How is the quality of the new Marlin 1894-s

[FergusonTO35]

So, why can Henry? New 1894Cs on Buds are running $650. That's the same money as a Big Boy steel. I intensely dislike the tube-loading nonsense on Henrys and the fact they are about a pound overweight. If anything the Henrys should be MORE expressive to produce with that brass tube nonsense and I'd assume lower production volumes.

And what of Mossberg 464s, which are USA made? Granted it is not 357, but they are basically the same thing. I have one and it bests the quality of any Rossi or Marlin I've seen or owned. It about equals the Henry. Mine cost me $406.

I have had two Mossy 464's. They are good $400.00 rifles, certainly no worse than a Remlin. Fit and finish is nothing fancy but still better than most Winchester 94 Rangers. They are something of a modernised 94, and have the same rebounding hammer and tang safety if that matters to you. The current one I have was purchased used. When I got it, the bolt wanted to partially unlock under recoil. Sent it back and they fixed it. Like the 94's, mine has had problems with light strikes. I ordered a new hammer spring and guide rod, and the new spring seems stronger than the old one was. Hopefully that will be the end of its troubles, as mine does shoot pretty well.

[jstanfield103]

I have an 1894 CSBL in 357 Mag. Fit and finish is good to me, it functions well and will smooth out even more the more is used and cycled. Love the rifle and Love Marlins.

[curioushooter]

Take a look at reviews lodged in 2019 of 1894Cs on Buds. They are very poor.

It's not just Marlin either. So many firearms are hitting the market that are poorly made, standards are getting loose (had a S&W customer service guy tell me a gap of .006-.01 was ideal). It's aggravating. Basically firearms can't be returned, and the turds and up on Armslist. If you are like me I won't sell junk to somebody. I don't like playing craps with online gun stores, but it's about all you can do.

[FergusonTO35]

If the OP has a local dealer who will stand behind his products, I think it would be a worthy gamble. *Most* of the problems I have observed with Remlins would not be hard for a service center to fix under warranty or any decent smith.

[curioushooter]

OP has a local dealer who will stand behind his products

I am completely unaware of any local firearms dealer that would do gunsmithing work on firearm sold through is shop while it is under warranty, and absolutely sure he wouldn't do any work for free.

Part of the problem is that gunsmiths charge so dear for their services that it is often more cost effective for the owner of a defective firearm (or just a gruesome one) to just sell it to some ignoramus and take a gamble on a new one. We live in a disposable society with no ethical standards whatsoever when it comes to personal sales. Caveat Emptor.

I have send many firearms back to manufacturer over the years. It is seriously about half the ones I have bought. And often serious problems. The ones I don't send back are the ones of proven design by reputable manufacturers. Never had a problem with Browning, H&K, Kahr, or any of my CMP purchases.

In the last 3 years:

Sent a CZ Bobwhite back because the action incredibly stiff and extractor dragged so heavily that it would barely open. CZ made good and fixed the problem.

Send a Mossberg 464 back due to over generous headspace. Action would pop open when the cartridge slammed back against the bolt. Mossberg made good and got back rifle and it now works great.

Send Chiappa double badger back TWICE. The problem was that the 410 barrel would not fire about 2/3ds of the time, I think because the firing pin was not long enough, but it may have been because the chamber was bored too deep and some ammo didn't have a thick enough rim. First time they basically did nothing except douse it in oil. Second time the thing was basically completely rebuilt, came back with different barrels and completely reworked hammers. After 6 months it finally works for now. Still have a 6 months on the warranty so I better put it through some more testing.

Send an Ithaca 37 back because it again had a headspace problem and would not eject shells which would lodge in the chamber. Ithaca re-fitted the barrel and made it right. Works great now.

Send a T/C Buckmark back because it was intermittently full-auto (the hammer didn't lock back on the trigger all the time). This one I never got back. After a YEAR of delays they confessed that the parts supplier that made the defective part was no longer in business and they couldn't find a spare. They offered to destroy the firearm and replace it with something out of their catalog. This is how I came to own a G2...

That very G2 had its rimfire pin fall out. Send it back. Get it back with a different hammer and a trigger that sucks and goes BOOOOINNNGG after it falls. A sucky trigger isn't a warranty repair. Really regretting that one. Should have just fitted a hardened pin in there myself.

