Marlin 1894 CP

N

Nightcrawler

New member
I currently have a Winchester 94 Trapper in .357 Magnum, which, sadly, I'll be parting with soon. It's a tough decesion, but it'll be going to a friend of mine, who's new to shooting, and it's a good starter gun. Plus, she'll let HER non-shooting friends shoot, and spread the joy, and the more shooters there are the better off we all are.

However, if I decide to buy a .357 Magnum revolver, I may find myself wanting a carbine in .357 Magnum to go with it. I've found that .357 has some impressive ballistics out of a 16" barrel, especially with Cor-Bon hunting loads (when I can afford 'em).

The Winchester Trapper I have is nice; it's about 35" overall, 9+1 capacity, good looks. However, the lever feels kind of wobbly, the sights are not very good, and the trigger has spring loaded slack and is mushy. It is an angle-eject model and I have a scope mount for it.

Marlin, on the other hand, makes two .357 Magnum lever rifles. The 1894C with an 18" barrel, 36" overall length, 9+1 capacity. They also have the slightly smaller 1894CP, with a 16.5" ported barrel, 8+1 capacity.

I'll admit, I like the way the 18" model looks a little better, but I tend to favor more compact rifles, though the two and three quarters inches difference in length really doesn't matter, especially since the longer of the two is only an inch longer than my Trapper.

Does anybody have either of these rifles? What's the story? You like 'em?
 
I have the 1894C. I chose the longer barrel because it would mean increased velocities and didn't have the porting. I shot a friend's ported 1894 and it was loud! As to muzzle rise, I really don't see the need for porting to control it in a .357 mag carbine.
 
Nightcrawler,

I just went through the same decision between the 1894C and 1894CP - see KilgorII's thread - and picked the 1894CP. Main reasons, the extra 2 3/4" (I wanted it as short as possible) and the fact that the 1894CP was readily available - the 1894C was not when I checked on both. Also, although I wasn't crazy about the porting on the CP, it doesn't sound like it makes that big of a difference from a noise standpoint from what KilgorII's said and it sounds like he's shot one a bunch!

Haven't shot mine yet (it's currently in pieces being cleaned/oiled/babied/etc. :) ) but hopefully I'll get out with it in the next week or so. FYI, both Lyman and Williams make peep sights for the 1894CP - Lyman's can be ordered from Cabela's and isn't supposed to require a front sight replacement). Will probably install that tonight - open sights seem ok but I liked the idea of getting a peep for a little better accuracy.

Bottom line, from everything I researched - including opinions of people like KilgorII who obviously know a lot more about guns than I do - both the Marlin 1894C and 1894CP seem to be great and reliable guns that'll shoot about anything you put in them (manual spec is cartridge length between 1.400" and 1.590", I think, and that fits all the 38spl and .357 ammo I have).

Enjoy :D
 
Lymans Tang Sights

Do you have to remove the stock rear sight in order for the aftermarket peep, tang, ghost ring, whatever sights to work properly? If not, how does the original rear sight not get in the way? I've never fired a Marlin levergun, but the Winchester's semibuckhorn sights are...well, crude, but they would get in the way of an aftermarket peep sight, I think.
 
Hookedagain,

I think you give me a little too much credit (ok, a lot too much!) :D I hope you enjoy your new rifle as much as I enjoy mine. When will you be able to get out and shoot it?

Nightcrawler,

I believe the semibuckhorn rear sight folds down out of the way. Try pushing it forward or backwards to see.

Kilgor
 
Have a Marlin 1894P, same rifle in .44 mag. The rear sight does fold forward out of the way. I installed a Williams peep sight on mine. Took about 5 minutes. Works much better than my eyes.:(
If I had it to do over I probably would have spent the extra for a Lyman sight, I think they're easier to adjust but that's just an opinion.
Take care
 
What one's probably the most fun to shoot at the range: The 1894CP, 1895G or a .22 lever action? Sorry for the dumb question. The 1894 would be a good ammo match for my revolvers, the .22's are cheap and easy and the 1895 might cause a nosebleed, I guess.
 
hmm...

...never fired a .45-70, but my Winchester 94 Trapper in .357 was a ball to shoot. THe sights are pretty crappy, though....I mean, they're "adjustable", but the manual doesn't say how far each tick mark represents, and the sight picture is just funny to me. However, the gun was a lot of fun to shoot, and .357 ammo, remanufactured semiwadcutters, can be had for cheap. Also, try Cor-Bon hunting loads if you want more power. Recoil is barely noticable, and it has a short lever throw.
 
