yep, it should make somebody a nice little second (backup) rifle.

 

hey Deuce, did you notice that my 1st levered round was right after the 2.05 mark and my 10th round was ejecting right at the 2.07 mark. Less than 2 seconds to chamber 10 in & 10 out although I didn't pull the trigger for each cycle because I only wanted to show the action work. Not to shabby for a slow shooter.

 

 

..........Widder

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I'm impressed to say the least, I'm glad there are cowboys like you and AJ to help out on marlins, have did a few things to mine that has helped so much, thanks to the both of you for your input to help others out, since you and AJ has did this, alot more shooters are getting marlins, they can run just as fast as a 73 in the right hands, not me for sure, but I'm happy with what I have done.

 

 

 

All for now JD Trampas

 

 

P.S. A man that has 6 marlins

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My son is shooting a 38 Spl Cowboy Comp with the Widermatic mods installed by Johnny Meadows for me. The gun also had a bit of help from Widowmaker Hill on the extractor. This gun will shoot any length of 38 spl but seems to love 1.3 inch OAL rounds the best and shoots them the smoothest. This mod seems to make the gun shoot better and smoother the shorter the round, the opposite of the stock Marlin. This particular Marlin never shot well since new (and sat in the back of the guns safe), and no matter how much work was done to this particular Marlin it still had a lot of hickups no matter the OAL of round shot until the Widermatic mods were installed. Now it is a very usable Marlin.

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I am one of the fortunate ones to have a WiderMAGIC. I only shot the 45 LC through it in matches, but it will shoot everything. Did you catch that fact that he was chambering EMPTY CASINGS.....think about it.....that angle feed setup will put anything into the chamber.....and eject it.....and while few of us can cycle that fast, the unique thing is you can't feel them going into the chamber......

 

Widder deserves a big thank you for his efforts. I know he gives a lot of credit to Maruader and Lassiter and deservably so, but he was the one to put it into action. A modest man, but a great contributor to this sport.

 

I also want to say that Duece and Widder are both helping many with their videos. Keep it up guys, I salute you both.

 

KK

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WOW...When I get to USA in June I gotta' come see you Widowmaker....smooth & quick & not fussy on what 'ya feed it..couldn't ask for more !!

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Hey fellers, thanks for the kind words.

 

CR: thanks. Hope your still improving.

 

JDT and GCK: thanks. Kid: glad its working out o.k.

 

KK: if I had your money, I would own the best of everything also. hehehe

 

Mohawk: where you gona be in June?

 

Deadeye Dallas: after seeing that beautiful ladys pix you posted, I couldn't compete with any red head around here. Sorri for the let down.

 

Ketchum: sssshhhhhhhhhhhh

 

Randy: thanks my friend.

 

Buck: its a Chevy is I'm running it but a few others could turn it into a 426 Hemi.

 

Kid: Hope we get to shoot together this year. I'm planning to be at that big match in KY in the last weekend in May. The one that Shaddia is hosting.

 

 

..........Widder

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Kid: Hope we get to shoot together this year. I'm planning to be at that big match in KY in the last weekend in May. The one that Shaddia is hosting.

 

Yeah, hopefully I'll be there too!

 

And I'm gonna try to make it down to your annual match in April.

 

Kid

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Campo: our annual sounds great. Hope to see you there.

 

Boondock: anytime my friend. Glad to help out.

 

 

The .38 Comp in the video was a recent mod. Only dummy rounds had been put thru it and up until the video, I had put 19 mag tubes full and run em thru without one glitch.

The video run completed a 200 round dummy testing. Thats why we didn't stop the camera between rifles. I was pretty dern confident it was gona fly without any problems.

 

I took that Marlin out today and fired 10 rounds EACH of live ammo of the following:

 

148 gr. HBWC at OAL of 1.255. I use alot of HBWC for practice and load the bullet out about 1/8" from the case mouth. They ran great.

 

105 Truncate at OAL of 1.426

 

130 RNFP at OAL of 1.480

 

I didn't experience the slightest glitch or reluctance to feed any of these.

 

 

..........Widder

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Never liked a marlin until now. That it so sweet.

