a question about a marlin 1894C

S

shrewd

New member
so after a bit of searching i finally found my lever gun in .357, a short barreled marlin.

now i have some questions. it does look a bit aged, though the store owner assured me it was unfired. (shrug)


is there anything i need to know about this gun? i've heard a few hushed whispers regarding "the marlin jam" and am obviously interested and alarmed.
i'm taking it to the range to shoot tomorrow, so wish me luck.

speaking of, i need to buy a cleaning kit don't i? all i have is my old hoppes kit for my 9mm CZ
 
Have had my marlin '94 for about 14 years. Couple thousand rounds later and this past year I I finally got the dreaded marlin jam. Had a smithy weld up the 'notch'. I than did the proper .007" bend on the elevator and she works again. A fun gun , as much fun as my win'94 in 44 mag !.
 
mine

I've had a 1894C in .357 for a long time, say over 20 years. Mine has no safety.

It bobbles once in a while on short blunt .38's, and sometimes .357 SWC, but any reasonable other bullet profile feeds just fine.

I never kept a log on the rifle, but it's shot thousands and is one of my favorites. When I want bit more gun than a handgun, but don't really want to tote a full size rifle, the .357 carbine gets the nod.

If you buy, consider a peep/receiver sight, which will increase the sight radius much and be an aid to better shooting. 'course you can scope if need be.

Its most frequent victim was groundhogs in high clover. Mine's currently sighted to shoot .357/158 JHP to point of aim at 100, and ringing a 6" gong at that distance is a hoot.
 
is this problem prevalent enough that i can bring it to most gunsmiths and say i want it fixed to prevent the marlin jam?
or will they just look at me condescendingly?

while i've been a handgunner for a while this is my first foray into the wonderful world of rifles and am still learning the terminology and various parts and such.
 
You can do it yourself in about 10 minutes if you've got a stone.

Or, any competent gunsmith can do it in about five minutes. There's a good explanation at this link.

LINKY!

You can print the page that I've linked above and take it to your gunsmith. That will show him immediately what you want done.

If your gunsmith looks at you condescendingly, get a new gunsmith.
 
I've put approximately 50k rounds of .357 and .38 (premium and bulk) through my 1894CS. I bought it new in 1994 and haven't experienced the dreaded "1894 jam" yet (never say never). I love the gun. I would call it my favorite firearm without hesitation. Every time I've let someone else shoot it, I've had to ask for it back - sometimes insistently. This year I took my first deer with it.

If your gunsmith looks at you condescendingly, get a new gunsmith.
Click to expand...
+1

So far mine cycles smooth as butter. I don't think its is a foregone conclusion that it has to jam because it's a Marlin 1894 so I'm not going to fix mine until it shows any sign of hitching or jamming.
 
Hello

I am from Germany and can't recommend you
any Marlin rifle. They are jamming ! I've bought
myself a 1894 C with 47cm barrel. First it run
well but after every shooting I had to fix the
screws again which was the minor problem.

Then I had a bad jamming on the range of
cause the magazine tube did block the
cartridges and the whole system. The rifle
wasn't anymore usable. After 5 min. always
I made it to fix this by pulling the cartridges
into the tube again but then... it also jammed
with shorter and longer cartridges whether
mild or heavy loaded. The precision was with
38 Special ok, also some 357 Magnum loads
loaded with 125 grains, 158 grains worked
better but also jammed. It is the second
time I gave it into repair. The gunsmith
can't find the problem and I feel I've
made a bad purchase... :-< In Germany
those version costs 1000 $ and the long
over 1700 $ pretty expensive for what it
is.But Mossberg pump action rifles are also
jamming horribly I've found out. Even in
the store it was hard to bring it into the
usual position again.

I have a tip for you, buy only those guns
who are made for police and who are
tested and have minimum requirements
like 3.000 shot tests.

And the best tip, use it as single shot rifle
when you want to avoid jamming. It jams
even with 2 cartridges loaded sometimes.
Precision is ok but so... with 1 shot loading
it manual it works ok. Also the trigger can
be made smoother. Wish you much fun shooting.
 
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