Nightcrawler,

I put the Lyman peep (66LA) on last night - no gunsmithing at all, just removed two dummy screws on the side and used the two screws supplied with the sight to mount it. (I don't think the Williams peep sight takes any gunsmithing either if you decide to go that route and from what I've heard it's a pretty good sight too - it's just that Cabela's had the Lyman in stock :) ). Like KilgorII said, the rear sight on the Marlin folds down (by the way, the Marlin sight is also "adjustable" but I didn't see anything in the manual that said how much each position represented in inches and the windage adjustment is by drifting the sight, as far as I could tell). Anyway, with the open sight in its lowest position and folded down and with the peep sight down as far as it would go, the Marlin rear sight took up something like the bottom 20% of the aperture, i.e. picture a circle with a straight line across it about 20% of the way up and everything below that line blacked out by the Marlin sight. Just with some rough boresighting and trying to quickly line up targets at various distances, it didn't seem to matter much. I'm guessing that when I actually sight the gun in on paper, the rear peep will need moved up somewhat so the obstruction should be even less. Can't say for sure though until I actually sight it in and get to shoot it. As for the tang sight, when I talked to Lyman, they mentioned that installing it would take some minor gunsmithing - I think maybe drilling and tapping a couple of holes. Hope that helps.

Forgot to mention before, sounds great on getting your friend to shoot! I've been doing some live trapping/varmit control on opossums, groundhogs, etc. (with division of wildlife permission of course ;) ) for a lady. Now she wants to learn to shoot too and my local gunshop owner just gave me a couple of free passes to a local range - like you said, the more shooters the better.


KilgorII,

I was hoping to get out this weekend but that's looking less and less likely. I do a couple of things outside of work and they've got my next three weekends pretty well booked. There are times I REALLY miss living further away from the city - growing up we just went out back and shot. And if it rained, you just moved into the garage and shot from there. I'm starting to think I may take off an afternoon from work next week and go - can't stand waiting too much longer!!! As for enjoying it, I'm generally a stainless Ruger fan - built like tanks and ultra-reliable - but even without shooting it yet I'm really liking this Marlin. Seems to be pretty simply and ruggedly made, like a Ruger, and the blue and walnut sure looks nice. Got a feeling this ones gonna be one of my favorites to shoot if it meets the reliability (pull trigger, go boom) test which I fully expect it to. Excellent companion for a lonely GP100 :D Take care.
 
I have a presafety Marlin 1894 in 357 mag I bought new in the late 70's or early 80's. I installed the Williams economy peep sight which cost around $25 then. I knocked out the factory rear sight with a plastic tipped punch and replaced it with a Marble slot blank. The sight works great with the screw-in aperture removed to give a big ghost ring, although if starting over I would seriously consider the Ashley aperture rear sight which is more streamlined. You get a lot of extra velocity out of the 357, and with 180 gr bullets it works well for deer. My kids love it as it has no recoil, especially with .38 specials for plinking. It is lightweight and easy handling, and makes a great knockaround woods gun, good for everything from head shots on rabbits up to deer. It also serves well as a home-defense weapon, which I loaned to my sister once when she was still single and living in the big city. She wasn't interested in learning how to shoot a pistol, but she knew how to shoot a rifle from her days at summer camp when they still used to shoot .22's as an acceptable activity.
 
I'm going to order either an 1894 Cowboy or an 1894C tomorrow. Which might be a better range rifle (leaning towards the Cowboy) for probably 50 and 100 yards?
 
Bought a 1894P (.44) recently. Liked it so much
I ordered an 1894CP to keep it company. Still
sitting out the 10 day Cali waiting period, though.
Had to buy it sight unseen as no one had one in
stock. Hope the wood and blue are as nice as
the .44. Marlin seems to be pretty consistent
quality-wise, unlike some of the Trappers I
looked at.
 
I've got an 1894P in .44 mag, that is very handy to tote around. I put a Wiliams peep on it, and knocked the factory rear off. Unscrewed the aperture, so I use it like a ghost sight.

I also have an 1894cs, which I love! Hard to justify one of the new mini guide guns in .357 when I already have this one...

But I have a Lyman Tang sight on this one. A new hole has to be drilled and tapped on the tang to install. If I had it to do all over agian, I'd get a marble tang. Twice as much money, but 10x the sight. I left the factory rear on this one, so I have the option of two different sights. I also use this as a loaner gun for cowboy shoots.

I have an 1894 Cowboy in both .357 and .45 Colt. Both are great rifles for cowboy shooting. Marble tangs on both.

If I had to pick one of the .357 rifles (from the 1894 guide gun, 1894cs, or 1894 cowboy) I'd get the 1894cs. Still short, handy, and accurate, but it is still legal for cowboy shootin'. The ported one is not.
 
I'm happier than a puppy with two peters with my 1894P / Williams combo! :D Just cleaned it for the first time the other day, too - After a year of riding in the truck and 300 or so rounds through it.

If .357's your thing, I don't think you'd go wrong with the CP.
 
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