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Where do you find a marlin cowboy comp 38 to buy. The marlin web site dont sell them.

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The reason the web site doesn't show the CBC is they don't make them anymore, you can still find them once in awhile but they are high dollar, they were a special factory tuned for the cowboy shooter in mine, but never made it, they still needed work to run right, so if I remember right they only made them for 2 years

 

Hope this answer your question Pit Bull Tex

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Never liked a marlin until now. That it so sweet.

 

 

Pit Bull,

 

no doubt, I'm a Marlin fan. But in my experience in Cowboy shooting, there are fantastic guns of all types and there are those that are toublesome of every type.

 

No matter what rifle you settle on, we are blessed to have some of the best gunsmiths anywhere to pretty much make that rifle perfect for you.

 

And of lately, two gunsmiths have seemlingly perfected the Lightning rifles. Those being Lassiter in Ohio and Deadeye Dallas in Florida.

 

The Chronicle has ads from some top smiths every month plus the Wire can direct you to the more reputable ones.

 

Best regards and safe travels.

 

EDIT: just saw GCK post. Yes, the Widder mods are basically a kitchen table gunsmith mod. Adirondack Jack calls it Kitchen table butchery at its best. :lol: That about sums it up.

 

 

..........Widder

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Can you put 10 shells in a marlin with 18 1/2" barrel , that all that is on gun broker.

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Pit Bull, I do not believe an 18 inch barrell will fit 10 rounds, my 20 inch fits them just fine but 10 is it. Gunslinger did my slicking on my marlin and I can run it smooth and fast... ya know as long as i'm not wanting to hit any targets :~) Gunslinger is in just south of Dallas in a small town Avilla.

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Outstanding

 

WOW! I say that because I can. I followed Widowmakers method and can tell you a whole new approach is sometimes just the ticket to solve problems. It takes a man with a sharp eye, keen wits and the fortitude to work things out. Add that he is generous in sharing his labors and you end up with a cowboy's cowboy Widowmaker Hill. :)

 

Sending you a PM Widder.

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Pit Bull, I do not believe an 18 inch barrell will fit 10 rounds, my 20 inch fits them just fine but 10 is it. Gunslinger did my slicking on my marlin and I can run it smooth and fast... ya know as long as i'm not wanting to hit any targets :~) Gunslinger is in just south of Dallas in a small town Avilla.

Absolutely not true. My wife has two Marlin 18 inch carbines and they will easily hold 10 38s and if you are at all reasonable on the overall length, will hold 10 357s. It does require about 5 minutes of work cutting the mag spring a bit.

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I have the small 18" Marlin. How much did you cut off the Magazine spring to make 10 fit every time. I can fit 10 38 in it now but I have to be very careful on length of the bullets

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I have an older Uberti '73 that is slicked up and has, I believe, the first generation Pioneer Gunworks short stroke kit.

 

Widder was kind enough to work on the timing of my Marlin Cowboy Limited .45, and he also eliminated the "Marlin Jam" for me.

 

I am a below average to average shooter. I really can't see difference with my rifle times. Either one of them is probably faster than I am.

 

It is almost unreal to watch Widder load his rifle with different length cartridges, including empty brass, and cycle it flawlessly. The action truly "feels like nothing".

 

Widder is truly the Marlin Genius.

 

Boondock

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Hey Pit Bull,

 

I should have mentioned this in a previous post but it slipped my mind.

 

This type of mod can be setup in the .38/357 Marlin with equal results.

 

Because it eliminates OAL sensitivities, it shouldn't matter what you feed it.....as long as your initial timing is good.

 

Although mine and the one in the video are .38 spl ONLY, they will reliably feed a longer .357 cartridge BUT, it won't completely chamber in the .38 Comp due to the shorter chamber dimensions.

 

So ifn you find yourself a .38/.357 Cowboy, it can be modified the same. The mods are no different.

 

Heck, I set one up for Randy St. Eagle that should feed .38 Colt, .38 Spl and .357 all in the same mag tube. I don't know how reliable it is yet because Randy ain't shooting it much. He shoots a Widdermatic that I set up for .38/.357 only and I don't think he is ready to part with it.

 

 

..........Widder

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