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Marlin 1894


Lucky Bastard

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Well I pulled the trigger on this. Need to know all the tricks on the 1894. I'm going to figure trigger. Which one it's the best . I saw 4 differ ones. Springs which ones saw 3 different setups. 1 peice firing pin. And a stainless carrier to eliminate marlin jam.

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2 hours ago, Bigmcgiv said:

And a stainless carrier to eliminate marlin jam.

 

As they say in mule trading,  "Education costs.".   You may have bought a lot of education on Remington made Marlins.  

 

The first Remington made Marlins were generally considered to be assembled junk. They earned their poor reputation.  The first ones l handled were pretty sad.  But the more recent ones were much better made. 

 

The wood grain orientation in the wrist area on this one is all wrong and may lead to busting out. 

 

Don't waste your money on a custom made stainless steel carrier.  There are a multitude of other factors that figure in the Marlin Jam.  

 

Good luck. 

 

 

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IF that is a Remington produced Marlin, You may have pulled the trigger

but you may have also shot yourself in the foot.

 

As Warden mentioned above, there are other factors that cause the Marlin Jam.

Just because a carrier is made of stainless steel does not prevent the Marlin Jam.

 

Remington made some horrible 1984's early on.   Its been only the last year that

Remington owned Marlin when some better rifles were being produced.  

And they needed some special touches to help them perform right.

 

I hope you got a good deal on it.

 

..........Widder

 

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They are kind of like boats.  Your two best days are the day you buy it and the day you sell it.  When she's running it's awesome but then there's the other time.  Be careful.  Right out of the box there are a lot of very sharp edges and metallic points.  Stick a cleaning rag down into that receiver and you'll come out with a sliced cleaning rag and finger.  You'll want to buff/smooth just about everything.  The good thing is there's a ton videos on line showing how to do it.  Most important thing - tighten all screws frequently, especially after firing.  If you don't stuff will fall off.  You will spend the next two months trying to get the proper screw from Marlin.  They will be very helpful but will send the incorrect part several times in a row.  The good thing is when you call them back they gladly send you some more incorrect screws and you get to keep the ones they already sent.  Shipping is free.

If firearms are your hobby, this rifle will become your hobby within your hobby.  The good news is that you will be able to sell it for more than you paid for it.  And your gunsmithing skills are going to improve drastically.

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Before you go and start buying and replacing a bunch of parts, I highly recommend you get it to feed and cycle reliably. 
 

 You’ll save some money and may find that those stock parts are more than adequate. 

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Here is a one shop stop for your cowboy gun parts.

 

https://www.longhunt.com/storelh/index.php?route=product/category&path=88_93

 

Start with the lighter hammer spring kit.  It is easy to install and will make a big difference in effort to cycle the action. 

 

Next is the magazine spring and SST follower.  While you have tube off,  polish the inside mirror bright and wax it.  Polish the port hole in the fram.  Install new follower and slide in spring.  The spring will be WAY too long.  Trim to 3" longer than the tube.  This will also reduce effort to cycle.

 

 

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I loved that rifle, I hated that rifle.  If Rugremlin had one ounce of compassion that rifle would come with a Dremel.

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I love mine. The biggest improvement that I did to my first rifle [a much older .45 1894 Cowboy Limited] was to install a long hunter one piece firing pin. It eliminated a lot of issues, a much lighter hammer spring and easier and faster cycling. Also replaced the safety with a dummy screw [but if you ever sell it replace it]. I had an episode of the Marlin Jam that a piece of coping saw blade and jbweld fixed and has been holding tight for 20 plus years. Not messed with either trigger/hammer  but I did play with the lever locks on them. Here’s my two .45 Marlins. Just finished the .45 Schofield trapper [kinda], it will eventually have a carbine buttstock and carbine rear sight. Replaced the safety with a saddle ring.  Just thought of another thing, you might want to tinker with the lever lock or it’s spring. I have reshaped the lock and swapped out the spring to make it easier to unlock but both my Marlins are cas rifles. Good luck with yours. 

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Both the wife's Marlins have the Widdermatic done to them.

They run great (when she does her part) 

To me. It's the only way to go with a Marlin. 

She has had the short stroked Marlin in the past.

But prefers the Widdermatic Marlins. 

