Had my hands on a new Marling Custom 1894 the other day.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I saw a new Marlin Custom Shop 1894 in .45 LC the other day at one of my favorite gun shops

The fit and finish on the gun was excellent and It ran smoother than the regular guns but could still use a little more TLC.

I was impressed with the wood and wood finish and the metal work was really nice too. This gun was as nice as any Winchester I have seen, and for $1500 it should be.

This one also had the Marlin Logo with the Horse Rider inlaid in Gold on one side.

They are definitely worth a look if you are into nicer guns. Here's the factory pic.

https://www.marlinfirearms.com/lever...894-le-45-colt

Randy

[Blackwater]

I've always wanted one with e-nickeled receiver, barrrel band and maybe lever (after bead blasting), highly polished barrel and fiddleback maple stock and forend. Yeah, I know it'd be kind'a gaudy, but who among us wouldn't like one this way? And if I could find an old Marlin in .357, I may very well create one, too! They're scarce as hen's teeth around here! And the internet price is more than I want to pay for one, too. Sheesh! The road to guns we've coveted for so long is never easy, is it?

Thanks for the report on their custom shop. I can't help it. It may be partly due to being an old phart, but that sure is a lot of money for what ought to be to start with, IMO. And being a long term miser, it's hard to part with what some guns cost these days. I passed up a really, really nice stainless Rossi in .357 that had the slickest from-the-factory action I've ever had my hands on. I've kicked my own mental derierre many, many times since then. Hasn't helped. And NOW .... they're even pricier!!!! I can't win for losing! But I keep watching. If something doesn't die pretty soon, I'm gonna' strike out and "kill" one myself! This waiting is gettin' to me!!!

[W.R.Buchanan]

BW: I kind of mis-spoke when I said "Custom Shop." This was just a nicer model not a true Custom Shop gun.

The Actual Custom Shop Guns start at $3750.00!!!

Randy

[izzyjoe]

Wow! That's very nice, I bet they sell out of those fast!

[ulav8r]

Showed the picture to my wife. She reminded me she had a birthday coming up, but it is about $1350 more than I can afford to spend on her.

[Hickory]

1:38” twist rate?

[Scharfschuetze]

1:38” twist rate?

I noted that too on the specification details.

[Buckshot]

.............Nice that it doesn't have all that extra forend wood on it.

............Buckshot

[rondog]

For that price, it better have real hand cut checkering instead of that garbage they mass-produce with machines. Better yet, NO checkering.

Options for longer and octagonal barrels would be nice too.

My 24" Rossi 92 in .45 Colt has 1:38 rifling, works great!

[OverMax]

Handsome looking rifles. Although I'm not all that fond of hoods encompassing front sites.
But I'm a bit curious. Do such pistol cartridge shooting Marin's {1894} require a smaller in size receiver when compared to a standard rifle?

No doubt if I needed a handy quick pistol cartridge shoot'in rifle. 45 Colt Marlin 1894 would be at the top of my list.

[Landy88]

Do such pistol cartridge shooting Marin's {1894} require a smaller in size receiver when compared to a standard rifle?

Yes, their 94, 336, and 95 are each a different size scaled to their cartridges.

[Scharfschuetze]

Yes, their 94, 336, and 95 are each a different size scaled to their cartridges.

The 1894 was designed around the 32/20, 38/40 and 44/40 class of cartridges so it's perfect for any of the current or common revolver cartridges. I either had or still have an 1894 in 25/20, 32/20, 357 Magnum and the 45 Colt. Operation and reliability was/is perfect in all of them.

[G50-70]

I would love to have that in 32-20.

[FergusonTO35]

I was interested, and then I noticed the fat forend with a yawning gap between it and the receiver on the "custom" 1894. Oh Remlin...

[Der Gebirgsjager]

They're all a little different, but in the photos they sure put some nice wood on them.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I was interested, and then I noticed the fat forend with a yawning gap between it and the receiver on the "custom" 1894. Oh Remlin...

The fore end on a Marlin Lever gun needs to fit loose with some play fore and aft. This is a common accurizing step with these guns. If it fits tight as the gun heats up the shots string upwards. All mine had it done to them while I was doing the action and refinish work. .030-.060 is enough to alleviate this problem. Bottom end of this looks better.

I talked to one of the Remington big wigs at SHOT last year and he told me they are looking at changing the twist rate on these guns, but major changes like this take along time to get thru engineering as they don't want to have to go back if it doesn't work out. Everybody in the gun industry is beating on them to do this, but you'll notice Winchester hasn't changed theirs either.

Virtually all .44 Pistols have 1:20 barrels but this is because they don't develop as much speed due to the short barrels and also they have a pressure relief gap between the cylinder and barrel to control pressure.

Leverguns have to control pressure by using looser bores .431 vs .429 because the breech is closed and there is no place for excess pressure to bleed off but down the barrel.

All the Ruger 77/44's have 1:20 twist barrels on them, but they are also bolt action guns which are much stringer actions than any levergun. They aren't any significant amount more accurate than the 1:38 twist barrels in the Marlins. My standard 22.0 gr of H110 and .260 gr 429244's run at about 1600 fps out of my 1894 CB with a 24" bbl and they are more than accurate enough out to 200 meters to shoot Silhouette with.

At normal hunting distances these guns are more than accurate enough for accurate shot placement on anything in N/A or ? I wouldn't hesitate to take a 100 yard shot on any game animal with mine as long as I was off a rest of some kind. Probably won't take a 200 yard shot on anything but a Steel Ram.

A 260 gr boolit does give you some leeway as to exact shot placement.

Randy

[KCSO]

On a Marlin 1500 is kind of hard to justify. I got a dandy original Marlin with a mint bore for $1200. My last new marlin was a 38-55 and it went south in a hurry with a very oversize bore. I did do a conversion with a dust cover installed on a Cowboy and a old style stock that looked just like an original 1893.

[FergusonTO35]

Randy, I have no doubt that you are correct. Still, no wiggly forends allowed on my lever actions. They are all more accurate than my shaky hands can produce anyway. I think the endcap and tenon style forend with a short mag tube is most accurate on a lever action. Among all the rifles in my battery, my cheapo Marlin Glenfield 30 is second in accuracy only to my heavy barrel .257 Roberts.

[pietro]

Showed the picture to my wife. She reminded me she had a birthday coming up, but it is about $1350 more than I can afford to spend on her.

And, your point is ? . .



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