Making the marlin 1894 feed longer cartridges.

[Scrounger]

I thought I had that information but I don't. I do remember that a poster here fairly recently did the process and told us how. Would you please post that information again for those now needing to do it? I'd like to save the information as well.

[Scrounger]

Why do we do dumb things? A couple of years ago I had a whim to get a Cowboy rifle. I found a very good deal on a Marlin Cowboy in .45 Colt. it even had a Coyote Cap action job on it that made it as slick as a Krag. (http://www.coyotecap.com/marlin.htm) But it was .45 Colt, a caliber i considered a pissant compared to the mighty .44 Magnum. So I foolishly sold the rifle to Rayo, for what I paid for it yet! Then I read a couple of magazine articles about how the .45 Colt in a rifle could safely be loaded up to out-perform the .44 Magnum, and at a lower pressure. That, coupled with my discovery that the Marlin .44 mag with its incorrect 1 in 38 twist limited heavy bullet use to short range, told me I had goofed again. The Colt has a 1 in 16 twist, I believe. I have been hoping ever since that Rayo would find fault with the rifle and I could graciously (you know, do him a favor) buy it back from him. He never uses it anyway. Finally last night I broke down and pleaded with him to sell it to me. He did concede he didn't use it and he'd rather have a .357 Cowboy instead, and if I found one, he'd trade me. So I'm feverishly looking for one. Maybe I'll get lucky again.

[StarMetal]

Art, I guess you saw that one on gunbrokers for $515? I didn't know that Marlin made a cowboy in 38 special only too.

Joe

[imashooter2]

I thought I had that information but I don't. I do remember that a poster here fairly recently did the process and told us how. Would you please post that information again for those now needing to do it? I'd like to save the information as well.

http://www.beartoothbullets.com/tips/archive_tips.htm/63

"The Marlin 1894 is sometimes finicky in it's COL limitations, however, there's a relatively easy fix for the problem. The cartridge lifter that brings the cartridge up from the magazine tube to the bolt, has a cartridge stop on it. In the Marlin 1894 it is a simple matter of disassembling the action, and removing this cartridge lifter. Once out, you may take a mill flat file, and carefully mill back the front face of the cartridge lifter 0.100" of an inch, without adversly affecting the action feeding reliability. Once done, any of the bullets with up to and including a .450" nose to crimp length will work great in your Marlin 1894.

This project is rather simple, and if not rushed is easy to accomplish. You will have the benefit of using just about any bullet you could possibly desire, and perfectly reliable feeding of those bullets."

[Pb head]

Starmelal, Marlin made one they called competition cowboy or something like that in 38 special. I think in came all tuned and slicked up. My friend just acquired a used one like new for $450. The fella that sold it didn't like it because he said it wouldn't shoot cast boolits. Well the man doesn't cast and just bought some commercial cast to shoot, you know how that is. I gave a few sample boolits to my friend to try, the Lee 180 gc, Ly 150 SWC, and Lee 158 RFN sized .357 to .360. He called the other day all excited, he shot a 39 at the NRA sillywet match and wants a box of the 158 RFN Lees sized .358 ASAP. Said it was so accurate he could hit the 75 meter turkeys in the head. He may be stretching the truth a little but I do know he got a 39 because he is the talk of 3 different clubs we all shoot at. I missed that shoot because I had other things I had to do that Sat. I sure wish I'd have been there to see it. He also has 44 Marlin cowboy 24 in. bbl that shoots my Mountain Mold 265 gr at bench rest accuracy even with a 1 in 38 twist, go figure.

Pb head

[StarMetal]

PB Head

Off topic a wee bit, but did you ever get around to shooting those 150 gr 7mm Loverins I sent you?

Joe

[Scrounger]

Starmelal, Marlin made one they called competition cowboy or something like that in 38 special. I think in came all tuned and slicked up. My friend just acquired a used one like new for $450. The fella that sold it didn't like it because he said it wouldn't shoot cast boolits. Well the man doesn't cast and just bought some commercial cast to shoot, you know how that is. I gave a few sample boolits to my friend to try, the Lee 180 gc, Ly 150 SWC, and Lee 158 RFN sized .357 to .360. He called the other day all excited, he shot a 39 at the NRA sillywet match and wants a box of the 158 RFN Lees sized .358 ASAP. Said it was so accurate he could hit the 75 meter turkeys in the head. He may be stretching the truth a little but I do know he got a 39 because he is the talk of 3 different clubs we all shoot at. I missed that shoot because I had other things I had to do that Sat. I sure wish I'd have been there to see it. He also has 44 Marlin cowboy 24 in. bbl that shoots my Mountain Mold 265 gr at bench rest accuracy even with a 1 in 38 twist, go figure.

Pb head

Yeah, go figure. I think we let those numbers get into our heads too much. Mine shoots them pretty good too, but I've only tested them at 50 yards. I assume they won't hold accuracy at 200. But I've been me a long time, and if my brain tells me the twist is wrong, I'll never be happy with it. That's just the way it is/
R2, you know that Microgroove barrel with the 38" twist won't shoot; I've got an extra .444 with the Ballard rifling in a 16" (?) twist new in the box you should buy. Yeah, I got two of them, one to keep. When you touch off a 300 grain bullet at 2300 fps, your shoulder really knows it.

[Rapier]

All you need do is load the heavy bullets to fit in the length of a 357 revolver cylinder. Taper crimp over the ogive. Helps to use Brass/Brass to keep from bulging the web, I like Winchester.....The 200 RCBS does just fine and makes the 357 Mag into a 35 Rifle with much more zip than a pistol round.