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I have an older Marlin Carbine in .357 Mag that would be one of the last guns I would ever consider parting with and for good reason.  It simply shoots like a champ!  My wife isn't really a shooter and even she loves this little gun!  I have also loaned this gun to quite a few shooters that were having issues during a match, and you wouldn't believe how many tried to buy it from me after using it (especially the Ladies).  Anyway, it was made before Remington bought out Marlin and has had very little done to it to make it run other than some polishing here and there and cutting the magazine spring down to make it easier to load.  I will admit that it prefers the 357's over .38 Specials, but in my opinion that's simply part of the open carrier, side eject design of the gun.  The longer rounds simply don't bounce around as much on the carrier when trying to cycle it quickly.  In any case, the longer rounds do feed better, but it will shoot the .38's in a pinch.  I do have to be careful with the overall length of my .357 rounds to get 10 in the magazine and even this was only possible after cutting down the mag spring, but I have had great luck using an RCBS cowboy mold that throws a 140 grain pill.  I have also used the truncated cone style of bullet with good success when not casting my own.  

 

Unfortunately, I too have heard some horror stories about the Remington made Marlins, but hopefully they have got their act together by now.  If it were mine, I'd take it apart for a full inspection, clean the bore, and clean up any burrs, etc.  I'd also go ahead and cut down the magazine spring (your going to eventually), then take it out and run it "As Is" for awhile.  This should give you an indication of any nagging problems and help you decide just what needs to be done to make it right for your main match rifle.  Personally, I don't see the need for the one piece firing pin, but they do seem to be popular.  It might help if your using a really light hammer spring, but the two piece design is a safety feature that helps to prevent an accidental, inertial, discharge if the gun is dropped or even set down on the butt too hard.  The stainless steel magazine spring and follower is a good idea and will never rust, but you still have to keep it clean and lubed.  The originals work fine if you make the effort to clean and lube them regularly.  Changing other springs is pretty much a personal preference, but be aware that changing springs can also induce problems and be careful.  Be sure to save the old ones, you may want to go back to them at some point.  In any case, the magazine spring is way overdone or at least it was on mine and it needs to be cut if you want to load 10 - .357's anyway.   Overall my point being, take your time and don't just do modifications for the sake of modifications.  The gun may run surprisingly well without them and they all cost money that might be better spent elsewhere.  Best of luck with your new levergun and good luck and good shooting to all.   

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22 minutes ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

Rem did a dang good job of destroying Marlin. :angry:

Got to the point, that I refused to work on any Remlin.

OLG 

 

I think Marlin had a hand in that act of destruction...Remington didn't quite get a very good handoff.

 

Were the Remington manufactured rifles (early ones), problematic? Yep! But to demonize an iconic American gun manufacturer is not very helpful in understanding truly what happened...never that simple.

 

Phantom

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Remington did buy a handful of problems with Marlin, and was also producing allot of their own guns in a substandard way . 
Hopefully they are headed for better times , it must have been hard going bankrupt during a time of such demand. 
Im sure Ruger may have a few hiccups along the way but if nothing else they are known for make reliable product.

Somebody’s always going to be the problem child, that being said we really are in the golden age for firearms right now and I hope it only continues to get better 

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11 hours ago, Phantom, SASS #54973 said:

I think Marlin had a hand in that act of destruction...Remington didn't quite get a very good handoff.

 

Were the Remington manufactured rifles (early ones), problematic? Yep! But to demonize an iconic American gun manufacturer is not very helpful in understanding truly what happened...never that simple.

 

Phantom

Rem refused to hire any of the Marlin crew and scraped Marlin's machines.

Rem did it to themselves. Then put out garbage for us to buy.

OLG 

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53 minutes ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

Rem refused to hire any of the Marlin crew and scraped Marlin's machines.

Rem did it to themselves. Then put out garbage for us to buy.

OLG 

I don't think that's quite right.

 

Offers were made, and declined. Maybe those Marlin employees that theoretically would have been a valuable asset to Remington knew something about the production line issues...tooling issues...Machinery that was purchased was worn out...and I believe that Remington wasn't aware of just how bad the tooling was.