Presently I have a Ruger EC9s that locks back with a full mag (some EVERYDAY CARRY pistol, huh?). I have now replaced the slide stop spring three times and the recoil assembly twice. It still locks back about every third round, and basically always if I deliberately limp wrist. Wondering if it is even worth sending it back for Ruger to tell me it is fine with whatever ammo they pick and carefully shoot out of it.

Basically any moderately priced (not high end) firearm these days has a 50% probability or so of being junk and needing to be re-worked. Or at least that is my conclusion. S&W-T/C, Ruger, Marlin, Remington, Mossberg, CZ, and many others I am sure.

[FergusonTO35]

To clarify, what I mean is a dealer who will make sure the new gun you bought is fixed right, whether by the manufacturer or someone else. My local guy will do that, even if the factory won't. He told me he no longer carries Rossi lever actions as he can't promise the customer that they will get it fixed in a reasonable amount of time.

I have also sent quite a few guns back for repair. I honestly think the gunmakers are counting on a pre-election surge in sales every two years and so maximize production at all times. This also leads to new designs being released with bugs that should have been worked out beforehand.

[curioushooter]

My friend has about five of those Rossi 92 clones...he's still looking for one that works apparently.

One of them will work with 38s and not 357s.

One only works in 45 colt IF you seat a certain bullet just right. Waste of time for something that will always be a Rossi.

[trapper9260]

My friend has about five of those Rossi 92 clones...he's still looking for one that works apparently.

One of them will work with 38s and not 357s.

One only works in 45 colt IF you seat a certain bullet just right. Waste of time for something that will always be a Rossi.

I have a Rossi 92 and can feed both 38spl/357 mag with out any problem.Unless you try to feed WC then that is one in the chamber and one in the tube. All others feed ok.

[Ozark mike]

I bought a 1895 remlin new a year ago sad to say it would not chamber a shell so I set to work on it. 3 days later I had the slickest rifle I have Probably ever owned. But at the same time I bought a Henry 44 mag and that gun ran good out of the box. Henry upgraded the 94 action like a spring loaded bolt block slick action too real fine gun indeed. I do not recommend a remlin for the shooter who wants a trouble free gun out of the box because there spotty at best. For the tinkerers out there they can be good guns

[Prairie Cowboy]

I was in at a independent small town gun shop and looked over a few new lever action carbines. They had a .45 Colt Marlin Cowboy on sale for the price of a regular 1894, so I though that I would at least look at it, feeling sure that I would spot enough problems to exclude it.
Action? Not bad, worked reasonably smoothly and the carrier rose correctly and felt positive against my finger.
Steel Fit & Finish? Very good actually. Smooth steel and well blued everywhere. No apparent internal roughness.
Wood Fit & Finish? Also good. Not perfect fitting but quite acceptable. Sort of a matte finish, not as glossy or as nice looking as JM, but acceptable. With a different finish it might have looked the same as a JM. Hard to tell.
Assembly? Every screw was perfect. No damaged screw heads. Sights were straight. No canting. Sights were dovetailed correctly.
It was so good that I bought it.
At home I scrubbed the bore which was pretty dirty. It looks fine. It slugged out at .4515" with a soft lead ball.
The trigger was pretty heavy at first. Maybe 10 pounds. But it smoothed out with dry firing (against a piece of eraser) to maybe 6 pounds, which is fine.
Slow ejection of an empty case was very positive. About 3 feet. Dummy rounds fed well through the action with hang-ups at the extractor, which I expected. A tiny bit of stoning at the underside of the hook, just as with my former JM 1894s resolved that. It now feeds and extracts just fine.
A good cleaning revealed nothing amiss with smooth internal machining and the bolt looks very well made.
I have yet to shoot it but so far I am happy with it.
While it might seem terribly old-fashioned, you should personally inspect every gun that you buy before you buy it.
It's the only way to have any assurance that you are probably getting a good rifle.
The shipper certainly isn't going to cherry pick one for you.

[rockrat]

Picked up a new Marlin 357 last month. Quality is good. The only flaw I found was when I had to adjust the rear sight way left. Seems like the front sight insert was way to the left, no wonder I had to move the rear sight so far.

Loaded some 38 spcl wadcutters with the wadcutter seated about 1/4" out of the case mouth instead of flush and the thing even fed them without any problems