Marlin 1894S, a strange one?

[Remmy4477]

At first had some doubts about my new rifle. A marlin 1894S in 44 mag born in 1999.

Like any untouched marlin it had a stiff action and hard to open lever and awful trigger pull. I slicked up the action following lots of info here and around the net. Now she's nice and smooth, easy to cycle and a nice easy trigger. Surprised myself as to how well it turned out, took 3 hours but it it was well worth it!

Twenty inch barrel with Ballard rifling, find this interesting as I cannot find any info with this model having Ballard rifling, everything I find shows micro groove for this model.
It seems to love my Ideal 429421 boolits at .431.

I've been loading the 429421's over 7 grns of unique and getting 2 to 2&1/2 inch groups at 100 meters off sandbags. Happy with that and should do good on the silhouette shoots as long as I do my part.

Thought I would try and figure out it's twist rate, cleaning rod, jag with a tight patch. Best I can tell its a 1 in 20 twist... research shows the 1894S with a 1 in 20 twist with micro groove barrel, again nothing about Ballard rifling for this model???

Kind of wondering if I have some sort of mis-fit? maybe a special order? Just seems strange I cannot find anything on the 1894S about having the ballard rifling.

Not complaining as I prefer the Ballard over the micro groove.

Anyway it's been a fun little project and really enjoy shooting it!

[pietro]

At first had some doubts about my new rifle. A marlin 1894S in 44 mag born in 1999.

Twenty inch barrel with Ballard rifling, find this interesting as I cannot find any info with this model having Ballard rifling, everything I find shows micro groove for this model.

research shows the 1894S with a 1 in 20 twist with micro groove barrel, again nothing about Ballard rifling for this model???

Kind of wondering if I have some sort of mis-fit? maybe a special order? Just seems strange I cannot find anything on the 1894S about having the ballard rifling.

Back in the late 1990s, with the rising popularity of cowboy action shooting and its emphasis on historical accuracy, a whole new group of shooters started picking up Marlin leverguns.

Because of their desire to load cast bullets in them, and because of the on-going, nagging (and inaccurate) rumors of poor accuracy from Microgroove barrels, Marlin eventually caved in and dropped Microgroove rifling for a number of their leverguns in the late 1990s.

Marlin helps to feed this nostalgia by referring to these guns as "Ballard rifled".

In the Model 1894 series, the.44 Magnum and .357 Magnum guns are Ballard rifled, but the .32-20 1894CL and .41 Magnum 1894 FG are both fitted with Microgroove barrels.


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[JoeJames]

I agree on 7 grains of Unique. I had been loading Oregon Trail .431" laser cast in 44 Special with 6.5 grains of Unique. When I traded for a new Rossi R92 I was hoping it would cycle 44 Specials, but it will not unless single loaded. So I tried using 7 grains of Unique in 44 Magnum cases, and it worked quite well. No recoil at all, but very accurate. From Alliant - their recipe for 44 Magnum pistol loads: Minimum OAL(inches)1.605 Bbl Length 7.5 inches Case- 44 Magnum, Primer CCI 300, Powder Unique Weight (grains) 7, Velocity (fps) 899.

My loads:
Rossi velocity: The 44 Special 6.5 Unique loads single loaded = 1021, 1115, and 1091 fps
The 44 mag loads with 7 grains (to compensate for the extra space = 1166, 1149, and 1156 fps.

The Rossi R92 bought 11/3/18 . I figure that averaging around 1150 fps is not too hot to lead, but fast enough for my needs carrying the Rossi around my place.

[MyFlatline]

Back in the late 1990s, with the rising popularity of cowboy action shooting and its emphasis on historical accuracy, a whole new group of shooters started picking up Marlin leverguns.

Because of their desire to load cast bullets in them, and because of the on-going, nagging (and inaccurate) rumors of poor accuracy from Microgroove barrels, Marlin eventually caved in and dropped Microgroove rifling for a number of their leverguns in the late 1990s.

Marlin helps to feed this nostalgia by referring to these guns as "Ballard rifled".

In the Model 1894 series, the.44 Magnum and .357 Magnum guns are Ballard rifled, but the .32-20 1894CL and .41 Magnum 1894 FG are both fitted with Microgroove barrels.


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Both of my 1894 44's and both 357's have micro-groove

[salvadore]

Leapin lizards, my 94cl 32/20 has ballard rifling

[kidmma]

I have a 1894s and it has Micro-groove rifling. I bought it around 2000 but haven't checked when it was made. It doesn't like 429 bullets. About 7 gr Unique works good with a 240 gr RNFP. 430-431 Sized.
Have fun!