 

It's easy to look for a simple scapegoat...I find them all the time. But this time I think the selling party bares some of the blame for what happened. I think Remington was stoopid...and I think Marlin was a bit deceptive.

 

Phantom

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9 hours ago, Phantom, SASS #54973 said:

I don't think that's quite right.

 

Offers were made, and declined. Maybe those Marlin employees that theoretically would have been a valuable asset to Remington knew something about the production line issues...tooling issues...Machinery that was purchased was worn out...and I believe that Remington wasn't aware of just how bad the tooling was.

 

It's easy to look for a simple scapegoat...I find them all the time. But this time I think the selling party bares some of the blame for what happened. I think Remington was stoopid...and I think Marlin was a bit deceptive.

 

Phantom

You're correct, but they were low-ball and refused to help in relocating etc. Yup, Marlin had some QC issues, but not on the level R-P had.

Look how Rem refused to deal with the trigger issue on the mod 700 for so many yrs.

It's a pattern with them. 

Lots of good info on the Marlin/Remington deal on the Marlin forum.

OLG 

 

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I thought they worked out the problems they had early on. That's what I heard and read. :rolleyes:

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18 minutes ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

I thought they worked out the problems they had early on. That's what I heard and read. :rolleyes:

 

Howdy Rye.

I think they worked out their problems but for the buying public, it was too late.

Rumors (both good and bad) circulate fast and at the time Remington produced their

first batch of 1894's and the public was trying to shoot em, the bad stuff was

becoming the 'reputation'.

 

From my perspective, because I worked on about 4 early models and 3 later issued models,

the early issued models were pretty bad..... I mean REAL bad.  

The last 3 I worked on were fairly nice and didn't give me much of a headache is setting them

up.   Matter of fact, I almost bought one of their .45 Colt Cowboy models because I thought

it was rather nice.

 

That has been my personal experience with the Remlin produced 1894's.

I have a good feeling that Ruger will produced a great rifle.

 

..........Widder

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

You're correct, but they were low-ball and refused to help in relocating etc. Yup, Marlin had some QC issues, but not on the level R-P had.

Look how Rem refused to deal with the trigger issue on the mod 700 for so many yrs.

It's a pattern with them. 

Lots of good info on the Marlin/Remington deal on the Marlin forum.

OLG 

 

I wasn't privy to the negotiations so I can't comment on the package offers...

 

Marlin didn't disclose (my understanding), all the "extra" steps that they were doing in order to produce acceptable firearms...so...that kinda borders on deception and is not a "QC" issue.

 

My understanding is that Remington asked folks to return model 700's that had un-altered triggers that had sear issues. All returned had altered triggers. In other words, the owners wanted lighter triggers. So...again, more to the story then that depicted in our trusting media.

 

As far as the info on the Marlin forum, I would be suspect since one is only getting one side of the story. I don't by that the Remington Co. greedy and deliberately decided to build crap as the whole story.

 

Phantom

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30 minutes ago, Phantom, SASS #54973 said:

They should...after all they have new tooling.

 

:P

But is it the proper tooling ? I too kinda question what Remington was doing the last few years. Just about every new gun they introduced was problematic. And they were producing allot of substandard products under the Remington name . And I don’t say that as someone who doesn’t like Remington products. I always really liked Remington guns and hopefully they get back where they belong. I’m hoping like many people have said that 90% of their problems came from poor management 

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3 hours ago, Phantom, SASS #54973 said:

I wasn't privy to the negotiations so I can't comment on the package offers...

 

Marlin didn't disclose (my understanding), all the "extra" steps that they were doing in order to produce acceptable firearms...so...that kinda borders on deception and is not a "QC" issue.

 

My understanding is that Remington asked folks to return model 700's that had un-altered triggers that had sear issues. All returned had altered triggers. In other words, the owners wanted lighter triggers. So...again, more to the story then that depicted in our trusting media.

 

As far as the info on the Marlin forum, I would be suspect since one is only getting one side of the story. I don't by that the Remington Co. greedy and deliberately decided to build crap as the whole story.

 

Phantom

Wasn't all unaltered triggers. Rem stalled for years on the trigger issues on the mod 700. Leaked internal comms proved this. That's one of the reasons the lawsuits cost RP so much.

My 700 was part of the recall. The trigger was very Inconsistent and unaltered. I installed a Timney. 

Rem knew those early Marlin 94 were junk, and the 'bean-counters' kept pushing.

OLG  

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35 minutes ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

Wasn't all unaltered triggers. Rem stalled for years on the trigger issues on the mod 700. Leaked internal comms proved this. That's one of the reasons the lawsuits cost RP so much.

My 700 was part of the recall. The trigger was very Inconsistent and unaltered. I installed a Timney. 

Rem knew those early Marlin 94 were junk, and the 'bean-counters' kept pushing.

OLG  

Your all or nothing blame on Remington is disheartening...

 

But here's my take on this issue and many others like it:

 

We don't know CRAP! We're a bunch of Yahoo's that get most of our information via Social Media platforms.

 

But I like to apply the Common Sense principle. Sitting in a boardroom...with QC and Production and hearing my Production Manager say something to the affect "The quality of the Marlins is very poor and some will not even work, but we're shipping anyway". And then of course me saying something to the affect of "That sounds like a sound decision since we want to put our best foot forward on our new product line".

 

Yeah...that sounds reasonable.

 

Phantom

 

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The Marlin 1894CB that I bought in 2019 runs like a champ. It feeds and fires all the .357s and .38s I have run through it. 

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Gentlemen, the later JM Marlins were also crap. So don't just rail on the Remlins. 

 

That being said, besides sending your Marlin off to someone who will time it correctly, the two things that I would change out is:

 

1. Get a one piece firing pin. ($25ish)

2. Get a Ranger Point Precision extractor ($50ish)

 

I would NOT replace the trigger. Just straighten the factory one. Don't need to spend money on something that 10 seconds with a hammer will produce essentially the same thing. On the other hand, If money is no object, then spend away...

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On 5/16/2021 at 8:35 AM, Bison Bud said:

I have an older Marlin Carbine in .357 Mag that would be one of the last guns I would ever consider parting with and for good reason.  It simply shoots like a champ!  My wife isn't really a shooter and even she loves this little gun!  I have also loaned this gun to quite a few shooters that were having issues during a match, and you wouldn't believe how many tried to buy it from me after using it (especially the Ladies).  Anyway, it was made before Remington bought out Marlin and has had very little done to it to make it run other than some polishing here and there and cutting the magazine spring down to make it easier to load.  I will admit that it prefers the 357's over .38 Specials, but in my opinion that's simply part of the open carrier, side eject design of the gun.  The longer rounds simply don't bounce around as much on the carrier when trying to cycle it quickly.  In any case, the longer rounds do feed better, but it will shoot the .38's in a pinch.  I do have to be careful with the overall length of my .357 rounds to get 10 in the magazine and even this was only possible after cutting down the mag spring, but I have had great luck using an RCBS cowboy mold that throws a 140 grain pill.  I have also used the truncated cone style of bullet with good success when not casting my own.  

 

Unfortunately, I too have heard some horror stories about the Remington made Marlins, but hopefully they have got their act together by now.  If it were mine, I'd take it apart for a full inspection, clean the bore, and clean up any burrs, etc.  I'd also go ahead and cut down the magazine spring (your going to eventually), then take it out and run it "As Is" for awhile.  This should give you an indication of any nagging problems and help you decide just what needs to be done to make it right for your main match rifle.  Personally, I don't see the need for the one piece firing pin, but they do seem to be popular.  It might help if your using a really light hammer spring, but the two piece design is a safety feature that helps to prevent an accidental, inertial, discharge if the gun is dropped or even set down on the butt too hard.  The stainless steel magazine spring and follower is a good idea and will never rust, but you still have to keep it clean and lubed.  The originals work fine if you make the effort to clean and lube them regularly.  Changing other springs is pretty much a personal preference, but be aware that changing springs can also induce problems and be careful.  Be sure to save the old ones, you may want to go back to them at some point.  In any case, the magazine spring is way overdone or at least it was on mine and it needs to be cut if you want to load 10 - .357's anyway.   Overall my point being, take your time and don't just do modifications for the sake of modifications.  The gun may run surprisingly well without them and they all cost money that might be better spent elsewhere.  Best of luck with your new levergun and good luck and good shooting to all.   

I plan to fully inspect.  And run it. And do changes along the way

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