New Marlin 32 WCF 1894?

[Bret4207]

Saw a blurb in the Shotgun news about a new run of Marlin 1894's w/half mag and side loading gate. Not to be confused with the 32 Mag with 22 style magazine tube. Haven't seen it anywhere else. That all I know.

[9.3X62AL]

I heard a similar thing--might have been on this board during its Aimoo period. I understand that initial information showed the thing having micro-groove rifling. Not the End Of Western Civilization, but also not the best idea for this caliber in my rapidly aging opinion.

That said, I have a Marlin 62 lever critter with the MG pattern, and it flings Lee Soup Cans right nicely sized at .311"--clear up to the caliber's max velocity potential. In fact--it shoots cast better than it does jacketed. Who'd a' thunk it?

[GregP42]

I know this is an old topic, but was doing some digging tonight and had to share this.

Marlin has the new 32-20 out and they are for same now.

http://www.marlinfirearms.com/Firearms/1894centerfire/1894CL.aspx

I have seen one in the flesh.... If I had money it would be following me home soon!

Greg

[45 2.1]

There is one sitting in the local gunshop and it does indeed have the microgroove rifling.

[McLintock]

If you're going to be shooting cast bullets in it, why not look for one of the octogon barrel, full length mag ones; they're still available if you look around. I think they have the ballard cut rifling that's supposed to be a little better for cast. Seem to run about $540 or so, my cousin bought one late last year and I saw one at a gun show over the weekend at that price. But, it's like Fords vs Chevys, it's all in what you prefer and the half mag and round barrel is a nice configuration.
McLintock

[Jack Stanley]

After my last experience with the 1894C they came out with several years back . I won't be buying very much new Marlin stuff . Chamber was out of round , accuracy terrible and loading the cases was hard on brass to say the least . Their response ? "It's within SAAMI spec." suck an egg and enjoy it . To say the least , I found it an interesting method of customer service .
Shortly thereafter Browning came out with a recreation of the model 53 Winchester in 32-20 . Not one complaint can I lay to it's charge :mrgreen:

Jack

[StarMetal]

Jack,

Well sorry you had the bad luck, but I'm glad to hear something bad about Marlin because frankly I'm tired of hearing how much better they are then Winchester....which simply isn't true...especially that they are stronger....hahahahahaha..what a joke.

Your other gun is ok because, well, it's a Winchester design.

I've heard Ruger tell my friend that his 308 barrel was within SAAMI specs...and the groove on it was .3095, so that's a standard reply. I just can't believe that SAAMI has out of round chamber specs, which I'm certain they don't. So yours ISN'T within SAAMI specs.

Joe

[Jack Stanley]

I tried to save it . Sent it to a rifle shop in the midwest who set the barrel back and recut the dovetails and such . The recut chamber was then right but the front sight dovetail was to loose . Why they cut into that I don't know .
I was relieved when the 53 came along , I still have it and enjoy it from time to time .

Jack

[Dale53]

My "First Issue Re-run" Marlin 94 in 25/20 has been an absolute delight. Several of my friends at the local club also got one at about the same time. All have been satisfied with them. I bought 1000 javcketed bullets for it along with a 257415 Lyman GC mould. I bumped into the jacketed bullets last night. I never fired a one of them. The cast bullets have worked so well, that there was no desire to even try them. Mine will stay in the 10 ring of the 50 yard smallbore target at fifty yards all day long. The "X" count is not high but I'm not complaining.

It is a dream of a squirrel rifle.

Dale53

[Jon K]

Trp. Bret,

Uberti builds a 32WCF full octagon, full magazine, with 311 groove diameter. It is a nice gun, but not as light weight as the Marlin for CAS. I bought the gun for my daughter to shoot Lever Action Pistol Cartridge Silhoutte, but she wouldn't shoot it. She prefers my scoped 10 inch T/C .22, so I traded it in, along with my 357, for a Uberti 73 45 LC. I will use it for both Lever Classes to shoot silhouttes. I prefer the 357 over the 32.

Jon

[McLintock]

There's a thread on the SASS Forum about the Uberti .32's; it seems they've had problems with the feeding on the 32-20's. One guy said that Uberti used the 357/38 special bolt for the 32-20, and the less than tight cartridge holding caused feeding and other related problems. Don't personally know, just passing this along for those considering a 32-20 lever gun. When I get one it'll probably be the '92 action type, either an original, a Browing 53 or one of the new '92 clones.
McLintock

[Jon K]

The Uberti may use the same bolt, but I never had a problem with the gun feeding. I thought the ladder needed some work, because of the way it ejected the spent case.
The Uberti is well made and I did not find any sloppy workmanship in the gun, in fact the craftmanship in the gun is one of the reasons(along with rate of twist and bore & groove size) I ordered an Uberti, when I decided to change calibers. I was not partial to any brand when I started looking for a 45 LC, but looked at the factors mentioned.
Have Fun Shooting,
Jon

[9.3X62AL]

The late 1980's-to-early 1990's Model 1894CL's in 25-20 WCF had a rep for being "chambered long" at the shoulder. Mine is, and as soon as I started neck-sizing the fired brass--and getting the barrel broke in--the cast boolits started catching up with the good performance that Speer 75 FN's have had since Day 1.

The Marlin 1894CL I had in 32-20 had a "fat" chamber, might have been offline too. It got sold. In Fall 2004 I got one of the 1894CCL's x 32-20 that McLintock described, and its chamber is not so generous radially. I only have about 300-350 rounds through it so far, and its cast boolit work is OK to good so far. This rifle and the Win '73 x 44-40 WCF are going to get a lot of load R&D this spring and summer.

[6pt-sika]

At the moment I have three Marlin 32-20's ;

1894CCL - this is 20" octagon with Ballerd rifling

1894CL - this is the one that is being made now

An Original 1894 that was made in 1905

I have shot all three with cast bullets and all three did well . The 1894CCL was used in an article I wrote for the CBA last year , about centerfire squirrel rifles.
I got a Saeco plain base 115 grain mold , that I've not used yet . But I plan on doing a little testing with all three rifles and that bullet , as well as the Lyman #311419 bullet . This one is a 90 grain GC FP design.:castmine: