New to me 1894 Cowboy Carbine Ltd 45 Colt!

[crawfobj]

Rescued this beauty from the used gun rack tonight. Ballard rifling, JM, 20" tapered octagon barrel in excellent condition. I haven't handled many 45 Colt Marlins and this one was priced well enough that I couldn't it leave it there.

Got home and did a little poking around and found out this description based on the serial #:

1894IV LTD .45LC, Blued 20" Octagon barrel, Roll stamped "Cowboy Limited" Non-Checkered walnut stocks. Made in 2001. Serial #'s read 1894IV0000-1894IV1000. 1001 produced. Special run by Marlin for Davidsons.

I'm pretty excited about it. It'll make a nice partner to my 5.5" Bisley Blackhawk.

Now to pour a pile of 45 boolits!



Anyone have experience loading for one of these?

[Jr.]

Hey that's mine! You should give it back this instant!

Very nice find I am super jealous. Hopefully she shoots as good as she looks.

[Tatume]

Very nice! Enjoy.

[flyingmonkey35]

Use trailboss powder.

You can't double charge the 45 lc case with it.

[ReloaderFred]

I have two of the 24" CB's in .45 Colt, and they're a joy to shoot. I use the Magma 200 gr. RNFP over TrailBoss powder and I've won several 100 yard matches with them. Mine will even feed 265 gr. SWC bullets smoothly, but that's an individual rifle thing. Some will, and some won't.

If you decide to sell it, let me know.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[W.R.Buchanan]

Good Job On getting that one. I am looking for the same gun in .44 magnum. I just saw a NIB one go on GunBroker for $1000! Which is a bit too much in my mind.

I need to tell you something that I just learned recently. Your gun is not a "Carbine." It is a "Short Rifle." The difference being your gun has a "fore end cap" instead of a barrel band.

The guns made with barrel bands are the Carbines. Marlin makes both. Carbines also don't usually have Octagonal barrels, they have Round barrels, hence the barrel band style of fore end retention.

I was corrected on this point by a very knowledgeable collector at a gun show recently. I had never heard this before but after consulting with some other knowledgeable collectors he was in fact correct.

Just a little known tidbit to enhance your shooting experience.

Randy

[crawfobj]

Good info Randy.

Fred, I won't be selling this one. I haven't been this excited about a purchase in a long while. Thanks for sharing on the trail boss loads too. I've been meaning to try that too.

[6pt-sika]

They made a Model 1894CCL for Davidson's or Lipsey's I forget which . Anyway they called it a "1894CCL" and it looked just like a uncheckered 20" barrel 1894CB . To the best of my knowledge they made them chambered in 32-20 , 41 MAG , 44-40 and 45 Colt . I had one of each except for the 45 Colt .

[John Allen]

They are great guns. I have been on the lookout for one for a while.

[blackpowder man]

I have a 24 cowboy limited in.45 colt and have no plans of ever parting with it. If I'm not mistaken the .45s have a much faster twist than the .44s and allows you to shoot some pretty big boolits. Mine even cycled round ball loads so long as you aren't pretending to be at a cowboy match. For playing 8 grains of unique and a 255 rnfp shoots great. I have some bp loads ready to shoot and when I find the right one I hope to hunt with it using bp some next year.

[Grizzly Adams]

[pls1911]

You will love it. Brother and i each have one.
I use 9-10 grains of unique under 255 to 270 grain HARD bullets sized .452 with great success.
the RCBS 270-SAA or equivalent SLAPS pigs with authority at moderate ranges.

[Ragnarok]

I own the exact same model/caliber Marlin!

Mines a great shooter. Won't feed semi-wadcutters.

I found it odd that Marlin would install a hammer cut for a scope extension part on a rifle with no provision for scope mounts. Or for that matter the extra safety seems in-congruous too. Minor beefs for sure.

As far as function/feeding/shooting goes I love the .45 Colt Marlin Cowboy.

[TXGunNut]

Congrats, very nice find. I like the octagon barrel and the rifle fore end, should be very accurate. Hope it shoots as good as it looks!

[TybrneRyan]

Awesome find! I snagged one in 44 mag last year and I have nothing but great things to say. You will enjoy that!!

[RPRNY]

What an excellent carbine in all respects! Enjoy.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Ragnarok: If you put a .040-.050 chamfer on the chamber mouth it will feed SWC's just fine.

I have posted pics of this simple mod a dozen times and I sure wish someone would make it a "Sticky?"

Lots of people run in to this problem and there is a simple fix that works really well.

Randy

[CraigOK]

nice find!

[crawfobj]

Had to share another marlin score. Introducing my new to me 1894p, complete with Williams peep sight. Rang up $200 lower than it was marked at a major retailer, so I got it out the door for $325 all in. I could do without the porting, but I sure like the the 16.25" Ballard rifled barrel.

I'm a sucker for handgun caliber lever guns.

[RPRNY]

Had to share another marlin score. Introducing my new to me 1894p, complete with Williams peep sight. Rang up $200 lower than it was marked at a major retailer, so I got it out the door for $325 all in. I could do without the porting, but I sure like the the 16.25" Ballard rifled barrel.

I'm a sucker for handgun caliber lever guns.

SCORE! What a handsome looking carbine. And a nice table