Marlin 1894 Longer OAL

[softpoint]

I've a Marlin 1894 .357 Mag. I've shot quite a few 358156 boolits in with great accuracy, a real "fun gun". I recently came across a large bunch of 180 gr. Remington Jacketed Hollowpoint j word bullets. I loaded a few with H110 and single loaded them in the Marlin. Good, accurate, ought to make a good hunting load.Problem is, loaded to the cannelure,these are too long. About the shortest I can get them will be about 1.660. And that won't feed in the Marlin. So, question is, should I do the OAL modification on the Marlin? Will I gain enough if I do? (I can't find the length specs right now). Should I just use .38 Special cases? That is what Keith used to do.

[ReloaderFred]

I regularly shoot 185 grain cast bullets in my Marlins, and load them to 1.590". At this length, they will feed just fine. I'm using both Winchester 296 and Hodgdon Lil'Gun with them.

I would just shorten your OAL to the SAAMI Maximum of 1.590", and work up your load for that length.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[NickSS]

If you follow reloader freds advice you may want to consider a tapper crimp die.

[SciFiJim]

I shoot the 360180 group buy boolit in mine. Seated to the crimp groove the COL is 1.59. I use LilGun and a firm crimp.

[ReloaderFred]

I also use Lil'Gun, and a firm roll crimp for my Saeco and RCBS 180/185 grain bullets. It's a great combination.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[imashooter2]

I did the carrier mod to my rifle and wrote up a piece in the gunsmithing section on it. You can get to 1.660 very easily. My rifle has had thousands through it since the mod and works smooth as can be.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=7750

[crabo]

I did the same mod to my rifle, using his directions, and have had no problems with it.

[softpoint]

I believe I will do the mod to the carrier. I can't see where it would hurt the feeding of the regular length rounds, and I would prefer being able to crimp in the cannellure as well

[Dave B]

I was thinking about the mod myself, but will it still feed 38s OK?

[kawalekm]

I have the same question. My 1894 feeds long .38 specials just fine, but will jam on full wadcutters that are only 1.150" long. How will the modification effect those?
Michael

[imashooter2]

I don't shoot .38s out of my rifle, but I have checked them for feed. It will digest anything I've put in the tube to include button WC, LSWC and RNL.

[SciFiJim]

An issue to consider and check out before you start modifying your rifle. What is the maximum length of cartridge that will chamber. I loaded a boolit long with a loose fit in the brass and chambered it to see what the maximum COL would be. 1.59 was the result. So even if I modified the carrier, I would still need to use the 1.59 length unless I had the chamber modified as well.

[softpoint]

I did the modification. Works great with the 180 gr. Remington hollwpoints. I took .080off the face of the stop. It still will not work with 358429 loaded at the crimp groove. I'd have to go a full .100 to do that, from what it looks like, anyway on my rifle.
It works perfectly with the cartridges I wanted it to work with, and still feeds .38 Special SWC flawlessly as well. I didn't have any full wadcutter .38's to try, but I've never shot any of those in this rifle anyway.:D:coffeecom

[imashooter2]

An issue to consider and check out before you start modifying your rifle. What is the maximum length of cartridge that will chamber. I loaded a boolit long with a loose fit in the brass and chambered it to see what the maximum COL would be. 1.59 was the result. So even if I modified the carrier, I would still need to use the 1.59 length unless I had the chamber modified as well.

I can see where this might be an issue with some bullet profiles that put a full shoulder well in front of the case mouth. An easy check to make that could save you some disappointment.